Toilet Odor

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camai7
Posts: 22
Joined: Sat Oct 01, 2005 1:25 pm

Toilet Odor

Post by camai7 »

This is a rather basic topic, but does anyone have a magic formula for avoiding odor from the black holding tank?

1. Powder vs liquid?

2. Does doubling the recommended amount of powder or liquid help?

3. Any particular brand favorite?

4. What is recommended maximum time between dumpings (assuming tank is not full)?

5. Does using the relatively new flushing system really help?

Thanks in advance.
Jim
John S.
Posts: 477
Joined: Fri Sep 08, 2006 9:01 pm

Post by John S. »

I have some experience in this. I will dump when I am on the way home at a flying J or at the local camping world. I do this if I am not full on the way home if I am using it for a weekend trip to the grandkids house. This moves all the stuff and makes it a broken up and allows for an easy drain. I then drain the grey water. Now as to oder, make sure you have enough water int he bowl and that it does not drain out. Also do not put the fan on when you flush or you will just suck up sewer gas. I do not put anything in the tanks but I do use plenty of water..... I have no issues with oder either. If you use a formaldahyde formula you may not be able to dump it at some campgrounds since it stops the breakdown and the septic sytem at home might not like it either. I have found that I have not had any issues but I do put dawn dish detergent in both tanks when they are full of water and drive around a bit and then dump it. That works great...
David and Susan Bratt
Posts: 412
Joined: Wed Nov 30, 2005 9:11 pm

Post by David and Susan Bratt »

Are you sure the vent is not blocked with a bird's nest or something?
Rover 2002 24ft RB

www.ourtravelswithrover.com
Trisha

Post by Trisha »

As for leaving the tank partially full...I recommend not. However, every once in a while, I'll fill it (black tank..use the sink) about 2/3 with clean water, drive around a bit and then dump. It cleans the tank up a bit.

I sometimes just use the MH instead of the car for errands around town just to keep it going.
jimnphyl
Posts: 24
Joined: Mon Nov 03, 2008 7:47 pm

Post by jimnphyl »

I’m interested in what others say about this, but here’s my experience:

We don’t get sewer odor except after flushing when the weather’s been hot and I’ve allowed the tank to get too full. If there was sewer gas odor under other circumstances, that would be unusual, and I would look for some problem.

Initially, I used a variety of holding tank powders and liquids for the black water tank. I tried a bacteria/enzyme liquid after reading a rave review about their effectiveness on an online forum, and have continued to use this type of additive. Beyond environmental considerations, it makes sense to me that these would help break down waste. I use “Pure Powerâ€
Jim & Phyllis

2000 24' Rear Bath
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karls
Posts: 118
Joined: Fri Jan 27, 2006 9:55 pm

Post by karls »

We were bedeviled with black tank odors and here's what I did/recommend.

The odor was intermittent and obviously caused by a back flow from the outside "stink pipe" vent on the roof through the commode, past the blade (operated by your foot) and up into the cabin.

The trick is to get the air flow to go the other way, i.e., down through the commode and out the roof vent. That means, of course, you have to configure the RV to have higher air pressure inside than at the roof vent.

To get the higher inside air pressure it is necessary to have all windows and vents closed. The latter was particularly vexing for me because the roof Magic Air fan/vent, or whatever it is called, did not close firmly and while under way I could see it was lifting slightly and letting air out. There is a low pressure area on the roof and if it isn't firmly sealed there is no way to prevent odor back flow unless you have a perfect blade seal in the commode (not likely).

Concerning the foot-operated blade, I found the ours had become jammed a little short of fully closed with toilet paper residue. Cleaning the slot with a right angle piece of wire (clothes hanger size) allowed the blade to bottom fully, but did not completely solve the air back flow problem. Operationally, we now make it a point to hold the flush until the paper is past the blade before releasing the pedal.

Back to airflow. The stink pipe vent on our 98 24"RB is just right of the ladder at the rear of the roof. I removed the cap and installed a pvc pipe with two 90 degree fittings that put the end of the pipe about a foot below the roof line in the lowest air pressure available (while moving).

To make the cabin pressure as high as possible close the windows and vents tight, put the climate control switch on outside air (ram air from the front while moving) and turn on the fan to as high a setting as you can tolerate (noise).

If all this fails the "Appalachian Engineering" sure fire solution is to take a plastic shopping bag, stuff it with somebodie's T-shirt and stuff it in the top of the commode. (Just don't forget to remove it before that 3AM nature call or you will be inventing new invectives.)

A comment on the climate control system. I believe that when the A/C is on, the ram air (vent position) is bypassed and the A/C recirculates the air in the cabin. This means the ram air effect is absent and you will be more likely to get odors. In this case you will need to employ "the plug."

Although I haven't experimented with the various tank additives, I don't think any of them can do much more than reduce the severity of the odors to some degree.

Hope this bit helps solve the olfactory overload syndrome.
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