How do you tell when your waste tanks are full?

Geewizard wrote:
No offense to you 5th wheel, TT, and Class A owners but your holding tanks are likely FAR different than (from) our TC tanks.

How are they so different?

ReneeG wrote:

pcoplin wrote:
You should be able to see the black water when it gets up to the toilet drain.

Yes, you can look down your toilet drain pipe with the valve open and see if you can see black water. Gross, but that's a sure fire way.

On our recent trip, when the black tank indicator light showed "full" and stayed on, we looked down the drain and saw that the level was about two or three inches below the toilet flush valve. So in the future, we will be more inclined to believe the indicator light.

hedgehopper wrote:
Our camper has indicator lights on the range hood that profess to show the level in each of the waste tanks. But I'm not sure I can trust the lights....

Lots of opinions here for a lot of different rigs. Let me try something different for you...

Dump your tanks like normal. Come home, grab the garden hose, and start filling the tanks manually - by putting water down the stool and sink drains. Stop periodically and check your gauges. You will be able to tell pretty easily when each tank is full with the hose - and you should stop putting more in.

This will give you an idea where the sensors are really placed. Are they truly 1/3rd, 1/3rd, and 1/3rd? Or are the 1/4, 1/4, and 1/2? By testing with clean fresh water, you won't be dealing with overflowing stinky when you discover where the limit really lies.

As an added benefit, this is a good way to flush out your tanks and clean the sensors in the process. While discretion is key, I have no problem dumping this water in the driveway - remember, the tanks were empty to begin with and they were simply filled with clean water.

YMMV!
-Eric

revump wrote:
Although I have gauges, I know that my gray waste will need to be emptied every 4-5 days and my black waste tank will last 10-15 days.

Depends on how much beer you are drinking....

Oh, I use quart milk cartons. for the #1.. or natural fertilization....Pine trees like!
The milk cartons work great for flushing.... The POOOOOOO tooooooo. TW is OK with that!

Jim

Although I have gauges, I know that my gray waste will need to be emptied every 4-5 days and my black waste tank will last 10-15 days.

BobsYourUncle wrote:

Thats my method.
I don't even bother with the indicator panel. It tells me lies every time.

Indeed. Mine lies like a politician.

gbopp wrote:
And no, you can't trust the tank indicator lights. They are usually inaccurate.

Mine work fine.
When the indicator says full you better plan to dump that day.

Empty and half do not really mean much anyway.

3/4 and full is where you pay attention.

jimh425 wrote:
Keep in mind that full tanks are also extra weight mostly in a bad place since they are typically near the back of the TC. I've got big tanks, so I mostly watch the grey which fills faster than black.

Yep, looking for that full black tank with a flashlight works for us. Gray, well we have only ran full one time... Shower drain .....

Bigfoot has <>50gal of water, weight is mostly in front of CG, 30 gray 20 black.... located at the drivers rear.

The very reason I always run the fuel out of the rear tank first... 19gallons. That helps.


Jim

After a couple trips, you should start to get an idea of how much you utilize the tanks. You'll know that you can go X days between dumps, and simply keeping that in the back of your mind will prevent you from overflowing any tanks.

Fish mojo wrote:

Geewizard wrote:
Why is is we now get TT and motorhome owners answering questions on the truck camper forum?

No offense to you 5th wheel, TT, and Class A owners but your holding tanks are likely FAR different than our TC tanks.

Just wondering.....

because they know TC people are the smartest on all the rv.net forums....;)

Well.....another way to look at that is:

Why is a TCr having to ask such a basic question.........and us other RVs are giving the answers.


Come on.....it's all about RVng/Camping
Lets not go 'segregating'
Everybody in the pool :B