Have I plugged up my black tank drain?

[SGardiner]

Went on our maiden (5 day) voyage over the past weekend. While I campsite had electrical it did not have water or sewage connections.

I preached about water conservation over the course of the weekend, but am wondering if I went overboard. I may have "scared" the family into using too little water when they flushed the toilet. The black tank was at about 2/3 of the 30 gallons capacity. When I flushed the tank I could hear the fluid draining, but the duration was not that long compared to the grey tank, which is of equal volume and full to the same level.

I did not check the tank level until after we left the dump station as the line was long. The tank still reads at 1/3 and I can see tissue in the tank when I look down into the toilet.

I hindsight I am wondering if we created more of a sludge/slurry than a liquid that could be flushed easily.

How much water should you use when flushing? I would suggest we were using about a 1/4 to 1/2 gallon per flush.

Where do I go from here?

Unfortunately we cannot store our trailer at our residence so I am confined to doing most maintenance at the campgrounds. My thoughts were to fill the tank to 1/2 to 2/3 full on the way to our next destination and hope the motion is enough to get things dissolved / moving.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Pauljdav]

I put one of These on my RV. I can close it after dumping the black and open the gray. The gray will rush into the black.I then close the gray and open the twist valve again. It helps pull out the rest of the "crap" from the black tank.

It would help very much in your situation.

Paul

[thib2722]

Odorless is a natural bacterial product that eats waste. It's sold at the RV stores. It's basically the same bacteria that sewer treatment plants use to dissolve waste. It works really well. Plus, always use plenty of water. A fuller tank will flush easier. The more water, the cleaner it flushes as the water is the vehicle for the waste and water.

[timws6]

I installed a tank flush system on mine and bought a clear 90 elbow, best things i've bought for my RV.

[bartlettj]

HappyKayakers wrote:

SGardiner wrote:
... When I flushed the tank I could hear the fluid draining, but the duration was not that long compared to the grey tank, which is of equal volume and full to the same level.

The black tank should empty faster than the gray tank. Gray uses 1.5 inch pipes, black uses 3 inch pipes. However, you may have had a wad of TP clog the valve opening. I agree with the previous posters that you should add water now to prevent all that mess from drying out.

Get to a dump station where you're not rushed. Fill the black tank with water (hose to the toilet or buckets of water), then open the valve again. More water volume should wash all the 'stuff' out. I would also recommend a clear sewer connection so you can see when you have clear (or almost clear) water running out of the tank.

Not on mine, both black and grey have 3" lines.

[SGardiner]

Thanks for the input . I found out I can dump my tank at the local municipal treatment plant, which is less than 1 km from my house. No charge. I will give it a good flush and dump before my next trip.

[Bumpyroad]

just remember, it is a holding tank, not a septic tank. no expensive "digesting" is required. that will be done where you dump your tank. just keep the "stuff" soft enough to drain out. your black tank sprayer should take care of that.
bumpy

[Bonefish]

Capehorny wrote:
Any opinions on using the granular septic tank treatments, designed for residential septic tanks or fields? I wonder if it's a little more powerful than the blue stuff? Just curious, I've got half a bottle somewhere that I thought might be worth using....

On our newest camper we have used this in the black and galley tank which requires only two ounces per 40 gallon tank. I put in around 5 gallons of water in the black and add it generally at the end of a trip. The tanks are always ready to go and no odor ever develops while in storage. PurePower is liquid and is made for RV use. There are a lot of other brands out there just look for the bacteria and enzyme types. Here is a link: PurePower RV tank treatment

[Capehorny]

Any opinions on using the granular septic tank treatments, designed for residential septic tanks or fields? I wonder if it's a little more powerful than the blue stuff? Just curious, I've got half a bottle somewhere that I thought might be worth using....

[CavemanCharlie]

You may also be using the wrong type of toilet paper. Check out this link to help in the future.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDLXXRVe2pc

[Bucky_Badger]

We always start our trip with 1/3 full of water in the black tank so I don't have to worry about using enough water

[I_am_still_wayn]

What most people don't do, and is mandatory to prevent clogs, is to "charge" the black tank before each use. Add about 20% of the tank capacity of fresh water before each use. The toilet itself uses so little water with each flush that the tank becomes full of paper that can't dissolve because of so little water and the "solids" in the tank break down little and create a thick slurry. The mess is so thick that it drains poorly. It seems counter-intuitive to add water to the tank, but follow this strategy and you will have no more problems. Adding chemicals often helps with odors, but does little to stop clogs.

You might admonish the ladies they don't need a 10 foot length of paper each time they, shall I say, pat themselves!

Now to solve your problem....immediately fill the tank with water so that the mess can begin to mix and become less thick. Driving around will help mix the mess up. It should drain. Adding ice is almost, but not quite, an urban legend. It will not do that much.

[mlts22]

I have been happy with plain old bagged ice down the commode. When I use a macerator pump, I also let the grey tank backflush into the black tank, which does a good job in dislodging any residual TP.

[Mandalay_Parr]

You should also use the black tank chemical packets which dissolve the solids.

[the_bear_II]

You may have a heavy toilet paper user....we discovered a friend who camps with us from time to time actually lined the bowl with toilet paper and then does their business. Don't know why. It took about a half hour of jabbing with a stick to get the clog broken up to come through the dump valve.

We retrained the friend and no problems since.

Our guests are told to fill the water in the bowl to a certain point, do their business and then flush quickly. Before I dump I always run 5 to 6 full bowls down to make sure there is enough liquid to move everything along.