Research, Previous Owner, & 1 or 2 RV Owner's I happened to ask: Conclude and Advise me to ALWAYS LEAVE WASTE TANK CLOSED till she fills so the Tank can build Gravity for BOTH the dirty waste and semi-dissolved black waste to ALL exit the tank and force of gravity to force down the sewage line and into the waste station. So........once a week every Sunday I Empty my Waste/Black Tank.And for my Grey 1 (bathroom sink & shower) and Grey 2 (kitchen sink) I ALWAYS LEAVE THEM OPEN, period.I've been helping a fellow RV Elder here in the Campground with changing out his propane tanks. And I happened to ask him who is helping him pull the Waste Valve every week or so? He said What???? So I explained the above, and he called it B.S. Told me as long as I have a slope/pitch on the sewer line I am fine and to LEAVE MY WASTE VALVE OPEN ALL THE TIME!He is an older gentleman and has been RV'ing for some 5 decades he tells me, i.e. why he calls what I am doing B.S. He has a 5th, but very older model (if that has anything at all to with it, but I tend to believe not or ?). Ok folks, the Voting Machines are now open and THANK YOU TO ALL IN ADVANCE, as I'm a full-time RV'er now entering cold Winter on the East Coast! So am I going outside every Sunday like a dope or am I going outside like a smart RV'er taking care of his Coach so NO waste build-up occurs in my Tank, possibly hardens n hardens n hardens and suddenly no room for waste and then a back-up into the Coach Toilet Floor...Yikes!!!

That old timer sure knows a way to make a big Poo-amid.

Fosters wrote:Translation?If you leave the drain valves open, your poop forms a pyramid in the holding tank.An RV toilet is not like a home toilet, where every flush uses a two gallons of water. Poop will build up in the drain hose if you leave the valve open.

Closed until ready to empty. This is RV'ing 101

He is one LUCKY camper if he has not had a pileup and clogged tank.You are doing it right. Only change would be to close one of your gray tanks a couple of days before you empty the black tank so you can open the gray to help FLUSH out the hose after you have dumped the black.

Waste Valve Always CLOSED or Always OPEN? | Good Sam Community

DustyR
Explorer
Dec 17, 2016
fla-gypsy wrote:
Closed until ready to empty. This is RV'ing 101

X-2

I usually spend six months in the RGV of Texas. I leave both the 'black valve and the shower valves closed until the black tank needs emptied. Empty the black tank with the aide of the 'sani-flush' and follow that with the shower/bath tank. This keeps the parks system flushed as well as my own pluming. I leave the tank for the kitchen/galley open.
This works for me and controls any vented odors.
Dave_H_M
Explorer II
Dec 16, 2016
Leave that elder alone!

maybe his doo doo don't pile. :R
gotsmart
Explorer
Dec 16, 2016
BC. CANUCK wrote:
I have a 2013 Crossroads Lincoln 39FN. I drain and fully flush the blank tank put in additive with a couple of gallons of water. I am getting a terrible stink after a day or so when I run the bathroom fan. So I drain the black tank and every time the colored water is bright and sparkling no sign of waste until ten seconds or so then the waste and paper will start to empty. It is almost like the additive is in the lower part of the tank not mixing with the waste in the rest of the tank. Any suggestions.

One thing that can affect the smell from the toilet is the location of the roof vent for the black tank with respect to the bathroom exhaust fan. If the tank vent is too close, when the exhaust fan is running and the toilet is flushing then the exhaust fan can draw air in from the black tank vent - through the black tank - up through the toilet - and into the bathroom. Above the small window on my Class C is a Cyclone Vent. It can help - some, by having the wind point it and draw air from the blank tank - away from your RV.
BC__CANUCK
Explorer
Dec 15, 2016
I have a 2013 Crossroads Lincoln 39FN. I drain and fully flush the blank tank put in additive with a couple of gallons of water. I am getting a terrible stink after a day or so when I run the bathroom fan. So I drain the black tank and every time the colored water is bright and sparkling no sign of waste until ten seconds or so then the waste and paper will start to empty. It is almost like the additive is in the lower part of the tank not mixing with the waste in the rest of the tank. Any suggestions.
joelc
Explorer III
Dec 12, 2016
While camping you can leave Grey valve open and Black closed. I close my grey 1 day before I dump just to clean the lines and hose with the grey water. If you keep the black water open all the solids with accumulate to the bottom of the tank and you will have a problem getting it out. Also, if you have the tools or a hose rinse the black tank out well.
Alabama_Jim
Explorer
Dec 12, 2016
Close the valve until tank is full, then dump.
Cydog15
Explorer
Dec 12, 2016
Next comes the always fun toilet paper debate ;)
rexlion
Explorer
Dec 12, 2016
My advice: don't give him copies to read. Let him stay dumb and happy. If he hasn't had a poo pyramid by now, he will never believe it can happen in his rig even if you could take him in a time machine to the future and show it to him. Give due respect for elders, then go and do what you know to do.
ScottG
Nomad
Dec 11, 2016
Considering how many posts I've red here regarding pooamids I have no doubt they are a real thing.
And that I dont want one.
wa8yxm
Explorer III
Dec 11, 2016
Ever read the ads in the RV mag's? There is often one for some expensive and useless "Black Tank Additive" where they show the Stinky RV With fumes comming off the vent, everybody parking well away.

Had that almost happen once, right about where I'm parked now in fact.. Turns out I'd left a valve open.. Stink was coming out of the ground.. Closed valve and stink vanished like that.

Back when I was a working stiff.... Same thing happened in the men's room, Every was bitching about the stink.... I dumped a quart or two of water down each and every floor drain and away went the aroma The traps were dry.