Ok I need some help , I'm very new to travel trailers and have my first one . Micro Minnie 2108DS. After being in it full time since Nov 1 which is 2.5 months I had to have the tanks power washed on the inside , mostly the grew because of bad reads on the sensors and very slow draining of the tank . I am parked right now and have been in a full hook up site . Do I leave the grey valve open or still keep it closed until it's full . The power wash tech tells.me.to.leave it open and flush it every time I dump my black tank. Others tell me.keep it closed all the time. I need some solid guidance on this .....PLEASE.....
Thanks for the help in advance
Mark
best practice is to leave both tank valves closed until you are ready to dump. two, well, three reasons.
- leaving black tank open will drain the liquids and allow the solids to solidify resulting in a 'black pyramid'. not good.
- you will need the contents of the gray tank to flush out your sewer hose after dumping the black.
- leaving the valves open allows the gas generated by the waste to escape via the exhaust pipes on the roof which will not be appreciated by your neighbors.
don't expect the black sensors to work well or for long. we don't rely on them and instead dump the black once a week and the gray every 3-4 days ans on every black dump.
best practice is to leave both tank valves closed until you are ready to dump. two, well, three reasons.
- leaving black tank open will drain the liquids and allow the solids to solidify resulting in a 'black pyramid'. not good.
- you will need the contents of the gray tank to flush out your sewer hose after dumping the black.
- leaving the valves open allows the gas generated by the waste to escape via the exhaust pipes on the roof which will not be appreciated by your neighbors.
don't expect the black sensors to work well or for long. we don't rely on them and instead dump the black once a week and the gray every 3-4 days and on every black dump.
Fully agree with this for all the same points.
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Richard
Why no RV year, make and floorplan on MY signature as we suggest for others?
I currently DO NOT have one!
Not sure what tank sensors you have, but we replaced ours with Horst Miracles probes and they’re accurate now. Easy job, well, at least the grey sensors were easy...
Agree with the folks before about leaving everything closed. I would add that using either a store bought chemical or the GEO method would help in the breakdown of stuff in the tanks. GEO method is one part dawn dish soap to one part Clagon water softener.
Its also important to rinse your black tank out until clear water comes out. I would get a clear plastic elbow to hook to your sewer hose so you can see whats happening when you rinse the black tank.
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07 Meridian 36G
Roadmaster tow dolly
Great Wife!! & Max the Frisbee chasing dog.
Thank for all the advice, my issue was with the grey tank and after the response I will keep it closed , not sure why the technician said to leave it open, never put any kind of cleaner in the grey so I'm sure that contributed to the problem.
If you can form a P trap type bend into the sewer hose, you can leave gray open and not have the sewer gas issue. The bend can often be formed be right at RV or at the sewer connect if you are using one of those sidewinder type hose supports.
Thanks for the advice, I wanted to prevent the hair and scum build up problem I had and was told both train of thoughts ( open valve,closed valve). I'm trying to prevent that again,seems best way is to leave it closed. Thanks again
Point on the tech guy advise is that many RV techs have never actually owned an RV!
That leaves some of their advise skewed a bit different than the folks who actually use one!
I have no evidence and admit to this being theory from a guy who has little to no trouble with the holding tanks but I have done a fair amount of drain cleaning and looked at sewage far more than I wanted.
But when I think of what goes into the grey water tank, I suspect it is mostly soap skum with a few bits of food waste that slips through the strainer at the sink combined with lots of hair from showers. If the grey tank is mostly empty with just a film of water on the bottom, I see far more chance of the small debris sticking to the bottom than if it is floating on an inch ore more of water where it never dries out to form a solid layer.
I like the idea of that gunk floating or at least staying very wet until I pull the drain and there is a nice big gush of lots of water to pick it up and carry it out!
For my black water, we definitely do not operate without the chemicals to break it down and we use the normal household tissue we like without any clogging.
Look, learn, and adapt as needed?
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Richard
Why no RV year, make and floorplan on MY signature as we suggest for others?
I currently DO NOT have one!
It depends how long I plan to stay at one place. I use the gray tank to flush the slinky after I dump the black tank, so I want a full gray tank to do that.
Since the gray tank fills a lot faster than the black, I keep it open until a little prior to departure, then I close it to let it fill up.
Our gauges work because the DW always puts a few gallons of water and detergent along with chemicals into them prior to departure and the swishing around cleanses the gauges as we travel.
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Jim and Carol Cooper with Oreo the Kitty
FAA ATC ret, VFW, Legion, VVA, NRA
2012 Journey 36M, Cummins 360hp, 2015 Ford Explorer Blue Ox, AF1
I agree with most everyone to leave it closed. Even when we do a one weekend stay or one nighter and have sewer at our site, I never connect to it until we are ready to leave.
