HELP! Black tank Clogged

escottd wrote:
Vet Man has the best idea. It would also be advisable after the clog is free to back flush again, then close it off and allow it to soak awhile. A preventative measure if not aware - Never open you black water valve while camping. Leave it closed and allow the tank to fill. Empty it only when it gets full, or before you break camp. That way the liquids will flush the solids along with them, reducing or eliminating the potential for clogging. It is also advisable to close off your gray water the night before breaking camp so you can build up a level as well. Then after you dump your black water, you can rinse the hose by flushing the gray water behind it.

If you are breaking camp before the tank is full and want to dump, add water until the tank is almost full, then dump.

Vet Man has the best idea. It would also be advisable after the clog is free to back flush again, then close it off and allow it to soak awhile. A preventative measure if not aware - Never open you black water valve while camping. Leave it closed and allow the tank to fill. Empty it only when it gets full, or before you break camp. That way the liquids will flush the solids along with them, reducing or eliminating the potential for clogging. It is also advisable to close off your gray water the night before breaking camp so you can build up a level as well. Then after you dump your black water, you can rinse the hose by flushing the gray water behind it.

Mine did that once.Had to have the sump pump truck come and hook up to it suck all the clogged******out.never had a issue again with my other trailer

Bobbo wrote:

Ric Flair wrote:
While you're working on unclogging your black tank, make sure someone is on the downstream end of the pipe looking inside it with a flashlight. This usually improves your chance for success.

As well as giving YOU a belly laugh. Just be sure you can out run whoever you have on the downstream end.

Probably also a good idea if its not your wife.

Ric Flair wrote:
While you're working on unclogging your black tank, make sure someone is on the downstream end of the pipe looking inside it with a flashlight. This usually improves your chance for success.

As well as giving YOU a belly laugh. Just be sure you can out run whoever you have on the downstream end.

I had this happen once just when we were about to leave Myrtle Beach. Pulled the lever and just a little came out and then stopped. I knew we were just about full since it was days since we last drained.

Dumped a bunch of chemicals down there and took off home, figuring that, by the time we get to our stop in Falling Waters, WV, it should have gotten loose. Well... no dice. Used one of those mechanics mirror on the end of a stick and took a look up and TP had clogged up the exit.

Got home and the rest weasn't pretty. Went to a city dump site, put on a bunch of clothes that I didn't care about tossing out at the end of the procedure, and poked a straightened coat hanger up there a couple of times, then threw it down in the hopes of getting my hose up there before the inevitable. Well... lets just say that the force that came down just as I almost got the hose to the fitting was so strong that it ripped the hose out of my hands and I got a mud bath for a second or two before I got it back up there to secure it.

The only thing I heard other than my own gagging was my wife's giggling on the inside of the motorhome as the rest drained. All my clothes and shoes in the trash bag, shower and freshen up, and now I can rest assured that everyone in my motorhome now knows exactly how much water needs to go in there after every use of TP, since they're doing the duty if there ever is a next time.

While you're working on unclogging your black tank, make sure someone is on the downstream end of the pipe looking inside it with a flashlight. This usually improves your chance for success.

Had the same problem on our last trip. The plastic cutout clogged the outflow. The flush king blew it out of the way to drain the tank but ultimately I had to remove the entire valve assembly to fish it out.

When my rig was about 3 years old, I was dumping my tanks at home with a macerator pump and a 4 inch clear section. While I was watching, the cutout from where they cut for the toilet fell into the clear section.

I had trouble with a slow draining black tank a few years back. We were at a Nascar race at Michigan International Speedway and decided to have the pumper service truck clean out our tanks. The guy working the truck started to have some trouble and turned off the pumper and disconnected the hose. He'd sucked the cut-out from when they put the connections into the black tank in at the factory. It had jammed the flow. He told me you'd be surprised how many times he had run into this problem.