Update Trouble of the Worst Kind.Black Tank Won't Empty Help

[allen8106]

For the latest see page 3 of this thread.Ok all you camper experts out there I need your help in the worst way. I have a 2010 Jayco 31.5 RLDS that I bought new in March 2011. We have used it profusely since we bought it as you can tell by my sig without any issues other than a couple propane pigtails that malfunctioned. On Thursday October 30th we went to the lake, there was no fresh water available because the water had been turned off for the winter. No problem…I had recently sanitized my fresh water tank so we found a spigot with water and filled up the on board tank and stayed through Sunday. At the last minute we decided to leave the camper and come back the following week. My wife went back out Wednesday and I went back out Thursday after returning from work related travel. We stayed until today using the on board fresh water tank the whole time so roughly 7-8 days total. When we left the park today I knew there was no water at the dump stations to rinse the tanks with but figured I could rinse out at home since we live in the country and I have three clean outs between the house and the lagoon. When I dumped I could tell the black tank did not empty completely. I confirmed this by shining a light down the toilet. It looked like it was about ¾ full yet nothing would come out of the dump pipe. I went to a water spigot and added more water and tried to dump again. No go…..No problem me thinks, I’ll dump at home where I can hook a water hose to the rinse fitting. So I drive 30 miles home with a full black tank pull the camper up to the clean out and proceed to dump/rinse like I would at the lake. Again…nothing would come out. I unhooked the water hose from the rinse fitting and stuffed it at least 6-8 feet into the dump pipe and still couldn’t get anything to come out. I thought maybe the valve wasn’t opening so I pushed the valve closed and stuffed the hose into the pipe until it hit the valve, opened the valve and the hose went about 2-3 feet further. I would think this is telling me the valve is opening like it should but I still can’t get anything to come out other than the fresh water I am putting up the dump pipe with the hose. When you shine a light into the toilet you can see the sewage so I know it’s there. It’s still about ¾ full with plenty of water but for the life of me I can’t get it to drain. I even pushed and hand held drain snake up the pipe about ten feet and still can’t get it to drain. I pulled the underbelly cover off to see if the valve was opening. It appears that it is so I’m stumped.

By the way...As a side note our 23 year old daughter stayed with us most of those days. I don't think she would put anything she shouldn't in the toilet but I haven't had a chance to ask her yet. My wife assures me she hasn't put anything in it she shouldn't

Any suggestions from you experts?

[MEXICOWANDERER]

They cheated!





They have a vacuum cleaner!

[v10superduty]

Well I just did an online survey of 11368 RVers.
Got them all to check their black tanks and guess what..:W

you sir, win the grand prize for.....

The "CLEANEST ". black tank in North America...:B :B :B

[MEXICOWANDERER]

DEFINITION Black Tank Trouble Of The Worst Kind


Whenever whatever is down there starts growling at you...

[Bobbo]

We may not all have done that, but we all have done bonehead things. Don't feel bad.

[allen8106]

Admittedly, a bone head mistake. I don't know what I was thinking?? I feel stupid, I thought I was smarter than that. So now that I have completely fallen on my sword we can dispense with the usual jabs 🙂

[RJsfishin]

Quote:
When I dumped I could tell the black tank did not empty completely. I confirmed this by shining a light down the toilet. It looked like it was about ¾ full yet nothing would come out of the dump pipe.
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Simply amazing !:h

[j-d]

Back in the days of 35MM cameras... Yes I'm replying to the right thread... My Father-in-Law shot a bunch of pictures and went to re-wind. Rewind crank just spun, he could tell it was not moving the film. Didn't want to lose his pix, so took it to a photo store with a darkroom. Asked the owner to open the camera and capture the film in the dark. Man came out and announced: "Sir, there is No Film in Your Camera!"
This could have been worse. Enjoy your clean tank and Flush King. Thanks for the update and the courage to report it. No effort here is wasted. We all offered and learned something.

[Snowman9000]

Glass is half full then. 🙂

Mark Twain said good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.

[allen8106]

So here's an update to this mess.

I stressed about this the entire week and couldn't do much about it until Saturday. While on a 6 hour road trip Wednesday I stopped in to a Camping World outside of Kansas City and purchased a Flush King.

