Black tank flush flood

[PowerfulREM]

Good Evening Everyone,
Today I made one of the least desirable mistakes in an RV ... left my black tank flush on with the valve closed (thankfully it was after the initial dump with most of the ... matter already gone) and have since cleaned up all the water inside. The problem now lies in where the water went down into the heat ducts and into the underbelly (2020 Hideout 29DFSWE with the coroplast bottom) ... after the clean up job was done inside the trailer, I made a few slits in the underbelly to drain as much water as I could by hand and slight jockeying of the trailer on a slope. It is still dripping very minimally but I am wondering how I should go about getting rid of all that moisture underneath? Damprid packets into the floor registers? Or even make a hole in the coroplast and put either a dehumidifier or damprid bucket in there?

Respectfully,
Robert

[JRTJH]

If the black tank ruptured and spilled its contents into the heat ducting, the underbelly and contaminated the underside of your trailer, you really don't want to "just dry it up"... You need to clean the area, possibly replace some components that were contaminated with new parts. If, for example, the black tank contents flooded into the heat ducting, unless you clean and decontaminate the heat ducting, next time you turn on the furnace, you'll get an "immediate recollection" of how bad your trailer smelled today.

Just drying it out will only make things "seem OK" and will actually mask the future problems you're going to face.

[rhagfo]

I would look at calling in your insurance!

[PowerfulREM]

Originally Posted by JRTJH

If the black tank ruptured and spilled its contents into the heat ducting, the underbelly and contaminated the underside of your trailer, you really don't want to "just dry it up"... You need to clean the area, possibly replace some components that were contaminated with new parts. If, for example, the black tank contents flooded into the heat ducting, unless you clean and decontaminate the heat ducting, next time you turn on the furnace, you'll get an "immediate recollection" of how bad your trailer smelled today.



Just drying it out will only make things "seem OK" and will actually mask the future problems you're going to face.

I was not planning on just drying things up, we cleaned and decontaminated everywhere we could reach inside (also bear in mind the contents of the black tank were rather clean and had almost no scent to it). We are full time so our black tank cleaning is a weekly task.
The underbelly is a different game though. I would remove the coroplast altogether but the way it was affixed to the trailer isn't as easy as taking a few bolts out.

[Tbos]

Coroplast removal isn’t hard. I was surprised this weekend to find what I thought were bolts holding the coroplast are actually big nails. A pair of vice grips pulls them out of the coroplast and frame pretty easily. I bought 3/4” #12 hex head self tapping screws to replace them. Used the same holes. Worked great.

[PowerfulREM]

Originally Posted by Tbos

Coroplast removal isn’t hard. I was surprised this weekend to find what I thought were bolts holding the coroplast are actually big nails. A pair of vice grips pulls them out of the coroplast and frame pretty easily. I bought 3/4” #12 hex head self tapping screws to replace them. Used the same holes. Worked great.

Awesome, that's what I'll be doing later then.

[sourdough]

I will say on mine the coroplast is sandwiched between my power stabilizers on both ends. Now if it was that way from the factory I don't know because the coroplast has been replaced twice and so have the factory stabilizers (once).

[Tbos]

Originally Posted by PowerfulREM

Awesome, that's what I'll be doing later then.

I reused the washers from the nails too.

[flybouy]

Originally Posted by PowerfulREM

I was not planning on just drying things up, we cleaned and decontaminated everywhere we could reach inside (also bear in mind the contents of the black tank were rather clean and had almost no scent to it). We are full time so our black tank cleaning is a weekly task.
The underbelly is a different game though. I would remove the coroplast altogether but the way it was affixed to the trailer isn't as easy as taking a few bolts out.

That's like your wife saying she's only slightly pregnant. It doesn't take much fecal matter to transmit e coli or a host of other disease. "Rather clean" is far from sanitary. As previously pointed out the ductwork needs to cleaned or replaced.

[PowerfulREM]

After further investigation, the coroplast only had a little bit of water in and on top of it, pushing up on the vapor barrier and feeling around - it's definitely saturated so I'll more than likely just be making an insurance claim.

