Oooooh that smell!!!!

[Steve Adams]

We had our coach in for service a few weeks ago and the smell inside was so bad the shop called us at home to get permisson to add chemicals to the black tank. Awkward!!

When we picked it up we were told it was not as bad as it had been but it was pretty ripe still. We think we traced it back to the washer/dryer. According to the previous owner (we've owned it less than 2 months) he did not use it the whole time he owned it, over 6 years.

Could it really stink that much after 6 years or as John suggested is it missing a seal on the drain to the gray tank?

Assuming it is missing the seal, does anyone have a suggestion on how to get to it? I cannot see any way to access the back of the unit. It looks like it was built in at the factory. As you are looking at the unit you are facing the rear of the coach. The left side is where you access the bedroom, the right side has 3 drawers instead of a vanity and there is a cabinet on top with another 3 drawers and a shelf.

Any help would be greatly apprecited!

Thanks, Steve

[Jerry and Kay Hudson]

Hi

A lot of times, the only reason that you are getting smells back into the coach is due to the trap at the washing machine being dry or no water in it, and this will of course, let the gases of the grey tank float back into the coach. We had that problem with a Discovery we owned, but now that we have our 2002 Contessa, we have not had that problem. We have taken out our washing machine, but I have taped up the vent for the washing machine, but I still take off the tape at times and pout some water to keep the trap full and keep the smells out.

Jerry and Kay Hudson
2002 Beaver Contessa

[Richard And Babs Ames]

Driving and evaporation can cause the water to leave the P trap as Jerry mentioned. We just run through a rinse cycle when we stop every month or so and it cures the problem. You should also clean your holding tanks every six months or so. Our 1997 Beaver owners reccomends using a chemical found in cheap powdered automatic dishwasher detergent. We fill the tanks about half full of water with about a cup of detergent then drive to our first destination and dump and fill each tank to capacity and redump. We also put leftover ice in the black tank through the tiolet  the last day out to lossen anything stuck to the bottom. Be sure your black tank has a lot of water in it to be sure it flushes out the solids.

[John Fearnow]

Our w/d is set against the passenger side with the back against the passenger sidewall.  There is a shelf over the top of the w/d.  The back part of that shelf is removeable and gives access to the back of the w/d  and the connections and drain.

[George Harwell]

My '03 Monterey had the same problem, and to the best of my knowledge, the washer drain goes direct into the gray tank without a p trap. Therefore, it has to be sealed at the top where the washer drain is inserted. I finally got mine repaired by a Monaco technician who was well aware of the problem. Access to mine was through an access panel in the toilet area. I don't know what he used but it sure solved the problem. Good luck.

[Joel Ashley]

Steve-
As John suggested, yours may have a removable floor/shelf in the cabinet over the unit.  Our shelf has a finger hole for ease of removal.  Then you can access, albeit clumsily, the back of the machine, and can at least see how things are configured back there.  Can't say as we've ever had a problem with odor from our washer, but if there's a trap in the drain pipe then it needs relatively fresh water in it.  If the trap is empty, from travel or long storage, then gray tank odor can get in the living quarters, as it can if no trap or valve exists.

The one issue re. odor we have had has come from the shower drain, and I can see where the principles of cause surrounding that could also apply to a washer:

    The problem with RVs is that to drain your dump tanks properly, you should allow them to build up fluid, as opposed to opening the drain valves at every camp set up.  Building fluid volume  allows for a flushing action that more completely drains them;  otherwise solids can hold to the bottom, ultimately plugging things up one day.  

    Now, this creates a bit of a dilemma, because that sudden flushing makes for a vacuum that sucks the liquid out of traps in lines above the tank.  Fortunately, RV traps on our rigs have built-in vent valves on them that suck air down the line instead of emptying the trap.  Unfortunately, at least on our coach, the shower drain has no vented trap because there isn't room for one in the tight space under it.  Thus, many times after I drain our tanks, a gray water foul smell eminates from mid-coach, reminding me to pour a cup or two of water down the shower drain, refilling the trap and immediately resolving the problem.   This whole scenario and cure I figured out myself after a little sleuthing, so you might think about it in your situation.

