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Old 09-16-2014, 01:51 AM   #1
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Vents???

I plugged in the trailer and turned the ACs on to get it cooled down so we could clean it up after the weekend. When I went back out and noticed a foul smell. At first I thought it was a propane leak but the propane detector was lit up and not beeping so I turned off the gas. Maybe the water sloshed out of the pea traps on the road but the smell was not coming from the sink.

I climbed up on the roof to find one of the vent caps was missing. There are seven vents on my roof. Four black with two by the skylights in the front bath and two over the wall between the kitchen & garage, these were all intact. There are also three white vents with 6 inch caps that screw on with two on either side of the trailer over the garage entry door and one over the bedroom window. The one over the bedroom window was missing the screw on white cap.

Is that the source of the foul odor?

What are these white vents for?

Who is the vendor to get a replacement?
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Old 09-16-2014, 01:56 AM   #2
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On my TT the white caps are over the tank vents.

They are standard equipment so you should be able to pick them up locally.
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Old 09-16-2014, 02:06 AM   #3
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Originally Posted by hddecker View Post
On my TT the white caps are over the tank vents.

They are standard equipment so you should be able to pick them up locally.
So the front white vent would be for the front black tank?

There is a slight breeze tonight, without the cap is that blowing the odor into the trailer?

Don't AC's return air from inside so they wouldn't be pulling in the smell?

Thanks HD
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Old 09-16-2014, 02:15 AM   #4
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A few of those caps might be ceiling to roof space vents. I have two that do that.
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Old 09-16-2014, 02:38 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HornedToad View Post
So the front white vent would be for the front black tank?

There is a slight breeze tonight, without the cap is that blowing the odor into the trailer?

Don't AC's return air from inside so they wouldn't be pulling in the smell?

Thanks HD
Odours seem to be able to find there way in your unit no matter how air tight we think it is.

Have you been up on the roof and is that the same odour.

As sundancer said there are also roof cavity vents, on my TT they are different than the tank vents.

There is an upgrade to the tank vents I think it's called the Cyclone, it supposedly pulls the odours out and away with the breeze.
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Old 09-16-2014, 03:10 AM   #6
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Well the missing vent cap just happened to be a coincidence.

Got DW to sniff out the odor and she found it coming from the pantry. When you turned on the AC's it filled the trailer. I thought it was an IDtenT failure and I had left some taters or something on the trailer. Completely cleaned out the pantry to find only paper goods and boxed or canned foods.

The smell was still there. It must be the washer vent that only has a plastic slip-on cover. I read about that problem on the forum and had checked it before, in 6 months I have never had any odor. I don't know why it's a problem all of the sudden.

Going to Home Depot tomorrow to find a PVC cap to glue on and the RV supply to get another vent cap.

Thanks for the replies!!!
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Old 09-16-2014, 01:01 PM   #7
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You might have something there with the washer vent. I don't know if the washer drain has a P trap in it (it should), but I would flush the drain out before I capped it off.

Had the same stinky problem in a house under construction. We ran the washing machine and the odor went away.
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Old 09-16-2014, 05:11 PM   #8
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Quote:
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I don't know why it's a problem all of the sudden.
I think I know "why it's a problem all of the sudden."

I usually dump in the sewer tap behind my house, the ally has a slight grade to the center for drainage. This probably leaves several gallons in the tank as it's not level.

This past weekend I dumped at a Flying J on level ground, this probably drained the tank completely causing the odor after it dried out???
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