There IS hope for your non-functioning tank sensors!

[blangen]

Quite often, really, someone wants to know how to make their holding tank sensors work correctly and the answer is usually "Give it up, it's a losing battle". Well, it's not.

Travel Jon Holding Tank Cleaner actually works!

My tank sensors have NEVER read correctly. I saw this at Camping World and thought I'd give it a try. Now, mind you, I didn't follow the directions and use one to two ounces. I poured a good six or eight ounces (maybe 10... lol) at the beginning of each tank (after dumping) and added a couple gallons of water. It took three or four tanks on the grey and four or five tanks on the black but my sensors now read better than they ever have. My grey actually shows empty. My black still shows one light at the bottom after the dump but, again, it has never worked that well. I expect to be all good before I finish this gallon of product.

So... Don't give up on your tank sensors. There is hope!

[my_toys]

Thanks for posting blangen. Always nice to hear about a product that works.

[pegdiver]

We use Pine Sol on the way home after a long trip. Get home and dump. Seems to work cleaning out all the stuff the tank gets on the walls. Now we have a flush system, it doesn't get so dirty so we will see if the Pine Sol is needed. Smells better too when it is sitting for a few months if we have to work on things.

[SoundGuy]

blangen wrote:
So... Don't give up on your tank sensors. There is hope!

Sensors don't work for one simple reason - the probes themselves intrude into the tank, over time clog with sludge, and complete an unintended circuit path between the probes - so the obvious solution is to use sensors that don't intrude into the tank. :S Unfortunately most recreational vehicle manufacturers take the easy and cheapest route, ergo the reason that almost all of us end up with tank monitors that "sorta, kinda work", but not really. :M Personally, I gave up long ago and no longer care as it's easy to determine anyway just how full or empty the fresh, grey, and black water tanks may be at any given time. I know what our fresh water consumption is and therefore how much grey water we're going to generate and based on that find a daily FW fill and daily GW offload keeps us up and running just fine. With only two of us camping we can easily camp at least a couple of weeks without any concern about the black tank filling but in the unlikely event it does I can always macerate and offload the contents into portable containers with my FloJet Macerator. In their infinite wisdom Coachmen mounted the tank monitor panel in our current Freedom Express where it can't be seen anyway when the slide is retracted :S ... pretty useless considering I often don't even bother extending the slide when I'm camping on my own. Hard to imagine any of these designers actually use the products they build. :R

[paulcardoza]

We were overdue for another black tank thread! :R

[Cloud_Dancer]

WELL, I like everything that should work to work. Thanks
Too bad that my Newmar roof didn't,....just thought I'd throw that in because after 13 years I'm still smarting.

[WeBeFulltimers]

Lantley wrote:

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Sounds like a lot of OCD and waste of water

Toilet burps......dump
Shower/sink start draining slower...dump
Water pump goes 'burrrrrrrrrrup'..........tank empty add water

Otherwise if you use your Rig then you know how long you can go and when it's time to dump. No need for chemicals, high water use, monitors etc.
Waste holding tanks.......hold it/dump it repeat.

Biscuit I'm with you. I never use my tank monitor. I don't know if my sensors work or not. Once I become familiar with my rig I find no use/need for the sensors.
I see the tank monitor as a gimmick for newbies to give them peace of mind to know their rig will not blow from poo if they over fill there tanks.
Initially the tank monitor maybe beneficial but in time you'll know when it's time to dump without checking the monitor panel.
I try to avoid using chemicals unless absolutely necessary. I don't consider tank sensors necessary.

I'm in total agreement with you both!

[tvman44]

I used to not use any chemicals in my tanks and slowly my sensors all quit working properly. Since I started using RID-X RV ( it is a liquid) my sensors started working again. I put abt. 1 gallon of water & 3 oz. RID-X in the tank and after dumping and quick rinse my sensors work. 🙂

[2012Coleman]

6.7 tow rig wrote:
A wand down the tank will blast the sensors clean. Mine work perfectly after three years. I use it every trip.

