Holding Tank cleaning GEO Method

[Henry]

Has anyone tried the GEO Method of cleaning the grey and black holding tanks? 1-cup Blue Dawn 1-cup Calgon water softner?
I've been RVing for over 40yrs and have never had tank level gauge's that work more than a couple years.

[Henry]

Isaac-1 wrote:
I have also been wanting to try this, but can't find the Calgon Water Softener anywhere, we have soft water where I live, but I also shopped for it everytime we went into a store for supplies on our recent month long 4,200 mile loop to Wyoming.

I found some at our walmart

[BarneyS]

We have had a septic system for our homes for most of our 60 years of married life. My wife washes clothes about every other day and has been using bleach in the wash for all of those 60 years. We have never had a single problem with our septic tanks or fields.
Barney

[jplante4]

beemerphile1 wrote:

jplante4 wrote:

SDcampowneroperator wrote:
PLEASE Do Not use bleach! It kills all the bacteria in septic systems. Even an ounce in 5 gallons of water is devastating to the digestive bacteria in septic systems.

It's not a "septic system", it's a holding tank....

Don't some campgrounds have septic systems? Don't you empty your holding tank into the park's system? 🙂

Good point, but bleach has been going to septic systems throughout the country for longer than I've been alive. If it were really a problem, some over-reaching government agency would have banned it long ago.

[dons2346]

You guys are wasting money on the Calgon softener. You can use the cheapest stuff you can find and it works just fine. I buy the powder at WinCo and dissolve it in a bowl of warm water and then dump it in the tank. Cost is about $3.00

I also use the cheapest liquid detergent I can find

[beemerphile1]

jplante4 wrote:

SDcampowneroperator wrote:
PLEASE Do Not use bleach! It kills all the bacteria in septic systems. Even an ounce in 5 gallons of water is devastating to the digestive bacteria in septic systems.

It's not a "septic system", it's a holding tank....

Don't some campgrounds have septic systems? Don't you empty your holding tank into the park's system? 🙂

[noteven]

The see-through black tank experiments:

Clicky

[jplante4]

SDcampowneroperator wrote:
PLEASE Do Not use bleach! It kills all the bacteria in septic systems. Even an ounce in 5 gallons of water is devastating to the digestive bacteria in septic systems.

It's not a "septic system", it's a holding tank. The stuff is (hopefully) not going to be in there long enough for the bacteria to do any good. I don't use bleach because I don't like the smell and there are better alternatives.

What you don't want to use is the tank deodorizers that contain formaldehyde. It builds up after a while and is probably the biggest reason tank sensors stick.

[mooky_stinks]

deleted post

[SDcampowneroper]

PLEASE Do Not use bleach! It kills all the bacteria in septic systems. Even an ounce in 5 gallons of water is devastating to the digestive bacteria in septic systems.

[Michelle_S]

When you Flush and it "Burps" time to dump.

[SidecarFlip]

jplante4 wrote:
I do the Geo method a couple of times a year, once a month when I was on the road. 1 cup blue Dawn, 1 cup Calgon liquid water softener, 2 buckets (about 5 gallons) of water between campgrounds. I'm also not too fussy about whether the probes work or not.I can look down into thew black tank to see where the level is.

Great thing about most all RV pots is you can open the dump valve and have a look-see if it's getting full or not....and it it's too full, you know as well....:D

[hawkeye-08]

We have been using the Geo method for a number of years now and it works. We just switched to Dawn from laundry detergent and will see how that does. Probably put too much in, doubt that wife measured it.

[jplante4]

Yes it is cheaper at Walmart - when you can find it. It's not at my local store so I would need to pay shipping.

[Michelle_S]

I generally get it at Wally World also. You just have to hunt for it. Look in the Look in the Laundry Soap/Fabric Sofener area, normally when I find it I buy four or five bottles.