Funky sewer smell in bedroom saga continues

[Reinita]

We've had our 3170 Sunseeker bunkhouse since April. Almost immediately, we noticed a sewer smell in the bedroom when someone flushes the toilet. The smell is not evident in the bathroom itself. Smell is worst near the wall between the bathroom and bedroom.
We took it in for warranty work. They replaced the black cap under the bathroom sink. The tech told us he found debris in there that was keeping the vent cap open. He cleaned it up and put a new vent cap on.
We left hopeful that we wouldn't have the problem, but alas, on our trip from Michigan to Florida the smell is still there.
Is it possible there's debris still there that's. Amusing this problem?
Before the warranty work was done, we did dump the tanks and that didn't help. We also checked for leaks and didn't find any.
We're at a loss and in need of gas masks.
Is this a design flaw, a construction error or did we get a lemon? Any help welcome and appreciated. A company response especially welcome since warranty work was done to no avail. Thanks!

[Ford Idaho]

design flaw

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...58187178,d.cGU

This just may be the problem I see where the toilet is just on the other side of a wall.
Is there a vent near there?

[fonzie]

Look at this thread, maybe you have a Dometic 300 toilet.....good luck.

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...ent-43509.html

[Reinita]

Sigh. Ours is the 310 but we'll talk to folks who did the warranty work (2 hours from home!) to see if they can get us anew toilet.thanks!

[Ford Idaho]

Originally Posted by Reinita

Sigh. Ours is the 310 but we'll talk to folks who did the warranty work (2 hours from home!) to see if they can get us anew toilet.thanks!

The 310's are not without problems.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...58187178,d.cGU

[ATVer]

I had a similar issue with the vent under the sink on another RV. During installation they put too much glue on the pipe connection and gummed up the vent mechanism. Replacement fixed it. However the vent under the sink is for the gray water tank not the black tank.
The black tank is vented out the roof and probably goes up through the area where you smell the odor. I have a 3120 so I can't tell you where the vent is. If you climb up the ladder you should be able to see the vent on the roof and tell where it passes through. The vent pipe may be broken, loose or wasn't sealed properly at the joints.

[garbonz]

Originally Posted by ATVer

I had a similar issue with the vent under the sink on another RV. During installation they put too much glue on the pipe connection and gummed up the vent mechanism. Replacement fixed it. However the vent under the sink is for the gray water tank not the black tank.
The black tank is vented out the roof and probably goes up through the area where you smell the odor. I have a 3120 so I can't tell you where the vent is. If you climb up the ladder you should be able to see the vent on the roof and tell where it passes through. The vent pipe may be broken, loose or wasn't sealed properly at the joints.

That sounds logical to me. Not an easy fix however unless you tear out that wall.

[ATVer]

Originally Posted by garbonz

That sounds logical to me. Not an easy fix however unless you tear out that wall.

Agreed since you can't drop the tank down because it's enclosed. I would work from the top as the vent cap should be able to be removed to get to the pipe. Hopefully it's just mispositioned and/or was not glued into the tank connection.

Sounds like the model toilet used has some issues but I would expect if it were the problem you would have the smell in the bathroom rather than the bedroom. Another possible scenario is the toilet seal is leaking, flowing under the linoleum into the bedroom area and the odor is coming up through the carpet.

Needs someone knowledgeable to troubleshoot. Not sure the dealer is the one since he wasn't even working on the correct (black) waste water system.

[Reinita]

So, we took the RV to Camping World of Northern Michigan. They checked everything they could think of. Nothing. We had almost given up when they spoke with the Forest River rep. They removed the cap on the vent (on the roof) and found that there was a significant gap all around the pipe that shouldn't have been there. They believe that made the fumes go back down into the wall and stink up the bedroom. So, they took care of the gap and put the cap back on.
We can't test it because it's cold enough in Michigan that we had to keep the unit winterized, but we are hopeful.
They did check the toilet, cleaned out our black tank, put water down the venting pipe to see if was leaking and checked for leaks.
Will keep you all posted in case anyone else has this problem. At this rate, the weather may warm up enough to de-winterize in July!

[Reinita]

De-winterized yesterday. Camping right now and using the toilet. So far, no stinky smell! Very hopeful. And very, very relaxed.

[Garrette]

I have been following and I hope you guys have this stinky problem fixed. Thank you for posting.

[Reinita]

We're pretty confident it's fixed. Phew! Thanks for all of the tips and suggestions. Hope this helps someone down the line.

[SKnight]

I've had a few moments like that mechanic must have had. "What tha? Would you look at that?"

Glad it's fixed! One of those unusual problems that can be so troublesome!

[Sun Seekers]

Amazing enough I had the same problem. I was able to get the drawings for the vent system for the holding tanks...what I found is if you take the vent cap off the vent line on the RV's roof you will probably find there is nothing to isolate the vent line and prevent the odor from flowing back into the RV. What I did is take the expanding insulating foam and sprayed it on the out side of the PVC pipe to seal off the air gap between the PVC Pipe and the RV roof structure. I reinstalled the vent cap and no longer do I have that smell. I contacted Forest River and they indicated this must had been missed during the manufacturing process...good luck.

[Am544]

I also removed the cap at the top of the vent tube. Used spray foam around the black vent tube that was moving freely around inside the wall. Poop smell gone forever. Thanks for the help. Before that the odor was in the bedroom and bathroom of 2014 3170ds.


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[Sun Seekers]

It's amazing how just a little quality control could have prevented your mystery or misery. Glad it worked out.