Filling the black tank.

[Eagle5]

Having worked at Boeing for 34 years, this complaint letter regarding seat 29E on a 737-800 truly cracked me up. Could this be why I always travel via The Eagle5, and not on a jet?
Thanks, Eagle5

[YGoHom]

Here’s a pic of the dump bay with the Tornado installed. I have a clear elbow installed permanently. The tank flush connection is just under the box of gloves. From there the hose goes through the wall and to the tank. There’s a one-way check valve at the tank to keep the hose clean.
I had to drill out the rivets holding the metal panel in place. Installed the valve and then trimmed the panel for clearance. I added a piece of rubber glued to the inside of the panel to get a good seal. Then screwed the panel back in place.

[cptrick]

After your black tank is emptied just fill and flush the toilet three times. That's plenty of water to start with. then add this: https://www.amazon.com/Happy-Campers...154133&sr=8-17

[plrude]

After dumping, I always run a little water in the black water tank and then dump a little laundry soap in for odor control. It is best to always leave a little water in the bottom to keep it from drying out any toilet paper left in the bottom. Also you can dump your ice cubes down and let them scape the sides and bottom as you drive. I have the side washout on my new view with a clear coupler and it is amazing how much toilet paper keeps flushing out even after 5 minutes of flushing the tank. So, if you don't have the side port for flushing, you will never get it totally clean tank so best dump laundry soap and a little water to keep things fluid. Please don't be one of those people that keeps dumping buckets of water down the toilet trying to clean it out. It is very annoying when some idiot is filling a bucket and dumping it in the toilet while everyone is lined up waiting to use the dump station.

[jerrybb]

I've been RVing for about 40 yrs, never pre-filled my tank and never have had any issues. The chemical mfrs say to mix their chemical with a gallon of water and flush. I always just add my chemical then give it two full toilets full of water, thats it. I like to do it after I dump and I have a little tag I hang that reminds me that it's treated. Filling it 1/3 full before you even start out seems like overkill and you're losing a lot of tank space.


I've used the drop-in bags, plain detergent and water softener, bio enzyme, you name it. They all seem to work, I've sort of settled on the Rid-X enzyme (Amazon) made for rv's which seems ok. They're not septic tanks, only holding tanks usually for not much more than 3-4 days at a time. I agree with the above post, I like to drive around a bit to slosh the tank somewhat especially if you're sitting in the same spot for several days. And I always flush down the toilet paper too, plain old Costco, no fancy rv paper. I've never ever had a tank backup or blockage. Use plenty of water especially if you're hooked up and can dump at your site.

[JimP]

I flush ice cubes down the toilet right before getting on the road. 10 or 20 lbs of ice. I always have some toilet chemical in the tank. The ice cubes do a good job cleaning the solids in the tank. When you arrive at camp, drain the blank tank.

[Wyatt]

Of course YGoHome did it the right way, but there are less intrusive ways to achieve your goal until he sends you the kit in the mail.

We solely used a back flush device at first. While is does have some attributes that work well, back flushing our tanks is difficult, because the actual tank is far up and away from this dump valve backflusing system—so it would take three to four backflush fill-ups to get the water to run clear.

That’s just too much time and water.

So we went to the old school method of running a flexible wand down the toilet and it has a rotating head that sprays water in a 360 circle to get the tank clean and the sensors as well.

Absent the mod by yGoHome, this is a good way to handle the waste, without “wasting” too much time trying to backflush. Amazon images included...

Also, because our gate valve is so much lower than the black tank, it does take a lot of water to get enough in the bottom of the tank to prevent a build up of solids. The first few flushes down the toilet just fill the gate valve and pipes leading to it.

I’m doing an experiment with an endoscope and a water gauge to find out exactly what the minimum water need to be to cover the bottom of the tank. Why? Because I’m still stuck here in SiP.

LASTLY, most experienced RVres will tell you to dump your black tanks first—it’s all over the internet. And while that is true, it’s best to let some great water out first, to make sure all of your sewer connections are tight, for obvious reasons. We once saw a guy empty his black tank all over his campsite when his hose came dislodged due to the high volume flush and he was watching the gate valve and not where it was SUPPOSED to go in the drain. And that’s another thing, always start opening the gate valves slower at first.

[Sheilag1848]

that nasty pile in ur black tank will turn to mush and be emptied out IF u use a digesting chemical. Enzymes are the ONLY thing to use in that tank as they break down the waste so it runs down the drain when u empty the tank. No more adding gallons of water or doing anything else.

[jcurtisis]

As an alternative to adding a certain volume of water and treatments to the black tank, we just add a sploosh of Downey in the toilet after each flush. It keeps things smelling good and prevents “clumping”. It also avoids the cost of “treatments” which, as far as I know are simply poisonous to kill bacteria. Using Downey will Also allow you to dump into a septic system Should you need to.

[theSane]

Thanks for all of the advice, I use the chemicals now. I think I will go with the majority of advice here and throw a gallon in the tank with some chemicals and eventually install that Tornado YGoHom illustrated.

[Wyatt]

Originally Posted by Sheilag1848

that nasty pile in ur black tank will turn to mush and be emptied out IF u use a digesting chemical. Enzymes are the ONLY thing to use in that tank as they break down the waste so it runs down the drain when u empty the tank. No more adding gallons of water or doing anything else.

I disagree with that blanket statement.We started using the enzyme treatments initially, with poor results. We switch to chemical treatments with equally disappointing results. Not all RV’s have similar tank designs, but ours has a particular problem with the sensors if not thoroughly flushed.