RV odors are a nightmare for every RVer. There are so many reasons why RV odors occur and equally as many ways to remove odors from your RV. Odors are bound to plague every RV family at some point and there is no need to be embarrassed about it.
So let’s dive deep into this smelly topic how to remove odors from your RV.
Removing those unwanted smells can be done in more ways than you can imagine but you don’t need or want to spray other smelly stuff to cover it up. The best thing you can do is get to the root of the smell. If you’ve read our 9 RV hacks that make small living easier then you know we’re all about practical tips.
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Removing Odors From Your RV
Take Out the Trash
This is a no brainer but in such a small space you might end up needing to take the trash out more than once. But you can’t forget to take out the trash in the bathrooms too.
It’s so easy for trash to pile up and it doesn’t take long to become a problem.
My favorite way to reduce odors is to keep a box of baking soda beneath my sink and to use lemon scented trash bags.
Flush Your Sinks
Again this might seem like a no brainer but RVs don’t have grinders so you might forget to rinse those p traps.
This happened to us once when we were traveling and it turned out the p traps had collected water over the course of 2 days and were getting gross.
Those sinks can get smelly stuff caught up causing those pesky RV odors. Flush with hot water and soap when you’re done washing dishes!
Related: Our RV Favorites
Use Tank Pods
Most people know about the pods you can get for your black tanks but many don’t realize you can get pods for your grey water tanks as well.
Not only that but you should treat your fresh water tanks at least twice per year.
We throw a pod in our black tanks every other time we dump and down our grey tanks once per month.
These are our favorite pods for removing odors from your RV.
Use Sink Stoppers
We have always had an issue with one of our bathroom sinks always allowing smells back into the bathroom. We don’t have this issue anywhere else so we simply keep a sink stopper in that sink between uses.
This helps to keep the RV odors at bay!
Run a Fan
One surefire way to collect RV odors is to cook in your RV and not run the fan. Also, mildew will begin to collect if you don’t run your bathroom fan after showering.
Smells will quickly collect so run those fans!
Keep Your Tanks Clean
Most all RVs come with a tank flush now. Make sure you’re running that at least monthly to remove buildup along with using your tank pods.
Removing odors from your RV start with tanks. Tanks are always collecting so don’t let them stink you out.
Keep them clean!
Use Water Filters
Keep your fresh water tanks clean by using a fresh water filter. In between sanitizing your fresh water tanks you can use a water filter to keep stinky campground water at bay.
Those filters are worth every penny for keeping water lines clear.
You can grab a couple of these in a pack for a decent price! They’re easy to use and replace.
So far on our campground stays when we don’t use this filter the ice and water taste funny but when we do use it we see a difference.
Diffuse Essential Oils
This is my favorite natural way to remove odors from your RV. Oils are naturally occuring and plant-based so none of the toxic chemicals are in them like in big name brand air fresheners.
This is something I am really trying to be better about in the RV since it’s such a small space. Our oldest kid has asthma so we’ve never been able to use those chemical filled fake air fresheners anyways.
Related: Getting Started Using Essential Oils
Use Baking Soda
I use baking soda in my fridge, freezer, in my laundry and under my sinks. Baking soda is the thing since sliced cheese.
If you’ve got RV odors chances are you can use some baking soda to help reduce them.
It’s so cheap that you can’t not add it to your cart the next time you’re at the store.
Keep Rugs Clean
I have found that our rugs since we are in such a small space get filthy more often. I’m washing our rugs once a week at this rate.
Keeping your rugs clean will help to cut down on the RV odors since you’re likely dragging in mud, dirt and wet shoes.
Speaking of shoes… leave those suckers outside if you have the chance. This is hard for us because my husband just doesn’t care and my kids don’t pay attention.
That’s really it. It’s so simple and these things can make such a huge difference when trying to remove odors from your RV.
If you can’t seem to get the RV odors to go away you should definitely look into your issues a bit more. We had a bad seal on one of our toilets we had to change out and that fixed the sewage issue.
If you’re traveling in an RV like us and need an awesome reminder of things to do before you break camp then grab our checklist.
When you grab our checklist you will also receive tips to make your family travel fun, RV tips, adventure ideas and more.
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