Just a word of warning. we had a nasty scare yesterday.
When we went into the caravan, there was a horrible smell, like a stink bomb, or rotten eggs, opened the windows, and the smell goes, mentioned it to the people next door, who said theyd noticed the smell and thought it was the drains of the holiday cottages behind the field, apparently they have a cesspit, and the smell occurs occasionally,
The smell builds up again and seems to be stronger by the front locker of the van.
i thought perhaps we have a gas leak. Disconnected the bottle and put it outside.
the smell was still strong in the locker.
The only other thing in there is the spare wheel, and behind that, the battery.
Disconnected the battery and it was too hot to touch. When we got it out and opened the covers, there was smoke coming out,and that's what the foul smell was. it was almost ready to explode. i dread to think what could have happened, as the battery is right next to the gas bottle.
I have ditched the battery,we will have to get a new one, this one came with the van, and is probably about 7 years old or more, and i suspect it has run too low over the winter without being recharged, and that has caused the problem , but thought i'd let people know, i never thought the battery would smell like that, so if anyone else gets a strange smell they'll know what to look for.
On the top of the battery are little plugs that can come off. Inside you will see rows of plates. These need to be covered with electrolyte,a solution of sulfuric acid and water. If the electrolyte is below the top of the plates then it can be top up with distilled water untill the level covers the plates again. Be careful with electrolyte because if any comes in contact with the skin then it will burn. So always wear rubber gloves and saftey glasses. If the levels are not topped up then the battery starts to gas and this is what the smell of rotten eggs is. The fluid levels should be checked regularly. Always remember though when handling batteries think saftey first and wear proctective gloves and goggles. The link below explains abit about Lead acid Batteries. Section 5 tells you abit about battery maintenance as well and how to lokk after the battery.
We were lucky we kept snifffing about, that sounds awful, I know, cos the people next to us were on a seasonal pitch and genuinely thought it was the drains.
As for my dreadful weekend, well it really couldn't have been any worse, check out my other posts.
Wow, how lucky were you????? Thank heavens you found out before it was too late. We will all now know just what to look for if any of us are unlucky enough to have that rotten egg smell in or around the van.
Well.....for most peeeps it would sort out the mystery, but sadly for my hubby and me with me chronic flatulence.....he'd have the choice of two sources to contend with! But at least it doesn't mean that I'm liable to explode, although it's safer to keep me away from naked flames.....
So glad that no harm was done to you or yours or anybody else in the vicinity.
We had a strange smell in the awning at the weekend, which started just after dinner on Saturday evening. It took a couple of hours before I eventually worked it out and only after the smell penetrated the caravan interior did I really rack my brain.
The smell was like burning meths, but we have nothing but gas and electric on the van, no bbq lighter fluid or such like. Then it twigged, the fridge exhausts into the awning and when I jumped up and looked, Alyson had accidently knocked the control knob onto gas. Never thought of this when we bought the van but will now never power the frisge on gas with the awning up.
Anyone else experienced this problem or was it just the fact that this was the very first time the fridge had been powered by gas and it was the initial burning smell you get with most new burners.
A timely warning, thank you. I check our battery electrolyte levels regularly - whenever I charge it - so it's unlikely to happen to us but, if I was to smell that on a site I would know what it was (so long as Hippy Chick wasn't around!) and, perhaps be able to save someone. Before your post I would just have wrinkled my nose and moved on.
Carterma I would think it was just burning off dust etc, we had a fridge vent into our awning on our last van and never had a problem or smell.
------------- best cheers
Frank
Range Rover Vogue SE LPG TAZ
Same here. If it was not safe to have the fridge venting in to the awning then it would not be vented on the door side. We have regularly run our fridge on gas with awning up no issues. If in doubt then get your unit checked but I reckon it is just burning of dust etc. If it is new then I reckon that will be the smell. I seem to recall something in our owners manual about running oven and gas fridge to burn them in.
------------- "You can not change the wind, but you can adjust your sails"
Just had this same problem, on Tuesday evening was sitting outside and came into the Van, the wife was watching TV (BBrother) and I could smell the rotten eggs I knew what it was, as we charge very Large Electric forklift batteries at work and often have this smell around them. I switched off the charger and opened all of the windows, the bit is the wife didn't smell the rotten eggs must be sensitised to the smell living with me iykwim
Before setting of I had checked the Battery electrolyte levels and they were all in need of topping up again! (I had previously done this about three weeks ago before a long weekend trip.) I suspected there was something not quite right with the battery that it needed topped up again
So I am assuming it is the Battery that is at fault and not the Charger. I'm going to replace this first and also check the output of the Zig charger.
Just want to say a big ty. I have had the same sulphur smell and thought it was the drain. But when the drain blocker didn't stop the smell I googled rotten egg smell under van and found your co.mentd. My friend disconnected the battery. Ty x
yes ive had that smell with duff scooter batteries we had on charge overnite and they get too hot to pick up.Some even swell into rugby ballshapes but amazingly dont explode.these are all sealed type that can be used anyway up.But basically same as leisure batts.I think it would take a lot for one to blow,but just check that your charger is not cooking it if its not working correctly
------------- i dont sell cheap tat.I sell tat cheap
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Topic: If you smell rotten eggs.........
