question on tank seals and drying out? new camper

You should leave some water in the tank after dumping. I've seen people recommend up to 5 gallons of water. On mine I just add a gallon or two and call it good.

But also don't forget the toilet bowl. You want to leave a little water in the bowl to keep the seal from drying out and sticking. I keep a few one pint drinking water bottles in the bathroom. If I find the seal dry after extended stay in storage I just open one of the bottles and pour some water back into the bowl.

The bottles also work well if I have to flush the toilet while picking up the trailer from storage. It's amazing how my children can leave the house not having to use the bathroom, and suddenly have to pee when they see the trailer 30 minutes later. :h

Oh, and before anyone says it, these bottles are refilled with plain old city water. I'm not going to use bottled water to flush my toilet. :R

Last thing, If you do find a dry bowl seal, put some water in the bowl and let it sit for a while before you flush it. This way some of the water will hopefully seep around the dry seal and lubricate it so it doesn't stick and tear from being dry.

After dumping I put 1 gallon of fresh water in each tank, followed by some Olive Oil to lube seals. If sitting long, a bit of Olive Oil on top of toilet seal keeps it nice also.

Note, if you fill your sink with hot water before dumping, you can then wash hands. Emptying sink puts a gallon in gray. Filling toilet and then pushing pedal puts a gallon in black. Easy.

I follow the same routine as above. Flush the tanks as well as you can, then put in a little to keep everything from being totally dry while in storage. Of course, if there are not full hookups, I dump at the dump station and am forced to go with that.

We empty after every trip. Im OCD about the tanks so I clean them until there is crystal clear water coming back out. I then put in a couple of gallons of clean water to "coat" the bottom of each tank just in case something was left in there it wont dry out and get hard as a rock. Im lucky I have access to private dump station though.

My assumption was that they should be emptied after each trip. But I'm new at RVing. I'm curious what the experienced RVers recommend.