[Bruce Benson]

Our coach has a vent device after each trap, including the washer.  This device has a rubber diaphram in it that allows air to enter but not be emitted.  These are a less than great thing and only meet code in RVs and modulars, usually not in real houses.  Others will not believe that Beaver got cheap on this but in my coach two of these are located less than two feet from the vent line that goes through the roof.  

Anyway, they screw off and are cheap to replace.  I find that Lowes, not Home Depot, is the easiest place to find them.  Grab a spare.  You should be able to remove the shelf(s) in the cabinet above the washer, open the above mentioned access panel, pull the washer out about a foot and see it behind there with a flash light.  You then have to crawl into the cabinet, wiggle through the hole and down behind the washer and replace the vent.  Perhaps you can pull your washer fully out and then it would be easy to get to.  Mine is over the throne and taking the washer and the big rock that is in it, out requires a scaffold.  

Bruce

[Steve Adams]

Thanks again to everyone for their help on this. We got our coach back from service last week and took it out to the Oregon coast. Once settled in we got access to the rear of the washer and it does have a P trap. We ran some shirts and other items through a wash cycle and everything seemed to work fine and more importantly no more smell. I'm going to assume the P trap is the culprit.

On another note, how long does it take to dry a small load. We washed 4 T shirts, 1 pair of socks and 2 pairs of underwear. I would guess that around we dried the load for over 3 hours and wound up taking them to onsite laundry. Is this normal? It is a "condensing" dryer and we did not expect performance like our home unit but we were very disappointed.

Has anyone replaced their unit with another model, removed it completely or went with a stackable model? We would like to hear what others may have done along this vein.

Thanks, Steve

[Bruce Benson]

It takes a while but they should have been pretty dry by three hours.  I can wash 3 tees, 3 shorts and 3 pair of socks but nothing else in one load and get them dry.

How warm were the clothes?  If they were not fairly hot there is a over temp switch that can open, sometimes in low voltage situations, and stop the heater from working.  It must be reset or replaced in order to make it work again.  It is located under the lid (top) of the washer in the front right corner.  You will have to get the top off to reach it so the washer needs to come at least part way out, take the screws out of the back top edge and slide the top off forward.  There are several things there including the thermostat and the heating coil terminals.  This switch has a hole in it, perhaps under a tag, that you can push a paper clip into to reset it.  Call Splendide if you are not sure after you look at it, tell them what you are trying to do and they will assist you with it.

Can't help you with the 2003 but my SMC built coach was roughed in for a vent but the penetration through the fiberglass skin was never made.  I know others have changed to the vented and I would if I ran across a vented one at the right price.  A stackable is not an option with my floor plan.

Don't make the mistake of washing and drying a load if you are dry camping and plan to stay much longer than a day.  This puppy uses some water.

I would also stuff the top of the tube where the washer hose goes into the sewer stand pipe with plumbers putty to seal it off from expelling air should the vent ever become dry again.  You can form it tightly around the drain hose and bridge it over the edge of the stand pipe to form an air tight seal.  

Bruce  

[Joel Ashley]

Steve-

I'm not sure about sealing the tube top - as long as you use the machine occasionally, the trap should retain water to seal off odors;  hopefully there is a vent attached to prevent vacuum action emptying it.  There's a 98% chance you've resolved your odor problem.   That trap would've been dry if the previous owner never used the machine, so gray odor would feed right up into your living space.  Just remember to run the machine at least a couple times a year to keep water in the trap.  And follow mfr. instructions for winterizing the installation if stored over a winter like we had last year - I set our furnace to come on at minimal (40) when freezing temps are forcast;  and open cabinet doors including the washer cabinet - just extra protection beyond antifreeze in the traps.

I agree with Bruce - sounds like maybe your heater limit switch may need resetting.   Also go to this link for Splendide help:  http://www.splendide.com/support.htm.  And the company offices are right here in Clackamas, not far from you, so you might be able to wrangle some hands-on assistance or direction there.  You can get an owner's manual online there also, if you don't have one.

