Best lube for grey tank and black tank valves

I use NAPA thread cutting oil... yes it sounds weird, but its not whats on the lable that counts, but how it works.

its a water soluble oil that mixes with the effluent and coats the inside of the tank and prevents stuff from sticking, IN ADDITION to lubricating the valves....
veggie oils set ON TOP of the effluent and can only lubricate what it sticks to... and most oils wont stick to a wet surface, so there is very little lubrication happening...

I have no idea about how this may affect the bacteria that helps break down the waste because we usually dump at least every two weeks, which isnt much time for the bacteria to work its magic anyway... AND, the cutting oil being water soluble, it doesnt ever cause a build up, emulsification or congealing in cold weather....

I pour in a pint about every 6-8 months or so, and it has worked well for me the past 6 or 7 years since I've been using it....

Grit dog wrote:

Bobbo wrote:

MitchF150 wrote:
How would you "lube" them in the first place??

Dump the tanks, close the dump valves, dump in a quart of vegetable oil, open and close the dump valves rapidly a few times to spread it around

^Are you serious?

yep, IIRC that was the directions on the bottle of lubricant that I bought years ago. drain tanks, put in lubricant so it will settle down to low spots in system drain.
bumpy

Best light spray lube for ANYTHING Fluid Film !

Replaced my black tank valve that had a long cable with just the standard short T handle 1.5 years ago. I lubed everything with Vaseline. Have not used anything else since and the valve opens and closes nicely.

The oil lube will help for a bit but honestly it's a BandAid.

Before doing the oil leave the valve open and let the tank fully drain and have the toilet empty and water turned off to the toilet then pour then oil in the toilet go outside and rapidly open snd close. Have a bucket under the outlet to catch the oil and go inside and dump. Repeat a few times.

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

YC 1 wrote:
I can't find the link to the fantastic solution.

Simple enough to explain.


Drill a small hole on the face of the slide out valve near the rod.

The face meaning the area where the T handle lives. Spray some silicon lube inside the small hole. Exercise the vavle.

When done, just put in a small screw to plug the hole. I had some stainless ones so don't need to worry about rust.

These valves are smoother than when new.

Might work OK, except my actual valves are under the colorplast underlayer and packed in foam insulation. (from the factory this way). Unless I bust through the colorplast and chisel away all that foam, this isn't going to happen for my situation.

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.

I can't find the link to the fantastic solution.

Simple enough to explain.


Drill a small hole on the face of the slide out valve near the rod.

The face meaning the area where the T handle lives. Spray some silicon lube inside the small hole. Exercise the vavle.

When done, just put in a small screw to plug the hole. I had some stainless ones so don't need to worry about rust.

These valves are smoother than when new.

Bobbo wrote:

MitchF150 wrote:
How would you "lube" them in the first place??

Dump the tanks, close the dump valves, dump in a quart of vegetable oil, open and close the dump valves rapidly a few times to spread it around

^Are you serious?

I started lubricating only after having to replace the valve in our then 45 year old black tank. It was not an easy job. Had to remove the tank in order to do so.

:)
Lynn

hotpepperkid wrote:
In 40 years of RVing I never have lubed my dump valves