What's that smell?

[zedex]

I will have a look at the vents. Where the trailer was stored before i bought it, could definitely have had birds nesting in various places.
I need to hire a professional nose to tell me what the smell is.
Question though. assuming there is a dead something in one of the vents. How would smell get in the trailer when all the traps are full of water or antifreeze? Toilet has antifreeze sealing it. I think you would smell it outside the trailer not inside.

[webspinner]

"Sweet and sickening" is exactly how I would describe the smell of decomposing animal. I'm with the votes that it's a dead mouse. The good news is that nature eventually takes its course and eventually it finishes rotting and the smell goes away. It can take a while. Short of opening the walls, I'd check in every cupboard and closet that you can possibly reach. Or, when your nose is still fresh, see if you can locate the source. I don't know of anything that can mask that smell until it goes away by itself.

[zedex]

Wierd.. I walked into the airstream today and it smelled great. I noticed no foul odor or sickening sweetness. Hmmmm.



OMG. I just noticed i am a 2 rivet member

[sempi2]

I am not sure what your "smell" is like, but we have a smell in our 2004 Safari. It is not a dead animal, nor is it sewer smell. It is not totally offensive, but it is also not appealing. We notice it most when we first enter the trailer after it has set for some time. But after we are camping for awhile, we do not notice the smell so much. But we have not figured out if the smell is going away,, or if we are just getting used to it.

[Shacksman]

A battery that has gone dry gives off an odor like sewer gas. Check the water level.

[Ruebel]

We had a smell develop couple of years ago in our 2002 Safari. It turned out to be the vent by the kitchen sink. Airstream calls this vent 1.50 Vent V-200 Automatic. There is also one in the bathroom sink plumbing.
We purchased one from a plumbing supply for under $5.00



Auto trap vent features:

• Generally used in mobile homes, rv's, and trailers (not code in many areas for homes)
• Used in places where non-mechanical venting is impossible to install
• Operates mechanically with a spring and rubber diaphragm

Some call this mechanical vent a "check vent."

Larry Ruebel
Bismarck ND

[zedex]

Originally Posted by Shacksman

A battery that has gone dry gives off an odor like sewer gas. Check the water level.

Brand new batteries Shacksman. I replaced them right after i bought the trailer. They were both toast.

[zedex]

Originally Posted by sempi2

I am not sure what your "smell" is like, but we have a smell in our 2004 Safari. It is not a dead animal, nor is it sewer smell. It is not totally offensive, but it is also not appealing. We notice it most when we first enter the trailer after it has set for some time. But after we are camping for awhile, we do not notice the smell so much. But we have not figured out if the smell is going away,, or if we are just getting used to it.

Thats interesting. I wonder if your smell smells like my smell.
Maybe all airstreams smell like this? How would i know. I have only been in 1, and it smelled .

[sempi2]

Originally Posted by zedex

Thats interesting. I wonder if your smell smells like my smell.
Maybe all airstreams smell like this? How would i know. I have only been in 1, and it smelled .

Too bad we can't send smells over the internet or by email. We can not figure out what it is, but someone said "ferminahydl" (sp)

[Bluto]

Originally Posted by zedex

Hi. I bought a 2004 ccd a few months ago and after towing it it wreaked BAD. Dont know what either sewage somewhere backing up.
Anyways.We stripped it, Flushed everything,cleaned everything thrice.
Aired it out.
But still there is an odor. Its not a sewage odor. Its not foul, kind of sweet and sickening. I cant describe it.
So. Have any of you used a commercial ozone generator to get rid of odors?
Thanks

A rats nest has a sicking sweet smell. I had to clean one out of an engine compartment years ago. I hope for your sake I'm wrong. Even after repeated washing of the engine, the smell lingered. Finally, after a year or so the smell burned off.

[gwchitty]

Here's some thoughts:

Could something have crawled into the fridge vent? If so, look all around behind the refrigerator and up the vent scoop for evidence.

My trailer frame was open just behind the coupler. It was a square mouse tunnel into the bellypan until I closed it up with stainless steel pot scrubbers.

