Black Tank

[ZakkandRachel]

Hello,


We have had our black tank cleaned and flushed and it still fills up VERY quickly (like too quickly).:banghead: Within a day it is 2/3 full. We have a 30ft Hideout by Keystone. Any tips? Thanks!

[Canonman]

A little more info would help...
How quickly?
What RV do you have?
How do you know it's full?
When we are dry camping the black tank filling is our notice to move on. But, that usually takes 5 days or so.

[ZakkandRachel]

Within a day it is 2/3 full. We have a 30ft Hideout by Keystone.

[jeff57]

Within a day it is 2/3 full. We have a 30ft Hideout by Keystone.

Do you think it's 2/3 full based on the gauge? If so, those gauges are notoriously inaccurate to the point of being ignored.

[ZakkandRachel]

Do you think it's 2/3 full based on the gauge? If so, those gauges are notoriously inaccurate to the point of being ignored.




Yes, the gauge. How else am I suppose to gauge if it is getting full then? :)

[jsb5717]

The guages are usually wrong. We've been camping for over 35 years and haven't have a working guage yet. You just learn about how long it takes to fill up. On a 30 gallon tank you should be OK for a week or so.

You can also turn the water off, open the toilet and look with a flashlight to see just how full it is.

Oh, the joys of camping...

[shermris]

If the gauge is not working correctly open the toilet cover and shine a light in the tank. Another option is to use a stick to measure from the bottom of of the tank. If the tank is full or nearly full it should still be below the the bottom of the toilet. If you overfill your gray tank(s) they will start backing up in the shower. You don't want to overfill your black tank for obvious reasons.
Three to four days to 2/3 full would be standard for two people. I always run extra water in mine to facilitate emptying and typically go three days easily.

[sourdough]

I agree with the others; the gauge is useless to us. Some folks have had luck with theirs but we haven't and it's not worth the time, effort or expense to try to keep them working. Went for decades without them and don't see it as an issue.

You can/will learn about how long you can go before dumping if you follow pretty much the same pattern with the same people. You can look as suggested, listen (it will burp in the toilet when getting full - at least ours does/has) or dump on a schedule. When connected to full hookups we go 3 days and dump on the morning of the 4th. The primary driver for that is showering; we don't take "navy" showers so it fills pretty quickly. Due to that I usually dump quite a bit of water into the black tank over that 3 days because it won't fill unless I do and I like the extra water in it to help it "flow".:D I think our tanks are about 30 gal. if I recall??

[GarryWolfe]

Do you have an outside kitchen? Shockingly, its pretty common that they plumb the sink from them to the black tank. If I'm using the outside sink pretty heavily, my black tank fills up at about the same rate.

[chuckster57]

Who cleaned and flushed it? I’m the odd ball here because my sensors always work properly and every RV I work on has working sensors if I work on it.

I suspect you have toilet paper hung up on the sensors and since they work by moisture/liquid, as soon as there is enough water the paper starts “wicking” the water and.....

Fix: tissue digester and let it sit. I pour it down the toilet and the use the rinser to mix it up good. Watch through the toilet and fill it until the water starts rising into the toilet drain pipe. I leave it for a couple days, and I use the entire bottle.

A 10 pound bag of ice dropped into an empty tank on your way out of the campground can sometimes work too.

[ajk170]

Zack&Rachel- What year is your coach? I agree with Garry Wolfe that something else is plumbed into the black tank, like maybe your shower. My inlaw's '18 Alpine had the shower plumbed into the black tank and with the help of my trusty inspection scope I validated that indeed it was by running the shower with the scope down inside the black tank (via the toilet) I saw the water pouring in. WE went to our trusted RV service center (not Caming Planet) andthey talked to Keystone and Keystone acknowledged that it was a mistake and paid for the repair. IF you don't have a scope I would empty the black to the point that I know it's empty and then run the sinksks and showers to see if it's filling upvia the indicator or flashlight down the toliet. Good luck and post back if you figure it out!