Black Tank Help!

[sourdough]

He said he didn't know what happened. He messed with it all day Saturday and it wouldn't clear - he just got a trickle going by yesterday evening. He woke up this morning and it was clear. He was very happy. I told him that chances are he still has a problem waiting for him until he cleans it out thoroughly. He does not have a clear fitting on his sewer line and I told him to get one before he went back next weekend plus the backflush attachment mentioned earlier in this thread - in case. I advised that his next Sat. needs to be spent filling and flushing that tank until you can drink the water coming out of it.....OK, I didn't go that far.

[ctbruce]

Originally Posted by ctbruce

I hope it all comes out okay...pun intended. If you use a snake, use it from the toilet out. That will ln allow him to keep the poo tsunami contained to the attached sewer lines.

Probably someone should tape this as it could be worth money...

Good luck to you all. This may work out but could easily end poorly. I'm hoping for uneventful.

And just to clarify, as several have cautioned, I would manually push the snake around by hand. No real need to auger anything, unless your crapping potato peels.

I had to do this, use a snake, in a trailer that had a 90* turn into the black tank from the toilet. It was more like a poo Schlitterbahn than a good design. The poo went down the slide and then deposited at the end of the chute. The snake broke up the party and all came out well. I now keep it in my traveling tool kit, just in case.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by ctbruce

And just to clarify, as several have cautioned, I would manually push the snake around by hand. No real need to auger anything, unless your crapping potato peels.

I had to do this, use a snake, in a trailer that had a 90* turn into the black tank from the toilet. It was more like a poo Schlitterbahn than a good design. The poo went down the slide and then deposited at the end of the chute. The snake broke up the party and all came out well. I now keep it in my traveling tool kit, just in case.

Whew! I don't keep a snake for my trailer. I intend to use abundant amounts of water. So far that has worked for a long time. I just can't get myself up for laying on the ground, under the drain, working a snake to clear the forthcoming tsunami....goggles, plastic gloves, a mask, paper towels and clothes pin for the nose.....nah, I like lots of water. I do have a few surplus gas masks (Israeli and Russian) that would probably work pretty good but.....I like lots of water...

[Pmedic4]

Originally Posted by Harleydodge

Interesting thread. Looking forward to hearing his solution, as it may be a good lesson for any of us who may/will encounter issues down the road.

My only suggestion here, and not sure it would even be feasible, but could he have possibly called a "honey wagon" and had them attempt a low suction evacuation? If it would not suck out through the waste gate then maybe removing the toilet and sucking out through the top?
Assuming this was a poo-ramid type clog and not a faulty waste gate or valve.

Just my thoughts...

I had considered a Honey Wagon company myself for the clog we encountered. I spoke with several RV service places, and no one wanted to touch it - literally and figuratively. After about a week, it was getting really frustrating. The other option was hooking up one of the hose flush connections and just letting the pressure build to push the plug back into the tank, but was very concerned with putting too much pressure on the black ABS drain lines. Certainly, any pressure would release out the vent on the roof, but the concern there was the sh-- spray, if that happened.

Definitely the movie 'RV' experience time.

[Pull Toy]

In the future, please don't mention "CAMPING" and "SNAKES" in the same post!

Momma sees this... and it will just be me and the dogs on the next outing...LOL!


Glad it all WORKED OUT! (Pun intended )

Good Luck,

[SummitPond]

Originally Posted by sourdough

... until you can drink the water coming out of it...

Originally Posted by ctbruce

And just to clarify, ...

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[travelin texans]

Mentioning using RidX won't do much good unless you add to your full tank & let it set for several months, it doesn't do anything in a couple days nor will most digesters. Most additives added to black/grey tanks are primarily for odor control not for breaking down the waste.
I do add drop ins in the black tank for odor plus add a couple gallons of water & after dumping along with a good healthy squirt of a cheapo dish/laundry liquid soap to the tank to help break up solids along with lubricating the valve seals & so far in 40 years of rving never had a tank issue. Also add a 1/4+/- cup of cheapo vegetable oil to my grey tanks occasionally to keep valve seals lubricated.

