Black Water Tank Treatments

[jbrack]

Just curious as to how long it takes for the drop-in holding tank treatment pods take to work? Does it do any good to drop one in if you will be dumping your tank within a few days? Do those things act that quickly or are they meant for longer periods of time between tank dumps? Just wondering if I'm wasting money on these things.

[Cummins12V98]

WATER

[Camper_Ken]

rk911 wrote:
Happy Campers. works for us. tried the Geo Method which did not work well. to each their own.

I've been using Happy Campers for the last few years with great results. No smell from black tank even when flushing. Nice thing about Happy Campers is there's no smell to it, so it's not masking the black tank smell, it's eliminating it.

[36guy]

Soon as I dump the tank, I pour 5 gallons of water back into the black tank, and a package of septic tank treatment, costs only pennies at every supermarket everywhere.The tank always has enzyme in it, helps keep the tank clean, I've found no odour over the last forty years, keeps the dreaded poop pile gone, and is always in there, bugs happily eating away.
To each his own.

[MrWizard]

I use Happy Camper, yes it is for oder control,
Any body using only water, who thinks their tank doesn't sink because they don't smell it
Has a defective nose
I know mine will sink, if I don't use something,
I don't want me or anyone else to smell it

[down_home]

Sitting a few days or more builds up stuff and it smells. So we add the blue stuff, from a bottle, from CW or wally World and the reccommended five or at last a few gallons of water after flushing to star with. We have than and pods too. After a few day and tank no near full enough to flush we drop in one of the pods or more blue liquid.
Don't usually have any problems unless someone turn on one of the vent fans anywhere in the coach. These things are really tight and thee fans can make for really smelly situation.

[myredracer]

jbrack wrote:
Just wondering if I'm wasting money on these things.

Yes...

All you need is water. Add a few gallons before using the tank, don't skimp on water when flushing, fill tank to near full before dumping, then rinse well. Done!

Big mistake we learned in the beginning was trying to conserve water when flushing. That can make things way worse and create the infamous "pyramid of poo".

"Stuff" is never in an RV holding tank anywhere near long enough for enzyme treatments to work. Some use treatments to mask the odor but the toilet valve is only open for a second or maybe two. Chemicals that kill the bacteria are a bad idea. We've never smelled odors from other's vent pipes, but maybe our noses don't work well anymore. But I have smelled sewer odor coming out of CG sewer inlets next to pedestals.

[Lwiddis]

I always camp downwind from Lynnmor. Very pleasant.

[Lynnmor]

Of course all black tanks are vented thru the roof and the nice smell from the tank is shared with those downwind. I use the chemicals out of respect for others and the cost is so little.

[Gdetrailer]

Over the yrs I have found that simply flushing as fast as possible (open/close the blade quickly and only long enough to wash down the bowl) and making sure the bathroom exhaust fan is turned off works just as good if not better than dumping chemicals into the black tank.

Typically when done quickly the odor doesn't have much time to rise out of the tank..

[drsteve]

Black tank treatments are only good for one thing: turning your money into someone else's money.

[willald]

If all various odor blocks noted above work properly all the time, and nothing ever goes wrong when dumping tanks, and you never, ever make mistakes when dumping tanks and never spill even one drop of waster water on the ground ever....Then, yes, in that 'perfect' world/utopia, black tank chemicals are not needed.

However, I don't live in that 'utopia' where nothing ever goes wrong, haha. The world I live in, things occasionally do go wrong. Vents get clogged, water in P traps evaporates enough to allow some odor into the RV, hoses or hose fittings wear out and may leak a drop or two before I can correct the issue. THAT, is why I use black tank chemicals (Odorlos). They minimize the smell, when (not if) something goes wrong or doesn't go exactly as planned.

Your neighbors will appreciate you taking such precaution, too, when something goes less than perfect and allows some of your holding tank odors to escape (like maybe when a sewer hose has a slight leak, isn't attached securely to a fitting, etc.)

I don't think its as much about assisting with break-down of solids, cause as already said, that happens at the same rate regardless of chemicals. Its more about minimizing the odors for the times when something doesn't go exactly as planned.

[rk911]

Happy Campers. works for us. tried the Geo Method which did not work well. to each their own.

[maddog348]

WATER !!

[Lwiddis]

"Act" isn't the right word. The pills mostly help with smell. No, I'm not "misinformed."