Houseboat Toilets - Smell from black water vent pipe.

by Vicki
(Lake Shasta, California)

When it comes to houseboat toilets, how can we lessen the methane vapors and smell from our black water vent pipe? We have tried many toilet chemicals...we really like odorless.

There is no toilet smell inside the houseboat, but outside while relaxing on the stern deck, a welcome nice cooling breeze comes by...followed by the horrible methane vapors from the black water vent pipe.

Obviously, the vent is necessary and there is really no good place for it to be...bow, stern, catwalk, upper deck, lower deck...all placements interfere with windows to the inside or deck areas on the outside.

Is there any type of filter cap or attachment to lessen the impact of the vapors...or a chemical that lessens the methane in the tank? Thanks, Vicki.


Reply - Answer
Well Vicki, thanks for posting your situation, and sorry to hear about the problem with the "smelly head" so to speak.

I can thoroughly relate to your situation, and we have had great success by changing the way that we treat or maintain our black water holding tank. It is only normal that the vent allows a certain amount of foul smelling exhaust.

If you have one liter of liquid that goes into a septic holding tank, a liter of exhaust air will be expelled. You can buy some carbon filters to try and eliminate the odor, yet I haven't heard any real success stories.

The way we solved our situation was when we found a website for RVer's that had the same problems. They solved their methane gas and odor problems by using water softener powder and laundry detergent. I know it sounds weird, but have a look.


Lastly, hopefully some of our readers will share and post comments about their houseboat odor problems and experiences. Feel free to use the "Click here to post comments." link found near the bottom of this page.


Thanks again for sharing, IAN - from www.all-about-houseboats.com

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