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I recently came across an article on keeping the tanks clean. I have tried it and love it!! The amount of gunk when I dump is way more than before. Here’s what I do:
Calgon Powder water softener – not cheap stuff (I could only find the liquid)
– Dissolve 2 cups of the dry in a gallon of hot water or use 1 cup of the liquid –
pour into each tank empty or before I start driving to shake it up.
– 1 Cup cheap dry laundry detergent to the black tank (in addition to the Calgon)Wow…did it ever clean my tanks. I now use it every 2 dumps or every other time I move. Your schedule can be flexible as it’s not harmful to use every time…you just don’t need to do it all the time.
The Calgon keeps the sides of the tanks slick so “stuff” slides off of it. I was finding greasy gunk in the kitchen tank opening and this solution cleaned it right out.
Reminder: Dump when full – not before.
Great tip, GVJeeper! I’m going to try this. Do you use this in replacement of the chemical cleaners or in addition?
Also, what’s your thinking about dumping when full and not before. I always find there’s a thin line when waiting for my grey to fill as I now try to avoid it getting so full it begins to fill the bathtub; worst smell ever!
To avoid this I try to dump routinely, like after so many dishwashings or showers and don’t dare to let it get near what I think may be full because I might forget and suddenly the shower water is not draining any more while I’m standing in it. 😉
I also had the misfortune of letting it get so full where the tub filled, glad to hear it stunk bad for you too. I was worried that it was mixed up with my black tank. I didn’t think the grey water would be so nasty, but it’s probably not been cleaned since 1998.
Has anyone ever used Happy Camper Extreme Clean? I understand it can be used overnight and dumped out in the morning instead of driving around to agitate it because the motorhome will be stationary for a few more weeks. I really want it to not smell as bad like that if the tub ever fills up again, so I’m kind of motivated to purchase such an expensive product.
The method you’re using is called the GEO Method and can be found here.
There’s a lot of chatter about using k-67 also as well as plain old dried yeast. It’s been said that RidX septic treatment is really nothing more than yeast.
I just went to the dump station yesterday and my black tank is showing as full the next day. Not bloody likely. I dumped a whole bottle of Calgon down its gullet along with a bunch of BIZ detergent. I’ll probably dump a bunch more water down there, let it stew for a few days then take it to the dump station again and see what comes out. The next step go to Home Depot for some R-67.As gross as it may sound, I don’t throw toilet paper down the drain. I keep plastic bags from the produce department in the lav and stick it in there. Give the inside of the bag a shot of some alcohol from a spray bottle and seal it up. They do the same thing on cruise ships except for the spray of alcohol.
Buzz
Chemicals are not good for mother earth!!!! I use a capful of the safe stuff from Walmart but no other stuff down the tanks. If you start with 10 gallons of water the tank will flush just fine.
So to clean a false reading from the sensor, 20 pounds of ice and a squirt of Dawn dish soap down the black tank and go for a whirl!!!! Drive around until it melts. Add water and SWOOSH your tanks are clean.
Also, gray tank yuk is no issue if you wash your dishes outdoors. Pots with chili and spaghetti etc have no business filling the gray tank. Remove as much as possible with paper towels then wash outdoors. Then a hot rinse inside.I wonder if anyone has heard of, or tried, running a pipe from the bottom of the gray tank to the top of the black tank with a valve just like the ones for dumping your tanks?
You can hook up at the dump station, open the black tank and let it drain. Once the black tank has drained you would open the crossover valve and it would dump grey water into the black tank and drain out the hose as normal. That should add a good amount of turbulence in the black tank to clean the tank and sensors of any residuals.Scootertrash, have you actually tried what you mentioned? I’ve seen people say that the ice thing works(without any proof) and some say it’s bunk. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH6acEmqvcw. Has anyone run a cam(snake camera) into the tank to prove that what they say is true? I would like to see a reference to it if someone has otherwise we don’t really know if it’s true or not because we don’t have a solid reference point to start from in determining true or false.
I do know that ice cubes get real slippery with just a little bit of melt to them so I don’t see how there can be any scrubbing action by them. They’ll just take the path of least resistance around any object. The only thing I can see with ice cubes is that when they melt, you have a bunch of water in the tank.
In adding Dawn down the drains, please be sure it’s not anti-bacterial.I’m trying a product for the black tank right now called Bio-Clean. It’s supposed to be beneficial bacteria that feasts on the “stuff” in the black tank. After one treatment my B tank still shows 2/3 full after a dump station run so I’m going to go under there and pull a sensor and see what’s really going on. Is it gunk or electrical. If it’s gunk, I’ll try cleaning it but I have a lot of projects going on right now that I need to finish.
Wow, people have tried a lot of different systems. We are park hosts and stationary for 3 months at a time. I don’t like using harsh chemicals, so after my husband dumps the tanks, I add 1 cup of Borax and 1/2 cup of Calgon. We keep the tanks closed for a week at a time. Staying on a schedule and the Borax/Calgon solution has worked for us. We have been full time in a 35 foot Class A for 9 months. Oh, and we do not put paper in the toilet, do use grocery store bags for the TP and my favorite thing…we use Shea Butter Huggies baby wipes. Nice for us and a gentle scent:-)
Pippi, love your youtube channel and thank you for starting this forum!
Interesting. Thank you for sharing, Debbie! I use laundry detergent sometimes and it works great! I’ve heard of the Borax one but never tried it. I will though.
Thanks so much and happy trails! 😀
I use a septic tank treatment (some sort of yeast I think) and a bit of Pinesol in the black tank. The grey tank can grow bugs that stink as bad as the black tank, so it gets a shot of the stuff also.
About every third dump, when the black is half full I add enough water to get it up near full, pull the dump valve while running the tank rinse. When the water runs clear I close the black and open the grey (grey is also dumped full.) and helps flush the hose clean. When traveling I keep some water in both tanks to help splash and wash things out, sort of speak.
We have a well and separate septic tank set up for my studio that I added a “dump station” to and about every three months I will let the tank flush run for 4 to 6 hours. People also do this at campgrounds letting the rinse run overnight.
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