More in the ongoing toilet smell saga...

[am1958]

In another thread here I documented the beginning of our stinky woes. I had the trailer here for a few days and thoroughly cleaned the black tank and let it sit to see if it began to smell again. It didn't seem to but then again it was pretty spiffy clean and full of Dawn and water with some added Borax.

Went out Sunday and within three or four times of peeing in it, (we tend to use the State Park facilities for pooping and just use the toilet for pee), the bathroom started to smell like the stairwell of a multi-storey car park. We turned on the fan, made sure we used plenty of water but the smell would not go. The seal is good and holds water indefinitely so my next guess was the vent pipe. Up on the roof I went and removed the cap and wasn't surprised to find I couldn't smell the nasty smell... Bingo, thinks I, problem solved. My makeshift snake was 2 three quarter ounce fishing weights clipped to the end of a line and dropped down the vent pipe. Strangely they went straight down, unimpeded, until I clearly heard them hit the bottom of the black tank. Conformation that it was the black tank was the few little bits of paper clinging to the line when I retrieved the weights.

So, I have a good seal at the ball and a clear vent stack so my best guess is the seal under the commode itself isn't "sealed". It clearly allows the waste to go down without leaking out but I'm guessing that it isn't "sealed" and is letting out the smell before it can go up the stack. This being my first trailer I'm inexperienced in the amount of wobble a toilet has but mine does seem to move a bit when my old carcass hits it.

So, before I rip the toilet out to try to fix or replace the seal I turn to the collective knowledge of RV.Net and ask, is there something less strenuous I should try first?

[am1958]

UPDATE:

After two more trips I found that I was still getting the same problem despite not leaving pee sitting in the bowl during the night. So I wrote to Dometic and asked if I should replace the seal and where can I find the part number. I was informed that in 2013 they had made a modification to the 300 model of their toilet and if I would give them the serial number they might be able to send me a new toilet for free.

I got a picture of the serial, sent it to them and they are sending me a new toilet...

Result.... 🙂

[poppin_fresh]

skipro3 wrote:

paulcardoza wrote:
@am1958

Before you spend a lot of time and effort, try replacing the air admittance valve under the bathroom sink.

I had to google that. Never heard of it before. I wonder why more homes don't use this instead of running a vent all the way to the roof?

http://www.diyadvice.com/diy/plumbing/kitchen/install-air-admittance-valve/

They do. It is common now to have a stack that runs to the roof to vent the sewer gases, but then use air inlet valves to vent sinks and other branch fixtures for proper drainage. In many of these cases you just need to let air in, not necessarily gas out.

[Ski_Pro_3]

paulcardoza wrote:
@am1958

Before you spend a lot of time and effort, try replacing the air admittance valve under the bathroom sink.

I had to google that. Never heard of it before. I wonder why more homes don't use this instead of running a vent all the way to the roof?

http://www.diyadvice.com/diy/plumbing/kitchen/install-air-admittance-valve/

[lonewolf80]

I probably would've just bought a new toilet. Cheap if you shop online, someplace like RV Adventures which is where I bought my replacement toilet for my previous rig. Great job playing detective though and sourcing out the cause. Thanks for reporting your findings too, most poster won't give a follow up when they successfully solve a mystery/problem.

[paulcardoza]

@am1958

Before you spend a lot of time and effort, try replacing the air admittance valve under the bathroom sink. We had the same issue with horrid stench in the bathroom and replacing that valve fixed it immediately. Lowes has an upgraded version for ~~$30, that seems much better built than the one you will take off.

[Supercharged]

am1958 wrote:
In another thread here I documented the beginning of our stinky woes. I had the trailer here for a few days and thoroughly cleaned the black tank and let it sit to see if it began to smell again. It didn't seem to but then again it was pretty spiffy clean and full of Dawn and water with some added Borax.

Went out Sunday and within three or four times of peeing in it, (we tend to use the State Park facilities for pooping and just use the toilet for pee), the bathroom started to smell like the stairwell of a multi-storey car park. We turned on the fan, made sure we used plenty of water but the smell would not go. The seal is good and holds water indefinitely so my next guess was the vent pipe. Up on the roof I went and removed the cap and wasn't surprised to find I couldn't smell the nasty smell... Bingo, thinks I, problem solved. My makeshift snake was 2 three quarter ounce fishing weights clipped to the end of a line and dropped down the vent pipe. Strangely they went straight down, unimpeded, until I clearly heard them hit the bottom of the black tank. Conformation that it was the black tank was the few little bits of paper clinging to the line when I retrieved the weights.

