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Ponch · Joined: 16 Nov 2005 Posts: 591 Location: Springfield, Il.

Well I have a stinky toilet--duh!

The room just smell like a porta potty. I have cleaned everything in the room, cannot smell anything around the base. The bowl is holding water and I just flushed the tank.

This is driving my DW crazy and in turn me. ha ha

Obviously I'm missing something obvious so it must be my stupid twin that has been looking.

Any ideas?????

Thanks

Motor31 · Joined: 19 May 2005 Posts: 1730

Have you checked to see if the vent pipe has dropped down? It should be a double layer pipe on the roof. The vent pipe should be inside the extension that goes through the roof. If it has dropped down below the level of tank contents the tank will vent inside the trailer due to gas build up.

Have you also checked in the basement for leaks or tank problems? The black tank is the top most tank just under the commode. On my rig it also has the water pump mounted on it. Look for abrasions, scratches or a leaking valve. Fortunately that valve is easy to get to. Mine was already replaced with a standard non pull cable valve when the cable mechanism got too sticky to function. It's no big deal to me to slide the basement door open and pull the handle.

20 mule team borax will help remove the odor of spillage if sprinkled (dry) onto the spill.

Ponch · Joined: 16 Nov 2005 Posts: 591 Location: Springfield, Il.

Thanks Mike I'll go up and check.

Underneath in the basement seems to be good. Couldn't see or smell anything.

missourijan · Joined: 08 May 2006 Posts: 62 Location: Washoe Valley, NV

Ok, I'm going to offer something maybe you haven't thought of. Don't know if you are fulltimers or not but we are and I have found that when you are dumping (and the water is turned off to the rv), take the time to clean the "tube" going down to the tank. You don't have to be fulltimers and use that toilet all the time for "stuff" to grow in the tube, like pink mold & icky stuff. It will take more than one cleaning to get all the "stuff" off the tube wall. I use something strong like Awesome from the Dollar store and scrub that tube with the toilet brush. You also need to have the toilet brush on twine so you don't lose it, I stand on the end of the twine. And you need a good flashlight to see down there. Cleaning the tube makes a world of difference with smell.
Good luck!

BobW · Joined: 21 May 2006 Posts: 445 Location: Welches Oregon

Be aware and not drop a brush, or whatever down the tube. It will be a very bad day if you do. Tie a line to it with a loop on the end. You can retrieve it with a coat hanger.

Ponch · Joined: 16 Nov 2005 Posts: 591 Location: Springfield, Il.

thanks I'll try that and let you know.

Ponch · Joined: 16 Nov 2005 Posts: 591 Location: Springfield, Il.

Well the vent tube is fine so I'lll try cleaning the tube tomorrow.

Motor31 · Joined: 19 May 2005 Posts: 1730

You might have another cause for it too. Unfortunately it will require removal of the bowl to fix. The gaskets may have shrunk or failed a bit allowing gas to re enter the unit. This would be the gasket around the base of the toilet drop tube. In a stick home, like the wax gasket the stool sits on. The bowls flapper valve (rotating valve) will still hold water but the gasket is farther "south" of there.

bstark · Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 2:58 pm Post subject:

My money is on Mike's suggestion as that was the first thing I had to replace in my unit when new. The floor flange was loose in my rig due to the screws being "over torqued" and stripped in the plywood sub flooring. that allowed the toilet to walk a bit and the rubber seal leaked.

I ended up grafting another layer of 3/4" marine plywood to the underside of the floor and re-fastening the toilet floor flange to that.

On my unit to work on that underside of the floor area above the black tank, I removed the upper sliding service bay doors track along with the speaker wiring and 120v outlet panel above it, which gives you room to play in there.

My furnace, water pump, convertor are all mounted on top of my grey tank.

Motor31 · Joined: 19 May 2005 Posts: 1730

Ponch, any luck with it yet?

Ponch · Joined: 16 Nov 2005 Posts: 591 Location: Springfield, Il.

I went up on top and the vent was fine.

So then I did a through cleaning of the toilet tub and that helped a lot
HOwever I thing my next step will be to pull the stool and replace the rubber gasket. Since the stool will be out Ill clean the stool from the bottom side hopefully that will do it.

Motor31 · Joined: 19 May 2005 Posts: 1730

Ponch,

What was the fix for your issue here? Did you have to replace the bottom gaskets or the rotating "flapper" seal in the toilet?

Ponch · Joined: 16 Nov 2005 Posts: 591 Location: Springfield, Il.

Mike

I have decided to pull the stool and replace the gaskets.

We are due home about the 2nd of April so i'll pull it out replace them an give the stool a good cleaning.