Black tank cleaning problem.

[drumz]

I recently purchased a former rental 23A Thor/Majestic class C from Cruise America. I was under the impression that most black tanks are directly under the toilet, and when you open the trap, you can put your rigid magic wand straight down in the hole and rinse the tank.

This unit has an elbow under the trap about 10 ins down or so. I can't get the wand down in there. Do some of you have the same issue? Do they make a flexi wand of some sort to get down in there?

Sorry for all the "Crappy" questions. 🙂

[DutchmenSport]

PatrickA51 wrote:
I don't know if this is the right forum to ask this question.
I have a friend whose husband died a year or so ago. She has a Class C RV. like my RV. She doesn't know when the tanks were dumped last, I would say it must have been the last time the RV was used, but the RV has been sitting for several years. So my question is what is the best way that the Grey and Black Tanks to be cleaned out and what is the best way to sanitize the Fresh Water Tank is? I have heard that using RidX in the Black Tank might work, or just use Calgon Liquid water Softener in the Grey and Black tanks and drive the RV around for a coulee of miles and then dump it?
Thank You for any ideas.
If I posted this in the wrong forum would the moderator please move it for me?

The first step to clean the the black tank is to make sure it has water added. After several years, no doubt, the water has evaporated out and what remains is a solid glob of ... well ... you know. It's probably all dried out too. Add water to the tank. Make sure it doesn't leak. Let the water begin to soften things up. Yes, Rid-X or any type of enzyme drain opener will begin to soften things up. You can probably also drop bakers yeast in there too and let it begin to dissolve. I don't know how long it will take, but it's important to keep everything wet, and finally begin flushing it out.

Sanitizing your fresh water tank and lines is just a matter of pumping bleach water through everything, let it sit a while (like a day or so), and then flush it out with fresh water.

[PatrickA51]

I don't know if this is the right forum to ask this question.
I have a friend whose husband died a year or so ago. She has a Class C RV. like my RV. She doesn't know when the tanks were dumped last, I would say it must have been the last time the RV was used, but the RV has been sitting for several years. So my question is what is the best way that the Grey and Black Tanks to be cleaned out and what is the best way to sanitize the Fresh Water Tank is? I have heard that using RidX in the Black Tank might work, or just use Calgon Liquid water Softener in the Grey and Black tanks and drive the RV around for a coulee of miles and then dump it?
Thank You for any ideas.
If I posted this in the wrong forum would the moderator please move it for me?

[FunTwoDrv]

Yep, ours hits the black tank as well...2015 Coachmen 28QB. Discovered it this morning when the bathroom sink wouldn't drain. I knew the black tank was full so drained it and sink drained at the same time. Okay with me as now we have an easy way of putting a couple of gallons of water in the black tank after a drain.

Gary

[Expyinflight]

4x4van wrote:

My bathroom sink is also plumbed into my black tank. Kitchen sink and shower go to my grey tank.


Ours does also.

[CharlesinGA]

4x4van wrote:
My bathroom sink is also plumbed into my black tank. Kitchen sink and shower go to my grey tank.

Mine too. It provides enough liquid to keep the solids sloshing around and breaking up.

I have purchased a bottle of Tank Techs, its a probiotic that supposedly starts a bacteria action in the tank (like a septic tank does) to help break down the solids. My tank appeared unused when I bought the rig (built in late '06, bought in late '15). I realized this one day when the sun was very low and bright, and I went to dump a bucket of fresh water down the toilet (it was empty and I wanted some water to start thing off with) I could see the sunlight shining thru the bottom of the tank and realized it looked like new inside. Some people never use the black or gray tanks, just the campground facilities. In fact the shower had a Winnebago paper sticker in the bottom, which I peeled off, so clearly the shower had not been used.

Charles
2007 Winnebago View 523H on a 2006 Dodge (Daimler-Chrysler aka Mercedes) Sprinter 3500 chassis (T1N). Bought Sept 2015 with 18K miles on it, Prog Ind HW30C, Prog Dymanics PD4645, Coleman Chill Grille, PML/Yourcovers.com deep alum trans pan, AutoMeter 8558 trans temp gauge, Roadmaster sway bar, Koni Red shocks (front & rear), Fantastic Ultra Breeze hood, added OEM parabolic mirrors and RH aspherical mirror, MB grill conversion.

[4x4van]

My bathroom sink is also plumbed into my black tank. Kitchen sink and shower go to my grey tank.

