Tank odors

jamesl85

Member
Hi everyone, new Heartland owner here and new to RV owning. I just purchased a 2009 38' Bighorn and love it so far after some minor modifications. My biggest issue right now is that every time I use the kitchen sink I get tank odors in the unit. I've replaced both air admittance valves and used spray foam to seal the roof vent and floor cutout but still get the smell. Anyone have ideas where else it could come from?
 

sengli

Well-known member
Is there another sink or shower that shares that grey tank? Quite often there is more than one input to a grey tank. So there would be another admittance valve in play. You sealed the roof vent with spray foam? I hope you didnt seal it off as that of course is the function of that roof vent to ...vent the fumes outside of the coach. After a few years our tanks kinda had a odor too. I just dosed them up with blank tank cleaner and 10 plus gallons of water occasionally and let them "soak" for a a day or two to clean out the funk before dumping.
 

jamesl85

Member
I replaced both valves, one in kitchen and one in bathroom. I didn't seal the actual pipe just the cutout where it went through the floor and roof. The tank valve may be leaking, every time I go to connect the hose there is always some that comes out. But how would a leaking valve on the outside of the coach allow odors to enter the coach?
 

MTPockets

Well-known member
Hi everyone, new Heartland owner here and new to RV owning. I just purchased a 2009 38' Bighorn and love it so far after some minor modifications. My biggest issue right now is that every time I use the kitchen sink I get tank odors in the unit. I've replaced both air admittance valves and used spray foam to seal the roof vent and floor cutout but still get the smell. Anyone have ideas where else it could come from?
Do you have a washing machine hook up? If there is a space for a washing machine, whether or not you actually have the machine, there is a vent thru the ceiling that needs to be sealed around thd pipe like thd you did around the roof vent.
 

MikePro

Member
Not sure if you solved your problem but I have a 2013 Heartland Prowler 32 foo bunkhouse and just went threw the same problem. I had an air admittance valve under the kitchen sink and under the bathroom sink that I replaced. Then went onto the roof where I had 3 vent stacks. I removed the covers and all 3 had the vent pipe cut close to roof level and gaps around the pipes into the ceiling cavity. I could not extend the pipes as I did not want to pull off the caps so I used spray foam around the pipes to fill the gaps into the ceiling. So far so good, now just keeping my fingers crosses. It was 45C here today and no smells.
 
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