Sewer smell...why?

[FreeDivr]

Ok folks help us out please. Took out our 2504s for a great family vacation and now have a problem we have never experienced...the trailer smells like a porta potty, I mean bad!

Here is the interesting twist; we were on full hookups which isn’t a usual for us, I loved the fact that I could take my time on the dump process. I dumped black tank, rinsed several times with the black tank flush, then drained gray and was excited....only to get home and realize the entire trailer smelled awful.

Two days now and still stinks. Tanks are totally empty, now what and why is this occurring!?!?

Sincerely,

Skunky Trailer

[Funengineer]

You might have a faulty or plugged vent or If you have a Dometic toilet you may have a leak between the top and bottom halves. Look at the back of the toilet where there is a large cavity. On some toilets this area accumulates urine. If this is the case and you are under warranty, Dometic will send a replacement or upgrade for an additional cost. If this is the problem post your findings here and we can make recommendations.

[dalford]

Originally Posted by FreeDivr

Ok folks help us out please. Took out our 2504s for a great family vacation and now have a problem we have never experienced...the trailer smells like a porta potty, I mean bad!

Here is the interesting twist; we were on full hookups which isn’t a usual for us, I loved the fact that I could take my time on the dump process. I dumped black tank, rinsed several times with the black tank flush, then drained gray and was excited....only to get home and realize the entire trailer smelled awful.

Two days now and still stinks. Tanks are totally empty, now what and why is this occurring!?!?

Sincerely,

Skunky Trailer

Does it smell like urine? Do you have a Dometic Model 300 toilet? If you do just search this website for model 300 problems..

[Iggy]

Obviouesly you didn't get all the solid waste cleared out.
If it was me I would fill the blank tank up to max with chemicals and go for a ride and dump. You may have to it a few times as it seems your method of dumping didn't get 100% of the solids out.

It will take time and if you can't do it you can pay come someone to pressure wash the tank at a campground.

Sorry I don't have a better answer for you.

[NEOCamper]

Does it smell bad inside or outside? If it is inside, I say check the Dometic toilet like others have suggested.

If it is outside, check your battery. I recently had an issue where is smelled terribly outside of the trailer and finally discovered it was my battery gone bad.

[nomad297]

Replace any air admittance valves you can find.

Bruce

[FreeDivr]

Originally Posted by nomad297

Replace any air admittance valves you can find.

Bruce

If I’m understanding they are located under the sinks? They just screw in?

[6CatDaddy]

You were on full hookup, but did you keep black and gray dump valves closed till tanks filled?

You have to do that, which you probably did...

Million recipes out there, but for us, we use Happy Campers tank treatment in the black and gray tanks.

Throughout the hottest summer weather there has been zero black or gray tank odors, in the trailer, outside and when dumping, again zero odors.

Hope you get yours figgered out!

[6CatDaddy]

Originally Posted by FreeDivr

If I’m understanding they are located under the sinks? They just screw in?

That is a whole 'nother can of worms...

The valve usually found just under bathroom sink bowl is inline on the black tank flush line notorious for leaking water into the camper when blk tk flushing and reported allowing blk tk odors into the trailer.

Google search rv anti siphon leak for that. (I removed ours, replaced with a straight union and put the anti siphon outside on the connection to the blk tk flush)

But, should not have the blk tk odor coming out of that IF the blk tk vent pipe to roof of trlr is clear.

Again a good tank treatment such as "Happy Campers" will remove odors on a properly clean blk and gray tank.

[waybeck2018]

Here is the interesting twist; we were on full hookups which isn’t a usual for us, I loved the fact that I could take my time on the dump process. I dumped black tank, rinsed several times with the black tank flush, then drained gray and was excited....only to get home and realize the entire trailer smelled awful.


Same problem here. After every dump, flush and clean until clear water runs through. Then repeat a flush with 50% of tank capacity and dump again seeing clear water. Next week end smelly toilet !! But, only notice it if the front AC is on. I am thinking the vent, which is close to the AC is sending the vapor and it is sucked up into the AC inlet. But, after a couple days the scent is not there whether the AC is running or not.

[TJ Midwest]

I second the suggestion to search here for posts on Dometic toilet issues before doing anything else. Depending on the model year, you might have a "defective" toilet. We called Dometic Customer Service cause we were having the same problem with our 2019 2509s this spring. They upgraded us to a model 310 for $75, and we've had no issues since.

[elind]

Our camping friends's had this problem. It was the Dometic 300 toilet and after the third time, they junked it. Dometic replaced it twice because waste was leaking out where the two pieces of the toilet were joined. He just bought a new ceramic toilet to replace it. We'll confirm the fix in a couple of weeks when we make a weekend out for a poop run.