Odiferous black tank vent

[lindy46]

The black tank vent on the roof of our trailer gives off some pretty offensive odors. When sitting outside it's almost unbearable when the wind is in the right direction. Any ideas for a remedy?

[chuckster57]

cleaner tank to start and a better odor control chemical.

[Bill-2020]

Yep ^^^ I second that. We toss in two of the tank packs with a couple more gallons of water (TST brand I believe it is), to make sure there's no stinky-stink. Seems that a bit more water helps to keep the chemicals working. But not so much water you're dumping too often, that's just wasting chemicals. No more stink. Now... if your neighbor isn't using enough chemical... that becomes a problem. What to do next?

[flybouy]

Originally Posted by lindy46

The black tank vent on the roof of our trailer gives off some pretty offensive odors. When sitting outside it's almost unbearable when the wind is in the right direction. Any ideas for a remedy?

You don't list any trailer info. That might help. You may want to check the electrolyte level of the battery as well. If the battery is defective and the "water" is boiling off it will give a strong sulfur odor that can be mistaken for sewer gas.

[lindy46]

Originally Posted by flybouy

You don't list any trailer info. That might help. You may want to check the electrolyte level of the battery as well. If the battery is defective and the "water" is boiling off it will give a strong sulfur odor that can be mistaken for sewer gas.

Brand new trailer in July. We traded our Heritage Glen for a Grand Design Transcend. It's definitely the roof vent. I was up there doing some maintenance and it was really strong coming out of the vent. We do use chemicals in the toilet the same as with the previous trailer, but we never noticed an odor from the previous trailer. I don't know if they make a charcoal filter which would fit the vent pipe. I know they do make them for residential vent pipes. I searched RV vent filter but came up with nothing.

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by lindy46

Brand new trailer in July. We traded our Heritage Glen for a Grand Design Transcend. It's definitely the roof vent. I was up there doing some maintenance and it was really strong coming out of the vent. We do use chemicals in the toilet the same as with the previous trailer, but we never noticed an odor from the previous trailer. I don't know if they make a charcoal filter which would fit the vent pipe. I know they do make them for residential vent pipes. I searched RV vent filter but came up with nothing.

If you've ever felt the "satisfaction that goes with a healthy, large dump" you know the increased aroma that intensifies from the solids that are above the water level. The same holds true for the solids in the black tank. If the water level is low enough that solids are exposed or if solids have stuck to the sides above the water level, you'll have "intensified aroma" that's not affected by any deodorant added to the water. Deodorant will "control" odors below the water level, but can't do anything with "stuff not under the water"....

Remember that the shape of the black tank is such that if you're only using 4 or 5 gallons of water, that may all "pool in the deep end" and any solids deposited in the "shallow end" (where the toilet dumps) may not be covered with water until the holding tank is over half full.

It may be as simple as adding 5 more gallons of water after a good, thorough black tank flush.

[Ddaddyo]

The Vent Is doing it's job. You need to clean the Black Tank better. Try adding some Oxi Clean and Zep Orange Degreaser. This combo worked Wonders on a Used Nomad we bought several years ago.