B190 Enthusiasts

This has been driving me nuts.

Whenever I drive my rig, I usually get toilet oders for the first few minutes, maybe up to 45 minutes. I've changed the vent cap to one of those new suction ones, I'm diligent about tank treatment but still...
Just now I watched a vid about keeping in a "water head" in the toilet to act as a seal. I've noticed that the gasket in my toilet leaks and will not hold water. Somehow, when I drive, I believe toilet gas must be getting sucked up and into my rig.

Might this be my problem? Do I need to replace that gasket?

Yes, that very well could be the problem. The good news is that those gaskets aren't super hard to replace (supposedly, though I haven't done it).

Yes a few inches of water keeps the fumes out likely because it's holding water hence certifying that the gasket is tight. I always keep a few inches of water in the bowl (spring, summer, fall) and antifreeze in the winter. Maybe that helps keep the gasket from drying out....maybe.

I replaced the gaskets and yes, not super hard but not easy-peasy either. My toilet holds water now so hopefully my oder problem is gone.

Mark wrote:I replaced the gaskets and yes, not super hard but not easy-peasy either. My toilet holds water now so hopefully my oder problem is gone.

Our toilet holds water but we still have smell. Have taken toilet out and put back on with new seals. Still smells. I'm thinking it may not be venting.(smell during our last trip was bad when flushing and hole was only briefly open) Original vent on roof was cracked so we replaced that last year. Here's my crazy idea to test if it's venting: take off the roof vent cover and pour water down the vent tube. It should end up just flushing into the black tank if it's clear, right? If it doesn't flow into the black, we know we're the problem lies....thoughts?

Hotone41,
My system is driving me nuts as well. I relapaced the gaskets and added one of those vent covers that is supposed to add to the suction. Still, if I drive with the windows open, I get sewer smell in my rig. I was also thinking that it wasn't venting properly.
In my rig, a 97, the vent for the toilet goes (facing the back) from the roof on the back left (passenger side), across the back (behind the bathroom cabinets and inaccessible), turns right towards the front, goes into the area on the driver's side where you can access the back of the refer, and then down into the toilet tank.
I would park my rig in such a way that I was sure that the water would drain into the toilet for this test.
One problem though, most of the vent pipe is inaccessible without major cabinet removal. Are you ready for that job?

After reading this post I went out and did the water test. Yes, water was draining back into the toilet. The test proves that the pipes are connected, at least not cracked on the bottom and not 100% blocked.
What I did notice was a giant leak where I had drilled a hole through the pipe to get the wires from my solar panels into the rig! This may sound sort of Duh!, and I can't argue. I had the spot duct taped and I thought I had done a good job but obviously not.
I had some stretchy, sticky, rubber tape that is specifically designed to seal up these kinds of leaks in my tool box so I went to work on it. I believe I did a good job sealing the hole airtight. I'm heading out on a big drive tomorrow and I'll keep you posted.

Here's a link about deodorizing the tank. It can help with the odor even if you have everything sealed
https://axleaddict.com/rvs/How-to-Care- ... ding-Tanks


Cliff

lido14co wrote:Here's a link about deodorizing the tank. It can help with the odor even if you have everything sealed
https://axleaddict.com/rvs/How-to-Care- ... ding-Tanks


Cliff

Thx Cliff
We will purchase the swivel stick and give that a try. I feel we've been good about maintaining and dumping black tank and using enzyme product. We have to wait til the snow melts and then give it a try. We've only had our B190 a year so good idea to give it a good cleaning.

Here's an idea to find where an odor leak may be coming from.

Fill your toilet with a bit of water to get a nice seal there. Close up your rig real tight, close all the windows and kitchen vent. Turn your fan on and if it has a high setting, turn it up to that.

So, now you have air being sucked out off a supposed sealed area. Are you smelling anything? Sniff around to try to find where the odor is coming from.

BTW, I have solved my odor problem. I'm sure it was a combination of the hole I drilled in the vent pipe and the toilet valve not sealing.
I fixed those two issues and had also installed one of the 360 (https://360productsnorthamerica.com/site/a) vent caps, the ones designed suck air from the vent stack.

Given that the new gaskets allow me to keep a "water head" in my toilet, I believe I'm also using more water in my toilet system. I've also recently bought one of those whirlybird cleaners and am diligent about cleaning the tank when I empty it. Even when I'm flushing the toilet, I get no odor. I use the Aqua Kem toilet deodorizer with no special technique. I'll fill the toilet to maybe half a gallon, pour in some Aqua Kem (I don't measure it) and flush the toilet.

So, all in all, good toilet gaskets, a solid vent pipe and new vent cap solved the problem for me.

SOLVED IT ONCE AND FOR ALL!!!!! (My previous solution ultimately didn’t work)

Okay, I did it all, new gaskets in the toilet, checked that the vent didn’t have any holes, serious biz blank tank chemicals, different (from the original) tank vent, nothing worked. When I was driving with ANY window or vent open, sewer gas was sucked into the rig.
The low profile 360 Vent didn’t work.

I ended up getting that weather vane type vent.

The deal with the low vents, is that the air coming across the top of your rig is turbulent and the gas does not cleanly flow off the rig, it gets sucked back into the rig. The weather vane type vent is a taller so it gets the gas above that layer of turbulence and it doesn’t get suck back into the van.

SUCCESS!!! (It’s easy to install also)

Hi,

Which one did you use?

This one?
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Camco-Cyclon ... t/16927796

Yes

Mark wrote:Yes

Thanks, that's good to know.