Smelly grey water tank , odours in accommodation area HELP!

Wrighpm

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Hi all, as we drive along we get a strong whiff of the grey water tank. I assumed this was coming up the sink plughole in kitchen, bathroom and shower tray. I still seem to get this even when plugs are fitted. Any ideas how to stop smell. What should I be cleaning the tank with?
As usual any help or suggestions would be very welcome.
 
It's an awful smell isn't it? The amount of times we've had to drive with the windows open.

Full sugar coke down all the sinks/ shower on an empty grey tank, before you do a good drive.

Prevention is best. Scrape all plates etc before washing up. We try to chuck washing up water into a hedge. We use Planet bio liquid. Of we can't, then we've a dedicated sieve for catching food bits before the washing up water goes down the plug. Where we can, we leave a washing up bowl under the open grey waste tap, so dirty water goes straight through the tank. Have the remember to close the tap when we shower and then empty the tank as soon as.
 
Clunegapyears said:
It's an awful smell isn't it? The amount of times we've had to drive with the windows open.

Full sugar coke down all the sinks/ shower on an empty grey tank, before you do a good drive.

Prevention is best. Scrape all plates etc before washing up. We try to chuck washing up water into a hedge. We use Planet bio liquid. Of we can't, then we've a dedicated sieve for catching food bits before the washing up water goes down the plug. Where we can, we leave a washing up bowl under the open grey waste tap, so dirty water goes straight through the tank. Have the remember to close the tap when we shower and then empty the tank as soon as.
Click to expand...
Thank you. Sieve great idea and will try the coke.
 
As already mentioned reducing food debris is very important.
I built both my vans using standard domestic plumbing, so we have a proper U bend trap for the kitchen sink, that and the shower and the outlet from the urine diverter are also fitted with these type of hep2o 32mm waterless traps as well which are extremely effective.

They also have the advantage of not freezing in winter.

When we sterilise our fresh water tank with puriclean I don’t drain it out but instead always pump it through all the taps and shower and completely fill the grey tank then leave it overnight. Which almost certainly helps as well.

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Thanks again. I kind of do this when I sterilise but may need to do more than once a season. U-bends not really possible. Annoying that constructors did not consider this.
 
Wrighpm said:
Hi all, as we drive along we get a strong whiff of the grey water tank. I assumed this was coming up the sink plughole in kitchen, bathroom and shower tray. I still seem to get this even when plugs are fitted. Any ideas how to stop smell. What should I be cleaning the tank with?
As usual any help or suggestions would be very welcome.
Click to expand...
We use organic Elsan in the toilet and I always bung some in the waste tank as well, which works well. Make sure you let the tank fill up to give the Elsan a chance to get into all the nooks and crannies. Also agree about the sieves on the sink.
 
I’m a fan of diluted Zaflora. Had the same problem in the past but now when I empty my waste I run through some of the fresh water and add the Zaflora - there are several different aroma’s but I quite like the smell of lavender in my van.
 
The traps (where fitted) on the sink, basin and shower are very shallow and sometimes the water gets sucked out of them when driving, leaving them open for smells to escape. Top them up with a little water. Where possible I pipe the grey water into a hedge and if not collect it in a caravan grey water tank, better than letting it sit in the onboard tank. Even so the bottom of the tank can still get gungy and once or twice a year I face up to opening the inspection cover and giving it a scrub out with an old washing up brush.
 
It’s horrid, I think it’s worse than the toilet sometimes. I always try to avoid any liquids that have any food content going down my kitchen sink. If possible I like to keep it open with a bucket underneath.
To clean it, I use citric acid granules dissolved in boiling water (I get boxes from Wilko’s). It works well if you drive with a solution in to swill about in it. Similarly, bicarb in boiling water is good for the pipes.
 
Are you driving with cab windows open in hot weather?

A coachbuilt motorhome has a wider body than the cab. This causes a pressure drop which tends to pull air out of the hab area and can suck fumes out of the waste tank. One of my vans suffered with this problem quite badly. The only answer was to thoroughly clean out the waste tank by removing the access hatch and physically scraping the inside of the tank and then keeping on top of the problem by regular flushing through with clean water. I got into the habit of draining the waste tank on the last day of a trip, half filling the waste tank with fresh water and a disinfectant. The journey home sloshed the mixture around the tank and I drained it when I got home.
 
We find Coca-Cola 3 bottles of cheap stuff cleans tank put ig in have drive drop it.

But our tank is mostly empty as we let go when on grass pitches ..or a jelly bucket if on grave or tarmac.
 
We put a dishwasher tab in the plug holes every so often then a little water and let it do it's magic. Also helps clean the tank when it dissolves.
Jeremy
 
I can’t believe people are promoting Coke to clean a smelly waste tank.!!
The smell is bacteria, and the best thing to FEED bacteria is sugar!
Yes, the small amount of carbonic and phosphoric acid in Coke are good cleaning agents, but the amount of sugars and syrups in it, far outweigh any benefit - as they feed the bacteria, and kill the acidic content - which would far outweigh lemon juice without it.

Use a proprietary tank cleaner, designed for the purpose - lots make it, Fenwicks, Thetford, etc.
Even a biological detergent that will ‘digest’ food and waste matter, including bacteria, is better than Coke!
 
In all the vans we've had we've never had this problem, all we do is wipe plates and pans, I do overdo the fairy WUL, drain tank as often as possible and leave the tap open while driving.
 
TR5 said:
I can’t believe people are promoting Coke to clean a smelly waste tank.!!
The smell is bacteria, and the best thing to FEED bacteria is sugar!
Yes, the small amount of carbonic and phosphoric acid in Coke are good cleaning agents, but the amount of sugars and syrups in it, far outweigh any benefit - as they feed the bacteria, and kill the acidic content - which would far outweigh lemon juice without it.

Use a proprietary tank cleaner, designed for the purpose - lots make it, Fenwicks, Thetford, etc.
Even a biological detergent that will ‘digest’ food and waste matter, including bacteria, is better than Coke!
Click to expand...
Coke does seem to work. I suspect it does this by removing smelly deposits from the sides of the tank rather than by killing bacteria.
 
I worry these days about allowing grey waste to drain into the hedge. I’m always conscious of our reputation and the numbers of parking spots being closed to us. Any excuse!
 
I have also experienced this problem and as a result a couple of times a year I now use a goodly dose of Mr. Muscle Drain Cleaner down all 3 plug holes, however using the largest dose down the kitchen sink.

I have found that this not only clears all the foul crud in the 'U' bends but also along the long virtually level pipe runs, it also appears to be quite good at clearing out the grey tank as well.
 
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