Out of nowhere - bad smell

[straps]

I work 6 - midnight and tonight it rained heavily and all I could think of was "well... when I get home I'll know if I did a good job at sealing the leaks on my roof".  
I think I did.  No apparent leaks in the bathroom.
HOWEVER - I came home to a very strong rotten egg smell IN the bathroom.  It's really gross.  I can't tell if its from the toilet or the sink (it's all very tight). 
It did NOT smell that way just 7 hours earlier. 

Thoughts? 
TIA

 

[bullfrog]

Check the vent on the roof as sometimes they get pluged or wind causes pressure that can cause your smell. After market covers can be bought that even have small fans or baffles to suck out the fumes.

 

[DW in ID]

During the times when we do use the RV toilet (which is rare occasions), after we dump the black water tank, I always run a 10-15 gallons of clean water through the tank after the initial dump... 

If you have the option to do that, that will usually flush things out pretty well and eliminate odors.  

I have a little advantage as I have my own dump station configured at home so it's a simple thing to do.  But unless you have a line of others waiting behind you at a dump station, you could possibly do the same thing.  That should help to eliminate smells. 

You're probably aware of this but if not..., there's various products that a person can put in the tank after dumping it to supposedly help eliminate odors. 

I think that flushing it out good when possible seems to work the best...  The "toilet" room in our trailer doesn't smell any differently than the living room does, hard to believe maybe but true! 

I contribute that to flushing it well with lots of fresh water after it's had any prolonged use... 

--As Bullfrog said, check the vent, also maybe check that the seal in the toilet itself is sealing as it should--...

DW

 

[Dingfelder]

Check the vent on the roof as sometimes they get pluged or wind causes pressure that can cause your smell.  After market covers can be bought that even have small fans or baffles to suck out the fumes.

But where would that smell come from?  I mean ... wind seems overall non-smelly ... and I may not smell like roses but I don't smell like a toilet either ...?

 

[Bobflhtc]

My grey tank was giving off a odor this morning so I dumped about a cup of baking soda down the drain which cleared it up.

 

[DannyB1954]

Some mobiles and RV's did not have a vent pipe going to the roof. Instead they used a type of check valve under the sink that would let room air go into the drain pipe. If it stuck open you would be smelling the sewer gasses coming out.
Also if the valve did not open, the water that was supposed to stay in the sink "P" trap might have got sucked out and fumes came back up through the sink drain.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

But where would that smell come from?  I mean ... wind seems overall non-smelly ... and I may not smell like roses but I don't smell like a toilet either ...?

If you have a roof vent wind can go down the vent into the black tank under some conditions.  That forces the putrid smell into the camper.  As bullfrog said: "Check the vent on the roof . . ."  It may be plugged or have an incorrect cap.

 

[highdesertranger]

also on some RV's the shower and bathroom sink drains into the black tank. so check those P-traps too.

the wind can basically pressurize the black tank or grey tank through the vent. this forces the smell out into the living area past any traps or seals that aren't up to par.

highdesertranger

 

[bigskybob]

Sounds like a propane leak to me.

 

[WalkaboutTed]

I've been camping where electricity for air conditioning is dirt cheap, so I've been staying by the lakes this summer. But the days can be over 100°F, keeping the grey/blackwater tanks on a low simmer. I'm a desert rat, so that's A good place for me. A couple of months ago, I noticed out of the blue, a nasty sulphur type odor. It wasn't from the toilet, but from the sink. A dose of Happy Camper (from Amazon) in the grey water tank fixed it. Incidentally, if you've ever mixed water with baking soda, you will notice that the powder settles to the bottom. I wouldn't put solids to sit at the bottom of my tank very often.
Ted

 

[yugogypsy1963]

I use vinegar, plain white 7% pickling vinegar as my tanks have no sensors it can damage. Works VERY well. Had a TERRIBLE smell in my old Fleury that would NOT go away no matter how often we dumped the tank, so one day after dumping it I poured about 2 quarts of vinegar down the toilet hole while Rob repaired the toilet and that did the trick. Can't do that in his Fleetwood because it has sensors and , well, I hold my nose if I have to use that bathroom :blush:

 

[yugogypsy1963]

Speaking of smells, the blackwater tank in my trailer is split, so I decided to take it and the toilet out and use a Luggable Loo of my own invention (Enamel bucket with toilet seat on top)

My partner had removed a blackwatertank before, but it was empty. Turns out mine was pretty full after a dose of toilet chemicals and lots of water. OMG, what a job, my partner loosened off all the pipe joints to the tank and when I used the spray wand on the hose, it washed out a lot of crap. Even with the holes and split in it, there was a lot of stuff in there and I flushed it for the better part of an hour, I still didn't get ALL of it, but enough to take the tank out without making too much of a mess. Hose leaked, so I got wet and COLD, but at least its done

Tomorrow we'll take the tank out, cap the pipe that ran from it to the dump outlet and put the tank on the garbage pile.

I also had to go out to the hardware store twice because I forgot the closet door handles I needed. Got those now and paint for a section of wall and paint for the oven door skin, which we'll sand and prime tomorrow, let dry and paint it the next day. Been a long afternoon (didn't sleep last night so slept in this morning)

But I won't have to go out tomorrow, just work on adding more insulation, scrub the section of wall that needs painting and put on the closet handles I got

The smell from the blackwater tank will go, I'm going to spread a bunch of cedar chips under the back of the trailer to kill some of the odor and hopefully my neighbor with horses has some agricultural lime to completely kill the odor. If not, oh well, we have a smell around for a few days.

Needless to say, if I sleep in the trailer tonight I'll have everything closed up tight to keep the smell out, no smell IN the trailer, just outside.
My partner poured all the effluent from the tank into our septic tank so it was properly disposed off except for a bit of water that soaked into the grass. Not the best way to do it, I know, but it was necessary. Bolts holding the tank in are breaking when my partner tries to take them off so he soaked them with diesel, which will hopefully loosen them up.

So no more smells for me and toilet won't be wasted, still works so its going in Rob's trailer as he has a recycling toilet that stinks constantly--think he has a plugged vent and he's going to check it tomorrow