Best lube for grey tank and black tank valves

Mine get very hard to move but, it is only the shaft that seems to get sticky. I spray the shaft; when I have the valve open; with some door lock lubricate that I keep in the camper (the door lock seems to get sticky a lot too) that seems to keep it working easily for a few months again.

dcmac214 wrote:
Only valve that gets lubed is the toilet seal with coconut oil (why it's called oil is beyond me--it's a solid grease about the consistency & feel of Crisco). Have never put anything down any of the drains to lube any of the tank valves. Every year as part of winterizing & de-winterizing spray the valve open/shut rod guide tubes with silicone and work them a bit. Do the slides with silicone same time. Haven't had any problems yet.

the coconut oil I used was indeed an oil, sort of like any vegetable oil. don't know why it was different from yours.
bumpy

100% spray silicone. IMPORTANT to make sure its 100%.

Just spray on the valve rod pushing it in distributes it.

If your valves stems are getting hard to push in you most likely have paper stuck around them. Even just the tiniest pieces of tp paper in the grooves of the blade will make it hare to open and close.

First "Dump Tanks". :W

And then just pick up a bottle brush from the store and open the valve blade and run the brush around where they slide up and down in. You will be surprised how much paper you will find in those small grooves. Which makes it hard to open and close them.

Only valve that gets lubed is the toilet seal with coconut oil (why it's called oil is beyond me--it's a solid grease about the consistency & feel of Crisco). Have never put anything down any of the drains to lube any of the tank valves. Every year as part of winterizing & de-winterizing spray the valve open/shut rod guide tubes with silicone and work them a bit. Do the slides with silicone same time. Haven't had any problems yet.

I eat a lot of greasy food.:B

My valves started moving hard when my current MH was about a year old. I coated the blades with Silicone grease. Made the valves work very smooth and have stayed that way for the last 4 years. My previous 2 MH's never had the problem.

I used this: MPT19 Silicone/PTFE High-Performance Lubricant

I use a cap full of Calgon water softener in all my tanks to help keep them slick and help keep valves lubed. Dump a cap full every time we use it after dumping.

Hmmm water soluble lubricant? Doesn't that mean it is washed away in water?

Anyway, I am another never greased my valves user. 25 year old RV.

I do use lots of water and have super soft water at our summer place so a dab of soap keeps everything clean and waste water moving down the pipe.

covered wagon wrote:
I like the idea above, but it would be nice to better understand the exact location of the screw lubrication hole.

Another thing to consider is always avoid the ethylene glycol rv antifreeze which is cheaper and causes the rubber valves to dry out because of its alcohol content.

You want to look for the propylene glycol rv antifreeze which will help the valves little bit with lube.

Where the metal rod goes in and out, split the distance to the edge. That is about 1.5 inch away from the plunger rod.

This is along the front skinny face. Not along the wide side but it would probably work there too.

LarryJM wrote:

Lwiddis wrote:
Since I now know it’s an issue...40 years after my first TC...I’ll lube them religiously.

Same here, but it's only been 36 years for me not lubing any valves.

Larry

Maybe you’re lucky or maybe your diet includes enough natural lube, I haven’t lubed my 11 year old truck camper valves either but the black one is super tough to pull and you have to pull it straight up while reaching in to the compartment so you can’t get any leverage. A couple of times I nearly gave up. I didn’t know they had jugs of lubricant until this thread. I’ve used a little laundry soap in the past but it didn’t seem to last.
Scoff all you want. I’d welcome you to pull my black dump handle.