Ever walked into your motorhome, camper or RV rest room and been mortified by the horrible odor? It occurs to all van customers finally, ESPECIALLY when the climate warms up.
There’s a huge distinction between considering to your self ‘I ought to most likely give the motorhome a fast sweep up and tidy’ and questioning with embarrassment ‘WHY does my RV toilet stink so dangerous???!!!’
It’s time to speak bogs. RV, Motorhome and camper bogs, to be actual. And after I say toilet, everyone knows I principally imply the bathroom, proper? Yep, we’re going there, sewage smells and all. Put together yourselves…
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Why does my motorhome/ RV rest room odor like a sewer?
Motorhome bathrooms work otherwise from ones in a house- and boy, don’t we all know it! Every part you place into the bathroom is saved in a holding tank, which then must be emptied in a while.
That is often known as the black water or black waste tank… even when it’s a brownish cartridge which you must empty your self!
In ‘regular’ situations, motorhome bogs shouldn’t have a horrible odour- and so they DEFINITELY shouldn’t odor like a sewer when flushed.
Tips on how to maintain a camper rest room from smelling
Camper and caravan bogs odor for the next causes:
- Want clear
- Clog/ blockage
- Harm to the black waste tank
- Leaking rest room/ defective seal
The greatest trigger of bathroom odour in your camper is methane gasoline construct up- which is why it smells SO MUCH WORSE both at altitude or in scorching international locations. That is additionally why you don’t need your holding tank to dry out- extra on that later!
7 straightforward methods to make your RV rest room odor superb!
So, let’s cease your camper bathroom smelling like sewage and eliminate these rest room smells for you! Listed here are the 7 greatest methods we’ve discovered to minimise or cease motorhome rest room stink!
Use an honest product
It’s superb how straightforward that is to unravel when you’ve got rest room chemical. We now use a product referred to as Solbio natural rest room fluid, which is pure and doesn’t comprise dangerous chemicals- and it smells scrumptious (sure, severely!)
It’s additionally protected to be disposed of in septic tanks or fosse, that means we’ve got extra choices to eliminate our rest room responsibly.
Watch the overview of Solbio right here:
We hope you discovered the video helpful. In the event you did, we’d like it if you adopted us on Youtube. New movies with suggestions for motorhoming and campervanning within the UK and Europe are launched weekly.
Shut the bathroom flap securely
The primary is pretty self-explanatory: be sure you shut the flap between you and your holding tank after every use of the bathroom. You’ll actually remorse it should you don’t!
That is usually the most important reason behind RV bogs smelling like a sewer- the methane gasoline leaks out of a hairline crack someplace and boy are you aware it!
CLEAN REGULARLY to keep away from RV rest room odors
I hate to say it, as a result of NO-ONE enjoys cleansing a bathroom, however it actually does assist. Give your toilet a every day wipe down with antiseptic (or candy smelling cleaner).
We maintain ours in a helpful spritz bottle and use after a bathe to scrub the world. We then wipe down the bathroom (should you use disposable wipes, do NOT throw them into your rest room after use- put them in with the opposite garbage.)
The opposite factor which may odor in an RV toilet are the drains. An important product to make use of down the drains for the waste tank is Zoflora. Poor it neat down the bathe drain when you’ve got water in your tank and this may assist maintain the dreaded waste tank smells at bay. My buddy’s favorite odor is the Linen Recent!
We’ve a walk-in toilet/ bathe unit, so the drain in our motorhome works onerous to eliminate EVERYTHING. Attempt to keep away from placing ‘bits’ down your drains (each in bogs and kitchens) and clear the drains recurrently.
A cup of baking soda blended with water helps maintain drains clear and odor free. Learn extra on methods to clear your motorhome water tank.
Hair catcher
If in case you have (or are!) ladies with LONG hair, it is advisable filter the drain recurrently. All that hair will get washed down the drain and collects different bits… which smells disgusting.
If in case you have this bother, these are superb for catching hair!! Critically- so good. Simply be certain they suit your camper drain.
USE ENOUGH LIQUID to eliminate holding tank odours
That is counter-intuitive, I do know. ESPECIALLY in case your RV rest room makes use of your recent consuming water for flushing. However you NEED sufficient water in your rest room to cease smells- ‘dry’ camper bathrooms odor MUCH worse.
