Just a "huh" sort of post...The longest we've ever stayed in a CG has been a week. We're now staying in a CG for 3 weeks and it doesn't have sewer hookups so we're using our 18 ga. tote tank.Our black tank is 32 gallons and we do "all the right stuff" to take good care of it. Add a few gallons before use. Don't skimp on water when flushing. Do a thorough rinse (in-tank rinser) when doing the final dump and heading off. The tank bottom is spotless after rinsing (but can only see down the toilet).We get 7 days of use out of our black tank for two adults. By most accounts I've read, that's pretty common. To my surprise though, after two trips to empty a full black tank, I'm able to fill the tote tank in one fillup so we're only getting use of approx. 1/2 of the black tank size. I wonder if this is what others find?Our tank is only about 6" high but is about 6' wide. The "stuff" in the tank just can't spread out to the ends of the tank. May mean that for folks shopping for an RV with a bigger holding tank you're only getting 50% more. Our black tank is really just a 16 gallon tank!! :(

Never thought of it or tested the max fill!

We had a 20 gallon black tank in our old TT. We had it for six years and it took about six days (two adults) to fill it to the point where you could see liquid waste coming up in the tube in the toilet (I guess our turds don't float).

That's pretty darn good, 7 days on a 32 gal. black tank. We do all the right stuff too and are lucky if we get 5 days. There are two of us.

How are you deciding that the tank is full? If you're looking down the toilet, it's not uncommon for the toilet flange and pipe to extend as much as halfway into the tank. The tank will continue to accept more waste, but you may hear the infamous "burp" that some folks use to indicate a full tank. When our waste tank level reaches the bottom of the pipe, our SeeLevel II gauge reads about 70%.

Dutch_12078 wrote:How are you deciding that the tank is full? When there's enough backing up from the tank to toilet level and enough to tickle your _____! Any fuller and it'd have been onto the floor. :E The solid stuff just isn't ever going to spread sideways enough to use the available capacity in the tank.I never use the sensors. I put a valve on the back of the toilet so I can look clearly down into the tank to see where the pile is getting to. We're normally at a FHU CG but being at a non-sewer CG you want to keep the trips to the dump station to a min. I'm surprised to discover how much capacity is left in the tank when filling the tote tank. Not much that can be done.

How full do you think your black tank really is?

32 Replies

Derick
Explorer
Aug 06, 2018
Heh, it's funny seeing these posts and how it shows how much of an amateur I am. This is admittedly my first season of camping with my travel trailer. When my dad, son, and I go out, I'm usually dumping the tanks every day. I just DONT want any sort of back up..bleeech.
Wild_Card
Explorer
Aug 06, 2018
You can cross high voltage but not parallel.
Dutch_12078
Explorer III
Aug 05, 2018
Colonel Monk wrote:
Dutch_12078 wrote:
Ralph Cramden wrote:
Colonel Monk wrote:
Glad to know those SeeLevel II gauges really do work. I was eyeballing them for my new rig and was wondering if they were worth the money. Sounds like they are.

CM

The only issue Ive found with Seelevel is to make sure the wire carrying the sender data to the panel is not tied too, tied along with, or touching/crossing an 120 VAC wire or routed next to the AC side of the converter. That can cause interference and result in a bad signal. It needs a couple of inches clearance.

I haven't had any signal problems using the original "screw through the tank" wiring, but if I was installing the wiring from scratch, I think I would use shielded wire just be safe.

Yeah, shielded signal wire sounds safe. They probably ought to include it since it's difficult to know where the AC wiring is in your RV.

One of the selling points is that you can reuse the existing wiring in most cases. Plus there is so much variation in RV layouts that probably any length wire they provided would be too short in some cases, and way too much in others. I've done two installations on my own RV's and four more on other people's rigs, all using the existing wiring with no noticeable signal issues.
Colonel_Monk
Explorer
Aug 05, 2018
Dutch_12078 wrote:
Ralph Cramden wrote:
Colonel Monk wrote:
Glad to know those SeeLevel II gauges really do work. I was eyeballing them for my new rig and was wondering if they were worth the money. Sounds like they are.

CM

The only issue Ive found with Seelevel is to make sure the wire carrying the sender data to the panel is not tied too, tied along with, or touching/crossing an 120 VAC wire or routed next to the AC side of the converter. That can cause interference and result in a bad signal. It needs a couple of inches clearance.

I haven't had any signal problems using the original "screw through the tank" wiring, but if I was installing the wiring from scratch, I think I would use shielded wire just be safe.

Yeah, shielded signal wire sounds safe. They probably ought to include it since it's difficult to know where the AC wiring is in your RV.
Dutch_12078
Explorer III
Aug 05, 2018
Ralph Cramden wrote:
Colonel Monk wrote:
Glad to know those SeeLevel II gauges really do work. I was eyeballing them for my new rig and was wondering if they were worth the money. Sounds like they are.

CM

The only issue Ive found with Seelevel is to make sure the wire carrying the sender data to the panel is not tied too, tied along with, or touching/crossing an 120 VAC wire or routed next to the AC side of the converter. That can cause interference and result in a bad signal. It needs a couple of inches clearance.

I haven't had any signal problems using the original "screw through the tank" wiring, but if I was installing the wiring from scratch, I think I would use shielded wire just be safe.
Beaker
Explorer
Aug 05, 2018
Never thought of it or tested the max fill!

Did test mine. Rated for 40, dumped in 8 5gal buckets.
Ralph_Cramden
Explorer II
Aug 05, 2018
Colonel Monk wrote:
Glad to know those SeeLevel II gauges really do work. I was eyeballing them for my new rig and was wondering if they were worth the money. Sounds like they are.

CM

The only issue Ive found with Seelevel is to make sure the wire carrying the sender data to the panel is not tied too, tied along with, or touching/crossing an 120 VAC wire or routed next to the AC side of the converter. That can cause interference and result in a bad signal. It needs a couple of inches clearance.
GERALDEAN
Explorer
Aug 05, 2018
and what does "full" really mean? Filling to the brim and moving on down the highway is not always good. If nothing else smell may be over whelming, but may cause leaks and overflows. My experience has been to connect and dump when at a FHU park about every fourth night.
Colonel_Monk
Explorer
Aug 05, 2018
Glad to know those SeeLevel II gauges really do work. I was eyeballing them for my new rig and was wondering if they were worth the money. Sounds like they are.

CM
suprz
Explorer
Aug 05, 2018
Never had my gauges read correctly, doubt they ever will. The fresh water is the only one i really care about

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How full do you think your black tank really is?

32 Replies

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