Our unit vents to the outside and doesn't take 3 hours to dry the load you describe;  units that don't vent outside take longer, but even if that's what you have, I'd expect things to be relatively dry.  There is also the remote possibility that your wash cycle isn't properly spinning out enough water before the dry cycle begins, but Bruce's idea re. the dry cycle limit switch would be my first suspect.  The only problems we've encountered are (1) that even with cool-down cycles, clothes wrinkle pretty badly - there are techniques to minimize that, but it is still hard to avoid; and (2) a couple of times the control dial got out of whack and it was seriously hard to reset it or get cycles realigned - hurry up and wait was the game, because the cycles are so long, and it could be hard to get to a point where the door would even unlock.

All that said, the use of these machines is a learning process, just like the rest of the coach.  The last 18 months we've used it, we had no problems aside from experimenting with anti-wrinkle techniques with little success (the Buscuit Burner is talking about one of those steam press machines, but I'd just as soon iron stuff than store/carry that bulky thing).  We'd still rather use our onboard machine often, rather than build up and store a ton of laundry and spend a whole day feeding quarters at a public laundromat like we used to do traveling in our old Pace Arrow  .  

[Mike And Mary Engen]

We just had Camping World install a new Splendide combo washer/dryer to replace our existing.  This one works great, but still about two hours to do a load.
ordered a vent, but tech said ours was vented underneath somewhere and we did not need it.  Our old one would heat sometimes and it would take about 3 hours to do a load.  We could only do underwear, socks, t-shirts, no big towels as it would vibrate so bad.  Decided to buy a new one vs. try to get this one repaired.  We are much happier with the new one as we can do towels, jeans, etc.  Much more capacity.

[Tim Westman]

We had a Splendide combo unit in our '05 Monterey.  While the drying went slowly, it wouldn't take as much time as you indicated even when drying jeans.  Ours was not the condensing dryer but rather vented unit.  I don't know if that is a factor or not.

[Steve Adams]

We replaced our Spendide non vented with a vented model and it was a huge improvement. If it was the cause of odor problem, it fixed it almost. We don't have the odor problem nearly as much as we did, only occasionally when parked but just about all the time when traveling. And this would be regardless if the bathroom and kitchen vents are closed or open, though if they are closed it does take longer for the odor to present.

We had vent covers installed on the bathroom and kitchen fans trying to solve the odor problem. We had been leaving the bathroom vent open all the time and mainly had an odor problem while moving. I finally got up on the roof and there are 2 vents just aft of the bathroom vent. I presume they are for the black and gray tanks. They have an round cover, larger at the bottom than at the top with a covered opening. They would be about 5 inches tall.

Can I assume that these are just covering the pipes the come through the roof? I would like to remove the existing caps and extend the pipe either up or further away from the bathroom vent and then put a cyclone vent on each one. Assuming I can keep the roof sealed properly where the pipes protrude is this feasible? If not, what suggestions might you have.

Thanks, Steve

[Joel Ashley]

Steve-

When traveling, sometimes liquid gets sloshed out of P-traps (sinks, shower, washer).  If one of those P-traps is infrequently used, and has dried out, gases can migrate back up into the coach through the open drain;  a cup or two of water added to our shower drain stops the problem for us, as we don't necessarily shower every day ( ??)), especially when dry camping and trying to conserve.  

Our shower drain is the only one that doesn't have an AutoVent, and is the only one that ever causes an odor problem.  The AutoVent is a valve above trap level connected with a "T" in the drain line between a trap and the tank, and it is normally closed.  If you have AutoVents, you should easily see them under your sinks.  When you dump your gray tank, the AutoVent is opened by the vacuum caused by the tank drawdown, and this prevents the P-trap from being sucked dry each time you dump your tank.  I have to remember to pour a cup of water in the shower drain after each tank dump, because, with no (apparent) AutoVent in that line, the resulting vacuum empties it, and we can smell it within an hour.  AutoVents can conceivably get stuck open, allowing tank gases into the coach;  I've never had that problem, so have never attempted to check if one was stuck open.  If that was your problem, though, you'd have the smell parked or traveling.  I still need to carefully check our bays to see if there is indeed a shower AutoVent hiding under the floor;  if there is one, it may be stuck in the closed position.

Leaving the bath vent open while on the road is not something we do, as like yours, the tank vents are next to it, though forward not aft;  in certain circumstances you can actually cause negative pressure inside the coach, which will draw fumes in.  Many vent mfrs. advise against travel with them open, for various reasons.

-Joel