We made our maiden voyage just a couple of days ago in our newsed 1990 Barth Regency. After arriving at the RV park, we noticed a strong sewer smell in the aft part of the coach. It was bad enough that we left the coach there the first night and spent the night at home. After returning the next morning to deal with the smell, the RV park put us in contact with a company that was located close to our home in Colorado Springs, CO. I contacted All Pro Water Flow and he explained how I could correct the problem enough to sleep in the coach that night.

He instructed me to fill both the gray and black holding tanks to half full. I picked up three 48oz. bottles of pine scented Pine Sol and poured 72 oz down the toilet and 72 oz down the sink. After disconnecting from shore power and remembering to put the antenna down thanks to my new antenna is up warning placard, I drove from the RV park to our home and returned to the RV park. His specific instructions were to drive around for an hour, it was closer to 1+20 when I got back. I believe I was noticing the difference within a 1/2 mile of leaving the park.

I spent about $9 on the Pine Sol and about $25-30 on fuel (it didn't need to be that much since I went farther than needed) and it still smells great. I could probably get away with this relatively cheap fix for awhile but it probably wouldn't last. The owners manual deals with this but requires several days of driving plus bleach and chlorine (?) is involved which might cause taste issues when you're done.

Instead of going through that process, I am having it professionally cleaned in the morning. They have the coach already and I doubt it has ever been done.

When I get it back, I'll give you all an update. The total cost is $175 for them to clean the potable water holding tank, black and gray tanks and the water heater.

Smells...sometimes I get 'em, sometimes not. One thing to consider is a wind sensitive cap for the atmospheric vent.

What I've encountered is that the odors were coming from not the black water but the gray water tank. I've not done the Pine-Sol thing, but I do be careful about dumping chlorine bleach into the holding tanks, since that can nullify the action of the enzyme-rich additives.

Since my black-water tank has a flushing port, I do rinse it out after each dump. The gray water tank is not so equipped, so I can only fill it and drain it.

Hopefully, you'd not notice "taste" from your waste tanks . With regard to the FW tank, since I boondock frequently for several days at a time, about twice a year, I treat the FW tank to a chlorine bleach party. I then flush the tank and FW lines a couple of times, and add baking soda to the FW tank. FW is fine.

You might try the RV-360 wind vane odor extractor. I've just bought one and we're going to try it out.

Check for an overflow drain at the top of your toilet bowl. Every now and then you need to put a little water down thru there. It is basically a P trap and if it dries out air/fumes can come up thru your toilet. Also the drain for the shower can do the same thing if it hasn't been used for a while.

This is what we do. Lots of people think we are wrong or exaggerating, but I offer this as just one couple's experience.

We have never flushed or cleaned our black tank. It is usually dumped in one giant FLOOOOOOSH! with a stinky slinky, but is often dumped less violently and completely with a macerator or jet pump while the coach sits tilted wrong. Seems not to matter.

We drive with the lav vent closed and the lav window closed. The lav door has a hole in it for the cat.

We sit with lav vent and window open or not to suit us and the weather. We turn off the super duper bathroom vent fan while flushing the toilet. A fan running can suck odors into the lav while the toilet valve is open for flushing.

We don't use chemicals until we are out for several days in hot weather, a week in warm weather, and longer in cold. Susan has the nose of a princess, and is not shy about demanding the addition of a chemical.

The tank sits half full for weeks, sometimes. With or without chemicals, depending.

We use the RV360 mentioned by Ed. A light breeze will suck cigar smoke down into an open toilet.

Ed's advice on traps is good, especially if a coach sits closed up with a non-empty tank.

We had a fiver on the Colorado River for years, and it had a vent problem. Temps topped 120 often. Until I fixed it, no chemical was a standout. They all failed to do what they advertised. Every chemical that we tried on glowing recommendations fell short until we switched to HAPPY CAMPER. It also liquifies fairly well, which is important to users who do not use a lot of flush water.

If you can believe it, Fleetwood didn't put a roof vent in the lav. After I installed one, the fan ran 24/7. That helped some. So did an automatic pine scent dispenser, although my youngest commented that all it did was make the lav smell like somebody **** in the forest.

we finally raised the too-low vent pipe and our problems went away.

We also break all the rules on flushing with lots of water when dry camping. Our toilet does not flush. It just opens, and we use a modified sink sprayer to shoot only just enough water to knock the bowl clean. The tank always dumps well.

We never dump unless the tank is pretty full. If it is not, we wait or fill it up with water, to assure a vigorous outflow when the dump valve is opened.

A product I have used successfully on several rigs is the "Lil' Stanker" holding tank deodorizer fan, available in 2 models, a roof mount, & an in-line mount. It mounts in, or on top of, the holding tank vent pipe. Modestly priced, easy to install (particularly the roof mount model) it draws a tiny amount of juice, has 2 speeds, can be left on full time, essentially silent on low-speed, nearly so on high. It keeps working when there's no wind to provide the venturi effect of the EV 360.

It did a fantastic job on a van conversion with a perennially smelly recirculating toilet. I need one for the Barth which tends to get stinky when the black water tank nears full, but haven't got a round tuit.

Available by mail order from www.lslproducts.com

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A product I have used successfully on several rigs is the "Lil' Stanker" holding tank deodorizer fan,

Yeah, I have thought about using a computer fan to do that. I have a vent tube available in a corner of a closet.

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Barth which tends to get stinky when the black water tank nears full.

I had a situation similar to that on a Fleetwood product. The vent tube stuck too far down into the tank. This canceled its ability to vent gasses when the tank contents rose to its lower end.

The answer, of course, was to raise it. But how much? I had a great dread of pulling it up too far and really complicating things. So I drained and washed the tank, filled to the top with fresh water, and let out an inch's worth, as measured at the toilet chute. I then pulled the vent tube up a half-inch at a time until it no longer bubbled when I blew down into it.

I used a Saran Wrap gasket when I blew, but those who are disinclined to put their mouth on the vent and blow can use a heat gun (on the cold air setting) and measure the pressure with a manometer. The pressure will drop dramatically when the vent tube is raised above the water level.
Then the vent tube can be secured in the proper location.

Also put a little bit of water in your toilet and let it sit for a while and see if it has gone down any or is completely gone. If so you need to either clean the groove in the gasket ring, replace the gasket ring or replace the slide valve itself. " if it don't hold water you are gonna get oder". If needed we use Oderlos from camping world....works the best of any we have tried, prefer the liquid over the packets of crystals.