[sourdough]

We do pretty much as you do. I told my son the same thing. A few days is just not enough time for any of those chemicals to work. I also use dawn in my bathroom gray tank. I noticed that it had what looked like soap clods when coming out, started adding dawn and now it just drains like plain gray water. Kitchen already has dawn in it from washing dishes.

[Tinner12002]

Originally Posted by Pmedic4

I had considered a Honey Wagon company myself for the clog we encountered. I spoke with several RV service places, and no one wanted to touch it - literally and figuratively. After about a week, it was getting really frustrating. The other option was hooking up one of the hose flush connections and just letting the pressure build to push the plug back into the tank, but was very concerned with putting too much pressure on the black ABS drain lines. Certainly, any pressure would release out the vent on the roof, but the concern there was the sh-- spray, if that happened.

Definitely the movie 'RV' experience time.

We were at a race when ours piled up and we used a honey wagon to see if they could get it out...didn't work, thats why I had rv shop do it. They said they probably do 3-4 a year.

[Frank G]

No one has said a word about using the black tank flush system on newer unites. I use it on every tank dump, can't see inside the tank, but I think it works well.

[sourdough]

We use ours every time as well. With the clear elbow you can see when it runs clear. My son's trailer has one but he didn't know how to use it because it never worked (it is a used trailer). I told him where to look for the backflow valve because I figure that's what it is and how to fix it. He said he will look into that Saturday when they go back. Hopefully, if he can get that fixed and the tank cleaned out, he won't have further issues if he leaves the valve closed and dumps regularly.

[{tpc}]

So I've only had two bad black tank experiences. One had to do with nothing being able to go down into the tank, regardless of the valve opening when the foot pedal was depressed, which it did open, but obviously there was an issue. The second was primarily an odor issue, which happened after I broke my face, and was not able to do as deep a clean as I would like after coming home.

I was able to rectify the second issue with a lot of water, some of the chemical packets (opened up prior to introducing to the tank), and letting it sit overnight. Since I had full hookup I proceeding to do a couple fill/dump cycles in the morning as well as the black tank flushing via the one on the trailer as well as the one on my clear attachment. I also used the "wand" in the toilet as well.

The first issue, well it was rectified very quickly, though you don't want to know the details lol. That issue has never occurred again and will not, after the discussion that followed the fix.

It sounds like a lot of this issue may be from the possible "bends" in the pipe on the way the exit. I don't know exactly how ours is because of the chloroplast but I feel like its a fairly straight one with only one bend, and a short run at that.

I feel lucky that both times for me were short in duration, as I can see how one might need added time for stuff to dissolve or move around. I wonder if pulling the trailer around would help dislodge anything? I also like the idea of a hose with hot water, but I feel like that might be difficult to do. Maybe "buckets" of hot water would work?

[hankaye]

Howdy All;

When I read about folks using Rid-ex and it's cousins I tend to chuckle.
For the majority of folks that have and use RVs they don't have the 'stuff'
in the tanks long enough for the full effect to occur. Granted it will help if
the dump site has a septic system ...
Now if one were to keep the black tank as is during a short stop over at home
for a week or 2 with some sort of digester (yeast), added then yea, when the
tank is full dump it and the results should be good.
Otherwise, use plenty of water, some sort of water conditioner (I use Downey),
and cut back on the paper and stay away from the baby/quick wipes and you
should have a minimum of problems.

hank

[Number 4]

After reading this thread I'm feeling mighty lucky! My current TT (and the one previous) has an exterior hose fitting for rinsing the black tank and I always use a clear elbow between the TT dump fitting and the accordion hose. Initial dump, close the valve and rinse, second dump, close and rinse, repeat until running clear, give a few final seconds of rinse water and drop chemicals in the tank to slosh around on the way home. Works like a charm and the only problem I've had is when the clear elbow dang near welded itself to the TT fitting. Now I give every connection a shot of WD-40 before hooking up.

