How do you cure a stinky lav?

[Learsforsale]

Excellent. Thanks for all the advice. Is anyone using something other than the blue water? I have heard that the fractionals use something different. I was wondering if what ever they are using has a more pleasant smell. I like the bleach idea, and will give that a try. We have been using the "odor eliminator" spray from the appearance group. It seems to have no smell at all and works really well, but the bottle is small and I'm scared what it costs to replace it. Thanks for all the advice...keep it coming...

You don't like the smell of the Berry Blue Kool-Aid? When I was a Line Service Technician (Read: ramp rat) at Signature the only thing I ever put in a lav besides blue juice was water. I forget what plane in particular took it, but I just remember arguing with the pilot. He didn't understand why I wouldn't hook the Potable water cart up to the lav hook up. Apparently they did it in Boston.

 

[HawkerF/O]

Non-Blue Juice is typically used in aircraft like BE40s that have aft lavs and are suit-case type that you ahve to carry through the cabin to dump. The use of non-blue juice is so if any drips on the carpet, you won't see a big blue stain.

I assume you have a lav that is servicable externally. 1st, always make sure you have the proper amount of fluid going back into the unit. You can tell that by how quickly you see water when it is flushed. When you flush it, water should appear right away. If there is even the slightest delay, you do not have enough in there. That's the 1st step in ensuring the smell stays away.

As for getting rid of the smell, get some scalding hot water and fill the lav with it. If it normally takes 1.5 gallons, put in 2 gallons. Pour the scalding hot water directly into the toilet. Now flush it 4 or 5 times and dump it. Repeat that process 2 or 3 times.

Now, get some more hot water and add bleach to it. Put the same amount of water in there and pour a healthy amount of bleach in behind it or premix it before you pour it into the toilet, it does not matter which way you do it. Flush it 4 or 5 times and leave it overnight, but not longer than about 12 hours max. Power the plane back up flush it once or twice and dump it. Now add your regular fill and it should be good to go. If smell is still there after all that, then you might have a leak somewhere from a frozen line or something of that sort.

As for leaving the lav empty I would only do that if it is possibly going to freeze. Otherwise, you should have an additive in the lav water that eats bacteria (what turns the water blue), so leaving it in there does more good than bad. If it has been idle for a few days just service the lav before your flight. Good luck.........

 

[rice]

Was in South America for three weeks last year, no blue juice anywhere. What to do to get rid of the stink? Run down to the local grocery store, find the toilet fresheners which use a liquid color/deoderant (only found the pine scent). Pry off the cap and squeeze the entire contents into the stinky lav. Worked great, no more stink for the rest of the trip and made us all think we were out on a camping trip $hitting in the woods.

 

[G21Agoose]

"How do you cure a stinky lav?"

Are you referring to the changes at FlightInfo?

 

[Groundpounder]

The FBO I used to work at had some lav stuff that we used that wasn't blue. I forget the name of it, but I can check when I get back home tomorrow. Most people were happy with it, but we still carried the blue 'tea bags' for the few operators that wanted their lav water to be blue.

 

[RoundMotor]

Coffie Bags?? Why you must be a Freight Dog!!!. Mouthwash works good.

 

[dalegribble]

"Celeste" brand blue packets do a great job. At the old job we had the same problem. MX found wads of TP and you know what that were not ever drained when dumping. Mx would run a garden hose in the plane and spray the crap out about once a week. In researching this, mx found that the lav tank was not tilted enough towards the drain to allow all solid matter to go out when dumping the water. Pardon the pun but it was a piss poor design

 

[MissKittyKat]

Ah, the old stinky lav, mouthwash does work. If you have a cabin attendant in-flight on the trip, he/she can go into the lav, after the passenger uses it and wipe it down and refresh it. Also, if you can put some styrofoam cups with white vinegar in it, in the lav, while the plane is down for the night.

The vinegar helps absorb odors. The vinegar is also good for a smoky cabin, if the passengers smoked on a long flight.

 

[El Bucho]

I've found that if you find a chick with a sweet a$$ on an overnight, you can give her like 20 bucks to go fart in the lav...cheers it right up.

 

[FlierDude]

Have someone clean the pi$$ out of it!