X2. Works faster, is less expensive. I like my tank sensors - they seem pretty accurate keeping them clean this way. The water starts coming up through the bathtub drain shortly after he gray tank starts showing full.

[FunnyCamper]

no sensor worries here.
ours don't read correctly on black.
we don't care. I will say--do we need to dump? hubby says, how many days has it been? that is all we need, we know our limit on our black from our use and how many days. that is all we do now, we don't fight the stupid sensor tho we tried in the old days 🙂

[rockhillmanor]

I must be the lone ranger, my sensors work perfectly and have been for the past 7 years.

Blue chems in the black. One quart of lemon cleaner in the gray once a week.
And a good TP that breaks down easily.

[Bigdog]

I also don't trust my sensors, even though they seem to kinda work. I leave the black tank,40 gallons, closed if we are camping for several days, but leave the grey tank open till the night before I am going to dump the black. I have found that the more stuff in the black tank, the better it dumps,then I flush it and then dump the grey and that flushes the dump hose. I do put TST green in the black tank every time I dump it and have done that with both my TTs and now the MH.
I jut might put some Pine Sol down the tanks and add some water before traveling on the next trip.
Pine sol's great for a lot of things and one of them was a hangover. In the A.F. we had latrine duty on Sunday PM and would turn the showers on hot and throw a couple of bottles of Pine sol all around and then hose it all down with hot water. Did a great job of cleaning everything, including your head.

[Hideout17]

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Sounds like a lot of OCD and waste of water

Toilet burps......dump
Shower/sink start draining slower...dump
Water pump goes 'burrrrrrrrrrup'..........tank empty add water

Otherwise if you use your Rig then you know how long you can go and when it's time to dump. No need for chemicals, high water use, monitors etc.
Waste holding tanks.......hold it/dump it repeat.

I do same thing. My black tank sensors are ok my Grey ones read 1/3 full when empty. I usually leave Grey open but now have shut them to keep tanks clean.

[rv2go]

blangen wrote:

Oasisbob wrote:
My guages lie like politicians with equal outcome. What chemicals are in this tank treatment? Magnetic,radioactive? What? How does it work chemically speaking. Anyone know? Encouraging post. Thanks

From the gallon container: Alkyl Dimethyl Benzyl Ammonium Chloride

This is also the chemicals in Pine Sol.

[Old-Biscuit]

blangen wrote:

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Sounds like a lot of OCD and waste of water

Toilet burps......dump
Shower/sink start draining slower...dump
Water pump goes 'burrrrrrrrrrup'..........tank empty add water

Otherwise if you use your Rig then you know how long you can go and when it's time to dump. No need for chemicals, high water use, monitors etc.
Waste holding tanks.......hold it/dump it repeat.

If you sit in a place where you can dump on a moments notice, you're right. I need to coincide my dumps with appropriate places and times in the course of my travels. Sensors help with the timing so the "burp" doesn't make the need so immediate.

Rarely sat in place for more than a week

Dump at end of week prior to traveling....done

[Lantley]

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Sounds like a lot of OCD and waste of water

Toilet burps......dump
Shower/sink start draining slower...dump
Water pump goes 'burrrrrrrrrrup'..........tank empty add water

Otherwise if you use your Rig then you know how long you can go and when it's time to dump. No need for chemicals, high water use, monitors etc.
Waste holding tanks.......hold it/dump it repeat.

Biscuit I'm with you. I never use my tank monitor. I don't know if my sensors work or not. Once I become familiar with my rig I find no use/need for the sensors.
I see the tank monitor as a gimmick for newbies to give them peace of mind to know their rig will not blow from poo if they over fill there tanks.
Initially the tank monitor maybe beneficial but in time you'll know when it's time to dump without checking the monitor panel.
I try to avoid using chemicals unless absolutely necessary. I don't consider tank sensors necessary.