Grey water smell

[lensmanicu]

We are getting a bad smell in kitchen. When washing dishes. And a gurgle when drainingthe grey water tank. Any suggestions please advise.

[wingnut60]

Should be a vacuum break in the drain under the sink somewhere--probably bad valve. Easy to find replacement, but might be hard to access. Not unusual for grey to develop bad odors--rotting food particles and such.

[lensmanicu]

Is it possible the smell could be coming from the fresh water tank? This camper is a used camper which we have only owned since January. We have never used our fresh water tank even on a brand new unit we had once. Was wondering if I could by pass the tank and run water direct thru fresh water lines? And while by passed sanitize the tank? Please advise!

[wingnut60]

Always possible for fresh water to smell, or be contaminated. The gurgle sound would indicate to me an obstruction in the drain somewhere. First would suggest that you dis-assemble the drain pipes under the sink and inspect them. Also, fill water tank with chlorinated water, run thru all pipes/faucets, drain tank, repeat, then see if next tank of clean water smells like. Also, the fresh water from the city does not go thru the water tank.

[Notanlines]

Wingnut certainly doesn't need me to back up what he says, but do exactly what he recommended and you'll get to the bottom of your problem.

[Stripit]

I used to back flush the grey tank with a Flush King system and would be surprised by the "gunk" that was in the grey tank. I would do that every couple of months and drop the traps under the sinks to flush and clean them also.

[OneReallyOldGuy]

One more thing to try is adding “digest it” to a full gray water tank and letting the little bugs feast for a week.

[bsmoot]

There is a Air Admittance valve under the sink. It's usually black plastic and screws on by hand. The valve acts as a vent to allow water to drain. When you put water in the drain the valve opens. If it stays open it allows gas from the grey tank to rise into the room. The black plastic valve are cheap and often fail. You can screw it off, cover the pipe with something, and take to any large hardware store or home. depot for a replacement.

[dmorse68]

Here’s a video showing and explaining the vacuum breaker, or commonly called cheater valves. Hope it helps:

https://youtu.be/m0SIN71seig

[grafton guns]

Two things come to mind, !st Check the roof vent for blockage. I have ran a garden hose to flush out a vent line plugged with leaves etc. had no vent cap. 2nd there should be a room vent or vacuum break under the sink coming off the drain. This could be stuck open allowing fumes to enter the space. How old is this unit? Could it be coming from fresh water tank? You can sanitize the tank and lines with 1 cup bleach to your freshwater tank fill the tank the rest of the way with water. Turn faucets on one at a time until you smell the bleach. Let stand at LEAST 4 hours then drain. Fill the fresh water tank again with fresh water. Run each faucet until you no longer smell the bleach in each one. You are now sanitized. You should probably put the water heater in by-pass mode when you sanitize the system unless that tank is full of crud as well. Hope this helps!

[dmorse68]

Originally Posted by grafton guns

Two things come to mind, !st Check the roof vent for blockage. I have ran a garden hose to flush out a vent line plugged with leaves etc. had no vent cap. 2nd there should be a room vent or vacuum break under the sink coming off the drain. This could be stuck open allowing fumes to enter the space. How old is this unit? Could it be coming from fresh water tank? You can sanitize the tank and lines with 1 cup bleach to your freshwater tank fill the tank the rest of the way with water. Turn faucets on one at a time until you smell the bleach. Let stand at LEAST 4 hours then drain. Fill the fresh water tank again with fresh water. Run each faucet until you no longer smell the bleach in each one. You are now sanitized. You should probably put the water heater in by-pass mode when you sanitize the system unless that tank is full of crud as well. Hope this helps!

Got to reading about the freshwater tank sanitation procedure described here and thought to myself it would be a good idea to do that to my tank even though I’ve never used it. So, dumb question here but, how would I go about inserting the 1 cup of bleach inside my fresh water tank so I can sanitize it?

Thanks,
David

[OneReallyOldGuy]

I poured it into my water hose then re-attached it and filled the tank.

[wingnut60]

As above. Also, if you have a canister filter on the inlet piping, you can pull the canister, take the filter out, add the chlorine, reattach and run water into the tank.