[FlyingAroundRV]

Originally Posted by PowerfulREM

Good Evening Everyone,
Today I made one of the least desirable mistakes in an RV ... left my black tank flush on with the valve closed (thankfully it was after the initial dump with most of the ... matter already gone) and have since cleaned up all the water inside. The problem now lies in where the water went down into the heat ducts and into the underbelly (2020 Hideout 29DFSWE with the coroplast bottom) ... after the clean up job was done inside the trailer, I made a few slits in the underbelly to drain as much water as I could by hand and slight jockeying of the trailer on a slope. It is still dripping very minimally but I am wondering how I should go about getting rid of all that moisture underneath? Damprid packets into the floor registers? Or even make a hole in the coroplast and put either a dehumidifier or damprid bucket in there?

Respectfully,
Robert

What!?

You mean you're not supposd to leave the valve closed when you flush the tank? I always do this, but I get the DW to watch the gauge and tell me when to turn the hose off. That's how I thought it was supposed to be done. Doing that, I always get a second (or third) dump that looks pretty much like the first one. I keep doing that until it dumps clear. Is that not the way to do it?

I thought if I left the valve open while I was running water into the tank it would just run straight out the drain without really doing anything. I guess I'm fortunate I haven't overflowed the tank like PowerfulREM.

[kckettridge]

Scott...I do the same thing you do. Otherwise the water just flows by the waste and the tank really doesn't get "clean" or as clean as I would like it to. I am pretty careful when filling the tank with the valve closed. I stand there and let the water run into the flush valve for less than a minute or two then pull the valve open. I do this several times. Once I'm satisfied it's relatively "clean" I put a couple of gallons back into the black tank and dump a ton of blue stuff down the toilet. I figure the motion of the rig going down the road will slotch the water and blue stuff around in the tank enough to clean the tank. Here's a tip for the grey tanks and sink/shower drains I have been doing for years....once you dump the grey tanks and before disconnecting the water supply to the rig; pour some Simple Green down each drain and chase it down with a little water. The drains will never smell and the Simple Green will break down any grease/oil that may have found it's way down there when doing the dishes, etc.

[flybouy]

Originally Posted by FlyingAroundRV

What!?

You mean you're not supposd to leave the valve closed when you flush the tank? I always do this, but I get the DW to watch the gauge and tell me when to turn the hose off. That's how I thought it was supposed to be done. Doing that, I always get a second (or third) dump that looks pretty much like the first one. I keep doing that until it dumps clear. Is that not the way to do it?

I thought if I left the valve open while I was running water into the tank it would just run straight out the drain without really doing anything. I guess I'm fortunate I haven't overflowed the tank like PowerfulREM.

My BIN did what you do until he split his blank tank open on a holiday weekend. He and his family were living in the unit while his house was being built.

The manual that came with mine stated never to use the BWT flush with the valve closed. In my opinion having the DW monitor the tank guage is asking for problems. Letting water flow in with the valve closed is problematic for several reasons in my thinking.
1 Do you now the flow rate on the water supply? If not, you don't know how much water you have added.
2. Do you trust the tank gauge to give you an accurate reading and for the DW to get distracted?
3. Do you have "fail safe" communications to prevent an overflow?
4. Are you disabling the effect of the tank rinser? The tank rinsers typically either have holes at varying angles in the end peice or have a "rotating head" that sprays water in several directions to "wash down" the surfaces of the tank.

I have on occasion filled mt BWT to give it a good flush. My method is to fill the toilet with water (hold the flush pedal about 1/2 way will run water without opening the toilet dump valve) then flush it down. This way the toilet valve is open for the least amount of time for gases to escape. Monitor the level by looking down the toilet with a flashlight. When the level creeps into the toilet outlet pipe I'll dump the tank. Using the method I have yet to have an "accident" and I know I won't risk having one.
YMMV

[travelin texans]

Originally Posted by FlyingAroundRV

What!?

You mean you're not supposd to leave the valve closed when you flush the tank? I always do this, but I get the DW to watch the gauge and tell me when to turn the hose off. That's how I thought it was supposed to be done. Doing that, I always get a second (or third) dump that looks pretty much like the first one. I keep doing that until it dumps clear. Is that not the way to do it?

