Help identifying a smell

We leave both our tanks closed until time to drain because we were told varmints can come into the rv up the hoses.  Also birds will peck holes in the drain hoses.  Is this correct?

Peggyy said:

We leave both our tanks closed until time to drain because we were told varmints can come into the rv up the hoses.  Also birds will peck holes in the drain hoses.  Is this correct?

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I don't know about birds pecking holes but my drain hoses usually lasted a year before it started to rot and leak. Even the expensive ones.

Peggyy said:

We leave both our tanks closed until time to drain because we were told varmints can come into the rv up the hoses.  Also birds will peck holes in the drain hoses.  Is this correct?

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I don't know if I'm just lucky or what because I never close my gray valves and never had any issues. Knock on wood.

SeilerBird said:

I don't know about birds pecking holes but my drain hoses usually lasted a year before it started to rot and leak. Even the expensive ones.

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Tom is your hose right out in the sun?  If it is, how about buying a 10' length of PVC gutter and place it over the hose so the sun doesn't cook it.

Rene T said:

Tom is your hose right out in the sun?  If it is, how about buying a 10' length of PVC gutter and place it over the hose so the sun doesn't cook it.

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I was talking about when I was traveling the country staying in the National Parks. Now that I am parked permanently I have both tanks hard plumbed into the sewer.

SeilerBird said:

I was talking about when I was traveling the country staying in the National Parks. Now that I am parked permanently I have both tanks hard plumbed into the sewer.

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Got it.

Catblaster did it for me. The drain handles didn't work and it was too much of a pain to change them, easier to hard plumb.

We leave both our tanks closed until time to drain because we were told varmints can come into the rv up the hoses.  Also birds will peck holes in the drain hoses.  Is this correct?

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Bugs, e.g. sewer flies are the most likely things to enter via the drain hoses, and they only get as far as the waste tanks.  However, with an RV gravity flush toilet, you open the valve to the waste tank for each flush and flies can get in then.  We traveled for 20 years and never worried about critters entering via the gray tank, even when we spent 3-4 months at a time in one place with the gray drain open.
We've had sewer flies get into the black waste tank a couple times over 20 years and our black valve is never open except during actual dumping. If the little suckers are in the campground septic system, they seem to scoot right up the line even during that brief time.

Gary RV_Wizard said:

We've had sewer flies get into the black waste tank a couple times over 20 years and our black valve is never open except during actual dumping. If the little suckers are in the campground septic system, they seem to scoot right up the line even during that brief time.

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Or they can come down the vent at any time.  Just one more reason to put some kind of chemical in the tank.

Gary RV_Wizard said:

We've had sewer flies get into the black waste tank a couple times over 20 years and our black valve is never open except during actual dumping. If the little suckers are in the campground septic system, they seem to scoot right up the line even during that brief time.

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I had that happen once, too.  Once they're in the tank it's very hard to get rid of them.  When I connect my sewer hose I leave a low spot in the hose to create a P-trap type water seal and keep them out.

lynnmor said:

Or they can come down the vent at any time.  Just one more reason to put some kind of chemical in the tank.

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Maybe it is the smell of the chemical that attracts the flies.

What chemical is that?

We haven't smelled that smell since we emptied both tanks the next day.  We have been leaving the gray open until a day or two before we want to empty the black and then we close.  We have been keeping the black closed.

We have noticed a few times that if it's been more than a few days since we have emptied that there is a leak under the camper, just a slight drip.  I know this can't be good, I need to look at our manual but was thinking it may have an overflow tank and that's what's leaking????

Oh..no...flies, birds...bugs... don't say it

You can also have a toilet paper pyramid.  It occurs for the same reasons a poop pyramid occurs--liquids flow through the TP leaving undissolved solids.  I had one after grandchildren visited and used way too much toilet paper.  I could tell it was TP by shutting off the water and looking down the toilet with a flashlight.  You can't do this with all RV toilets but you can do it with many.  I saw a pile of white stuff.  Anyway, it look adding water, stirring with a strong stick, flushing, adding more water, driving on a bumping road and doing a lot of swerving and hard stops.  (Choose a deserted road for these maneuvers as you will attract attention otherwise.) 

It took a couple of days to get the paper completely dissolved and flushed out.  Grandkids are older now and easier to lecture, so has not happened since.

Just a weird idea--you aren't camped in the desert, are you?  There is something called a creosote bush that smells like an electrical fire when wet.  I washed my motorhome in the desert once and got a bush wet.  Walked all around my rig, looking under and in bins for the fire until I realized it was the bush.  Those smell a little like vicks.

Ksummers said:

What chemical is that?

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The chemicals that are in the solutions that get added to the tank to keep it from smelling. The blue junk is the most popular but there are many others on the market.