black tank chemicals

Lwiddis wrote:
Lots of water, fill before you dump, dump often and add four or so gallons after dumping. No chemicals needed.

ZACTLY!!!

I wish my chems were fragrance free but I bought three gallons of stuff at garage sale for about $2 so I'm almost set for life!

I use Aqua-Kem in the little disposable bottles. Ive tried HC and the Porta-Paks but i prefer Aqua-Kem.

Ditto on Happy Camper! Been using it for years. No odors and it turns everything to liquid. Great product. Try it!

One of the things I liked about happy camper is that it has no fragrance. It gets rid of the sewage odor without adding a perfume odor.

way2roll wrote:
Plain water. If you use enough water and flush your tanks, you don't need any chemicals. The length of time any solids are in your tank isn't nearly long enough for any enzymes to really do anything and they just end up in the recipients' septic system. Been using plain water for the past 7 years and never had an issue. I did install back flush systems on both grey and black and I can say it makes things much easier.

Same here. The chemicals smell worse than the waste. It's a holding tank not a septic tank.

B.O.

It'n NOT a septic system....It's a holding tank. Any perfume will "mask" the smell. Hell, even Fabuloso.

way2roll wrote:

Naio wrote:
I'm using a cassette toilet for the first time this year. Happy Camper made an enormous difference in the smell when I empty it. Very little smell now.

I assume that when it says organic it means in the chemical sense, carbon-based, rather than in the no pesticides sense. (And yes,the definition of organic for foods is very tightly regulated.)

Formaldehyde is a carcinogen.

I find it hard to believe that anyone is going to breathe enough sewer gas to get hydrogen sulfide poisoning.

Per the FDA - "FDA does not regulate the use of the term “organic” on food labels. "

That's correct. The FDA doesn't regulate organics, and neither does my Aunt Sally. The regulation is done by the USDA:

https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/Guide%20to%20Organic%20Certification.pdf

https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/CropProducersGuide.pdf

For example, as you can see in the second document, organic farms must have their soil tested each year for 3 years before they begin selling their produce as organic, and every year after that.

Lots of things are organic, that doesn't mean they are healthy. Asbestos is organic, so is Arsenic.

You may be confusing natural with organic, but I see you agree with the point I was making. Formaldehyde and hydrogen sulfide are natural, too. I was assuming people reading this knew that ;-).

And getting to the nitty gritty, the fairly dramatic warning label on Happy Camper says (paraphrasing) " Avoid contact with eyes, avoid prolonged contact with skin, do not swallow, avoid breathing dust, wash thoroughly after handling, flush thoroughly for eye and skin contact, get medical attention if any of the above occur"

Of course, that is also the warning label required on cooking flour, if it is sold for agricultural use, e.g. as in an ingredient in organic pest control. Anything that is a powder has to have this warning.

I'm not saying that Happy Camper is a natural or even a safe product. I'm just saying that this particular warning label, even though it sounds scary, is actually meaningless once you know how the requirements work.

You get the point. Doesn't sound so warm and fuzzy to me. The fact there are all these warnings and unnamed ingredients - no thanks. Sounds more like they don't want to tell you whats in it and they don't have to since you don't eat it

Yes. This is a massive flaw in the current regulation system. Ingredients labels are not required on everything. And then some of the ones that are required are ridiculously scary compared to the actual danger. I fully agree with you that we need better regulations on labeling.

and they use "organic" because it's a marketing tool. If a product that's used to treat a condition invites greater risk than the condition itself - I'll stick with water.

I think that's very wise.

Did you know what I was talking about when I said that organic has two meanings, one that is used in chemistry and a different, completely unrelated, one that is used in agriculture?

https://www.acsh.org/news/2017/10/30/acsh-explains-what-does-organic-really-mean-12045

I suspect that Happy Camper is taking advantage of the confusion that these two different definitions can cause. This level of disingenuousness does not give a very good impression.

Naio wrote:
I'm using a cassette toilet for the first time this year. Happy Camper made an enormous difference in the smell when I empty it. Very little smell now.

I assume that when it says organic it means in the chemical sense, carbon-based, rather than in the no pesticides sense. (And yes,the definition of organic for foods is very tightly regulated.)

Formaldehyde is a carcinogen.

I find it hard to believe that anyone is going to breathe enough sewer gas to get hydrogen sulfide poisoning.

Per the FDA - "FDA does not regulate the use of the term “organic” on food labels. "

And it's a moot point. Tank conditioners aren't meant for consumption so they aren't bound by the FDA or any other body overseeing organic claims. Lots of things are organic, that doesn't mean they are healthy. Asbestos is organic, so is Arsenic. And getting to the nitty gritty, the fairly dramatic warning label on Happy Camper says (paraphrasing) " Avoid contact with eyes, avoid prolonged contact with skin, do not swallow, avoid breathing dust, wash thoroughly after handling, flush thoroughly for eye and skin contact, get medical attention if any of the above occur" You get the point. Doesn't sound so warm and fuzzy to me. The fact there are all these warnings and unnamed ingredients - no thanks. Sounds more like they don't want to tell you whats in it and they don't have to since you don't eat it and they use "organic" because it's a marketing tool. If a product that's used to treat a condition invites greater risk than the condition itself - I'll stick with water.

I'm using a cassette toilet for the first time this year. Happy Camper made an enormous difference in the smell when I empty it. Very little smell now.

I assume that when it says organic it means in the chemical sense, carbon-based, rather than in the no pesticides sense. (And yes,the definition of organic for foods is very tightly regulated.)

Formaldehyde is a carcinogen.

I find it hard to believe that anyone is going to breathe enough sewer gas to get hydrogen sulfide poisoning.