[wiredgeorge]

Sourdough, I think the plastic elbow attachment with the water to clear the black tank might not be the answer for some black tanks. Our dump valve sits on the end of a 1 foot run of the black pvc and the black tank drain into this run happens at about a 45 degree angle the a short straight up into the tank. I have one of the contraptions you describe and doubt any significant water pressure gets up to the tank. I suspect a hose wand down through the toilet would be a tad more effective. Probably best thing would be to buy one of those nozzles that go in the side of the tank on the door side of the trailer. You drill a hole, glue the nozzle in and you hook up a hose or pipe to the door side of the trailer. When you want to flush, the nozzle spews water at the offending other side of the tank near the drain where the pyramid of paper (and stuff) collects. I haven't done it but have thought about it as I have an old trailer and of course, not sure what the innards of the tank look like.... using the clear elbow and flush always results in clear running after a short time. Not sure the water flush is actually getting into the tank.

[sourdough]

Yes, I told him the device may or may not work. I figure he can close all the valves with the exception of the black tank, run the hose (the water has to go somewhere if everything is blocked off but the black tank) and then, with the water source to the trailer turned off just open the commode and look into the tank. My assumption is that he can do that. If not he will have to do his best to see if the water is making it into the tank. Probably a bit of a crap shoot. Thanks for the thought.

[travelin texans]

Originally Posted by Number 4

After reading this thread I'm feeling mighty lucky! My current TT (and the one previous) has an exterior hose fitting for rinsing the black tank and I always use a clear elbow between the TT dump fitting and the accordion hose. Initial dump, close the valve and rinse, second dump, close and rinse, repeat until running clear, give a few final seconds of rinse water and drop chemicals in the tank to slosh around on the way home. Works like a charm and the only problem I've had is when the clear elbow dang near welded itself to the TT fitting. Now I give every connection a shot of WD-40 before hooking up.

Not to rain on your parade, but in my opinion WD40 is only good for 1 thing on a rv, rusted bolts, well 2 things, a great dirt/dust magnet. You're better off using a silicone spray, won't harm rubber parts & doesn't collect dirt.
WD40 makes a good silicone spray you can pick up at Wal-Mart & save the regular stuff for rusted bolts or removing tar off your truck.

[Pmedic4]

Originally Posted by Frank G

No one has said a word about using the black tank flush system on newer unites. I use it on every tank dump, can't see inside the tank, but I think it works well.

We used it too, running the rinse until the water was clear. Still had a clogged Black Tank issue, so it's not an absolute guarantee to no BT problems.

I had posted before, when we got the BT problem, we tried to use the rinse and that's when we found the backflow preventer/checkvalve was broke, so water sprayed all over the inside of the vanity!

I still believe the best prevention is lots of water, and minimal toilet paper.

[Pmedic4]

Originally Posted by ctbruce

And just to clarify, as several have cautioned, I would manually push the snake around by hand. No real need to auger anything, unless your crapping potato peels.

I had to do this, use a snake, in a trailer that had a 90* turn into the black tank from the toilet. It was more like a poo Schlitterbahn than a good design. The poo went down the slide and then deposited at the end of the chute. The snake broke up the party and all came out well. I now keep it in my traveling tool kit, just in case.

I couldn't even get the snake to the clog. Our model, a 291RLS, had like 4 turns before it would even get to the tank, and then it kept just hitting a dead end, which I assume would have been the last turn before going into the BT, or perhaps it was the Gray Water valve? Which really is the problem, with so many turns you can't even tell where the snake goes, DAMN!

[mjeronimo]

Careful with the honey wagon, had a friend do it ( didn't want drag fifth wheel to dump station) honey wagon was there cleaning portable bathrooms. He gave the guy 20 bucks, the guy hooked it to his drain (I don't know how maybe he had adapters?). The guy turned on the suction and cracked his tank! I wasn't there but my other friend was, he said you should have seen the look on Thomas' face.