Black tank and toilet paper and chemicals

Angel soft and a built in tank flusher is all I have ever used. Biggest thing as everyone has said is to make sure there is plenty of water in the tank before you dump. If you have to stand on the flush pedal for a few minutes to fill the tank before you break camp to go to the dump station.

I am friends with John clark who runs sanidumps.com. He demonstrates several brands of toilet paper at RV shows and how each one breaks down. If I recall Costco's Kirkland brand was one of the best.

For sanitizer I use 5 star happy camper, I woudl never go back to anythign else.

I have never bought anything special and have never had a problem and that is on four different rigs. I agree with others make sure the black tank is almost full and use plenty of water when going number 2!

FWIW, my $.02:

I switched to Quilted Northern TP, we previously used Angel Soft but that doesn't break down as well as it used to.
Get yourself a flush wand if you don't want to install a tank rinser. Just be sure it's in the tank before you turn the water on! This will flush out a lot of the leftover "stuff." I made my own before I realized they were an available accessory.

I've noticed that the label on the Costco brand of TP doesn't emphasize it breaks down quite like it used to. It now reads "septic safe" but that's about it. A few years ago Costco switched suppliers and I've wondered if the paper's ability to break down quicker changed also. It doesn't seem to break down as well for me as it did in the past.

I've also noticed that the old fashioned blue-stuff works a lot better than the green eco-friendly stuff.

My daughter did the toilet paper in a jar thing for a school project to show which would be better in an RV tank and a Septic system. Scott's one ply did the best. Then the RV type. Others tended to clump up and not break down very easy..

Crawfordville wrote:


What is an in-tank rinser? Our camper has a valve on the outside that allows to rinse the black tank by hooking up a hose. Is that what you're referring to?

Yes. When your tank is about 2/3rds full, and before emptying the tanks, turn on the water for this valve and it will put fresh water into the tank. Be very careful that you don't overfill the black tank as it will create a really bad mess inside the rv. Just as soon as the full light comes on, open the black tank dump valve (leave the water running into the tank). Add more water to the black tank so that it will be there prior to using the toilet. About 5 gals will usually be sufficient. BE SURE TO TURN THE WATER OFF TO THE BLACK TANK!!!!

Posted By: DutchmenSport on 07/28/14 10:45am

Don't know what kind of camper you have, but let's assume your black and gray water Y into the same outlet. If they do, here's a trick that REALLY works.

First you need to purchase a 3rd valve, like a flush-king



Camping world sells them, as does any RV dealership.

What you are going to do is back-flush the gray water into the black tank.

Step 1. Attach flush king and open the valve.
Step 2. Open the valve of the black tank and let everything drain until it stops.
Step 3. Close the flush king.
Step 4. Open the Gray valve and let the water back-flush into the black tank for about 5 seconds then shut the gray valve again.
Step 5. Open the flush king valve and the black valve and you'll be amazed how much MORE will come out of the black.
Step 6. Repeat steps 2 thru 5 two more times! Each time will pull more and more out.
Step 7. Once done, close the black and open the gray and open the flush king, and let the gray finish draining, cleaning out your hoses.

This simple process will pull a LOT of stuff from the black tank. You'll be amazed.
The secret is to get a flush king valve, or something similar, with a clear section where you can see what's coming out.

About TP... any brand that works for you! The secret is the amount of water to flush it out of your black tank!

This is also excellent advice. Be aware that if you have space limitations, you don't necessarily need a "Flush King" as you can purchase a 3rd gate valve, without the extra clear tubing and hose connector, that is much smaller. Granted, the clear tubing allows visual inspection of exactly what is coming out (dirty or clean water) and gives you a better idea of what's happening. I installed a 3rd gate plus a short clear connector on mine and I follow the above instructions.

Hope this helps

Ron

I don't think the type of toilet paper is your issue. I get the sense that you don't properly flush out your black tank. Follow DutchmenSport's advice above and buy a Flush King. You'll pull out so much more material with a few backflushes using that device, and you'll be able to actually see when the water is clean due to the clear elbow.

Crawfordville wrote:
I have kind of a gross question. What kind of toilet paper do you use in your camper? We have been using Costco brand toilet paper and the chemical that comes in individual plastic packets. We have found that we're having issues with the black tank. It seems that when we empty it not all the stuff empties. Especially the toilet paper and sludge. Gross I know, sorry. We bought a 4 pack of the Thetford toilet paper and used the same chemical packet and it did seem to work better. So, we're wondering if others have any tips they can share.

Thanks,

Karen

No need to buy RV toilet paper. If you're using proper tank maintenance and flushing with plenty of water, any will work fine. We normally use Costco or Angle Soft TP, because that's what we use at home. Nothing magical about RV TP. As to the chemicals, use what ever you like.

We always use a tp that is recommended for RVs and have always used Thetford RV chemical in the packets, and always use good amount of water after each use. Keeps everything soft and/or dissolved. May have to empty tank a little more often then some do, but is worth it to not have any odor or clogs. We are 8 years now in the same trailer and have never had a problem.