Rear Kitchen Sink smell

[Schiefswret]

Greetings All. I've researched this topic with some tips but still not sure what may be going on here. All well for 18 months and out of the blue the DW brought to my attention a smell of "rotten eggs" as she puts it, coming out of the general cabinetry area below and to the right of the sink. We have two gray tanks, shower and bathroom sink, and the sink in the rear kitchen. There appears to be no smell in the bathroom area, only in the kitchen sink area. I've done all I know how at this point; ran 15 gal fresh water through the sink, added fabric softener and some Dawn, fresh washed again with 12 gallons. Seems to have helped to diminish the smell but not completely. All advise greatly appreciated.

[Country Campers]

Dave

You should be able to see the connection from the sink drain to the gray tank inside the cabinets somewhere , follow the drain pipe. Another thought with the "rotten eggs" smell is propane. I know that it does not smell that bad but you could turn on a burner on the stove and have the wife take a smell to see if it is the same , do not light the burner I do not think she will be able to smell it if it is burning haha. You do have the water heater and stove in this area so you could rule out propane leak pretty easily. Gray tanks usually do not smell like rotten eggs but you may have a gasket issue at the inlet.

Brian

[TucsonJim]

Greetings All. I've researched this topic with some tips but still not sure what may be going on here. All well for 18 months and out of the blue the DW brought to my attention a smell of "rotten eggs" as she puts it, coming out of the general cabinetry area below and to the right of the sink. We have two gray tanks, shower and bathroom sink, and the sink in the rear kitchen. There appears to be no smell in the bathroom area, only in the kitchen sink area. I've done all I know how at this point; ran 15 gal fresh water through the sink, added fabric softener and some Dawn, fresh washed again with 12 gallons. Seems to have helped to diminish the smell but not completely. All advise greatly appreciated.

Dave,

I pulled the drawings for your unit and checked the plumbing. My first thought was that you might have an air admittance valve issue. But alas, your unit does not have an AAV on the kithen sink. It appears that the plumbing is vented through the rear wall. So here are three things I'd check:

1. As Brian mentioned, propane will smell like rotten eggs. This would be my primary concern and I'd do an in depth investigation to make sure there isn't a propane leak.
2. Check the sink trap to make sure none of the pipes are loose. If so, this could allow odors from the rear gray tank to enter the cabinet.
3. The next item is the rear vent. Check interior plumbing to the vent to make sure nothing has come loose. If that is okay, make sure that you don't have tank odors coming from the vent into the back window. As you can see by the photo below, the vent is right below the window. it would be easy for odors to make their way back into the RV.

[Calbar]

Dave,

I pulled the drawings for your unit and checked the plumbing. My first thought was that you might have an air admittance valve issue. But alas, your unit does not have an AAV on the kithen sink. It appears that the plumbing is vented through the rear wall. So here are three things I'd check:

1. As Brian mentioned, propane will smell like rotten eggs. This would be my primary concern and I'd do an in depth investigation to make sure there isn't a propane leak.
2. Check the sink trap to make sure none of the pipes are loose. If so, this could allow odors from the rear gray tank to enter the cabinet.
3. The next item is the rear vent. Check interior plumbing to the vent to make sure nothing has come loose. If that is okay, make sure that you don't have tank odors coming from the vent into the back window. As you can see by the photo below, the vent is right below the window. it would be easy for odors to make their way back into the RV.

Schiefswret Dave, We had a kitchen sink vented like you do to the outside just under the kitchen sink on our old Rockwood and sometimes we had the smell come in through the window too when a breeze would carry it in. I agree with TucsonJim with the things to check but it may just be the vent under the window.

Rob

[Schiefswret]

Dave

You should be able to see the connection from the sink drain to the gray tank inside the cabinets somewhere , follow the drain pipe. Another thought with the "rotten eggs" smell is propane. I know that it does not smell that bad but you could turn on a burner on the stove and have the wife take a smell to see if it is the same , do not light the burner I do not think she will be able to smell it if it is burning haha. You do have the water heater and stove in this area so you could rule out propane leak pretty easily. Gray tanks usually do not smell like rotten eggs but you may have a gasket issue at the inlet.

Brian

I'll check that out, thanks Brian

[Schiefswret]

Dave,

I pulled the drawings for your unit and checked the plumbing. My first thought was that you might have an air admittance valve issue. But alas, your unit does not have an AAV on the kithen sink. It appears that the plumbing is vented through the rear wall. So here are three things I'd check:

1. As Brian mentioned, propane will smell like rotten eggs. This would be my primary concern and I'd do an in depth investigation to make sure there isn't a propane leak.
2. Check the sink trap to make sure none of the pipes are loose. If so, this could allow odors from the rear gray tank to enter the cabinet.
3. The next item is the rear vent. Check interior plumbing to the vent to make sure nothing has come loose. If that is okay, make sure that you don't have tank odors coming from the vent into the back window. As you can see by the photo below, the vent is right below the window. it would be easy for odors to make their way back into the RV.

