Sometimes Better To Keep Your Trap Shut

[FL-JOE]

We were tossing some corn hole yesterday early evening at my site. A couple of the local campers that I have gotten to know were there. A TT had been on the site behind my site for a couple of days. I had not had the opportunity to talk to him but I had noticed his black and gray gate valve handles were in the open position. About every time I was outside I debated on maybe starting a conversation with him but I just never caught him outside his camper.

My buddy seen him come around the back of his TT and without thinking he blurted out "you may want to close that black tank valve". You could tell right away the guy did not appreciate the comment. He asked why he would want to keep the valve closed and my buddy told him he would get knats inside his camper plus he would have a problem with waste building up. The guy simply said it "wasn't a problem" and went on about his business, not closing the gate valve or questioning my buddy further.

Now I'm glad I didn't start a conversation with him and say something about the gate valve.

 

[Neal]

I am/was curious if he was connected as I was parked next to someone at a rally, dry camping, and noticed dripping from the wet bay. Their gray valve was open. It was treated as a mistake then I later realize it may have been intentional to slow drain the grey into the grass.

 

[Jim]

It was treated as a mistake then I later realize it may have been intentional to slow drain the grey into the grass.

Clearly a novice. Pro's wait until night, or when it rains. Just sayin. . .

 

[MapNerd]

You never can tell with people. You made an effort @FL-JOE. Some people have to learn the hard way.

 

[redbaron]

2003 was my first ever rv adventure. My first night out I hooked up and opened both black and gray, and went about the rest of my checklist. The next morning my neighbor asked if I had ever seen the consequences of a dried and hardened black tank...that was his opening line and it got my attention.

He described the mess, and then let me know that If I kept doing what I was doing, I would get to see it first hand. I was very thankful.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

The good thing is 3 or 4 20#bags of ice in the holding tank will macerate it. I don't know what you do with a macerating toilet though.

 

[redbaron]

The good thing is 3 or 4 20#bags of ice in the holding tank will macerate it. I don't know what you do with a macerating toilet though.

You must not have seen this video:

 

[Kevin D Pem]

Glad you posted this video, but not for the reason you think.

first point is:

I don't like extra work, I keep the trap closed and use a biological holding tank product to brake down the c@$p in the tank. I also put the paper in a closed container with a bag in it.
However what I used to do was quite different. I did have a plugged up holding tank at one time in my life. Because the trailer was top of the line vintage it had a fiberglass tank. Also I was not going to use it for a long while so I let it set with toilet removed. When I was ready to use the trailer again I looked in the tank and didn't find the blockage that was there when I parked it, only white powder from the decomposed waste. However impractical that solution may be what we put in the head is not chemicals that have the consistency of the brown stuff.

I have seen Ice do it's job on many RVs, I have preformed the task on many occasions. None of these attempts failed to work. Why?
Let me explain why I think that is true.

If we take two bowls and put a substance in them. One we let dry on its own, the other we bake dry. You get where I'm going with this?
If we have cleaned dishes before we know the baked on crud we cleaned up takes a lot more effort, maybe even oven cleaner to remove. A little soaking and agitation will clean the bowl that the crud air dried in.

Holding tanks are in locations where baking is unlikely, so baking is not a good test of a process. Videos like this are designed to sell something, what is this salesman trying to sell.

 

[redbaron]

Videos like this are designed to sell something, what is this salesman trying to sell.

From what I can tell, he is trying to sell something that is rare: Common Sense

I have found that Happy camper works well, and use it when the tank sensors are slow to respond. I typically add a scoop to it weekly when we are living in the RV, and I will annually fill the tanks with water and a scoop and let it sit for a week before flushing.

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

Interesting video, @redbaron. I've never been convinced that the ice thing actually works. Looks like that suspicion may be well founded. My preferred technique is to prevent buildup from occurring in the first place.

With the macerating toilets, I think it is less likely for buildup to occur, but I NEVER leave my black tank valve open when not actually draining the tank. I haven't tried Happy Camper...yet...but it looks like an interesting product. I'm assuming that it is OK for use in macerating toilets/Sanicon-con.

TJ

 

[redbaron]

@TJ&LadyDi - Happy camper says to use a full scoop...and has a warning about not using more than a single scoop.

I have saved a large Gatorade bottle, as its mouth is a wide opening, and it still fills easily from the bathroom sink. I add 1/2-3/4 scoop of the mix to the bottle, and fill it with water and shake it vigorously. I then add this mixture to a full toilet and flush it down, and do another fill flush. Sometimes you see some hardened residue if you don't get a good mixture. I think that 1/2 scoop is plenty in most cases.

For the gray tank, I fill the kitchen sink with water, and do the same premix in the Gatorade bottle.

I have never had a problem with smells from any of my tanks, and always use proper tank procedures, so the only thing I think happy camper is doing for me is scrubbing the sidewalls, and loosening any of the gunk that is stuck along the bottom/sides that the sensors may or may not be seeing.

Last week my black tank was not showing less than 5% after a full drain, so I did the procedure and let it sit for 6 hours before flushing it. It returned to 0 without doing a tank rinse...so I felt like it did something.

 

[J&JD]

We have used Happy Camper for almost 15 years and have never had an odor problem. For the black tank we fill both macerator bowls with water, add the Happy Camper and use the toilet brush to clean the toilet and then flush. This seems to do a great job of cleaning the bowl and the the brush. On a trip, the DW treats the grey maybe once a week or so and always before storing the coach for any length at all.

 

[MapNerd]

Also a happy camper using Happy Camper. I use the @TJ&LadyDi method as I’d learned about the product from another post they made where they explained their process. @redbaron’s idea of letting it simmer also sounds a way to get a better clean.

 

[FL-JOE]

I am/was curious if he was connected as I was parked next to someone at a rally, dry camping, and noticed dripping from the wet bay. Their gray valve was open. It was treated as a mistake then I later realize it may have been intentional to slow drain the grey into the grass.

He had a stinky-slinky ran to the in-ground sewer inlet Neal. I just wonder if he even knew which lever was for which holding tank. When he pulled out of his site I just happened to be outside and observed that both valves were closed as he moved, which was good to see.

 

[Scruffyjon]

I've been looking and have not found what I am looking for. Is there a thread on how to dump your tanks? New to RV'ing and have never done this before.

 

[AbdRahim]

I've been looking and have not found what I am looking for. Is there a thread on how to dump your tanks? New to RV'ing and have never done this before.

Search youtube - dumping RV tanks

 

[Scruffyjon]

Thanks! I wasn't sure if we needed to flush the tanks after.

 

[AbdRahim]

I usually flush the tanks (fill about 1/3 and empty at the end of a trip, It helps clean out the hose. I usually add Dawn Dish soap to both tanks with 1/3 full of water and let it slosh around on the way home for extra cleaning. And I don't even do #2 in there unless it is an emergency.

 

[MapNerd]

AND NEVER, EVER, EVER walk away from your bay while you are flushing a tank. You will forget and your tank will overflow into the RV and you will not be a happy camper.

Ask me how I found out.

 

[MapNerd]

Uh. Sorry @J&JD?