I second the baking soda idea. But dump the little boxes out on to paper plates to maximize surface area. You can also use fresh cat litter to absorb smells.

Wash all the hard surfaces down with 50 / 50 vinegar and water mix. Some have had luck leaving a pan of vinegar out to absorb smells. Just keep vinegar away from baking soda or you will have a mess to clean up.

Cosmos

[zedex]

I am going to smell it again tomorrow. If i can detect the smell i am going to call a restoration business and see if they can detect what it is. But like i said. I smelled it today and it was fine.

[Melody Ranch]

Did you check the bottoms of the shoes you were wearing? No kidding!

[webtrippin]

I'm pretty sure I know the smell you're talking about from a very vivid memory. Can't say it's exactly the same thing, but generally speaking I would agree that it's a dead something or another.

Our experience had some MASSIVE carpenter looking ants that appeared after a lunch stop in New Mexico. Maybe they were there when we bought it (we were on the way back and only 2 days on the road) or maybe they got in there.

I opened the front door, there had to be 20-30 of these huge suckers that were about as long as 3/4 inch. Oddly they were running in some weird circular pattern, all of them. We killed them with strong animosity.

Next day we started smelling this smell. Sweet, kind of bitter. Offensive in a curious way. Kind of like how a dead mouse has smelled in the house furnace after a few days but not as bad.

That night we stopped again, and when we opened the fridge there were a bunch of 40 or so that had been sitting between the top and bottom doors that dropped into the fridge. Yuk!

We killed them too, washed everything, bug bombed the trailer 2 times in a row and then washed everything again. Smell was gone and hasn't come back.

Recently I worked on a house putting a foundation under one that didn't have it. The old post and pier was munched on by carpenter ants, but much smaller ones. While working on it we got the pleasure to be under the house in their nasty mess, and I swear I could smell something very very similar although more musty. Sweet musty nasty ant smell.

I still have no idea how those huge ants got in but somehow they did. Might be another thing to look for in addition to dead animals. Dead or living bugs! eww!

[noreen&sal]

Originally Posted by Melody Ranch

Did you check the bottoms of the shoes you were wearing? No kidding!

Ask me how I know youre not kidding? Sal.

[zedex]

Ok. I checked the bottoms of my feet. They tested negative for dog poop, cat poop ,ant poop.

I walked in the airstream.................It smelled fine.
I am going to get the wife AKA bloodhound to check it out.
I guarantee she will smell something.

[Ag&Au]

Originally Posted by zedex

Ok. I checked the bottoms of my feet. They tested negative for dog poop, cat poop ,ant poop.

I walked in the airstream.................It smelled fine.
I am going to get the wife AKA bloodhound to check it out.
I guarantee she will smell something.

After all you have done, I doubt that it is the problem, but bedbug infestations, if bad enough, give off a sickening sweet smell. It is a substance they secrete from glands, so I suppose it could stay around for quite a while after they depart.


Ken

[carped8ta]

Originally Posted by Shacksman

A battery that has gone dry gives off an odor like sewer gas. Check the water level.

I was going crazy chasing that smell. It was indeed a clean and spiffy sh**ter, the problem was a dry battery. Thanks Shacksman.

[LawChick]

My DH wondered if there can be a leak in the blackwater tank which is allowing, yuck, sewage to "stew" in the belly pan?
Also, I like Decon a lot. Husby objects to my liberal usage of it, but I never see any mouse but a dried up one. However, in one house we had, I used it, and the rodent, the Ornery Thang, died in the wall of my husband's walk-in closet. The smell lasted seemingly forever!
I'm just sayin'.....

[robwok]

Originally Posted by webtrippin

Our experience had some MASSIVE carpenter looking ants that appeared Next day we started smelling this smell. Sweet, kind of bitter. Offensive in a curious way. Kind of like how a dead mouse has smelled in the house furnace after a few days but not as bad.

Ants can produce a lot of formic acid. Think about apple cider vinegar and how it smells. Formic acid could be similar.