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Topic ClosedAir Conditioner Odor
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FamilyGuy View Drop Down
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Joined: 23 Jun 2015
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Posts: 13 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: Air Conditioner Odor
    Posted: 01 Jul 2015 at 2:39pm
Hi.  We spent a night at an RV park with electric and water hook ups for the first time last weekend.  Not our typical camping style but we were pleasantly surprised.  It was a very hot day so having the AC was super.  It worked well for a while but then seemed to develop an unpleasant odor Dead.  Has anyone experienced this? Could the AC unit be the source?  Could the AC pull odors from the external vent caps or through the drains?  We have a #1-only policy, the tanks were emptied a day or two prior, chemicals used in the black tank.  Any ideas?

 
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kymooses View Drop Down
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Posts: 1807 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Jul 2015 at 7:55am
Originally posted by FamilyGuy

Hi.  We spent a night at an RV park with electric and water hook ups for the first time last weekend.  Not our typical camping style but we were pleasantly surprised.  It was a very hot day so having the AC was super.  It worked well for a while but then seemed to develop an unpleasant odor Dead.  Has anyone experienced this? Could the AC unit be the source?  Could the AC pull odors from the external vent caps or through the drains?  We have a #1-only policy, the tanks were emptied a day or two prior, chemicals used in the black tank.  Any ideas?

 

Your AC recycles the inside air, it doesn't pull air from the outside.  You might check the vacuum breaker under your kitchen sink.  It's at the top most pipe under there and is a screw on device.  If it becomes loose tank odor can come up.

Also be sure you are keeping both your shower and kitchen both wet and have water in the p-traps.  If you aren't showering, or using the sinks those traps will dry out and let odors come back up. 

How unpleasant was the odor?  Could you tell that it for sure seemed like toilet odors?

With it coinciding with your AC could it be possible there is some sort of critter up there causing an odor?  Seems unlikely but odd that it seemed to follow the AC usage.
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techntrek View Drop Down
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Posts: 9062 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Jul 2015 at 2:25pm
Also make sure all the sewer pipes are tight - they are hand-tight connections and will come loose.  Trace all of them!  Another possibility is one of the seals on the toilet is bad.  I had that problem with our pod.
Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ Pod instruction manual
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FamilyGuy View Drop Down
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Posts: 13 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Jul 2015 at 10:44pm
Thanks for the replies.  I suspect it was a dry shower drain.  Perhaps we just didn't notice the smell until the AC moved air around.  Seems fine now.
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kymooses View Drop Down
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Posts: 1807 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Jul 2015 at 6:50pm
Originally posted by FamilyGuy

Thanks for the replies.  I suspect it was a dry shower drain.  Perhaps we just didn't notice the smell until the AC moved air around.  Seems fine now.

Awesome!
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FamilyGuy View Drop Down
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Posts: 13 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Jul 2015 at 3:07pm
Update:  We have a 2015 182g so the garage sink drains into the gray tank.  Apparently this isn't the case with all model years.  When a large amount of water is drained into the garage sink the water seal on the shower trap, and possibly the sink traps as well, is siphoned out.  This allows odors to enter the POD.  The AC only acts as a odor distribution system.   By large amount of water I mean 1 to 2 gallons poured into the sink from a small wash tub.  

The short term work around involves quickly refilling the traps.  I'd like to find a better long term solution.  At this point I'm not sure if the vents are fully operational and the system is "working as designed" or if something is wrong.  Perhaps adding a vent to the garage sink drain accessible from the rear storage compartment is a potential solution.

Your thoughts?
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