Do Ice Cubes in the Black Tank Really Work?

Do Ice Cubes in the Black Tank Really Work?

Of course, some prefer their sewage chilled. :B

Thanks for the test.

In spite of all the folks that claim it works great, the three times in two weeks that I tried it years ago the tank walls were as cruddy after as before.
I bet your test is accurate.

I've always wondered just how long ice cubes would last - seems to me they would melt very fast.

Good test.

I've watched all your tank adventures, very interesting.

No way to simulate this (that I know of) but we've had good results by adding just little bit of dish soap and maybe couple gallons of water at home (before traveling) or after dumping, then use tank normally. When it's full, drain and rinse a little. Then start cycle all over. Never any problems for us.

But in my opinion, you'd be better off just letting things soak.

100% correct IMO. And no harm in dumping and filling with water maybe 1/2 way and let soak, maybe even a couple weeks between trips. Haven't seen to many outhouse evap dry.

Did have one trailer that was more difficult than any other rv's we've owned. The tanks were so flat on bottom that tanks did not drain very well. Sometimes I would drive over couple 2X4's to raise one side for better drainage.

In future testing if you get pulled over, please keep camera rolling. Would be excellent camera footage of you explaining to cop what you are testing.:B

Great video, loved it. I still think you can call it busted!

Well done, very informative. I've never bought into the ice method as it really never made intuitive sense to me for many of the reasons that you discovered in your testing.

Like others here I have been rving for quite a number of years and I've found the key to successful (volume and cleanliness) black tank dumping is simply head pressure. I try to make sure that adequate water is used each time the toilet is flushed (many new folks underestimate the amount of water that is needed) and make sure the tank is almost full. Leaving a bit of room for some sloshing motion during travel.

Just dumped my tank yesterday in fact. Picked up the TT from our farm property where it's been sitting since mid April. The black tank was used for a night when we first arrived and then for two more nights over the last 3-4 months. Other than that it's been sitting idle with a partially filled tank. Also the stabilizers were down so there was no movement when entering/exiting/walking in the TT.

I filled the black tank before I pulled out and dumped it at a rest stop dump station on the way home. I've been doing this long enough with this particular trailer to have a sense of what a complete dump looks and sounds like and the tank dumped with authority.

I also installed an in tank flusher when the rig was purchased new and I 'think' that helps to clean the tank but the simple truth is I don't know that because I can't see into the tank. And to be honest I don't use the flusher but once a year anymore.

The long and the short of it is I don't stress over having a perfectly clean black tank these days.

And finally, your blog is one of the cleanest designs, informative, and entertaining I've seen on the internet. It's so nice to see a blog/website that is not cluttered with a bunch of flashing notices, distracting graphics, dark hard to read colors, etc.

It looks like I may have finally done one we can all agree on!
(Well, so far, anyway.)

Wrace - thanks for the nice comments on the blog. Stef and I made the decision a while back to keep the site clean and ad-free. We get contacted from time to time by advertisers, but we've managed to keep them off the site. (Of course, the site doesn't make any money either. Good thing it's fun.)

Another thing we like about keeping the site ad-free is that, since it's non-commercial, they let me share things here from time to time without getting moderated off!

Anyway, thanks again for the comments. And for the reader who wanted to know about soap and such, I really am working on a way to test tank additives.

I think the OP missed the point of dumping ice into your holding tank. Seems to me it is more about getting rid of your ice without wasting it more than an effective tank scrubber. Even if the impact on "cleaning" the tank (as I drive it back to the storage lot or to the dump station), is minimal, why not? Another word for ice is "water" and you need to leave a decent amount in the tank. What do you do with your left over ice, toss it in the sink or dump it on the ground?

Contrary to the OP's assertion that it costs money in gas and ice I have never heard of anyone buying ice just to dump it down the toilet and how does doing so cost you more in gas?. :h

I liked the video, very well done but it does not begin to show that there is anything wrong with getting rid of your leftover ice in this manner and he admits it does help a little. So where is the harm? :B

I've watched a couple of these videos and have enjoyed them. Seems to have a good amount of common sense.

Last week I watched one video comparing the different tank rinsing methods. I believe most all of those methods left a certain amount of junk in the bottom - with small differences. That stuff left in the bottom after the different rinse methods is what I would have guessed the ice would help remove, not the caked on variety. I would think the sloshing around would help suspend some of those solids.

Since I can't see inside my tank, I would just use the clear adapter to see what comes out of the tank with the ice method. Even after rinses looked clear, the ice brought out more. but I couldn't tell were that "more" was at or from.

Captain - You're absolutely correct that there's no harm in getting rid of excess ice this way. My thinking here was not to address that. As most of us (hopefully) know, water in the black tank is a good thing. And if you're already driving somewhere, you're not wasting gas.

With this test, I was mainly thinking of the advice you hear for getting things unstuck from the sensors or tank walls. Apart from the water content itself, the ice doesn't do much there.