black tank odors after storage

TheGreatWaz00 wrote:
Hi Roo

Since the tanks are holing tanks and not septic tanks the cleaner you keep them the better.

For the back tank I pour two caps of Calgon liquid water softener in the toilet. It will make the tank walls slippery. Then I travel with about just less than 1/3 tank of water. Let it slosh around while driving. At camp I let it fill up before draining. If not full before draining I fill it. Get a good flow of water when emptying. I also use some little blue packet if deodreizer with each tank.

After emptying the tank I fill it again. Just water. Fill it full. When you empty it the second time you will be surprised how dirty it comes out. I suggest getting a clear drain tube connector. It connects between your sewage tube and your camper connection. It enables you to see how the water is as it drains.

When I prepare my camper for long-term storage I fill it a 3rd time and pour 1/2 galln bleech down the toilet. Fill the tank let it sit 30 mins and drain.

Do this and you should be good.

Thanks GW
The long weekend trip, we had both valves closed...to fill the tanks, found out that keeping an eye on the panel is a must when doing that, since my bff went to take a shower and the shower floor was full of water...luckily it all stayed IN the shower.. shewww.. so pulled the gray water and emptied that, left the black water closed. Then we closed the gray again to refill, so the day we left, pulled the black.. emptied that, then the gray to help flush things a bit. Only did it once though, so not sure it was enough "flushing out" or not.
I'll look into finding the calcon softener before i put more water in the black, and the trip in Sept..I also have those little blue packets as well..

Hi Roo

Since the tanks are holing tanks and not septic tanks the cleaner you keep them the better.

For the back tank I pour two caps of Calgon liquid water softener in the toilet. It will make the tank walls slippery. Then I travel with about just less than 1/3 tank of water. Let it slosh around while driving. At camp I let it fill up before draining. If not full before draining I fill it. Get a good flow of water when emptying. I also use some little blue packet if deodreizer with each tank.

After emptying the tank I fill it again. Just water. Fill it full. When you empty it the second time you will be surprised how dirty it comes out. I suggest getting a clear drain tube connector. It connects between your sewage tube and your camper connection. It enables you to see how the water is as it drains.

When I prepare my camper for long-term storage I fill it a 3rd time and pour 1/2 galln bleech down the toilet. Fill the tank let it sit 30 mins and drain.

Do this and you should be good.

Well not sure there is any water in storage.. I'll have to check that also.. :)

Thank you..

Roo Camper wrote:

bikendan wrote:

Roo Camper wrote:
should I be putting some more water in?

YESSS!! 3-4 gallones. you'll have hardened Poo if you don't keep water in it. as Chuck said, you can never get all of it out.

putting in additives is your choice. we like Odorlos.

Ooops.. guess I should do that.. and I just pour that down the potty.. that will work? ( yeah I know another dumb question)

you can unless you prefer to hold the toilet foot pedal down until 3-4 gallons goes down.:W

bikendan wrote:

Roo Camper wrote:
should I be putting some more water in?

YESSS!! 3-4 gallones. you'll have hardened Poo if you don't keep water in it. as Chuck said, you can never get all of it out.

putting in additives is your choice. we like Odorlos.

Ooops.. guess I should do that.. and I just pour that down the potty.. that will work? ( yeah I know another dumb question)

Roo Camper wrote:
should I be putting some more water in?

YESSS!! 3-4 gallones. you'll have hardened Poo if you don't keep water in it. as Chuck said, you can never get all of it out.

putting in additives is your choice. we like Odorlos.

In my experience I add a couple of gallons of water to both tanks after they've been dumped. This and the residual enzymes and Odorlos do a pretty good job of getting rid of the rest of the stuff in there. I do flush the tanks before winter storage but not during the season.

Mistake I made early on was using minimal water to flush "#2". Built up a White Mountain of toilet paper under the potty. For solid waste I fill the bowl first, then dump it into the tank. Helps spread the mountain out.

-- Chuck

Ok.. I'm gonna show my newbieness again..
When I left the campsite Tues..I dumped both the gray and black tanks..so guessing now they are empty..should I be putting some more water in? And I didn't add anything to the potty tank after either.. advice for this newbie would be appreciated.. ( apologies in advance for being so dumb)

Complete rinsing of the black tank is literally impossible, too many places for stuff to hide. Back flushing does NOT work well unless you have a straight pipe into the tank; if it's curved you're just splashing water around the pipes, not the tank. And if you rinse all the enzymes out the stuff remains in place. Dump and go works well for me. Let the remaining enzymes and Odorlos do the remaining work.

-- Chuck

Got back to the campground last night. No problems with smell. I think that just adding water to the empty tank helped. Seems fine now. After dumping tomorrow I'll add some water and enzyme.