Mystery chemical smell

[Tara]

Good afternoon, I have a nasty sticky salty chemical smell coming from the underbelly of our 2017 Freedom Express. It has the underbelly cover. I first noticed this strong smell coming from the fake fireplace cabinet. Very strong. But the smell also comes from any cabinet open to the floor/underbelly. Any cabinet with pipes that have holes around them, stinks. I can also smell it from the outside. If I pull the belly cover away the smell is strong. There has been no water seen coming from under the rv. The belly cover has no sag. The entire RV smells so bad I cannot be in it. Worse with hot weather for sure. Stuck my nose in all sinks and toilet, no bad smell. It doesn’t smell of mildew, doesn’t smell dead, doesn’t smell like sewer, doesn’t smell like sulfur or rotten eggs. Doesn’t exactly smell like straight chemical either, it has a little funk on it. This is a smell that will get into your clothes,etc so you stink having been in the rv. Also of note, the a/c cuts the smell a bit. Pressure or the cool air? I am going to seal up all areas I can for now but I’d like to pin this smell down. Oh, smelled the foam stuff they use to seal around pipes,etc. not it. The material used to cover the belly doesn’t smell. Thank you for ideas.

[SeaDog]

Welcome to the forum its a great place to get your questions answered. I think I would drop the corpolast belly covering and investigate what is causing the smell. My first thought was dead rodent. If you drop the covering you will be able to truly check things out.

[WRS]

Look up cross roads rv chemical smell .
We have a cedar creek with the same problem.
Permeates everything, ruins food stored in camper .
Have tried everything, ozone, ammonia, bleach bomb.
Seems to be across manufacturers, must be a material fro a supplier that services multiple brands.
No one seems to have the answer

[Tara]

Thanks for the welcome and replies. I have found the other fb posts about the smell😔not encouraging at all. We plan to have it looked at by an RV repair place soon. The smell is definitely in that underbelly. I have blocked off the large heater intake and the fireplace. (Inside the cabin) Two places that really let the smell up into the cabin. My husband suspects the grey/black tanks are touching some other chemical product, like the foam they are generous with, and this is why the outside stinks but no smell is coming from the drains.
We tested the foam spray, no smell on its own. Whatever it is, it is a large quantity. This smell is very strong. I also got a sniffer device and it is not propane or formaldehyde. I had read of a person with a small leak that they did not pickup as propane so I was hopeful to solve it. This am I walked up to the rv to go in and bam, from the outside the smell is so obvious. Worst smell ever.
I will post the underbelly findings, it will be in July though, they are backed up.

[WRS]

Please keep us posted.
I have also removed all under body panels and insulation to no avail.
I will post if I learn any more.
There is another thread currently on this fourm as well sounds like same issue.
Good luck

[Tara]

That's not good news (that you haven't found the source). I will definitely update when I get more information. Currently the chemical smell has been greatly reduced inside due to the blocking of the fireplace and the intakes for the heater.
It(the smell) is in the cabinets of the bathroom and kitchen because they are open to the belly by way of pipes, but the doors are kept shut so it isn't coming out into the cabin much.

I now have a new problem.....leaking..... sigh.