Some more newbie questions?

What has been said above.

Also. If you want to clean up your holding tanks.

For black tank dump a bag of ice cubes down the commode, and go for a ride to a dump site.

For the gray tank I just drop in a cup of bleach.

This should be done with 1/2 tank of water in each tank.

Happy camping.

Oh yes, and don't forget to check the roof, windows, and thru roof items for cracks in the caulking. This is an annual (at least), chore.

Hopefully that bag of manuals is for the various appliances.....if so that will be your best source of info

IF you run into issues........post back with brand/model of appliance and what it is and what it isn't doing.

Lots of good troubleshooters here

sdianel wrote:
What year and brand RV? That will help us help you. Lots of the appliances have online manuals.

Sorry, it's a 1993 Chateau made by Thor. Also, I went to the motorhome this morning and cleaned it out and found a plastic bag with lots of manuals and info. Gonna go through that today.

winnietrey wrote:
Here is a tip, First light a stove burner to pull the propane up and clear the air. (THIS IS A MUST AFTER IT HAS BEEN SITTING)

This! A very good tip.

Wijames wrote:
This next statement is probably a given but I'm assuming I should take the RV to a local RV park and hook it up to see if the starage tanks have anything in them and maybe flush them out at that time, correct?

We're noobs too and I like this forum. They've been real gentle and polite when answering my questions. :)

Let me echo what others have said: get those manuals. The back of my 2008 RV had a sheet on the wall with makes/models/serial numbers of everything inside. A little googling, and I had PDF manuals for every appliance.

I even found the PDF manual for my entire RV, but it was soooo generic, I found it next-to-useless.


What I did with my storage tanks (you have three total: Fresh, Black and Grey) is drain them all. Yes the black and grey go into a dump station. The fresh tank I just drained onto the driveway.

Then I bought a $6 Cleaning Wand from Walmart, and sprayed the black tank. Dumped some bleach in there and waited a bit. Then dumped.

I didn't do anything to clean the Grey.

Finally, I followed the Youtube advice and found videos on how to sterilize the Fresh Water tank. And did just that.



Our furnace and water heater are electronic ignition. Our stove and oven have to be lit with a lighter.

It all just depends.

Find the exact brand & model of your appliances & google it. Or look on the brand web site for the manual for your model.

Make a list of the brand, model & serial number for reference. Good to have anyway.

Some models have to be manually lit, some have sparkers.

Really depends on year, make of your RV

Some propane appliances have pilot flames that you have to light
Some have pilot flames that have electronic reignitors
Some don't have pilot flames but have electronic spark ignitors that light main flame
Some have piezo igniter


What year RV do you have
AND look at you fridge, water heater, furnace----what Brands/models are they.
With that info ALL kinds of info can be provided

What year and brand RV? That will help us help you. Lots of the appliances have online manuals.

Here is a tip, First light a stove burner to pull the propane up and clear the air. (THIS IS A MUST AFTER IT HAS BEEN SITTING)
Fridge, water heater, heater should auto light after that. Oven very often you have to light manually

I assume no manuals? There are many ways these appliances work, and it varies by manufacturer. I would google your specific model appliances.

I sure hope the tanks are empty. I wouldn't want to empty someone elses poop! You could try a 5 gallon bucket under the sewer connection and open the valve just a little to see if it is empty. Wear gloves!