Dropped the underbelly, OH BOY!

2010augusta

Well-known member
Lately when using the fantastic fan or other vents we have had a VERY bad almost sewer type smell come into the trailer, Today is one of the hottest days we have had this year, and the stink got unbearable. I went out side, to see if the smell was anywhere else, and it was limited to near our trailer. I got down on all fours and felt the underbelly and it was VERY heavy and soggy. I removed all the screws on the drop-frame section of the underbelly and had several gallons of water drain out. I had to trash the 7'x8' section of fiberglass insulation and have the foil-bubble stuff drying in the truck bed and the chloroplast is drying under the trailer. I am hoping that airing out and drying out the the underbelly will remove the stink from our trailer.

I have NO idea if all the water is leftover from some of our water leaks that flooded parts of the basement, or if it was collected drive 300 miles in the rain to the OR rally:confused:.

I now others have had problems with water in the underbelly, but has anyone had a bad odor to go with it?

I think our icemaker supply line is leaking again too.

Might take this opportunity to replace tank sensors, and shim up the tanks that are sagging pretty good too.

What kind of insulation should I replace the batting with? We do stay in areas where the temps drop below freezing, so it is important to maintain or improve the factory level of insulation.

Not trying to rant, just want to know what others have done
 

newbie

Northern Virginia
Alan, FWIW, my icemaker water line springs a new leak once a month. I have just turned it off until I can repalce the entire line. I had come to my own conclusion that the plastic is defective for the purpose of a water line.

As far as insulation, I would use 3 1/2:" unfaced fiberglass. If you call an insulation distributor, you can get wide rolls. Better options than Home Depot/Lowes
 

Willym

Well-known member
My rear underbelly had a leak, I discovered it at the PDI. Dealer fixed a leak at the back of the water heater. Later it leaked again. Dealer dropped rear underbelly and we got several gallons of water out. We could not find a leak source - we checked all possible sources. Underbelly was restored with new insulation. On my current raod trip everything was dry until we hot some wet weather. I then noticed some water leaking at the rear again (from around the penetration for the FW tank drain) It has dried up again. I noticed that the underbelly is not tightly atached in some spots and I now think that water is getting up there from road spray and collects in the low spot of the coroplast. I will get this sealed properly when we get home.

My ice maker line leaked at the plastic line connection to the solenoid valve at the back of the fridge. The dealer thought that he had it licked, but it later leaked on me. I found that there was no internal brass sleeve in the end of the line where it enters the compression fitting. Installed the correct size sleeve and it no longer leaks. The factory had installed a sleeve at the other end of the line OK.
 

newbie

Northern Virginia
Roxul insulation or rockwool is very friable and breaks apart pretty easily when handling. Not to mention it is much itcher than fiberglass. We use a lot of this for fire rated assemblies in commercial buildings. For me, I would not consider it for the under belly, I think regular fiberglass would be much better for this application. I did use it above my fridge though.

Mcmaster-Carr has 4x10' sheets of unfaced, 2" fiberglass, which would be prefect. http://www.mcmaster.com/#fiberglass-insulation/=7wawz9

John
 

SouthernNights

Past South Carolina Chapter Leader
Another idea you may consider is closed cell spray foam insulation.

Not the cheapest and certainly not the easiest prep work, probably the hardest with our trailers, but you will get the most insulation you possibly can get.

Everything up against the bottom of the floor will have to be dropped. Once it is applied you will not have worry about using any kind of batt insulation.

Water will not hurt it and at over an R7 value per inch, it would do alot for the comfort of the floor. We will be doing ours hopefully by the end of the year.
 

beardedone

Beardedone
I have used Roxul insultation and found there is no itch at all. It is widely used where I live and that is one of the reasons. I wonder if the roxul John used was a different variety or design for a different purpose.
 

hillsonwheels

Well-known member
Alan,

Tho our rig is a Big Horn we have now had two instances of sewer gas smell issues. Last fall the problem was a cracked grey water tank (the one over the black water tank). We had the grey water tank replaced over the winter. All was cool on the way up from FL to the SC and NC rallies. Then we arrived on site at our place near Blacksburg, VA and started getting same odor as last year. Dropped the underbelly and found that the drain pipe leading to the black water dump valve was slipping out of the tank.

Talked to the tech who had fixed my grey water tank. He led me thru the repair process. Turns out the whole pipe assembly from tank to dump valve has no support other than where it runs thru frame.

Long story short......take a close look at the tanks and plumbing before buttoning everything back up.

Dick
 

slaytop

Well-known member
While you're at it be sure to check the integrity of the storage floor and make sure it is solid and not getting spongy and weak from water saturation. I'm currently replacing mine with a synthetic material that will be unaffected by moisture and mode.
 
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