Blackwater tank

[Knute1]

Hello all, new here and got some bad advice to keep my black water tank open constantly while hooked up at campground. Now I know otherwise. What can I do to get the contents of the tank broken up to drain completely? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Ron

[rhagfo]

DutchmenSport wrote:

ksg5000 wrote:
If your not in a hurry .. go down to any hardware store a buy a bottle of septic tank cleaner. Dump the contents into the holding tank and fill it to the top with water ... wait a week or two and dump. It's not quick but it's easy.

This was going to be my suggestion. Fill your tank enough that water covers the bottom and everything that's built up. Get a box of Rid-X (for septic tanks) and dump in. Let it sit. Rid-x is a yeast (an emzine eater). It's important that it sit's and eats everything in it's path and decomposes it. So it may take a while, but, as stated above, very easy. After a week or so, rinse, rinse, rinse, and flush everything out.

If not Rid-X any emzine eater made to clean pipes will work too. It just has to sit!

This will work, if traveling a lot keep using the ice cube trick.
Something to think about, keep all valves shut! Then when draining, drain black tank first, then galley (if separate) , then grey tank, if your hose has a nice slope to the drain your stinky slinky Will be clean,

[HGL]

we use 2 cups of calgon liquid water softener ever time we empty the tank and every time we leave on the extended drive we also add about 7 gallons of water with a 1/4 cup of laundry soap...yep we have bubbles by the time we get to our camp spot but we also have a very clean and slick black tank that helps when we are cleaning the tank during our campground stays. We also have a "magic" wand for cleaning the tank of the dreaded pile! It will take a little bit of time, but lots of water will help to soften everything up.

[2gypsies1]

myredracer wrote:
You can use Liquid Drano. When dumping, never dump it into a private on-site septic disposal system as it can cause serious damage to it. We've used it twice now and it returns your tank to clean and shiny inside like it was at the factory.

I wouldn't dump that in any dump. The majority are on septic.

...."returns to clean and shiny inside"....??? Can you actually see inside yours? 🙂

[nightshift]

jfkmk wrote:
Ouch! I saw a video showing that the bag of ice trick has a very limited effect on the solids.

You might want to try filling the tank with water for a while to try to soften up the solids. If you have a built in tank sprayer try that. If not, the wands you stick down the toilet work pretty well. Kind of "power washes" the solids.

X2

Watch this.

[DutchmenSport]

Wishbone51 wrote:

Allworth wrote:
During typical winter storage, the tanks are 90% air and 10% liquid (at most).

Water expands 2.2% on freezing. Bad in a closed bottle or pipe, but...

The tank is now 97.8% (compressible) air and 12.2% ice. Even if the air were not vented through the roof, there would not be enough pressure difference to hurt the tank.

That makes sense, but I've seen an open bucket crack with a couple of inches of ice in it. Apparently it expands in all directions. This doesn't make sense to me. If it tries to expand and meet resistance, wouldn't it expand in a direction it could?

I've also had had open buckets with an inch or two of water in them expand and crack the bottom or the sides. In winter, I drain my tanks to the point not a single drop falls any more. Then I put a gallon or so of pink-stuff in each tank, mainly to keep the slide valves wet so they won't dry out.

[Bobbo]

Allworth wrote:
The original post was about using a "vented" cap in winter! You might try reading the entire thread.

There is a thread about using a vented cap in winter, but it is not this thread. This thread is about breaking up the DREADED POOP PYRAMID. You might try reading the entire thread.

Here is the link to the thread about the vented cap:

http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/28569836/srt/pa/pging/1/page/1.cfm

[RVcircus]

Lots of water. Let it soak, drain, repeat. Chemicals may also help in this instance, but I hate using them in the tanks. If the tank is directly below the toilet like our is you can use a wand to flush debris out as you go. If it's really bad I'd consider pulling the tank, but that would be my LAST resort.

[Effy]

Knute1 wrote:
Hello all, new here and got some bad advice to keep my black water tank open constantly while hooked up at campground. Now I know otherwise. What can I do to get the contents of the tank broken up to drain completely? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Ron

OP's original post.

[Campinfan]

Allworth wrote:
The original post was about using a "vented" cap in winter! You might try reading the entire thread.

Thats not what I read. Maybe it got posted in the wrong thread. No big deal

[RandACampin]

Allworth wrote:
The original post was about using a "vented" cap in winter! You might try reading the entire thread.

Perhaps you should read the original post. :S

[Allworth]

The original post was about using a "vented" cap in winter! You might try reading the entire thread.

[Dustytuu]

You can try "tissue digester" follow directions on container. I believe this can be bought at Camping World or any RV store that sells supplies and etc.
I have heard others have had good luck with this. Mostly from people buying used trailers.

Ice cubes has very limited results.

[Wishbone51]

Allworth wrote:
During typical winter storage, the tanks are 90% air and 10% liquid (at most).

Water expands 2.2% on freezing. Bad in a closed bottle or pipe, but...

The tank is now 97.8% (compressible) air and 12.2% ice. Even if the air were not vented through the roof, there would not be enough pressure difference to hurt the tank.

That makes sense, but I've seen an open bucket crack with a couple of inches of ice in it. Apparently it expands in all directions. This doesn't make sense to me. If it tries to expand and meet resistance, wouldn't it expand in a direction it could?

[allen8106]

Allworth wrote:
During typical winter storage, the tanks are 90% air and 10% liquid (at most).

Water expands 2.2% on freezing. Bad in a closed bottle or pipe, but...

The tank is now 97.8% (compressible) air and 12.2% ice. Even if the air were not vented through the roof, there would not be enough pressure difference to hurt the tank.

NOTE: This is only about tanks during normal storage; not full tanks, water heaters, pipes, toilets, or faucets.

Another solution is to move to Florida, park it in the back yard, and forget about winterizing.

What in Gods name does this have to do with the dreaded pryamid of dung? Am I missing somethig here?