Black Tank & Toilet Paper

[Larryzv7]

So I’m just wondering what others think about this. A camp host told me today that she does not put toilet paper in the toilet because it causes faulty sensor readings, sticks to the walls of the black tank, and can clog the drain system.

She told me that she puts all of her soiled toilet paper in a plastic grocery store bag and throws it out with the trash. She claims she has never had a faulty sensor reading or clogged drain pipe since doing this.

I do not buy the commercial RV black tank products, mainly because they are so expensive, rather I pour some bleach in my toilet after dumping the black tank, and that usually dissolves human waste as well as toilet paper.

I have heard of people doing all sorts of things when it comes to cleaning their black tank or using toilet paper. Some will only buy the RV camping type toilet paper while others use the commercial brand black tank cleaning products.

What are your opinions, if any, on this? What do you use to clean your black tank and do you use regular or RV type toilet paper? Yeah, it does sound like a bunch of crap.

[jnharley]

We also do not put paper down the toilet. How many times have you read posts about people trying to get the plumbing unclogged. We use cheap sandwich bags that can be sealed. Not unsanitary at all. I assume if you are using some sort of sanitary wipe that you are not putting them down the tank, or dirty diapers and those must be disposed of in the trash. The paper goes from your hand into a sealable storage bag and then into the trash. No smell and no clogged plumbing.

[nbargolf]

Test the paper, put it in a bowl pour water on it if it dissolves it is good if it doesn't don't put it down the tank. Scott 1000 used it for 6 years never a problem. We now have a tank flush which is great BTW.

[nbargolf]

We have friends that do the no paper thing and guess what their sensors don't work right. So what's the point of the no paper thing. We met a guy that wouldn't poop in his toilet period. Go figure, takes all kinds.

[nbargolf]

Scott single ply no problem. We will never store our poop sheets in a bag and carry it out. If this was a must we would be out of the RV business tomorrow.

[Roads_Less_Trav]

Our black tank sensors have never had problems. We do some simple things:

1. No TP in the toilet (we put it in plastic shopping bags that we toss daily)
2. After dumping the tanks, pour one or two 4-gallon buckets of water down toilet to clear any solids from directly below the toilet
3. Use Unique Marketing's RV Digest-It enzyme solution in the tanks

[bjcarpetguy]

I worked at an rv resort that had a lot of Hispanic's up from the Bay Area. We would go through and put boxes in each stall before a big weekend. I was glad I was not on the crew to clean the toilets on a reg. basis.

Shortly after we got our MH we were at a park in NW Montana. Went to drain tanks before we were leaving the next day, and had a wad of tp stuck in the tube. Tried the wire hanger which didn't work, ran 25miles to wally world and bought a flush hose. Cleared tube and all was well. Well wife went to the tp in the bag thing. We have had our differances over this. She now puts tp in toilet and other stuff in garbage.

Currently we are at her uncles house and we use our blue boy, drain into it and pull over to there sewer clean out and dump. Don't have to many issues. Well we'll see this coming week as I just had surgery and won't be able to do it so she'll have to, and she has an extremely weak stomach.

[noteven]

raygreg wrote:

U N B E L I E V A B L E........

If I ever got to this point of freakishness over my waste tanks, I would quickly realize the fun had gone out of camping and sell my coach the next day.

I agree, must be a full moon.

X2

[Dog_Folks]

Thanks for posting. I did not know a guide even existed. I am glad there is one for the RV "newbie."

Our experience was in Florida, but no matter.

We had no guide, no orientation. We really didn't "need" them as we are experienced.

Other than having to supply our own sewer hose, the experience, overall, was good. I would use them again if needed. I will make sure I get a hose and a guide.

[gotsmart]

Dog Folks wrote:
gotsmart said: "This reinforced for me what Cruise America printed for dump instructions in its Renter Assistance Guide."

WOW you got a guide? A few years ago our trailer was in the shop and we used Cruise America. We had to even supply our own "stinky slinky!"

I wondered how renters that were not experienced ever used their units.

http://www.cruiseamerica.com/rent/renters_resources/renters_assistance_guide.aspx
The link also has orientation videos. I believe that the guide is supposed to go with every rental. My guess is that the CA location the you went to may have been hurried to turn around the MH they assigned to you and failed to replace a missing guide.

[klm]

"Spare the square" and 1 bowl flush for #1 and 2 bowl flush for #2 - nothing beside waste, tp, and water. Are my sensors accurate? no, never have been. I use the "burp" to let me know it's about time to dump. Use tank flush every time. fill with 5 gal and ready to go. I am not willing to spend much todo about poo and such

[Dog_Folks]

gotsmart said: "This reinforced for me what Cruise America printed for dump instructions in its Renter Assistance Guide."

WOW you got a guide? A few years ago our trailer was in the shop and we used Cruise America. We had to even supply our own "stinky slinky!"

I wondered how renters that were not experienced ever used their units.

[gotsmart]

paulcardoza wrote:
LOL!!!! Sounds like you've turned the simple task of dumping tanks into a 6 - 12 hour ordeal, depending on how many refills and soaks are required! Unbelievable..........

When you plan it so that you dump the tanks in the morning and top them off before leaving for most of the day, it's easy. My black tank is 40 gal & gray tank is 35 gal. If they were larger capacity tanks I think this would be a different story.

