Vinegar and baking soda in holding tanks?

Yeah, a baking soda & vinegar volcano erupting out of your toilet probably wouldn't be as cute. ;)

My owners manual say's to use salt and water.

drsteve wrote:
Even if you get the gauge sensors clean--a dicey proposition at best--they only remain clean until the next time the tank is used. A waste (heh) of time, IMHO.

I don't know; mine seem to work reasonably reliably, and about all I do is spritz the tank with a wand once or twice a year. Sometimes it does take a minute or two after dumping for them to read empty.

I've noticed that there seem to be two schools of thought with regards to the tank sensors. Those who have trouble with them working reliably invariably say they're useless and unnecessary and even when working are of no real help, while those like me who have ones that seem to work halfway well usually say (like I do) that they can be handy. I put them in the nice to have but not essential category.

I think that combination mostly produces a "gee whiz" effect.

The "boiling action" is from carbon dioxide that is released from the chemical reaction and all it provides is a little agitation for the acid vinegar.
I don't think that any other useful chemical is produced by the combination.

Baking soda will neutralize the acid(vinegar), that will defeat the purpose of dissolving the hard water scale.

Oh, RIGHT. I think I heard that before!! GADS, thanks for pointing that out about baking soda. Will skip that part.

put quarter box calgon in the tanks it,ll keep the gauges clean.

^ 2 cups Calgon along with a 1 cup of laundry detergent. That will make your tank sparkle.

I also use the Calgon and laundry detergent method - I use the HE detergent so that it doesn't foam up.

Baking soda and vinegar react to produce carbon dioxide and sodium acetate in solution. The carbon dioxide has no real cleaning benefit (though dissolved in water it is acidic, which may help very slightly with some mineral deposits), and sodium acetate is also so far as I know not a particularly effective cleaner, though it does have some other industrial and commercial uses.

Plain baking soda is useful as a cleaner mainly in being a mild abrasive that is soft enough to not harm many surfaces. Vinegar is useful do to its acidity mainly. Neither one is especially effective against soils and general dirt (if you aren't actively scrubbing). Laundry detergent or dishwasher detergent and a lot of water would be more effective than either, in my estimation. Scrubbing with a brush would also work very nicely, but is very rarely practical and probably never pleasant for a holding tank.