cleaning out waste tank

bpounds wrote:
I don't worry about 'cleaning' the waste tanks. All I concern myself with is not letting them dry out. Use plenty of water with every flush. I don't want to have clumps that might cause clogs. Don't care how clean it is because I will never be in there, and don't care about the sensors either.

Have never filled a black tank. It is always far lower than either of the others. Who needs sensors?

This method works great for me as well.

After a wonderful winter in Florida 2014. I dumped a bag of ice in tank knowing I had one more night on the road. When I got to the last night cg I was surprised what the ice had broke loose from bottom of tank.
An other tip is a product that lubricates all the tank valves. My handles were getting hard to pull I was afraid I was going to brake. A handle. After using this product my handles pull with much ease. Picked it up at a RV dealer or camping world saved a lot of headache.
There also is a product that cleans sensors available.

Happy RVing everyone.

laknox wrote:

Jerry_L wrote:
I've been seeking advise as to the best method/substance to use to clean out the black holding tank. I've seen videos suggesting bleach and peroxide while other suggested to stay away from those to substances. I found a product on line called "TankTechs RX" probiotic tank treatment. Has anyone used this product and is it worth while to purchase? The rv dealership I use is expensive and expressed reluctance to clean the tank (I'm in the process of finding a more receptive dealership). We've had sensor problems and I believe it has to do with the tank even though I flush the tank a minimum of three times. Any suggestions?

All the OEM sensors are notoriously inaccurate. Use lots of water with the black tank and drop a treatment packet or dose into the tank. Do a search on the "GEO method" of black tank treatment. Basically, it's Calgon (or other water softener powder) and original Dawn dish soap. Mix it up, drop a cup or 2 into the tank, and it helps slick things up to keep the "stickage" down. A 20 lb bag of ice in 3-4 gallons of water, then driving, can help break up more solid piles. After you dump, always put 3-4 gallons of water back in, even for storage. You just don't want it to dry out. Many RVs use a black tank flush built in; you can also get a clear elbow that goes on the dump pipe to attach a garden hose to to back-fill the tank. As one poster said, you can buy or make a wand to go down from the top, but I consider that a last-ditch solution for a problem tank. In 10 years, I've had only 1 instance of the "poop pyramid" because I was in a water conservation mode and just flat didn't use enough water. Dump, fill, dump, fill, then dump the grey tank to rinse out the hose.

Lyle

Good advise (advice).
The wand suggested by the "one poster" has a MH.
For 5ths, usually there are bends in the plumbing and the tank.

The "clear elbow" will do a good job......but, as many stated - the sensors are unreliable even when the tank is "clean".

Gotta wonder how a black tank can ever be "clean" (or why it should).:h

~

Had our first problems this summer, our rig has a galley tank, a grey tank and a black tank, but because of the way they all sit the toilet one does not drop straight into tank like all our others, this one has a couple bends to get it over to the tank, so twice this last trip to osoyoos it plugged the pipe and I had to borrow a snake to work through the blockage, so now have to tell everybody to make sure to use less paper, and lots more water.
But I miss the old straight through tank that you could see into.

bpounds wrote:
I don't worry about 'cleaning' the waste tanks. All I concern myself with is not letting them dry out. Use plenty of water with every flush. I don't want to have clumps that might cause clogs. Don't care how clean it is because I will never be in there, and don't care about the sensors either.

Have never filled a black tank. It is always far lower than either of the others. Who needs sensors?

I have about the same attitude here. I know when I dump. I know how many days I can easily go between dumps. I always make sure to finish the dumping proceedure by adding at least a few gal of water to slosh around as we merrily go down the road.

Someone mentioned using the toilet valve for filling the tank for dumping and how long that took. You could attach a hose to your bath sink faucet. You may have to unscrew aerator screen on faucet.

IND_navyvet wrote:
When you see water standing below toilet valve, it is time to dump black tank. No sensors needed just eyes.

Exactly.... Who cares if the sensor works or not.If you can see you know when it needs to be dumped.Our sensor stopped working on second outing and I really dont care.I guess some people get some kind of satisfaction by looking at the red dot next to empty or full even when its prolly wrong.And who care how clean your******tank is inside.Its a holding tank for crap.Just add alot of water and be done with it.No need to obsess over a******tank.

N-Trouble wrote:

Monaco Montclair wrote:
we use the ice thing, works for us and it don't hurt a thing, now it all happy-camping

+1, has always worked for me. Easy and no mess or chemicals to deal with. Windy mountain roads tend to do the best job at sloshing everything around and turning it into pooh soup:)

That would make Christopher Robin very sad. :-) (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

Lyle

The cheap level sensors used by the industry do not work well in the black tank. Use lots of liquid in the tank and only dump when you have over 1/2 tank of black water.

About twice a year, I will dump the tank and refill to about 1/3 full and put about 1 cup of dishwasher detergent in the tank right before we leave. Up on arrival, I immediately dump the tank and then use the flush to finish clearing the tank.

Some are obsessed about keeping the black tank clean enough to eat from. It is a holding tank for poo. You will not get a bacteris colony established because it is not a septic system. So lots of liquid and flush occasionally.

Ken

I had a huge problem about 4 years ago, and a rv dealer put in 1 pt. of Unique Digest Its. As long as I use this I have no problems. I use about 8 oz. each tank. Now I can go about 1 week, before dumping. I do not flush tanks till end of season, as I have a good bunch of bacteria going.