Happy Camper tank treatment - Testing fail

[redbaron]

I have used happy camper for about a year. I have never had clogs or smells, but I thought that adding a scoop to both tanks periodically would keep any sludge from building up.


So after a year or so of this practice, and never having a problem, I decided to shown my DW how it works. We had an empty peanut butter har that we had just finished. Looking inside this jar reminded me of what the rv tanks could look like had I not been using happy camper.


The directions say 1 scoop to 1 gallon of water, good for 40 gallon tank.


I added 1/8 scoop to 2 cups of water, mixed, and then filled the peanut butter jar.


For good measure I added a bit of banana and a corner piece of bread. I left the lid off, and we went out for the day.


After a full 24 hours, I turned the jar on end in the sink to simulate a flush.


The bread piece was soaked, but there. The banana was there, no change, and the sides of the jar looked untouched.


I now believe this product is a scam, but I am hoping someone can point out the flaw with my test, as I don't want to believe that I have been lied to.

Not looking for testimonies on your black or gray tank, looking for a real world provable test that we can all duplicate. If thats not possible, then I think this product is snake oil.


Anyone have a method that is reproducible that will prove this works?

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

Well, I'm not a Happy Camper, but have been doing a bit of research on it as a result of recent recommendations for the product posted here and on other forums. My understanding is that it is enzyme-based and it works by serving as a catalyst to ongoing biological reactions. In simple terms, enzymes don't create reactions, they just speed up exiting ones.

Your peanut butter/banana/bread experiment may simply have lacked any ongoing chemical reaction for Happy Camper to catalyze. Possibly, if those same ingredients had somehow begun to digest, as contents of the black tank do (among other things, that digestion in black tanks is what causes odors), you may have seen different results.

Now, I am neither a biologist nor promoter of Happy Camper. I was just responding to your test observations and questions regarding further, reproducible testing.

TJ

 

[redbaron]

TJ, that is a valid point, and would mean that it only works in the black tank and not the gray tank.

My problem is they claim 1/2 scoop works in the gray tank. Given that, my experiment should have produced results.

 

[J&JD]

I have used happy camper for about a year. I have never had clogs or smells, but I thought that adding a scoop to both tanks periodically would keep any sludge from building up.


So after a year or so of this practice, and never having a problem, I decided to shown my DW how it works. We had an empty peanut butter har that we had just finished. Looking inside this jar reminded me of what the rv tanks could look like had I not been using happy camper.


The directions say 1 scoop to 1 gallon of water, good for 40 gallon tank.


I added 1/8 scoop to 2 cups of water, mixed, and then filled the peanut butter jar.


For good measure I added a bit of banana and a corner piece of bread. I left the lid off, and we went out for the day.


After a full 24 hours, I turned the jar on end in the sink to simulate a flush.


The bread piece was soaked, but there. The banana was there, no change, and the sides of the jar looked untouched.


I now believe this product is a scam, but I am hoping someone can point out the flaw with my test, as I don't want to believe that I have been lied to.

Not looking for testimonies on your black or gray tank, looking for a real world provable test that we can all duplicate. If thats not possible, then I think this product is snake oil.


Anyone have a method that is reproducible that will prove this works?

Peanut butter, bread and banana....what is the scientific resemblance to those items and what is contained in a black tank? I guess you could say they are edible food items but they are not quite the same after they travel through the human digestive system.

 

[redbaron]

This was more about the gray tank. Food scraps, oils, and such. This product claims to dissolve solids and be usable in both tanks.

If it can't handle the basic organic materials as it claims, then what hope is there for paper products? I guess I could test it with TP too, but frankly the fact that it did nothing to remove buildup on the sidewalls disappoints me.

 

[redbaron]

changed title to more accurately describe post.

 

[J&JD]

I understand your premise a bit better now. I guess the the main conclusion we have is....15 years of using the product in both the black and grey tanks, never once had an odor or problem with either tank. Maybe we are just lucky but in the great scheme of rv dollar spending this is a drop in the bucket we will probably never change.

 

[Neal]

Try your test with cascade and then dawn dish soap or similar.

 

[Texas Clodhopper]

Sometimes we forget one thing - we have holding tanks, not septic tanks. It would take weeks for any product to have an enzyme effect in our holding tanks. I've been rving since 1974 and I've never used anything but water and now I'm convinced the Geo Method is the best treatment for my "holding tanks".

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

This was more about the gray tank. Food scraps, oils, and such. This product claims to dissolve solids and be usable in both tanks.

If it can't handle the basic organic materials as it claims, then what hope is there for paper products? I guess I could test it with TP too, but frankly the fact that it did nothing to remove buildup on the sidewalls disappoints me.

Not necessarily so. The gray water tank contains human pathogens to, from the shower, hand washing, tooth brushing, etc. and they can produce similar biological reactions to those in the black tank. Gray water sometimes smells as bad as black water as a result.

I think your peanut butter/banana/bread experiment was a relatively sterile environment. Now, if you were to let that mixture "cure" for 3-4 days (probably close to the average holding tank dump interval, the results might be different. I don't know. As I said previously, I'm not a biologist so I could easily be wrong.

You may well be correct in your theory, but I think it will take more than one test to prove it. Just playing the Devil's Advocate here for this venture into the scientific method.

TJ