black water tank maintenance newbie question

Stinks no more than the bathroom in your house. Use the filthy toilets at the campgrounds? No thanks. We know our bathroom is clean.

We use a good bit of water, dump at every stop and put a few gallons of water after the dump. We have had a smell just a few days out of hundreds...usually on a 100 degree plus day. The rest of the time it is fine.

I've never understood those that buy something with a bathroom and then don't use it. Using ours is probably the top of the list for reasons to travel this way.

Hi Martina,

Your story sounds similar to ours. I tent camped a lot with the Scouting program and the wife with the Girl Scouts. When we started RV'ing we had a pop up. We did all the cooking outside and used the park shower houses and bath rooms. During good weather, we still cook outside to this day. I really enjoy cooking out. Only when winter camping will I only cook limited non greasy things inside. The bacon in the morning, I'm still outside even if it is below freezing.

The stink up the camper comment, this sounds like a response from someone who does not know the right process. Curious, was this an RV dealer or a private party you had the walk through with?

That said, a tip, your bathroom most likely has an exhaust fan, you can run the fan before OR after you flush the toilet. But "do not" run the exhaust fan while you are flushing. If the fan is powerful enough it can draw fumes from the tank. The flushing is only seconds, just remember to not run the fan at that time.

It took us a while to get use to doing no. 2 in the camper. Once you get past the first few times and see, this is not that bad your will be converted...

Heat in the tent... yes, I remember those days oh so well. Those hot summer 95F days and then it taking until 03:00AM to even get close to being cool enough in the tent to sleep. I enjoyed the tent days, but we "really" enjoy the camper days!!

Have a good camping season.

John

Nah, it doesn't stink, especially if you use enough water and treatment. Not sure why he would tell you that.

John Thank you for answering my questions!!!

As to why not use our facilities. We were told in the walk through of our trailer not to go poo in there or else it will stink up the whole place. Being new I assume he is correct.
We have tent camped for 15 years and very used to using the campground bathrooms, it does not bother me. I think we will eventually use the camper more but I am just not used to it. We took it out for the first time a couple weeks ago and I still cooked outside on the cook stove, I am just used to it and like being outside.
We got the camper because we wanted to camp more often, we don't go in the summer because my husband just can't sleep in the heat. I wanted a toilet so I didn't have to go the bath house in the middle of the night. And it would be nice not to have my breakfast get cold because I am eating outside when it is 40 degrees. Plus we don't have to spend a lot of time getting ready to camp, it is all packed up. So we do have really good reasons as to why we bought the camper and I am very happy about it.

Thank you to everyone who replied!
Martina

You might want to keep some water in the black tank for "emergencies" on the road.
X2 on Happy Campers Holding Tank Treatment. Great stuff.

We use all the facilities in the trailer the same as we would at home. That is why we have an RV.

We travel 4-5 months at a time. We don't use any chemicals or bacterial additives.

we dump the tanks whenever leaving a campground unless it has only been 1 night and there is no appreciable content in the tanks. After dumping we add some water to the black tank.

we use normal household toilet paper. I can't stand the sandpaper qualities of the RV labelled paper.

This is what we have done over the last 6 years of winter travelling and we have had no problems.

Don't make life more complicated than necessary. Use all the equipment you bought and enjoy.

Never mind... Again... :)

MartinaB , Use YOUR trailer as you wish to use YOUR trailer.. What other's do with THEIR trailer is fine and dandy too. (BTW, I don't poo in mine and I don't fit in the shower, so there you go!)

But, to your question specifically, I dump after every trip. I'll just run the toilet to fill it up before dumping if it's not that full, but I'll still always dump..

I'm just a long weekend camper myself, and about 30 days between trips during the summer, so I use MY facilities as I see fit to suit my needs and use the parks facilities as needed as well..

Works for me.. Do what works for you as all the others and the main thing is to just ENJOY the time you spend in your rig and all will be good.

Happy Camping.

Mitch

I prefer to dump my tanks after each trip. Yes I leave couple gallons of water in the black tank after I dump. Always dump your black tank first, then follow with the gray.

Once you get more comfortable with your trailer, I think you will get comfortable with it and realize that using your bathroom is why you bought a trailer - and you'll get comfortable using it. In my opinion, some people overcomplicate their black tank maintenance. No need to...add chemicals for breakdown, use single ply TP and dump the tank when its full. Enjoy your new TT.