I always dump the black tank first, use my sani flush on black tank second, and when finished, I opened the gray with main valve closed to let it backfill the empty the black as much as possible, and then close the gray again. Let the black tank drain and repeat until all of the gray is gone.
I always use a few ounces of Thetford Waste Deodorant in the black tank. My RV came with some orange stuff it stunk and it did nothing with my tank, I have tried some other suggestions on these sites but I have been using Thetford in boats and portable pottis; so I am just married to Thetford right about now.
As far as gray tank, we use Dawn or similar. Never just pour in it the gray drain line intentionally, I just allow my wife who squirts 5 times the amount she needs when doing normal cleaning. An example, if I pour a little coke in the kitchen sink and she sees, she will squirt Dawn in the sink and rinse it out
best practice is to leave both tank valves closed until you are ready to dump. two, well, three reasons.
- leaving black tank open will drain the liquids and allow the solids to solidify resulting in a 'black pyramid'. not good.
- you will need the contents of the gray tank to flush out your sewer hose after dumping the black.
- leaving the valves open allows the gas generated by the waste to escape via the exhaust pipes on the roof which will not be appreciated by your neighbors.
don't expect the black sensors to work well or for long. we don't rely on them and instead dump the black once a week and the gray every 3-4 days ans on every black dump.
X1000
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Regards, Don Class C 28'5", 256 watts Unisolar, 556 amp hours in two battery banks 12 volt batteries, Magnum 3012 hybrid inverter, Sola Basic Autoformer, Microair Easy Start.
I give both closed. Dump black once a week if needed. Dump grey every 4 days or so. If traveling I will dump gray tank. I call those idiot lights. Guy by usage not meters that aren’t accurate.
I am fairly new to TV life but did spend 6 months in my 2106FBS this summer and Fall travelling in northern US and Canada. The one thing I learned about tanks is similar to what most here have said.... but with regard to the sensors here is my advise.
1. Every chance you get fill the Black tank to the top and flush it out .... it drains the best when it drains from full! !
2. When you know you will be going from one place to another where you can drain the Black tank.... fill it 1/4 to 1/2 full . This lets the water slosh around and clean the walls.
I did this successfully, but I have to say ... it does not take much to mess up the sensors!
If you can form a P trap type bend into the sewer hose, you can leave gray open and not have the sewer gas issue. The bend can often be formed be right at RV or at the sewer connect if you are using one of those sidewinder type hose supports.
I see no reason to disagree with this. The trap also keeps sewer flies from entering the tank. Just close the grey tank valve before you anticipate draining the black tank so that you can build enough fluid to flush the hose. But do it as close to the sewer connection as possible to limit the amount of potential sediment.
Not sure what tank sensors you have, but we replaced ours with Horst Miracles probes and they’re accurate now. Easy job, well, at least the grey sensors were easy...
Absolutely great advice!
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Ed Catanzaro
36 ft 2001 Winnebago DL
Cat 3126 on Freightliner Chassis
One more thing though...What I also do is to add these pods of an active enzyme to the black tank after every dump. These are the same type of enzymes that are used when you have a septic tank. When these are deposited into the toilet opening, it resolves everything down to a slurry. don't forget to only use RV or boat grade toilet tissue. Or you can do what I did and install a bidet. that way you don't use ANY toilet paper and the toilet seat is always warm.
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Ed Catanzaro
36 ft 2001 Winnebago DL
Cat 3126 on Freightliner Chassis
What type of sensors we each have is over a pretty broad range as the newer have some real advantages over the older style with metal probes sticking into the tank!
with paper and lots of other real messy stuff in the black tank, it is not hard to see the metal probes will get things stuck on the ends and not read right.
But one the real nice improvements in holding tanks is the newer sensors which are only electronic pads stuck to the outside of the tank. With nothing inside except the smooth plastic wall, there is far less chance of the probe being fouled. Not that it can't happen as a piece of paper may decide to stick in exactly the wrong spot but then rinsing the tank will usually be enough to blow that paper off the wall and clear it.
So why don't we see more folks modding the RV to change out the probes?
I've never looked at the mod but also have had very little trouble with probe fouling and now do have the newer style, so never gone further with the question.
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Richard
Why no RV year, make and floorplan on MY signature as we suggest for others?
I currently DO NOT have one!
I leave the gray open until the day before I leave. Between me and the DW, we can fill up the gray in one day! The Navion uses a pump for the gray which I really don't want to run at odd hours if we get full, on mine I just installed a valve and garden hose male end and attach the hose to a Valtera sewer adapter. Then when I am ready to leave I revert back to the normal procedure.
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Steve / Rebecca and 2 Golden Retrievers
2014 Navion IQ 24V