Odor in Forest River Wildwood Bathroom and Hall

by Sharon
(Wetumpka, AL)

Question: We purchased a used 2000 Forest River Wildwood fifth wheel from a dealer that restores damaged rv's and refurbishes to resell. Needless to say, we've made alot of additional repairs ourselves, but for the price we paid, it's OK. We're temporarily living in our camper while we're building our permanent home on the lake, and have the sewage line connected to the septic tank outside. We have a strong bathroom odor that we can't get rid of. I've tried the Coleman deodorizer, and now it just smells like sewage and deodorizer. I read online about holding the flush handle so many seconds, so we're trying to do that now (after several weeks in it) but the odor seems to be getting stronger. My husband wonders about the vent. The roof is covered with a tarp for now due to a sunroof leak over the shower. (He doesn't get home before dark to be able to work on it.) What can I do about the odor? Do I need to buy something, call someone, remove tarp, what? The odor actually seems to be more in the hall than in the bathroom! Sometimes even in the adjoining bedroom.

This is our first real RV other than an old Airstream we restored and we didn't use the bathroom. We have no alternative bathroom. Help!

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Robbie: Thanks for the Question:

You've more or less diagnoised your problem yourself as soon as you said the RV is covered with a tarp.There are a few reasons you should never tarp your RV like you have:

1) The problem you have with the Odor. The holding tanks are vented through the roof. These vents allow your holding tank odors to vent outside. Covering the vents just traps the odor thus everything smells. The smell could be coming back down the outsides of your vent pipe on the roof and that could be why the smell is stronger in the Hallway. The tarp could be forcing the odor down the sides of the pipe.

2) Covering the vent over your frig with it running is a HUGE error. The cooling unit on the rear of the frig requires air flow across the pipes while the unit is on regardless if it's on Propane or Electric (110Volts).

I think you'd be better off sealing the skylight over your shower and getting the tarp off ASAP. Either way, get the tarp off the vents and Frig Cover. Don't think about using the Roof AC with the cover over it, you'll burn it up.

Be sure and use your holding tank correctly by also using toilet chemicals and dumping only when needed into your septic system. There are chemicals that are safe to use with a septic system. Just ask when you go to your RV store when you buy them.

Hope all this helps,
Robbie