I may go into a protracted and technical description about methane gasoline launch from dried out waste yada yada… however frankly, no one must learn that, so simply belief me that wetter is healthier. Sure, you possibly can snigger. I doubt many children are studying this! 😉
In fact, don’t use TOO a lot water- you’ll replenish your RV waste tank a lot faster. It’s a fragile steadiness.
EMPTY the waste recurrently
The easiest way to cease camper waste smelling like a sewer is to… empty the sewer! The extra usually you empty, the much less it can odor. This additionally comes again to eliminating the stuff letting off the gases. Now, I do know this is likely one of the greatest cons of RV life, however it’s a small worth to pay for the liberty we love a lot!
In the event you use a conveyable rest room cassette in your motorhome, all the time be certain to clean it out correctly EVERY TIME (utilizing the faucet offered on the emptying station). We fill with water and empty at the very least a few instances to ensure all the pieces is out.
In the event you can’t empty your RV waste like that, this sewer tank rinser fixes onto your waste outlet and means that you can actually get the tank clear.
BE CAREFUL WITH TOILET PAPER
We by no means ever put our rest room paper down the motorhome rest room. We use a bin within the toilet which is for this function, and that bin will get emptied as usually as we will, normally as soon as a day.
We’ve lived on boats for 15+ years and that is completely regular for us, however I do know that many individuals discover this ‘a bit bizarre’.
Nonetheless, should you don’t put your paper down the bathroom you reduce the danger of blockages in your waste tank attributable to wadded, moist paper. Many individuals use far an excessive amount of paper- we’ve needed to be taught to lower the quantity we use.
One other benefit to not placing rest room paper within the cassette or black water tank is that the bathroom doesn’t get full so usually= extra time for wild tenting/ boondocking!
If that is too gross for you, use further water each time you employ your camper toilet- it helps soften the paper. Additionally, use the most affordable rest room paper you possibly can find- NOT the ‘accredited RV or motorhome paper’. Critically, grocery store personal model stuff will dissolve very well!! However again- extra water and ‘stuff’ in the bathroom will trigger it to replenish quicker!
Intelligent methods to eliminate RV rest room smells
This can be a nice trick to maintain your RV toilet smelling good all day lengthy. Disguise bogs scents or sachets someplace out of the way in which, and they’ll launch a scrumptious odor all day lengthy.
Watch out when you’ve got pets- be certain any sachets are out of vary as many usually are not appropriate for pets.
In case your RV rest room smells when flushed, strive placing a bit scent or important oil within the water flush. (NOTE- do NOT do that in case your rest room makes use of your recent water!!!!)
Match a vent or SOG unit
Many RVs have already got vents in-built (usually it’s a crack in these pipes which causes your RV toilet to odor like a sewer (or rotten eggs; pretty!)
Nonetheless, many campers and motorhomes don’t have any vent in any respect of their tiny bogs, so it may actually assist to put in one.
A SOG unit is a vent which runs at any time when the bathroom flap is open. This helps launch the gases which construct up inside the bathroom holding tank, sending them out via the vent as a substitute and protecting your camper odor free.
We put in a SOG in our final motorhome and it was actually helpful. Listed here are a few suggestions for becoming it:
- Ensure that the vent for the SOG isn’t wherever close to the door to your motorhome. In any other case, all these smells which have come out of the holding tank go straight again into your residing space…!!
- In case your rest room is close to the door, think about venting rest room odors up and out on the roof.
- Ensure you shut the flap SECURELY after utilizing the toilet- or the SOG retains operating, and operating.
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Can you employ the lavatory in an RV whereas driving?
I’d actually advocate NOT utilizing the lavatory in your camper whereas driving. Not solely is it in opposition to the regulation (seatbelts!!), however are you able to IMAGINE what would occur if there ought to be an accident?!?!
Urgh.
Spare 5 minutes and pull right into a service space earlier than you employ the lavatory (or get snacks and so on!)
What are your favorite methods to maintain your RV toilet smelling superb and free of bathroom odors? Share your suggestions beneath so we will all profit.
Need extra RV residing suggestions?
This was a query from one among our pretty US readers, (whats up!) so I’ve chosen to make use of US spellings. Regardless that writing odor with out a ‘u’ has made my spell test go psychological. You’re welcome! 😉
Final replace on 2024-05-09 / Affiliate hyperlinks / Pictures from Amazon Product Promoting API