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 massive 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 rest room stink so unhealthy???!!!’
It’s time to speak loos. RV, Motorhome and camper loos, to be actual. And once I say rest room, everyone knows I largely 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 bogs work otherwise from ones in a house- and boy, don’t we all know it! All the pieces you place into the bathroom is stored in a holding tank, which then must be emptied afterward.
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’ circumstances, motorhome loos shouldn’t have a horrible odour- and so they DEFINITELY shouldn’t odor like a sewer when flushed.
Easy methods to maintain a camper rest room from smelling
Camper and caravan loos odor for the next causes:
- Want an excellent 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 sizzling 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 wonderful!
So, let’s cease your camper bathroom smelling like sewage and eliminate these rest room smells for you! Listed below are the 7 greatest methods we’ve discovered to minimise or cease motorhome rest room stink!
Use an honest product
It’s wonderful how straightforward that is to unravel when you have an excellent rest room chemical. We now use a product referred to as Solbio organic toilet fluid, which is pure and doesn’t include dangerous chemicals- and it smells scrumptious (sure, critically!)
It’s additionally secure to be disposed of in septic tanks or fosse, which means now we have extra choices to get rid of our rest room responsibly.
Watch the assessment of Solbio right here:
We hope you discovered the video helpful. In the event you did, we’d adore it if you followed 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 to 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 largest explanation for RV loos smelling like a sewer- the methane gasoline leaks out of a hairline crack someplace and boy have you learnt 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 rest room, nevertheless it actually does assist. Give your rest room a each day wipe down with antiseptic (or candy smelling cleaner).
We maintain ours in a useful spritz bottle and use after a bathe to wash 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 might odor in an RV rest room are the drains. An incredible product to make use of down the drains for the waste tank is Zoflora. Poor it neat down the bathe drain when you have got water in your tank and this may assist maintain the dreaded waste tank smells at bay. My good friend’s favorite odor is the Linen Contemporary!
We’ve got a walk-in rest room/ bathe unit, so the drain in our motorhome works arduous to eliminate EVERYTHING. Attempt to keep away from placing ‘bits’ down your drains (each in loos and kitchens) and clear the drains often.
A cup of baking soda blended with water helps maintain drains clear and odor free. Learn extra on how to clean your motorhome water tank.
Hair catcher
In case you have (or are!) ladies with LONG hair, you must filter the drain often. All that hair will get washed down the drain and collects different bits… which smells disgusting.
In case you have this hassle, these are amazing for catching hair!! Severely- 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 ingesting water for flushing. However you NEED sufficient water in your rest room to cease smells- ‘dry’ camper bogs odor MUCH worse.
I might go into a protracted and technical description about methane gasoline launch from dried out waste yada yada… however frankly, no person must learn that, so simply belief me that wetter is healthier. Sure, you’ll be able to snigger. I doubt many youngsters are studying this! 😉
In fact, don’t use TOO a lot water- you’ll refill your RV waste tank a lot faster. It’s a fragile steadiness.
EMPTY the waste often
One of the best ways to cease camper waste smelling like a sewer is to… empty the sewer! The extra usually you empty, the much less it would 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, nevertheless it’s a small value to pay for the liberty we love a lot!
In the event you use a transportable rest room cassette in your motorhome, at all times be certain to scrub it out correctly EVERY TIME (utilizing the faucet supplied on the emptying station). We fill with water and empty no less than a few instances to ensure every thing is out.
In the event you can’t empty your RV waste like that, this sewer tank rinser fixes onto your waste outlet and lets you 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 rest room which is for this objective, and that bin will get emptied as usually as we are able to, 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’.
Nevertheless, should you don’t put your paper down the bathroom you reduce the chance of blockages in your waste tank brought on by 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 camping/ boondocking!
If that is too gross for you, use further water each time you utilize your camper toilet- it helps soften the paper. Additionally, use the most cost effective rest room paper you’ll be able to find- NOT the ‘accepted RV or motorhome paper’. Severely, grocery store personal model stuff will dissolve very well!! However again- extra water and ‘stuff’ in the bathroom will trigger it to refill sooner!
Intelligent tips to eliminate RV rest room smells
It is a nice trick to maintain your RV rest room smelling good all day lengthy. Cover loos scents or sachets someplace out of the best way, and they’ll launch a scrumptious odor all day lengthy.
Watch out when you have pets- be certain any sachets are out of vary as many will not be appropriate for pets.
In case your RV rest room smells when flushed, attempt placing a little 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 inbuilt (usually it’s a crack in these pipes which causes your RV rest room to odor like a sewer (or rotten eggs; pretty!)
Nevertheless, many campers and motorhomes don’t have any vent in any respect of their tiny loos, so it may well 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 by the vent as an alternative and preserving your camper odor free.
We put in a SOG in our final motorhome and it was actually helpful. Listed below are a few suggestions for becoming it:
- Make sure that the vent for the SOG isn’t anyplace 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 dwelling 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 utilize the toilet in an RV whereas driving?
I’d actually advocate NOT utilizing the toilet in your camper whereas driving. Not solely is it towards 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 utilize the toilet (or get snacks and so on!)
What are your favorite tips to maintain your RV rest room smelling wonderful and free of bathroom odors? Share your suggestions beneath so we are able to all profit.
Need extra RV dwelling suggestions?
This was a query from one in every of our pretty US readers, (hi there!) so I’ve chosen to make use of US spellings. Though writing odor with out a ‘u’ has made my spell examine go psychological. You’re welcome! 😉
Final replace on 2024-05-13 / Affiliate hyperlinks / Photographs from Amazon Product Promoting API