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thoms's avatar
thoms
Explorer
Jun 07, 2019

bottle in holding tank

DW dropped empty plastic chem bottle in black holding tank. have dumped the tank ok with no problem. Can see it with flex camera but cannot get to it. it`s 4" long and 1 and 3/4" round. I`m worried it will jam up the dump valve. Any ideas on what to do? Or not to do.
Thanks for any help...
  • fill with some fresh water and float it, then grab it with something like this. https://www.amleo.com/e-z-reacher-pro-folding-96in/p/96PRO/?kc=amlshop19n,&mkwid=sAn6LT2sr|dc&pcrid=252719813432&pkw=&pmt=&plc=&prd=96PRO,96PRO&utm_source=google&utm_term=&utm_campaign=&utm_medium=cpc&slid=&pgrid=55954920847&ptaid=pla-293946777986&gclid=CN3V7vap1uICFS4grQYdYP0GSA
  • I would just abandon the bottle in place. Some day it will come out... or it won't.
  • thoms wrote:
    DW dropped empty plastic chem bottle in black holding tank. have dumped the tank ok with no problem. Can see it with flex camera but cannot get to it. it`s 4" long and 1 and 3/4" round. I`m worried it will jam up the dump valve. Any ideas on what to do? Or not to do.
    Thanks for any help...


    not that it helps you now but this is why i use the dissolvable chem packs.
  • thoms wrote:
    DW dropped empty plastic chem bottle in black holding tank..


    Somewhere along the way did you try to explain to DW that you should pour stuff into the toilet WITH THE FLUSH VALVE CLOSED ???
  • Before you try to drain it out look at your drain pipe. If there is a bend will your bottle go around the bend or will it just wedge in there making a bigger problem?

    If the bottle floats I would fill the tank almost all the way full. Then put the toilet side of the RV up on blocks to see if the bottle will float up to the hole. have a few neighborhood kids rock the RV vigorously side to side to agitate the water and move the bottle up.

    If the bottle doesn't float I would drain the tank and put the RV side opposite from the toilet on blocks so the bottle can roll to the toilet. If necessary I would crawl under the RV and start smacking the tank with an open palm or maybe a rubber mallet and a small piece of 2x4 to try to bounce the bottle over to the toilet.

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