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Old 08-12-2011, 11:55 AM   #1
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Question 2003 Flagstaff Odor Problems HELP!!!!

We just recently bought a 2003 Flagstaff from my mother-in-law. We knew it had odor problems but we figured we could find the problem and fix it. We have replaced the air vents under the sink in the bathroom and kitchen, which helped a little. We have cleaned out both holding tanks with baking soda, mean green, and tst odor control (all applied during different cleanings). We have cleaned out the fridge and freezer. The p-traps have been removed and cleaned. We have checked the vents that run through the roof, the one running to the black was clear, but the grey had a wasp nest and dirt bobber nest in it. We've cleaned those out and ran water through to be sure it came clear. The vents aren't loose or fallen in the the tank. We have turned off the LP tanks and disconnected the line. We have even cleaned the filter for the air conditioner. When the p-trap was off we didn't even have a bad smell coming through the pipe, it was a clean smell which was really odd because that's where we thought the smell was coming from the grey tank. The bathroom has no odor. Just the living/kitchen area. We can not find where this odor is coming from! It has a rotten food/gas/sewage smell to it. We have opened the camper up for several days and ran just the fan to see if that would help, but as soon as you would close it up again, the smell would be back. Any other suggestions???
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Old 08-12-2011, 12:40 PM   #2
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rotten egg or sulfer smell ?
if so its comming from you hot water heater maybe .
it may need a new anode rod.
we drain our hot water heater everytime we use it . because if we didnt we got a nasty smell .
just a suggestion
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Old 08-12-2011, 01:06 PM   #3
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It's hard to pinpoint the smell! I've got a really good nose, but this smell has me stumped! We haven't checked the hot water heater yet! It seems like it's around the kitchen area, and under the bed/storage area. I just went and purchased some damprid to see if maybe there is moisture in there that is causing it. I've seen some post where it would suggest it was the fresh water tan, but if there isn't anything in it, how can it smell?
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Old 08-12-2011, 05:48 PM   #4
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Do you have water in all of the traps? I know you said you cleaned them, but did you put water back in?
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Old 08-12-2011, 06:05 PM   #5
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Yes we ran water back through the sink and the tub so the gases from the tanks wouldn't come back through. This one is a complete stumper here!
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Old 08-12-2011, 06:32 PM   #6
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Sure is! I guess all that remains is to was everything down with Pine-Sol and spray everything you can't wash with Fabreze.
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Old 08-12-2011, 07:44 PM   #7
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We had the same problem. Drove me nuts.

Discovered a knitted wash cloth that had been left under the sink. It had been put there "damp." Ugh...
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Old 08-12-2011, 09:01 PM   #8
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Just last week we were in a campsite and a guy from a MH had a bad smell after much searching he discovered it was his very old batteries sulphating and the smell was seeping inside.
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Old 08-15-2011, 09:02 AM   #9
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Well I think I've narrowed it down guys. After cleaning from top to bottom, inside and out, I think it's the carpet under the bed. That was the last spot I started cleaning on. Apparently it had gotten wet before and was never allowed to dry out. When I got under there vacuuming and I started noticing a horrible, rank smell coming from my vacuum. Well, there was my sign. I've used Resolve Pet Odor carpet cleaner, which helped a little, but not long. I now have 2 damprids under there and have sprinkled 2 boxes of baking soda under there to see if that would help with the smell. It does help if you have the windows and door open with fans running, but as soon as you shut it up the smell returns. UGH!!! I'm to the point of cutting the carpet out of that area and putting linoleum down to see if that will solve my problem! I'm not sure if the hubby will want to take this step, but we have do figure out where this smell is coming from!!!
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Old 08-15-2011, 09:24 AM   #10
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Once you have a wet moldy carpet (underside) you MUST remove it and let the underlying wood dry. You will rot out your camper if you don't.

After an evaluation of the reason for the water damage; repair of the cause; then you can decide what to do next.
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Old 08-15-2011, 09:27 AM   #11
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Well, I guess we now have our answer on that one! Thank you Lou! HA hubby's gonna love this weekend project!
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Old 08-15-2011, 10:16 AM   #12
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Good Luck and keep us in the loop.

You can try to save the rug, but you might have to disassemble some cabinets to do it.

From my observation, the rug/vinyl goes on first then the interior is screwed down. I suspect that for the vinyl floor it is put on before the walls go up.

Also let me know if there is vinyl UNDER that rug.
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Old 08-15-2011, 10:46 AM   #13
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if there is vinyl under the carpet, u may try a steam carpet cleaner. may be worth a try. lots of time if there is vinyl flooring, they put that down first then put the carpet over.
my first thought when u said rotten egg was the black water tank. rotten egg smell comes form decaying protein.
if cleaning or changing out the carpet doesn't solve the problem, i would suggest filling ur holding tanks and see if u have any leaks.
this past week, i had a grey water smell in mine. appeared to be coming from the vacuum breakers (i believe that's what u called a vent..they do serve that purpose. they should seal unless there is a vacuum). odd thing is the tank that was almost full was the black.
i'm hung up on how the carpet under the bed got wet and from where. if u pull that carpet, i'd leave it off for a couple trips or tropical storms and see if the area is still getting wet.
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Old 08-15-2011, 01:45 PM   #14
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That's the strang part again! When I vacuum around the out side of the bed, I don't get that smell. I have a vacuum that you have to put water in and when you start picking up stuff that smells it hits you pretty quickly. When I started under the bed, that's when I would smell it! I don't know how it would have gotten wet either unless my mother-in-law had stored stuff under there that was wet. The bed is at the front of the camper so I'm not sure if there is any pipes that far up. The sink is midway and the bathroom is in the rear. The LP lines are the only lines that I'm aware of that would be going up that far, and we have the tanks turned off. The camper has always had the smell, but we never stayed in there much to try and trace the smell down. She had always thought it was her tanks. When we started this tracing project, we found that the tanks were actually pretty clean.
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Old 08-15-2011, 09:47 PM   #15
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that's strange. have u thought abt putting some activated charcoal under there and see if it sucks up the smell.
ultimately, the source will have to be found. if the plumbing doesn't pass under there, filling the tanks probably wouldn't yield anything.
did she have a cat? did she loose a cat?
i am visualizing the area under the bed as an enclosed storage area.
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Old 02-09-2012, 10:55 AM   #16
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Exclamation Rotten Egg Smell

All, we had the rotten egg smell issue with our Flagstaff TT. We were sure it was a holding tank issue or "re-vent" malfunction allowing odor to come back into the TT. After scratching our heads for a couple of days and second opinions from TT friends we found out exactly what it was. It ended up being battery acid fumes coming from the battery entering the TT. If your battery becomes low on water it will not take a charge correctly which in turn will make your charger run at a full 13.6 amp charge and never satisfy itself. This will cause the battery acid to begin boiling which will give off some really strong "rotten egg" fumes. If any windows are cracked open or if the roof vents are cracked open the fumes can be pulled back into the TT. This is a poisonous gas which is deadly and can explode!!!
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Old 02-09-2012, 02:26 PM   #17
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Hope it's not some dead little critter (mice, etc) inside a wall or closed compartment .

...VTX-Al
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Old 03-11-2012, 01:58 PM   #18
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check under and behind your converter i had a smell in ,ine i could not find for a while and looked behind it and found a dead mouse removed it and cleaned real good and problem solved
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