Much thanks Jim. I wish I knew how to do an in depth investigation for propane leaks but I'll do one thing at a time. My rig has been sitting for four months and I just checked out the two 20lb tanks and
one was empty and the other 3/8 full although there has been no cooking going on in there, the water heater stays on electric, and the furnace was used only a couple of times for very short periods, and I had both tanks filled when we put her to bed in Nov. Additionally odd, we've never smelled any odor of rotten eggs until today when we started getting her ready for a short trip on Sunday. Odd. I'll keep chipping away. Thanks again.

[Schiefswret]

Dave

You should be able to see the connection from the sink drain to the gray tank inside the cabinets somewhere , follow the drain pipe. Another thought with the "rotten eggs" smell is propane. I know that it does not smell that bad but you could turn on a burner on the stove and have the wife take a smell to see if it is the same , do not light the burner I do not think she will be able to smell it if it is burning haha. You do have the water heater and stove in this area so you could rule out propane leak pretty easily. Gray tanks usually do not smell like rotten eggs but you may have a gasket issue at the inlet.

Brian

Brian, I'm not sure what you mean by the fact that we have the water heater and stove in the same area so I could rule out a propane leak pretty easily. How would I go about doing that? Pls advise. TKX

[Country Campers]

Brian, I'm not sure what you mean by the fact that we have the water heater and stove in the same area so I could rule out a propane leak pretty easily. How would I go about doing that? Pls advise. TKX

Sorry that this was unclear. My meaning was the water heater and stove was in the same area as the rotten egg smell so this would indicate a propane leak and those 2 items use propane. If you turn on an burner on the stove top to get the smell of the propane gas and compare that to the rotten egg smell that the wife has smelled and if the smells are the same then you have a propane leak somewhere in that area. Tracking the leak down will be a little bit of a project but can be done.

Brian

[Schiefswret]

Sorry that this was unclear. My meaning was the water heater and stove was in the same area as the rotten egg smell so this would indicate a propane leak and those 2 items use propane. If you turn on an burner on the stove top to get the smell of the propane gas and compare that to the rotten egg smell that the wife has smelled and if the smells are the same then you have a propane leak somewhere in that area. Tracking the leak down will be a little bit of a project but can be done.

Brian

Ok tks Brian. I’ll call my local RVIA guy to see if he can fit me in. We are supposed to leave Sunday. Thanks again.

[slk8385]

Dave, did you ever find out what the source of the smell was? I have a 2021-2250rk and am dealing with that same smell issue in the kitchen area. I am highly doubtful that it’s propane related as we haven’t had propane in use for almost a year.
I cleaned the kitchen p-trap, but the smell is still there.

How did you get it resolved?
Terry

[Schiefswret]

Terry, the only thing that I can point to is that I was emptying more than one black/gray tank at a time, maybe both grays at the same time. It’s been a while so I don’t actually recall but a few guys on the tech forum explained why that could be the cause and I actually didn’t understand their explanation but I started emptying only one tank at a time and also started using a lot more flushing water in my black tank and I haven’t had any smell issues since. I now always use the black spray function while emptying the black tank and after finishing, close the black valve and let at LEAST 5 gallons of water fill the black tank to ensure that there is plenty of flushing water ready to go for the next time. Good luck!

[slk8385]

Thanks Dave. Our issue is only in the kitchen, not anywhere else. I think I’m going to check that air vent connection that Jim spoke of, will advise.
Happy travels……

[howson]

Thanks Dave. Our issue is only in the kitchen, not anywhere else. I think I’m going to check that air vent connection that Jim spoke of, will advise.
Happy travels……

Maybe a dumb question...but do you keep water in the "P-trap" of the sink? Without water odors will find their way up through the sink drain.

[Schiefswret]

Thanks Dave. Our issue is only in the kitchen, not anywhere else. I think I’m going to check that air vent connection that Jim spoke of, will advise.
Happy travels……

Terry, I realize that the smell is coming only from the kitchen sink. Mine was also. I was only trying to pass along what I thought may have been the cause and what comments others have made, in an effort to give you some additional data to consider. Best of luck.

[slk8385]

Didn’t have anything loose by the air vent. Decided to load it up with Happy Camper and a gallon of water.
We’ll see….