Over thanksgiving weekend we were out dry camping at the beach. Was great. We stayed 3 days, 2 nights. On the 2nd night I noticed my black tank monitor was showing full. I thought to myself... must have paper on it or something.. Well then the next time I flushed the toilet it burped a bunch and almost splashed me.That only got worse and I figured that the tanks were indeed full as the vent tube must have been under water at this point.2 adults and 1 child were using the toilet on this trip. How fast does that water pump, pump? I'm wondering if my daughter is just using way too much water while flushing?I have 35ga black and grey.I am just scratching my head still. My old toy hauler had 60 gallon black tank and I could easily go 2 weeks.

How old is the daughter? I know the wife and I can go 3 days 4 nights easy but when the grand children come it's a whole other ball game. :)

35 gal black should last longer than that assuming that a) it was empty when you started, and b) Y'all are not letting tons of water go down with each flush, and c) the lavatory sink does not drain to the black tank and y'all don't spend a great deal of water washing faces, etc.

Daughter is 5. I have two more that are two but they rarely use the toilet

35 gallon black tank Minus 1 gallon left behind when drainingMinus 2 gallons ( full toilet bowl flush) added back into tank after drainingMinus 2 gallons (top of tank not filled)Total 30 gallons2 full days------15 gallons/each day2 adults 1 child------5 gallons each/day That's a lot of toilet time. :BToilet burping could occur at 25 gallons....depends on design of tank & vent position

Does your vanity sink drain into black tank like ours. I know how 5 year old's like to play washing their hands.

Black Tank Full... wait.. What?? | Good Sam Community

27 Replies

Lobstah
Explorer
Dec 11, 2013
As JimM68 mentioned, it depends on the toilet. Most toilets are mounted directly over the tank. Ours is not, so we have the Tecma as well with built in macerator. Under the sink behind the "flush" button panel is a dial that lets us adjust the amount of water used per flush.
If that's set on the higher end of the range, 4 adults can fill out tank in 2 days.

Jim
dieharder
Explorer
Dec 10, 2013
Most of the time camping, there are DW and I with our 16 year old daughter. I preach time and time again about using A LOT of water when flushing the solids. We can get 3 days on a tank, then it's ready to drain. I may be excessive in our use of water, but I had to clear a clog out of the draining pipe once and never want to have to do that again.

Of course, I'm never boondocking, so I don't need to be concerned about how quickly we full 'er up.
nelson
Explorer
Dec 10, 2013
Kids will fill the tank sooner then norm, Thay like to see it flush. Two people we can go a week but with a grandkid or two, It's not going to take long.
JimM68
Explorer
Dec 10, 2013
OurMonaco has a techma electric macerating toilet. It uses a fixed (adjustable) amount of water per flush. We can go about 4 days, and the black tank always fills before the gray.
When the tank is full, the techma shuts down, it will not flush.
Clay_L
Explorer
Dec 10, 2013
We have a 35 gallon black tank. There are two of us. We double flush and use plenty of water. We can go for ten days without dumping.
paulcardoza
Explorer
Dec 10, 2013
You have kids and a 35 gal tank. It's full. There's no other problem. Dump or stop using it till you can. No huge issue or problem beyond that.
Dog_Folks
Explorer
Dec 09, 2013
chuckftboy wrote:
While a 35 isn't considered a large tank, if you are conservitive, three people should be able to go 4 days

We have 35 and three adults. We get 4 days on a tank.
J-Rooster
Explorer
Dec 09, 2013
I guess I'm the opposite of everyone else I RV in warm climates and I prefer to use more water!
jy
Explorer
Dec 09, 2013
My MH has a 40 gallon black tank.DW and I have gone over a week without dumping.Only time I have ever had problems is when we had kids on board.
OhhWell
Explorer
Dec 09, 2013
It is possible to fill a 35 gallon black in a couple days when it is a family situation. It can be a lot of water per flush or someone using a lot of TP. As mentioned, the down pipe could also extend into your tank some reducing the effective capacity. Or it could be TP clogged. Then again, the sensor claiming it's full and the burping kinda lead to it just plain being full.

Sometimes I have thought I had a full dump of the black tank on our TT but really I had just drained until TP had clogged the pipe and left about 10 gallons or so in there. We also had 35 gallon tanks on our TT and most of the time we would go 4 days before needing a dump but sometimes it was indeed 2. That's 2 adults and 2 kids. You never really know what the kids are doing in there.