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Drive off a Cliff Caliber Stinky Toilet
Dry camped with four adults for a week and absolutely no issues with our toilet. I stopped at the dump island on the way out and emptied both holding tanks. Added a bunch of the deoderant fluid to the toilet and several flushes of water and headed down the road to the highway. About 10mins later the entore bus was filled with eye watering stench. Sure made it hard to focus on driving! I thought perhaps there wasnt enough water in the black water tank so I had my wife use the shower spray head to fill the bow to the top a few times and flush. After overnighting on the way back, the stench was back the next day.
The flapper seal is fin and the bowl stays full of water, so I really need to understand where the sewer gas could come from.
So two questions – first, is there something proceedurally I am doing wrong with the system in terms of dumping? Second, can someone describe the “anatomy” of the plumbing? The pipe from the toilet to the tank is in good condition as far as I can see. So, is there a “vent stack” from the black tank to the roof (like in a house) that could be leaking gas? I know there is a line from the far end of the tank labeled “wash-out” that someone stubbed-off (assume it originally had a garden hose connection on the end) and I see that it loops up into the space behind the toilet with a “vacuume breaker” like that used on a dishwasher drain hose in your house sink. Wondering since that is inside the coach if that could be leaking gas?
Really appreciate both “process” and “plumbing debug” advice, thanks!!
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18 Replies
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Sounds like your “vacuum breaker” may be stuck open. Easy to replace and Lowes/Home Depot is my source.
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It is highly probable you either have an open trap or a faulty air admittance valve.
Run water through every device in the coach that uses water to fill their respective traps. Since all devices need to be vented your system should be vented through the roof like your house is. But some vents can’t be connected to the roof vent plumbing so the converters usually use a vent that has a small ball check in it. Drain water and the valve opens. Stop water from drining and a small spring holds the ball in place to prevent odors from being drawn into the coach.
It sounds as though if the odor is as strong as you describe that you have a negative pressure in the coach, combined with holding tank odors entering the coach through a dry P trap, a bad admittance valve or a break in the system (most unlikely).
If the coach has been driven with the shower or bath exhaust fan open and running that could contribute. Maybe sitting still the negative pressure is not enough to draw the odors from the tank, but when driving you may have something literally sucking the air from the coach which may be drawing the odor into the coach, and if strong enough drawing the water from the traps. Do you hear any gurgling sounds as you drive?
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Thanks for the info. No noises but now that I am thinking about it – we were expecting a storm when we left the bus for a few hours and locked and shut everything – but I did leave the ceiling vent in the bath on. That would induce negative pressure. The flapper valve would just suck shut tighter, but I guess the negative pressure could suck gas in through that vacuume breaker?
I will pulse Nick Hessler and see what he knows about black tank venting.
BTW, we virtually never use the washer/dryer – does it have a trap that would dry-out if it weren’t run occasionally?
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The washer should have a trap. If you don’t use it the trap may be your entry point for odors.
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All good advise, p-traps (especially the washer/dryer) or vacuum breaker. With the bus closed up, run the exhaust fan and sniff all the drains, you’ll find it. Also, if you may have a toilet bowl with a vent hole below the rim that has a mini p-trap that now doesn’t have any water in it.
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Liam, on my 1990 Country Coach we had the vents Jon mentioned under kitchen sink and bathroom vanity. On a vertical pipe it looks like a cap slightly fatter than the pipe. They do wear out. Easy to replace. They cost a few bucks at home depot. As for negative pressure, we learned that driving with the toll window open was certain to suck sewer smells into the bus from who knows where.
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Our first coach had roof vent fans that we often ran while driving. We could hear the P traps gurgling because the negative pressure in the coach was significant. It did not take long before the aroma reached our noses.
Since then we don’t even open windows and we never run vent fans.
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Thanks everyone for the awesome advice, I will do some searching and experimentation. I had a pair of Datsun 280Z sports cars and they were famous for negative pressure slip-stream at the rear bumper. One worn tail liht gasket and the car filled with exhaust fumes. Sounds like the same deal.
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In my Royale it would smell like crap when driving down the road if the window was open , I found the vent tube cracked on top of roof where vent cap went on fixed it put new cyclone vent cap on and never I smell even with the window open hope that helps , I leave my toll window open half way most of the time in my liberty never a smell , I put Happy Camper treatment in toilet , not the green or blue stuff , maybe try that!!!! I used my coach for five months empty black tank every week did not flush tank, when I was at home for two weeks I thought I would flush black tank filled with water drove 400 miles when I got home the water that came out was clear not one bit of color in it , I think it works great, I thought there would have being some color in water but there was not. Hope that helps!!!!
I also replaced all auto vents first they where not the problem , it was the vent tube on roof where it came out of roof it was cracked the smell would travel across roof inside and come out microwave vent very hard to find , but I found it. I think maybe somebody before I owed the coach maybe tree branch hit vent cap and cracked pipe on top of roof easy to do , the crack was above roof and one inch below roof inside coach!!!!
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Another idea – you sure it’s not a bad house battery? That sulfuric smell will sure water your eyes.
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I ask as I have a similar problem. My bath area starts to stink like the black water tank when I run the vent fan. I changed the little vent parts under the sink. The ones with the felt in them. I still get the stinkeroo when I open the roof vent and run the fan. I was wondering if my wax seal on the potty my be allowing stink to come up with the negative pressure? Curious what you found.
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All good thoughts for CC owners…we found our Toilet (Microflush) has an overflow tube that drops down and upward which acts as a ptrap, but, can loose its contents over time due to no replacement fluids. It should replenish during each flush, but as a matter of “Maintenance” I make sure when I drain the black tank, I fill the bowl far enought to ensure some water will enter the overflow tubing to replenish and keep unwanted “air” in the tank.
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The best holding tank stuff out there! Nice people that own it too.
Fred
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I have to keep a vacuum near the toilet area because when I open the toilet lid, rose petals over flow and fall on the floor.
I guess it might be a Liberty thing.
Same thing happens when it’s time to dump (it gets a little embarrassing), the rose petals will fall out when I open the bay door. I quickly sweep what I can and I know people point and stare when I leave as I hate to leave so many petals on the ground.
We all have our burdens.
Ha ha!
Mark
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You are funny. That’s a beautiful bus you have Mark Congrats!
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