Saturday I attached the Flush King and turned the water on. I went inside the camper an opened the toilet valve to look into the tank. I could see water was flowing into the tank. Positive direction I'm thinking. I didn't let it get very full, I just wanted to see what I could flush out immediately so I dumped the tank. Nothing but clear water came out. Weird I thought, it didn't flush any poo out. So I turned the water back on and allowed it to fill the tank until the water started coming up the stand pipe between the tank and the toilet. I shut the water off and flushed the tank. Again nothing but clear water. Again I an stumped so I go get a 6 foot piece of 3/4" PVC pipe and stick it down the toilet. Low and behold the pipe hit dry bottom. I thinks to myself, surely the tank hasn't been fully clean all along and I was just mistaken about it being clogged.

I did notice a piece of debris in the tank and originally thought that was toilet paper floating around. When I tried to move it, it was stuck to the bottom of the tank and actually appears to be a piece of white glue of some type about 1/2" wide by 2.5" long.

I filled the tank up to the toilet stand pipe again and flushed it, nothing but clean clear water came out.

So I guess in the beginning the tank was completely empty, I just didn't realize it and I stressed about the situation all week for nothing. After I thought about it my attempts to push a hose up the drain pipe into the tank was working as planned. What I didn't realize is the hose was going completely up inside and hitting the back side of the tank. That's why I could shove 8-10 feet hose into the tank and only get the water out I was putting into it from the hose end.

At this point I'm not even sure what made me believe the tank wasn't empty in the first place other than the fact it didn't seem like it took long enough to dump. I remember thinking "ow, that didn't take long there must be a clog". I guess it's better it turned out this way rather than the opposite.

On a side note, I really like the Flush King. It allows you to fill the take with water in about 3 minutes so you can completely clean it out. I'll be using this along with the tank sprayer from now on.

[John_Joey]

allen8106 wrote:

beemerphile1 wrote:

allen8106 wrote:
...our 23 year old daughter stayed with us most of those days. I don't think she would put anything she shouldn't in the toilet but I haven't had a chance to ask her yet....

Betcha I know what caused the blockage, it wasn't toilet paper or poo! It is another paper product that swells in contact with water.

I asked, she claims no. She told me she knows better!!

If that thing can swell up to 3 to 4 inches in diameter. :E

[Loren_Ross]

Having encountered the same problem as yours, I will tell you that everyone here has already given you every possible answer to fix the problem. I tried all of them also, and still failed. My final answer was to call in the Professionals.

See if you have an "R.V. Proctologist" in your area (company name). These guys have specialized HIGH pressure blaster hoses they can shove up into your tanks and they guarantee it will break up any blockages you have. Worked like a charm on mine, and they did all the tanks while they were there. Gave them all a good cleaning, including the hot water heater tank. Yes, it was a little expensive, but I assure you it's worth it in the end when you see what they get out of the tanks!!
Loren

[j-d]

You said you removed the underbelly to see the dump valve. It's one of those remote cable operated ones, then...? Our Jayco has them and I don't like them. Are you in a location (and in a mood!!) where you could loosen the four valve mounting screws/nuts and see if it leaks some drainage?
Can you get it to a dump station where you could jam a running hose up the dump opening, to and through the valve? Measure the run to the valve so you can be sure you pushed enough hose to get to and through it.
I really find it hard to believe that you can't flush it loose with a hose from outside IF IF IF the valve is open.
Station an observer at the toilet to be sure you don't overflow it.

[Joe417]

I think the dealer who talked you out of the Flush King was thinking of using it with the valve open to just squirt water up the pipe. That would only rinse the pipe as far as the water could reach.

I closed the flush king outside valve and opened the tank valve which allowed the pipe to fill with water and become pressurized.

That will put the full water pressure on the clog. Total pressure applied is the water pressure x the surface area, so on a 3" pipe you would have quite a bit of pressure.

[allen8106]

beemerphile1 wrote:

allen8106 wrote:
...our 23 year old daughter stayed with us most of those days. I don't think she would put anything she shouldn't in the toilet but I haven't had a chance to ask her yet....

Betcha I know what caused the blockage, it wasn't toilet paper or poo! It is another paper product that swells in contact with water.

I asked, she claims no. She told me she knows better!!