question for full timers re black tank

gotsmart wrote:
In my case, with 40 gallons of clean water and 8 ounces bleach...

Seems like an awful waste of water. And a waste of bleach considering what gets put back into the tank.

havasu wrote:
I would never add bleach to a black tank - bleach reacts with urine to give off chlorine gas - nasty stuff.

When you've dumped AND rinsed the tank BEFORE adding bleach, what is there left for it to react with? In my case, with 40 gallons of clean water and 8 ounces of bleach, the amount of any urine remaining is so diluted that your fears are unfounded.

Now, if you add bleach to a holding tank chock full (pun intended) of black water then you might have something there, in addition to having wasted some perfectly good bleach.

I'm not worried killing bacteria when I deodorize the tank. I dump the black tank roughly once a week, +/- a day. At every offering to the gods of porcelain there is more than enough flora and fauna present to make one happy, happy, happy holding tank.

let the :E :E begin....

The waste system is sealed except for the roof vents.
If you have any odor that isn't getting into the RV from the roof vent or out of the toilet when you flush with an exhaust fan running, you have a problem that needs to be addressed.

We (and a great many other folks) use no chemicals at all. Just a goodly amount of water when we flush and we have no odor issues.

As mentioned above:
Make sure all traps including washer (if you have one )are full.
The air admittance valves on the sinks are working right.
That the roof vents are clear.

havasu wrote:
I would never add bleach to a black tank - bleach reacts with urine to give off chlorine gas - nasty stuff.

Not to mention bleach will kill any beneficial bacteria. The proliferation of anaerobic bacteria causes black tank odor. Happy Camper promotes aerobic bacteria which kills anaerobic bacteria and breaks down waste. Just dissolve one ounce in a couple of gallons of water for every 40 gallons of waste tank, about 60 cents. A black tank with hardened deposits can be corrected with proper application of Happy Camper Extreme Cleaner. The stuff works, is cheap and easy. Try it, you'll like it! The GEO Method is complicated, uses too many chemicals, too much water, costs more, and is actually counterproductive to maintaining a healthy black tank.

IMHO ,the best thing I wouLd do, put no chem in, but a small bag of ice, if the temps are up, and THEN drive around, to me that's the best, now it's all --happy-camping

I would never add bleach to a black tank - bleach reacts with urine to give off chlorine gas - nasty stuff.

Howdy!

You my want to also look at the "Geo Method" for cleaning and keeping you tanks clean. I've been using it the last seven years of fulltiming and it works. As stated use a clear adaptor to see what going on when dumping and always back flush until the clean.

Geo Method

"Happy Trails"
Chiefneon

I don't have a tank rinser installed on the black tank, nor do I wand it from the toilet. My dump valves are configured so that the grey tank back flushes the black tank. This is what I do when it is time to dump the tanks:
1. top off both tanks.
2. dump the black tank - leave the valve open when it is finished
3. dump the grey tank - it back flushes the black tank as it dumps
4. close both tank valves.
5. repeat steps 1 through 4.
6. Add 3 to 4 gallons of water to each tank - to keep the seals wet and the bottoms of each tank wet as well.

I've been known to repeat steps 1 through 4 a second time.

About once every month and a half or so, I'll notice the odor in the black tank is rather strong - after dumping and rinsing twice. I'll fill the black tank with 5 gallons or so of water, add 8 ounces of Clorox Bleach, then top off the tank. Then I top off the grey tank as well - then let the black tank soak for 2 to 4 hours and let the bleach go to work. I call this "soak time". Then I repeat steps 2, 3, 4, and 6 - and I'm good to go.

After dumping and rinsing (or dumping, rinsing, bleaching, and rinsing) I add 2 cap fulls of Liquid Tide laundry soap to the black tank. My bathroom sink drains into the black tank - so I dilute the 2 cap fulls into a sink full of water before letting it go into the tank (otherwise I'd dilute it into a pail of water and then pour the pail down the toilet). Whether or not it helps to keep stuff from sticking to the walls of the black tank - I don't know, but doing so doesn't hurt anything.

For the last month, we have used the new Dometic Full Timers Holding Tank Treatment we found at Camping World and it seems to work better than the other we used. The amount to add is for a 40 gal. tank. So if your tank is more than 40 gallons, use 2x the directed amount and double that again in hot weather. Don't use the vent fan when flushing. (found out the hard way!)

Sounds like your routine for dumping the tank and maintaining it is fine and time proven.

I would look into things like:
Are you parked next to a building or structure that could trap or redirect the vented gases out of the roof vent?
Is there a damaged connection to the black tank or is the toilet gasket bad?
Is the toilet actually bad (cracked body)?
Are you using enough tank deodorizer for the hot weather?
Is the vent piping plugged, broken or not sealed correctly to the roof.
Insect nests in the vent cover or vent pipe.

In my opinion I don't think you are anything wrong with the operation of the tank.

There isn't any other way to say it but, the best maintained tank is going to really stink inside of the tank. It takes a fault in the system to allow the odor into the coach.

Good luck in finding the problem, hopefully it is a simple fix.