I thought if I left the valve open while I was running water into the tank it would just run straight out the drain without really doing anything. I guess I'm fortunate I haven't overflowed the tank like PowerfulREM.

She needs to stand by the toilet to know when to open the valve. By the time your sorry black gauge moves you could have stuff running out the door. The only sure thing those little red lights on your sensors tell you is that the little red light isn't burnt out, DO NOT trust them.....

[Tbos]

Originally Posted by flybouy

My BIN did what you do until he split his blank tank open on a holiday weekend. He and his family were living in the unit while his house was being built.



The manual that came with mine stated never to use the BWT flush with the valve closed. In my opinion having the DW monitor the tank guage is asking for problems. Letting water flow in with the valve closed is problematic for several reasons in my thinking.

1 Do you now the flow rate on the water supply? If not, you don't know how much water you have added.

2. Do you trust the tank gauge to give you an accurate reading and for the DW to get distracted?

3. Do you have "fail safe" communications to prevent an overflow?

4. Are you disabling the effect of the tank rinser? The tank rinsers typically either have holes at varying angles in the end peice or have a "rotating head" that sprays water in several directions to "wash down" the surfaces of the tank.



I have on occasion filled mt BWT to give it a good flush. My method is to fill the toilet with water (hold the flush pedal about 1/2 way will run water without opening the toilet dump valve) then flush it down. This way the toilet valve is open for the least amount of time for gases to escape. Monitor the level by looking down the toilet with a flashlight. When the level creeps into the toilet outlet pipe I'll dump the tank. Using the method I have yet to have an "accident" and I know I won't risk having one.

YMMV

Im not sure how he could blame the split tank on the flush, even if he was filling the tank from there. It sounds like that tank was going to fail anyway. Once it was full it should have come up through the vent or out any other weak spot like the toilet. I think the key is to use additional fresh water once the tank empties and then dump and repeat. If you use the flush to fill only do it partially and don’t get distracted.

[FlyingAroundRV]

Slightly off topic, but lately the water coming out of the gray pipe smells worse than what's coming out of the black pipe. This past CG dump, I got the DW to tip about half a bottle of bleach (total) down the sink, shower and bathroom basin plus a bit of water down each to flush it through into the tank. Will that hurt anything?

[ctbruce]

Originally Posted by FlyingAroundRV

Slightly off topic, but lately the water coming out of the gray pipe smells worse than what's coming out of the black pipe. This past CG dump, I got the DW to tip about half a bottle of bleach (total) down the sink, shower and bathroom basin plus a bit of water down each to flush it through into the tank. Will that hurt anything?

As long as you diluted it I wouldn't think so. I always add a little water, couple of gallons, after dumping and a couple good squirts of dawn.

[JRTJH]

If you can find a "dollar tree" or "everything's a dollar" store, buy a quart of "AWESOME" cleaner and dump that down the sink drain. Follow with all the hot water the trailer can provide. Let it sit for an hour or so (until the water cools) then fill the tank to the top, let it sit overnight and drain the tank, fill it again to flush and hopefully the smell will be gone.

There are some "gray tank deodorant" products available, but I've never found one that "really works"... Most will just mask the odor, but given that food particles that settle in the tank will "ferment and ripen" until they are obnoxious makes keeping the galley tank clean almost as important as keeping the black tank clean.

Anyway, try the Awesome cleaner. I think you'll find it works pretty good. And since "everything's a dollar" the price is right

[FlyingAroundRV]

Thanks John. We don't have smells inside the trailer from the gray tank. I only notice the smell when I'm dumping it. It's not terrible, but noticeable. Will try the AWESOME...

[sonofcy]

I use a garden hose timer on my black tank flush line. Since I am at least ADD I always forget (have flooded the bathroom with fresh water trying to fill the grey twice). Now when the wife comes home at 9pm she asks why the door is open over the water closet and I go turn off the water etc. Could one one of those mechanical timers fail, probably, but not nearly as often as my memory.