Do You Have Sewer Smell?

[fudge_brownie]

There are numerous sources of sewer smell. Some as simple as an open shower drain, others as serious as a cracked tank. My issues were an odor in the bathroom and a second in the cabinetry, particular upper cabinets. Here are my findings.

It is a simple test to check if your source is the same as mine. Use a ladder and remove the caps of the rooftop vents for the black and gray tank. You should find the white and green RV fill hose that Escape uses for venting. The hose should extend through the roof and into the extended vent. In my 2014 model the hose was sealed into the roof with caulking. If you can see the hose is still sealed above the roof line in both vents this is not your issue.

In my case, the black tank hose was visible, but had slid down so it was venting around the shower enclosure. That would explain the smell in the bathroom. It was a simple procedure to use a needle nose pliers and pull the hose through the roof and into the vent. Fresh caulk keeps it in place but that hose is short, it will require future inspections.

The gray tank vent did not have a visible hose. See photo. By removing the light switches at the door I was able to confirm that the hose existed. With some patience I was able to find the hose and pull it up with a forceps. It was even shorter than the black tank hose. There was no way it would make it to the vent. Beside a short hose I suspect that with use the gray tank had settled. The one solution was to removed the vent for access and add more hose. Not wanting to do that I found a 1 3/8 OD hose at Home Depot that fit into the RV Fill Hose used by Escape. This flexible hose needed about 6 inches of extension and allowed the vent hose to extend properly.

The repair to the black tank hose has solved that problem. The gray tank repair is more recent and not tested.

[escape artist]

Hi: fudge_brownie... Strange our 2014 just started too. I took the cap off the black tank side and was looking at an elbow at roof level. I tried to install one of those Toronado RV roof vents but being made for a flat roof sticky model not 5.0TA's it was a no go. I put a 1& 1/2" ABS pipe extension in the elbow. I didn't have to glue it in as I friction fit it and couldn't get it back out. I simply cleaned everything off and sealed the cap to the roof, carefully lined up and replaced the screws re caulked it and added the vent cap back to it!!! Next trip I'm sure we'll smell how that went!!! Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[glsails]

We get sewer odors periodically in our 2021 21C. I pulled out the sewer vent cap and found that the vent opening is full of expandable foam(?!). Not sure if that was a build error or what. We ended up losing our cap so I'll have to go back up there to put a new one on, wondering if I should dig the foam out to open up the pipe....

[fudge_brownie]

Do you have a gray and black tank? I ask because some opt out of them. The foam is something new to me. Any chance the hose was present, was pulled down and the opening closed up?

I will have to defer to others having a later model trailer to provide their sewer stack design.

[glsails]

We have both a grey and black tank. Until I go back up to look at it, I don't know what's beneath the foam. I won't be able to look at it again until this evening.

[oldwave]

Originally Posted by glsails

We get sewer odors periodically in our 2021 21C. I pulled out the sewer vent cap and found that the vent opening is full of expandable foam(?!). Not sure if that was a build error or what. We ended up losing our cap so I'll have to go back up there to put a new one on, wondering if I should dig the foam out to open up the pipe....

There are two vents I think, both with a corrugated pipe that runs up. At least in 2017. If one of the corrugated pipe is full of foam, then it won’t vent. Perhaps they began putting foam around the pipe and it was plugged by the process ? A picture would be good.

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by fudge_brownie

Do you have a gray and black tank? I ask because some opt out of them. The foam is something new to me. Any chance the hose was present, was pulled down and the opening closed up?

I will have to defer to others having a later model trailer to provide their sewer stack design.

Hi: fudge_brownie... Sometimes that foam stuff is hard to regulate. Other times our grey tank out flow is more potent than the black tank. I try to give it a good cleanout with dishwasher soap down the kitchen sink and the garden hose spraying a fine stream down the drain. I often wonder what's percolating down in the tanks. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[yangstyle]

Originally Posted by glsails

We get sewer odors periodically in our 2021 21C. I pulled out the sewer vent cap and found that the vent opening is full of expandable foam(?!). Not sure if that was a build error or what. We ended up losing our cap so I'll have to go back up there to put a new one on, wondering if I should dig the foam out to open up the pipe....

Our gray tank vent had the pvc pipe surrounded by expanding foam at the vent. The black tank had the corrugated pipe also with the expandable foam at the vent. I assume that the foam will stop any odor from leaking back into the trailer.

[fudge_brownie]

Originally Posted by yangstyle

Our gray tank vent had the pvc pipe surrounded by expanding foam at the vent. The black tank had the corrugated pipe also with the expandable foam at the vent. I assume that the foam will stop any odor from leaking back into the trailer.

I think the foam would do that and help keep the RV Water Fill Hose from dropping below the roof line. The hose opening must still be visible, that foam may not be up to the task with a bumping and jiggling trailer. That hose opening has to be above the roof line and open for venting to succeed.

[Illinois Joe]

We picked up our 21NE mid-July and experienced a strong sewer smell on two occasions on our way home. We posted to facebook group and got some things to check but don't have a definite answer yet. I removed the vent cap (we only have one on 21NE) and all I could see was an immediate elbow turn. In monitoring when we have a smell, it seems like both cases were after driving on a winding, mountain road, black tank with some level of fill because dump station not available prior to travel. I am wondering if our smell comes from winding road causing a p-trap to momentarily become unsealed and gas back flows. I have seen no evidence of leaks yet. Does anyone have a plumbing diagram for a 21NE? I've never had this happen before on prior trailers. Is it possible that the p-traps on an Escape are shallower and therefore easily unsealed on a curvey road?