holding tank odors


campaddict

New Member
Greetings all! We are new to the world of travel trailers having upgraded this year from a pop up. We have taken the new trailer on 3 weekend trips to state parks and just this past week stayed for the week on a full hook up site. We had not had any problems with odor coming from the tanks when we were not on a full hook up site. About mid-way through our week long stint a terrible stench, akin to rotten eggs, would emanate from our sink and tub drains when taking a shower and worse yet when emptying the bathtub. In addition, when dumping the tanks, there was no odor from the black water tank, but the rotten egg smell when we dumped the gray water. That being said my questions are:
1. How do we clean the gray tank?
2. How do we prevent this from happening again?
 

TexasClodhopper

Senior Member
Re: holding tank odors



Every once in a while, right before we head out on another leg of a trip, we fill up the kitchen sink with a ten to 1 mixture of water and Clorox (6%) then let this drain into the gray water tank. This get sloshed around while driving and watered down with more water as we stop and use the sink. (Be sure and rinse the sink well of the Clorox mixture!)

Haven't had a problem with smell.

And, BTW, welcome to the forum!
 

Bush70

New Member
Re: holding tank odors

I always put 2 oz. of chemical in the grey tank when I dump and put chemical in the black. So far no smell. If your grey vents through the rof you can put an order extractor on. I have what I call a shark on my black and it works great.
Good Luck
 
G

Guest

Guest
Re: holding tank odors

Did u have the valve open outside u'r rig ??? If so u were picking up the smell from the sewer pipe ,, i always keep my valve shut untill time to dump and i always run my gray water atleast 1/2 or more ,, then dump the black (with lotsa water) then dump my gray to wash everything down ,, bty do u have a faucet thingy on u'r toilet??? if so use it every time u flush ,, it keeps it clean that way,, and remember there is no such thing as enough water going into u'r black tank,,, so flush and flush agian ,,, and also use chemicals :)
 

DL Rupper

Senior Member
Re: holding tank odors

If you leave your tank valves open and run a vent fantastic it will sometimes suck the fumes right up the sewer pipe/hose. :dead:
 

campaddict

New Member
RE: holding tank odors

Thanks for all the responses! I am not sure if we have an exhaust on the roof or not but I have seen the odor extractors at the RV store. We did not leave either of the tank valves open as we had been told that odor could back up from the sewer. I had poured chemical into the sink drain but that was after the odor started and with the heat may not have been strong enough to eliminate?? I will try the bleach that Texasclodhopper recommends and see if that does the trick.
 
G

Guest

Guest
RE: holding tank odors

I would try the clorox thingy first and if "no go" then i would try using a liquid type odor elemenator and dumping it directly into u'r sinks and as before flush with lotsa water and then see what happens ,,, give it try and post us back with the results ;)
 

Kirk

Senior Member
Re: holding tank odors

There is probably also a vacuum breaker under the bathroom sink and possible the kitchen sink that are there to prevent an air lock in the line when draining the sink. It is not uncommon for them to stick open and if they do you will get just what you have. The are just screw on and can be easily replaced and they are available at Lowe's or Home Depot.
 
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