RV Toilet Paper

[345 desoto]

What is a "Level Sensor", and would my '88 Chieftain have one? If so, where would I find the indicator...(NOT the sender). .

[Blubugger]

If you plan to be on the road, the old trick [I am sure its mentioned in many RV websites] is to buy a suitable amount of ice bags, and prior to deploying, toss that in the toilet + black tank...then the sloshing and driving with the ice will clean off the sensors and mix/pulverize the effluent. Then dump as necessary. No hands necessary!

[TrailerDon]

I was given a few rolls of Camco Toilet paper by my neighbour who no longer owns a travel trailer. I have in the past purchased the same toilet paper and am quite aware that it is more expensive than your usual two ply paper.
My last trip to Walmart I happened to pickup their house brand tissue and was surprised to notice that it was marine and septic approved. Due to the current shortages of tissue I picked up a package as my normal brand was not available, as were most other brands.
When I got home I decided to do a comparision between the relatively cheap two ply Walmart paper and the Camco paper, made specifically for RV use and as I mentioned sells for a premium.
Much to my surprise the Walmart paper actually dissolved quicker and also into smaller pieces that the Camco tissue paper.

I also noticed that Walmart did also carry RV toilet tissue in their rv accessories section, it is priced significantly higher than the Walmart house brand tissue.
Do not think I will be buying the Camco tissue paper again.

[jerrybb]

No Walmart near me but I use Costco house brand, it dissolves completely in the "shaken jar" test so I use it at home and the RV.

[Blubugger]

Thanks for the info on RV Toilet Paper! I will say that with the onset of the Covid-19 shutdown, these are the things that we RVers think of while we are unable to "go" into the woods [play on words!]
At the onset of this crazyness, I too was short of that magical comodity...not by design, but we were caught "short." So I did venture into Walmart to hopefully obtain a resupply of TP to replace the Charmin which was running citically low. Mind you, I was not hoarding, but was desperate!
The WM shelves were picked clean but tucked away in back were three 4-packs of double ply Cascades TP. I took two, left one.

I said I wasnt hoarding!!

And, bless their heart, to their credit ! $0.68/4pack! No price gouging here!
And I did check the new stuff for travel tailer and home use and the stuff works great. Nuff said!

[Wyatt]

Originally Posted by 345 desoto

What is a "Level Sensor", and would my '88 Chieftain have one? If so, where would I find the indicator...(NOT the sender). .

They may not have had them in 1988? If you had them, you’d know. They are usually clustered on a panel with other controls such as for monitoring your battery levels.

[Kbwitt]

Black tank 2-3 gallons of water. Half a cup Borax at the start cycle. Add half of a cup of Dawn dish soap every 5 times. No do not add anything else.
Gray tank one third full add half a cup of Borax 2 cups of Zep orange cleaner. Every third time

[armullis]

Any TP marked “Septic Safe” is good enough for an RV! We use Scott TP that is septic safe and have had no problems. We do have a tank flush feature on our coach and use it regularly.

[Wyatt]

During the run on toilet paper, a friend brought a few rolls of Kirkland over, so I performed the same test as I did with the others. FYI, it did not breakdown well. Would have come in next to last had I put it up against the other three I tested.

The Scott paper—even the one you would use at home, (septic safe but not RV specific) seems to breakdown and work the best...

[sborek]

This guy does a pretty good test with different brands.


https://youtu.be/ceCdXandlLU

[Elkman]

On a boat the output from the marine toilet has to get through a small diameter section of tubing and then through a seacock to the ocean and regular TP is much more likely to get stuck in the tubing and this is a not a fun thing to fix. With our RV toilets it all drops down into the holding tank and the tank has a 3 inch diamter outlet.

No reason to use special TP but it is a good idea to be more frugal with how much is used. Overseas places we have visited have a small waste can or paper bag and all the used TP goes into the receptacle. This works quite well.

[202235f]

I must be missing something here.
An RV, for the most part has a holding tank for blackwater. True, some have macerators or some variant.
The black water tank is a tank, not a system or septic tank. They have a 3" drain valve to send the contents to the resorts facilities.
I've been traveling with an rv since the mid 70's. I've never used anything but what I buy for my home. Never had a problem draining my tank.
Just my thoughts......

[wyocamper]

Charmin Ultra Strong. Works in my home septic system, works in my RV hold tank. Never did understand the whole RV specific toilet paper thing.

[Wyatt]

Originally Posted by 202235f

I must be missing something here.
An RV, for the most part has a holding tank for blackwater. True, some have macerators or some variant.
The black water tank is a tank, not a system or septic tank. They have a 3" drain valve to send the contents to the resorts facilities.
I've been traveling with an rv since the mid 70's. I've never used anything but what I buy for my home. Never had a problem draining my tank.
Just my thoughts......

We’ll, then you’ve been lucky. The closed black tank system is sort of like a traditional septic system if one doesn’t dump the tank for an extended period of time.

Allow me to share an anecdotal story, which is not limited to just myself.

I backflush my black tank system, and when I do is use a water meter to make sure i don’t over fill the tank, and make a mess.

I opened the black tank valve, let everything come out until it stopped.

Hooked up the backflush, put 12 gallons out of the 38 available, and it overflowed.

Why, because the septic safe toilet paper clogged the outlet.

Answer? Need more water when flushing…