Cleaning out black tank for winter

Fill with water and let it sit a few days. Do for a bumpy ride and it is slosh around, and drain it...

CavemanCharlie wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:
Unless you have an issue...I wouldn't worry about it. Who cares if there is a little crud on the inside of the tank? Now if you have a pile of poo under the inlet, that's an issue.

Two habits to get into:
- Avoid dumping unless at least half and preferably 3/4 full. That will allow the poo to float and provide enough flow to carry it out.
- Put a few gallons of water in before a drive. The sloshing around will knock any larger deposits off and the next poo deposit will be floating and not stuck to the bottom.

This is what I do .

This is what I do do, too.

valhalla360 wrote:
Unless you have an issue...I wouldn't worry about it. Who cares if there is a little crud on the inside of the tank? Now if you have a pile of poo under the inlet, that's an issue.

Two habits to get into:
- Avoid dumping unless at least half and preferably 3/4 full. That will allow the poo to float and provide enough flow to carry it out.
- Put a few gallons of water in before a drive. The sloshing around will knock any larger deposits off and the next poo deposit will be floating and not stuck to the bottom.

This is what I do .

valhalla360 wrote:
Unless you have an issue...I wouldn't worry about it. Who cares if there is a little crud on the inside of the tank? Now if you have a pile of poo under the inlet, that's an issue.

Two habits to get into:
- Avoid dumping unless at least half and preferably 3/4 full. That will allow the poo to float and provide enough flow to carry it out.
- Put a few gallons of water in before a drive. The sloshing around will knock any larger deposits off and the next poo deposit will be floating and not stuck to the bottom.

This is what I do .

If you can take a drive before dumping, that does help.

As for residue, I always fill my fresh water tank up with soft water from my house whenever possible. When I can't, I put Calgon water softener powder down the toilet. I also add some high efficiency clothes washing machine soap (apparently it has less suds than non-high efficiency?) down the toilet after dumping each time and add several gallons of water. Then when I'm driving home or to the next campground, the soft water and soap is sloshing around cleaning it out. My trailer has now seen 7 seasons of use and when I drained it out for the end of the season, I only saw black plastic below the toilet. No residue. I also try to flush it out a little better the last time of the season. This time I dumped 2 5 gallon containers of clean water down the toilet after doing my normal drain. Sometimes I have my wife in there flushing the toilet and I shut the black valve for a minute, the let it flush out, shut it again to build up, then open it up again. Do that a few times until it runs clean.

I take a 7 gallon tote for drinking water, ice and coffee. Way more than I need. When I leave campground I dump. After dumping I pour whatever is left from the 7 gallon tote into the toilet for the drive home. Once home, drain that. Do backflush until water comes out clear, then fill black/gray tanks 100% and let sit for at least 48 hours. I also add Tank Blaster for the 48 hour soak. People Tank Blast is a waste of money. It is cheap. $9 bucks for 4 treatments. If I can afford and TT I can handle $9. And my tank sensors have been reliable for me.

Not something to do right now with winter upon us, but come spring, give your black tank a good soak over a couple weeks with preferably 25% of your tank capacity. For me, that's 15 gallons of fresh water, or three Home Depot buckets dumped down the toilet.

Nothing else - just water. Whatever was on the bottom will liquify on its own. The longer you let it sit the better, and always keep water in your black tanks during the season. Too many people drain them and that never gives stuff a chance to dissolve.

wanderingbob wrote:
The easiest way to clean the tank is to take a drive . Back when we stayed in campgrounds we would not dump when leaving a campground , we would dump upon arrival at the next campground . The sloshing around did the job and there was never any line at dump spot .

I have recently tried taking the next time out approach as well.
I have also noticed the tanks drain a lot better after taking the ride.
I can dump at home but the process is a bit cumbersome do to the location of my cleanout relative to the driveway.
Instead of dumping at home I decided to dump a week later at the CG.
Waiting has not been a problem and the tanks dump more efficiently.

The easiest way to clean the tank is to take a drive . Back when we stayed in campgrounds we would not dump when leaving a campground , we would dump upon arrival at the next campground . The sloshing around did the job and there was never any line at dump spot .

I buy the cheapest automatic dishwasher soap. Every time I dump both the gray and black tanks I add about 1/2 cup of the dishwasher soap and several gallons of water.

Never leave the tanks completely drained except after cleaning at the end of the season.

At the end of the season I have found it takes very little flushing to clean out the black tank with one of the wands.