Black Tank Cleaning

[bsmith0404]

I have read about many people who add 5 gallons or so to their black tank while traveling to help keep it clean. I do the same thing and it works great, but I wanted to share an experience I had once. I dumped my tanks, used the black tank flush to clean, and then added the typical 5 gallons or so and some dawn to let it do it's work while I drove home. When I got to the location near my home that I would typically dump the cleaned tank the line was several RVs long. I was going back out again in a couple weeks, so I decided to just leave it in the tank until my next trip. I put the RV on the storage lot and never gave it another thought. When I pulled the RV out for the next trip I discover that some JOKER thought it would be funny to go pull the black tank valves on all of the RVs on the lot. What do you do when you have a drain pipe full of back tank residue and the only way to hook up a drain hose is to remove the cap??? I put on my gloves got out a couple 5 gallon buckets and prayed it didn't go everywhere!!

If you have exposed handles and store on a public lot, be sure to dump your residue completely before putting it away. I'm thankful that my new RV has the handles locked away behind the storage door.

[JRTJH]

That's a perfect example for why the 3" sewer connection cover should be one with a 3/4" garden hose outlet built in. It's much easier to close the tank valves and drain the gallon of waste that's in the lines through that "little hole" rather than through the "big splasher"......

Costs about $3.50 or $4 and IMHO is money well spent.

[bsmith0404]

That definitely would have made the experience less unpleasant!

[Festus2]

Brent -
I use the termination cap with the hose connector that JRTJH referred to in combination with Valterra's Twist On Valve. The two of them in tandem allow for almost complete control of waste (of all sizes and descriptions) coming from not only the black tank but all gray tanks as well.

The sliding valve on the Twist On Valve can be pulled out just a little to reduce the flow to a trickle or pulled fully out so that you will have maximum flow.

The last connection, the cap with the 3/4" hose connector, is great for draining off gray water - especially from the bathroom shower/sink. If you have recent "solids" in your black tank, the 3/4' opening is probably not large enough to allow any "poops" to pass through and will clog up the hose outlet pretty quickly.

[GaryWT]

Oh how fun, I would guess that when you close the valve there would be no more than a half Since I get full hook up sites i dump everything before I leave plus I do not have any place to dump close to home. I guess I could do the opposite and put water in the tank as I leave and dump when I am set up.