Our new (to us) caravan toilet has a horrid smell. We haven’t used it yet either. I put blue in and left it a couple of days then gave it a good rinse out but the smell remains. Thought it was header tank at first but flushed that out. It’s only when we open the ‘trap door’ . Any suggestions? Wouldn’t mind but rest of van is immaculate!
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Various weekends, weather and time permitting
April - Yorkshire and Yorkshire
June - Wiltshire and Oxfordshire
Autumn - North and Scotland
Have you taken the tank out and checked there hasn't been a previous leak. We have a new to us van and had a smelly toilet and on removing the cassette found for whatever reason the toilet had leaked into the space it fits in. I cleaned it , what a lovely job , disinfected it and we haven't had a problem since.
When we bought our caravan I bought a “fresh up” kit, only about £90 but get brand new seat and cassette; a lot more reassuring when the kids use it etc
Might be worth getting some waste tank cleaner (Fenwicks Waste Pipe & Tank Cleaner or similar) to freshen it up. Did a good job on my pre-season spring clean.
Might be the waste tank fluid that you/previous owner have used as well. I used to use Elsan Superkem, but when that ran out I used the Thetford stuff that came bundled with the van - not in the least bit impressed! The Elsan kept the tank fresh and fragrant, the Thetford stuff allows some pretty unpleasant odours to come from tank when flap is opened!
Just bought some more Elsan, not sure I'll even finish the bottle of Thetford stuff, it's rank!
Smart golfer, it’s not leaky just smelly. Monty15 , I might swap to Elsan when back in UK. I really don’t like the Thetford one either, smell makes me feel nauseous!
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Various weekends, weather and time permitting
April - Yorkshire and Yorkshire
June - Wiltshire and Oxfordshire
Autumn - North and Scotland
We use Elsan Deep Clean Cassette Tank Cleaner once a year and it seems to do a really good deep clean. Then, after each trip away, after we empty the toilet for the last time we clean it with Fenwicks waste pipe and tank cleaner and this seems to keep it fresh from one use to the next.
If you bought the caravan second hand from a dealer, it's not unknown for people to visit caravans and secretly use the toilet in the absence of the salesperson which if that is the case, stale urine can leave a prolonged unwanted nasty smell in the waste tank. The remedy is to use Zoflora concentrated disinfectant which has a wonderful fragrance and eliminates bad odours which one single dose of treatment should do the trick. More about Zoflora can be found in the link below.
Oh Tango that’s really unpleasant but I suppose it does happen. I’ve got some zoflora with me so might try that. We are so close to site facilities that we haven’t used our loo but I still want rid of the smell.
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Various weekends, weather and time permitting
April - Yorkshire and Yorkshire
June - Wiltshire and Oxfordshire
Autumn - North and Scotland
Quote: Originally posted by tango55 on 23/8/2019
If you bought the caravan second hand from a dealer, it's not unknown for people to visit caravans and secretly use the toilet in the absence of the salesperson which if that is the case, stale urine can leave a prolonged unwanted nasty smell in the waste tank. The remedy is to use Zoflora concentrated disinfectant which has a wonderful fragrance and eliminates bad odours which one single dose of treatment should do the trick. More about Zoflora can be found in the link below.
went to look at a brand new motorhome at a local dealership and some dirty sod had indeed been to the loo and had a bad aim too !!! Pee all over -- the smell was horrendous
Several years ago when attending a rally, we visited a nearby caravan dealer with some friends who were also rallying on the same site as well. Whilst looking at the brand new caravans he said he wanted the loo so proceeded to use the caravan toilet which obviously was absent of any flush chemicals. I was rather disgusted by this and said it wasn't fair on the new owners but his ignorant reply was...."Well, who's going to know? They're going to use the toilet anyway when they get it".
Usually it's people with little or no respect that will do this and we all know that there are quite a few of them around especially after reading some of the stories on here alone.
The fact is that caravan toilets do discreetly get peed in occassionally when they are out of sight of the salesperson or any other people wishing to view so the advice is to use your nose as well as your eyes before you decide to buy.
Ours is in storage now, but I lifted the lid on Thursday and smell had dramatically improved. Will be getting a different bottom tank liquid as I don’t like the Thetford one.
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Various weekends, weather and time permitting
April - Yorkshire and Yorkshire
June - Wiltshire and Oxfordshire
Autumn - North and Scotland
An update. Due to Covid and having to use our own facilities, I bought some Elsan (as site requested it). Just returned from a week away and realise it’s the Elsan fragrance that makes me feel nauseous. Not sure what to do now as sites seem to be requesting the green but really don’t want to have to use the Elsan!
------------- 2026
Various weekends, weather and time permitting
April - Yorkshire and Yorkshire
June - Wiltshire and Oxfordshire
Autumn - North and Scotland
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Smelly toilet!
via mobile 22/8/2019 at 4:29pm