So, I have a good seal at the ball and a clear vent stack so my best guess is the seal under the commode itself isn't "sealed". It clearly allows the waste to go down without leaking out but I'm guessing that it isn't "sealed" and is letting out the smell before it can go up the stack. This being my first trailer I'm inexperienced in the amount of wobble a toilet has but mine does seem to move a bit when my old carcass hits it.

So, before I rip the toilet out to try to fix or replace the seal I turn to the collective knowledge of RV.Net and ask, is there something less strenuous I should try first?

Need to drive more and not park so long, never had that ever. Never spend over one week anywhere ever. As long as they float keep moving.

[WillyB]

Gotta love these tutorials!!
It doesn't matter what ails your home on wheels, someone on here will have had the same problem and find a cure! Bravo!

[TyroneandGladys]

Jim-Linda wrote:
Got to ask... how do you determine there is water in the P traps?

Jim

No way just run water down the drain to make sure there is water in the P traps

[Jim-Linda]

Got to ask... how do you determine there is water in the P traps?

Jim

[am1958]

Well... That was a little adventure...

I popped the bolt covers, undid the nuts, removed the water supply pipe and moved the toilet. Only to have my foot covered in a foul smelling mixture of pee and water. Upon turning it upside down it appears that there was about half a gallon of this stuff inside the toilet...

It turns up that the Dometic toilets aren't just hollow but they have a large opening right behind the lump behind where the seat and lid attach. After cleaning and disinfecting it it was time to try to determine how half a gallon of pee and water got there. It's all a bit baffling until you turn the toilet upside down and look "up" the pipe. There's a seal that you can't see from above that holds the curved plate that the ball seals against.

My best guess is that it has a small leak and one of our family "courtesies" that has transferred from the home is the root of our problem. You see, in the night, if we get up to pee we don't flush so that we don't wake others up. It works fine at home with a good old porcelain bog but in the trailer if it's left to sit I think it's slowly leaking out of that seal into the body of the toilet. Then, to make things worse it seems that now it got quite full travel allowed some of it to splash out but by the time we opened up the next day for cleaning etc. it had dried up and was therefore un-noticable.

Lot's of scrubbing alternating vinegar and Pine Sol has gone a long way to fixing that so the toilet has been replaced and the bathroom closed up and left until tomorrow to see how good a job I did...

Hopefully it will be all spiffy and new again...

But I haven't put away the cleaning stuff yet... Pee can be a bugger to get rid of.

[am1958]

T&G:

The sink almost certainly was, the shower not. But that was Sunday. The trailer is sat in my driveway right now and the traps are both full. Even with the outside door open, (Bullet 31BHPR), the bathroom stinks and as my nose approached either trap I smell nothing but as my nose approaches the base of the toilet or near the lid the small is considerably stronger. The tank was dumped completely yesterday morning and filled with 2-3 gallons of water, some Dawn dish soap and about a cup of borax. We then drove 180 miles home so it got a good sloshing around.

Tomorrow the toilet comes off, everything gets cleaned, reseated and the toilet replaced. Then we'll see if that helps.

[TyroneandGladys]

Not harping but pointing out in your original post you stated "Went out Sunday and within three or four times of peeing in it, (we tend to use the State Park facilities for pooping and just use the toilet for pee), the bathroom started to smell like the stairwell of a multi-storey car park." Was the shower used before any of the toilet use?

[am1958]

It looks like I'll be taking the toilet out...

The shower and sink in the bathroom are used daily while we are camping so the traps are full within 24 hours of arrival.

My 9 year old's aim should be good enough because, you see, she sits... 😉

Off to find the Youtube video... Eeek...

[mgirardo]

In your original thread, you mention you have a 9 year old. How good is his aim? Our son's aim wasn't great and sitting often times did not help. At our house, we had an issue like you are describing and it turn out to be our son missing the bowl and the outside of the toilet would have urine building up on it. Cleaning the outside of the toilet made a big difference.

The grey tank can have some nasty odors as well, but it's hard to mistake those odors for human waste odors (unless someone is going to the bathroom in the shower or sink).

As has been mentioned, your toilet should not have any movement at all. Water might not leak past the floor seal since it moves by so fast, but odors can get past it.

-Michael