[rockhillmanor]

Dennis12 wrote:
Rockhillmanor,
I think that you are wrong about the wand that darsban posted. I was at a RV show that the Valterra company demonstrated their wand. They demonstrated the wand with four different types of angles going into the tanks and it worked perfectly. and this statement "And you will also be surprised how quick it takes to run the water in the sink to fill your black tank. Will make you think twice about washing up, brushing teeth in the bathroom sink if you have a large family. THAT is how black tanks fill up so fast" is also wrong. I'm sure if you look that you will see that your bathroom sink is trapped to stop what you are talking about. I know an inspector in the industry that would like to have the name of the manufacturer of the coach that puts any sink water into the black tank.

Boy all these I'm right your wrong accusations.

I am so glad you know an inspector. :R

MY RV BATHROOM SINK EMPTIES INTO THE BLACK TANK. So don't call me wrong when you know nothing about it.

[klutchdust]

Photomike wrote:
I was told years ago to fill the black tank with some extra water when leaving the campground (if you dump at or near home) or the night before the last day (if you dump at the campground)and let it sit overnight. Then dump and you are good. So far it has worked fine and I don't use any additives.

One suggestion for a good cleaning was to buy a bag of ice, fill the black tank and dump the ice in as you are driving. The ice scrubs the tank with the movement and then melts so you can dump.

Actually the ice in the tank theory has been debunked, there is a video out there that shows the process using a clear tank mounted on a vehicle and how it does basically nothing.
I mix some dawn and water in a bucket with a paint mixer attachment on my cordless drill. i beat it into a huge foam ball then pour it into the toilet as a final rinse. Leaving the lines open my hose is left sparkling clean. a drop or two of bleach is ok also. I have a dump at my home so my final dumping is done on my time. Also some into the sink and shower has eliminated the odor i have complained about.

[DutchmenSport]

We were at a State Park this last week-end and when leaving I visited the dump station as usual. I was very fortunate this time. I was the only camper there. I had about 30 minutes of "alone" time with my tanks. I took advantage this time of being able to use my built in black tank flusher.

My normal routine for draining the black tank is simple. I have a Flush King and both my black and grey exit at one spot. So I drain the black first, then back flush the grey into the black, then flush the black again. I then backflush with grey again, then dump the black. I do this 3 times and with the clear section of the Flush King I can see what's really coming out of those tanks. I thought I was doing pretty well.

So, after my normal 3 back flushes, I still had no one pull in behind me wanting to dump their tanks, I decided to go ahead an hook up the black tank flusher. (Remember, this is after back flushing 3 times!).

I turned the sprayer on with all the valves closed for about 2 minutes and then released the valve with the sprayer still spraying. AND OMG! I was SHOCKED at how much more toilet paper shreds, brown water, little bits of "this" and "that" came running out! I know.... this sounds gross, and yes ... it is!

Since I sitll had no one pull up to the dump station behind me, I continued letting the sprayer spray for a couple minutes, then pulled the valve. I did this until no extra little particle came flushing out. Still, it took almost 30 minutes of flushing, back flushing, spraying and rinsing to get all the "stuff" out of that tank.

I always do the 3 time back-flush. And I always thought that was as good as it gets! Boy was I wrong!

By now, I had 2 more RV waiting in line, so I finished up quickly, and moved out of there. I then added about 5 gallons of water to the black tank, about 2 inches of Dawn Dishwashing liquid down the toilet and drove home. Once home, I drained the tank again, and even more "stuff" came out!

[VA-Apraisr]

I put about 3 gallons of water mixed with pine sol down the toilet after emptying and the same down kitchen sink to removed food trapped in pipes....all to reduce any decomposing food or sewer gases from coming back into the camper (I know from experience!). This sloshes around while driving to my destination. As mentioned by many, there are numerous ways to keep the camper tanks from becoming an issue. Your own nose will be the deciding factor as to "clean or not to clean".

[derh20]

There certainly a lot of different ideas on this subject. I can only speak for myself, but I find a black water flush a must. We purchased our B+ new. I first drain my black tank. I use a clear drain cap so I can see what is coming out. After draining the black tank, I use the flush and I can see a lot of brown water and some solids coming out which tells me the flush is working and valuable. Just my experience.

[Teacher_s_Pet]

IAMICHABOD wrote:

But I got tired of dragging the hose in and all the mess that it made



It looks like this when finished, with a quick disconnect on the end.


Don't get discouraged if it leaks at the hose connections at first they are sometimes hard to get tight. Tightened mine up and have had no leaks anywhere.
Another suggestion is to make a test hole in a piece of wood or something and test fit the device to the hole. I found that the hole size suggested was much larger than needed.
Good Luck.
BTW Welcome to the Former Rental Club

I installed the same rinsing system on our B+, works great.

[rbrand]

On my rig the sinks drain into the grey tank. But the shower drains through a p-trap into the black tank. I know I tested it. I turned on the shower and watched the water flow out of the black tank.

[time2roll]

+1 for Quicky Flush. I am not dragging some hose through the RV.