i got an issue i cant figure out. my toiket doesnt have a water supply to it, getting 3 different toilets from 3 seperate campers, all had the same issue, noone ever pulled the flushvalve to release the pressure in the valve body and it froze and broke, so i just use a bucket and fill the bowl that way. its a 1987 trl and im not buying a 500 dollar toilet. Anyway, didnt have this problem until recently, so i suspect its related to the cold (?) but when i flush the toilet, everything falls straight down and piles up right there, water goes past into the bottom (gate valve end) of the tank, but the **** stays there, piling up until its up in the neck of the toilet. just 2 days ago i ran 3 full tanks, (30 gallon) of hot water, cleaned it all out, even stuck a snake down to verify its empty, and already its all piled up in the neck. im by myself so its not due to too many people using it, so whats the problem? last 2 days and nights since the last cleaning its been well above freezing so idk what to do, other then abandoing the toilet completly and having to drive 12 miles down the mountain to the truck stop every time i need to use the toilet, which is absurd, or literally clean out the tank every day

Are you leaving several gallons of water in the tank after you empty it? Are you leaving the dump valve open? When you flush it, are you using plenty of water? If the poo is hitting a dry surface it’s gonna stay there. Water water water.

yeah, the thought occured to me that maybe i should leave like 1/4 tank of wter in there, but i figured it could freeze and break the tank, so i never actually did that. coupled with the fact i used it for 3 years the same way without any issues, i thought that wasnt the problem. but now im going to clean it out again and fill it back with water till i can see it thru the hole. how deep should it be if looking thru the flush gate valve inside the toilet do u think? guessing maybe an inch?EDIT: i use a small bucket, fill the bowl up to the lever of the squirter thing that releases the water when u pull the flush valve, so thats prob a half gallon

Sounds like a Poo-Dam. Your tank was dry and the poo and paper contacts the dry surface with insufficient water flow to move the poo and paper itself to the valve. Some of the waste sticks to the tank's bottom and hardens. Soon you have a poo ridge that keeps building and building because the water flow just isn't enough to slide things down to the drain.Solution is a good tank clean and ongoing use of sufficient water each time to ensure things are working as designed to work. If the weather is too cold to properly use the necessary water, you may want to consider investing in a black tank heater.

well, i have a "pressure washer" wand for the garden hose, i used that to drop it down, im gonna start flushing a few times now, sucks cause that meens im gonna have to empty it way more often then i do now. before this started, i was able to go easily a month between emptying, hell i think i only emptyed it 3 times all last year, after all, its only me, and i only go once a day, so i dont generate that much.

Do you realize the toilet valves are replaceable, you don’t need to find another junkyard toilet? Just bought one. Like $10 on Amazon. The rest of your issue, yeah a camper that never moves requires some care and maintenance of the black tank. They have wheels and weren’t designed to be foolproof for folks living in them full time and camper immobilized. It does sound like you’re using enough water though per flush. Maybe more fiber in your diet would help?

black tank issue | Good Sam Community

11 Replies

Lwiddis
Explorer II
Mar 08, 2022
The suggestion of getting antifreeze in to the toilet bowl water system is excellent.

This is exactly the hesitation experienced RVers express when a newbie wants to buy a ten year old RV with only 5000 on the odometer. No use is worse than frequent use IMO.
ssthrd
Explorer
Mar 08, 2022
Grit dog wrote:
Do you realize the toilet valves are replaceable, you don’t need to find another junkyard toilet? Just bought one. Like $10 on Amazon.
The rest of your issue, yeah a camper that never moves requires some care and maintenance of the black tank. They have wheels and weren’t designed to be foolproof for folks living in them full time and camper immobilized.
It does sound like you’re using enough water though per flush. Maybe more fiber in your diet would help?

Good one. My laugh for the day.
Gdetrailer
Explorer III
Mar 08, 2022
As Grit dog mentioned, you can buy new water flush valves, $10-$15 is all they cost. Depending on model of toilet some are very easy to replace without removing the toilet, some will be easier to replace if toilet is removed but still can be replaced "in place".

Fix the water fill valve and most of your pile will go away.

The problem is just dumping a bowl of water will not disperse the solids, instead what happens is the solids drop and stay in place and the water from the bowl basically runs right off of the pile of solids..

Using the built in water valve allows water to rinse down the bowl and then that slowly drops over the solids softening them up so they disperse better instead of piling into a large lump..

Dig around and see if you can locate a model number on the toilet and then get the correct valve..

As far as freezing in cold weather, folks forget to either blow the water out of the toilet lines or forget to run some RV antifreeze into the bowl..
Lwiddis
Explorer II
Mar 08, 2022
Grit, lol!
Grit_dog
Navigator
Mar 08, 2022
Lwiddis wrote:
In three years you probably built a mountain in the black tank. Very warm water with something to bounce into the possible mountain and hard start-stop driving might help.

I’ll go out on a limb and surmise that taking a road trip to collapse mount poosuvious is likely not in the cards for this feller.
Something to break it up? A scba for the stench and one of them 3’ long grout paddle mixers on a 1/2” Milwaukee drill sounds like an option!
Lwiddis
Explorer II
Mar 08, 2022
In three years you probably built a mountain in the black tank. Very warm water with something to bounce into the possible mountain and hard start-stop driving might help.
Grit_dog
Navigator
Mar 08, 2022
Do you realize the toilet valves are replaceable, you don’t need to find another junkyard toilet? Just bought one. Like $10 on Amazon.
The rest of your issue, yeah a camper that never moves requires some care and maintenance of the black tank. They have wheels and weren’t designed to be foolproof for folks living in them full time and camper immobilized.
It does sound like you’re using enough water though per flush. Maybe more fiber in your diet would help?
allmightypuff
Explorer
Mar 08, 2022
well, i have a "pressure washer" wand for the garden hose, i used that to drop it down, im gonna start flushing a few times now, sucks cause that meens im gonna have to empty it way more often then i do now. before this started, i was able to go easily a month between emptying, hell i think i only emptyed it 3 times all last year, after all, its only me, and i only go once a day, so i dont generate that much.
ItsyRV
Explorer
Mar 08, 2022
Sounds like a Poo-Dam. Your tank was dry and the poo and paper contacts the dry surface with insufficient water flow to move the poo and paper itself to the valve. Some of the waste sticks to the tank's bottom and hardens. Soon you have a poo ridge that keeps building and building because the water flow just isn't enough to slide things down to the drain.

Solution is a good tank clean and ongoing use of sufficient water each time to ensure things are working as designed to work. If the weather is too cold to properly use the necessary water, you may want to consider investing in a black tank heater.
allmightypuff
Explorer
Mar 08, 2022
yeah, the thought occured to me that maybe i should leave like 1/4 tank of wter in there, but i figured it could freeze and break the tank, so i never actually did that. coupled with the fact i used it for 3 years the same way without any issues, i thought that wasnt the problem. but now im going to clean it out again and fill it back with water till i can see it thru the hole. how deep should it be if looking thru the flush gate valve inside the toilet do u think? guessing maybe an inch?

EDIT: i use a small bucket, fill the bowl up to the lever of the squirter thing that releases the water when u pull the flush valve, so thats prob a half gallon