My black tank takes 5 minutes to fill (from the toilet) when empty, the gray tank takes 15 minutes to fill (from the kitchen sink) when empty. I use an egg timer on them. The total time it takes me to dump and reset for the 2nd dump is less than 30 minutes. I've seen Rvers stand outside in the rain, rinsing their tanks for 30 minutes while watching the water run through the clear plastic adapter on their sewer outlet. Doing that would bore the heck out of me. I can spend that 20 minutes cleaning, watching TV, surfing the Interweb. Then come back at the end of the day (after shopping or doing the tourist thing) and in 2 minutes of dumping will have clean tanks.

I have friends in a 5er, who are actually here in the park, behind me, in the next lane. They were in AZ last winter and had a larger poo pyramid that blocked their sewer outlet. A septic service roto-rooter'd the tank to clear the clog. They told my friends that they do this to a lot of RVs because they have found that in many RVs the factory installed rinsers are not installed in the optimum location on the tank to provide a thorough rinsing - thus leaving unrinsed areas in the tank that promote poo pyramid formation. They recommended to my friends that in their case they should abandon the rinser in the water bay and use the "top off, flush, refill, repeat" method.

This reinforced for me what Cruise America printed for dump instructions in its Renter Assistance Guide. So what if it is low-tech and simple. It's effective and it works - in my MH. After 2 and a half years using the "top off, flush, refill, repeat" method my black tank is 100% worry free.

You may think my method is a lot of extra work. I'm OK with that. What works for me may not work for you or anyone else. I can only share my solution.

[Aridon]

We haven't had any issues using TP in our rig. We dump regularly, flush after we dump and good enough. I'm sure others do what that host does. I personally don't see the need for bagging my poop. Despite doing it for my dog and my daughter on a daily basis.

[Larryzv7]

Dumping my black water tank is not that sophisticated; I do have a tank riser for my black water tank, and no my 2012 Heartland Prowler 5th Wheel did not come with manufacture dumping instructions. If nothing more when I dump my black water tank, leave a little water in it and go down the road to my next campground, the sensor reading is usually different than it was when I dumped my tank after driving down the road.

So I agree that the black water tank sensor can be inaccurate because it may show 1/3 full after dumping and leaving the campground but when I arrive at my next campground it shows empty. Has something to do with the water sloshing around inside the tank as you drive down the road. I’ve heard of people doing all sorts of things to clean and empty their black water tank, which I think is unnecessary. But I do believe each to their own and whatever makes them happy.

Thank you for all of the opinions offered.
Larry:)

[Bumpyroad]

paulcardoza wrote:
LOL!!!! Sounds like you've turned the simple task of dumping tanks into a 6 - 12 hour ordeal, depending on how many refills and soaks are required! Unbelievable..........

gotsmart wrote:

Larryzv7 wrote:

...
What are your opinions, if any, on this? What do you use to clean your black tank and do you use regular or RV type toilet paper? Yeah, it does sound like a bunch of crap.

Black tank sensors are notorious for false readings. There are a couple of vendors out there with "solutions" to the problem. Anyway, TP and everything else in the black tank can collect on the sensors. Period. Many just ignore the black tank's readout on the monitor panel. This may help:

Does the owners manual for your RV have a dumping procedure for your RV's tanks? Mine does.
My MH does not have a tank rinser and my manual says to:
1. top off the gray and black tanks with water.
2. dump the black tank and leave its valve open.
3. when step 2 is finished, dump the gray tank. The tanks are plumbed to have the gray backflush the black.
4. when step 3 is finished, close both dump valves.
5. repeat steps 1 through 4.

This is my modified procedure:
1a. top off the black tank with water.
1b. rock the MH side-to-side 4 to 5 times to slosh the water around in the black tank in an attempt to unclog the sensors. My MH does not have levelers or stabilizers. Lucky me.
1c. close the gray dump valve (if open) and fill the gray tank with water.
2. dump the black tank and leave its valve open.
3. when step 2 is finished, dump the gray tank.
4. when step 3 is finished, close both dump valves.
5. repeat steps 1a, 1b, 1c.

6. wait 2 to 6 hours. I call this "soak time". It is my opinion that allowing the black tank to have "soak time" (especially during the summer) loosens up even more stuff to achieve a cleaner tank.
7. dump the black tank and leave its valve open.
8. when step 7 is finished, dump the gray tank.
9. close both dump valves.

THEN...

I check at the level in the black tank on the monitor (see below). If the middle or top LED is lit I get slightly irritated. I may then choose to fill and dump the black tank again. In between dumping tanks I monitor the black tank by listening to the water as I'm flushing the toilet. My toilet is a Dometic Sealand with foot pedal (and no spray). When the tank approaches becoming full the sound of the water entering it changes. This tells me that I have about 4 to 5 good sized flushes before the tank gets full. YMMV. Then I do my modified dumping procedure. When finished I add 3-4 gallons of water to the black tank - to keep the bottom of it and the dump valve wet. Then I add 2 cap-fulls of Tide laundry detergent to the black tank (dish soap can foam up too much - up and out the waste vent on the roof).

TP or no TP - the choice is yours. I use Angel Soft and I flush it down the toilet. I can't be bothered to throw money at the black/gray tank sensors. As long as the sensors for the fresh water tank, LP gas, and battery work then I'm happy.

yep and it could all be avoided by installing a tank rinser.
bumpy