MartinaB wrote:
We have bought our first travel trailer. There are 3 of us, we don't plan on using the shower or going poo in the toilet. We will camp every 3 weeks or so for 2 nights. I am guessing we will not fill up the black water tank. Should we add water by flushing the toilet then empty the tank? Or wait until it is full (could be a month or more later) and then dump.
Also after dumping the tank should we have a gallon of water sitting in the trailer to put back into the tank so it is never empty? It has a 28 gallon tank.
Thank you

Hi Martina,

We know you are new to this and coming here for help.

Odds are high your black tank and the gray tank, may not be made to be towed with a lot of water in those tanks down the highway. Going slow in the campground and to the dump station is OK even if full. But going down the road and hitting a hard bump with a 1/2 or 3/4 full black or gray tanks may cause damage. If you want to tow with full gray or black tanks, call your TT manufacture and confirm they are built to be towed at highway speeds. Many are not, including the fresh water tank.

Here are some basics and do not know what your black tank process is.

You should start the campout with enough water in the black tank to fill approx 1/4 to 1/2" of water in the bottom. With the water pump off, push the pedal to open the valve and look down the hole with a flash light. For the first time, figure out how many gallons you put in to get that depth of water? 1 gallon, 2 gallons etc. This is what we nickname, black tank starter water. Next time when starting camp, put in your X gallons as you know the volume and start using the toilet. The water in the bottom helps things float when they drop in. Either toilet paper or solid waste. If you do not do this, things can pile up real quick at the dump hole and never spread around and lead to clogging.

Going poo, this is something some times new camper folks have a hard time getting use to. It can be overcome and then becomes an easy part of camping. Here are a few tips to help.

Before going no. 2, lift the pedal or how your toilet works to add extra water to the bowl. Some toilets you lift up on the foot valve to add water and push down to dump. Add about 3 inches or more in the bowl. Take 2 sheets of toilet paper in length and create an X pattern on top of the water. The paper will float on top of the water. Go potty like normal. When flushing the paper will let the solids slide right down in one shot and the extra water helps greatly.

You should adopt a good tank treatment program. This is an education in itself... I myself use bacteria and enzymes with a product called Happy Camper. It helps break down the waste and eliminate the order. It does not try and preserve the waste like the formaldehyde type products do. I use it in both the black and gray tanks. I have found, the Happy Camper treatment actually works better when there is solid waste in the tank to help it work on something to break down. If there is only liquid waste which is often sterile to start with, there is not enough bacteria to start the break down process of even the toilet paper.

At the end of the campout, we transfer what water we have left in the fresh tank into the toilet and put as much water in as we have until full. If on full hook up, fill the black tank through the toilet. Then go to the dump station and dump at the end of each campout. The key is to keep the tanks clean and flushed between campouts. Tank sprayers which can squirt water in the tank when dumping is a good upgrade if your camper does not them and they create a very good and easy way to flush the tanks. If you do not have tank sprayers, adding 5 gallons of extra water to the tank once it was dumped the first time, helps flush out the tank more. And the sure fire way, you can use a water cleaning wand with a garden hose inside the camper and flush out the tank while at the dump site. Just make sure there is an all metal shutoff valve on the end of the hose before putting the tank cleaning wand on. (Ask me how I know this....)

Keeping waste in the tank when not camping on purpose all the time, I myself would not recommend that. If there is a drain valve weep, which can happen, all the liquid will leave and you have a solid mess to deal with. And there is the weight issue towing the camper with water in those tanks that can upset the weight and balance of the camper when towing at high way speeds. That upset in camper weight balance may create trailer sway pending going down the highway depending where your tanks are located on the camper. If the tanks are behind the axles, they unload the camper tongue weight and that can create a big unbalanced situation.

If the tanks are cleaned out well during dumping and flushed at the end of each campout, there is no need to add any water back to the tank between campouts if you have a good tank treatment process. Just add the starter water on the black tank when you get to camp the next time.

You should dump the gray tank too. Leaving it full or part full of water and soap will create issues over time. While you may not be showering, washing hands and dishes adds soap to the gray tank that creates tank scum and it gets worse over time not being flushed out.

Hope this helps and ask for clarification if not understood.

John