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Old 10-08-2012, 02:28 PM   #1
New Kid on the Block
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Black Tank Level Light

Hi folks Iam back to pick your brains.I empty my black tank,made sure that nothing was comming out from the valve,and the indicator level still reads 3/4
full ! Is it a sencor issue or is it some kind of adjustment that I can do to make the indicator read empty.My trailer is a 2008 passport 245rb.
Thanks.Bill
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Old 10-08-2012, 02:54 PM   #2
Festus2
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Bill -
Yours is a common issue with holding tanks - especially the black one. These tanks are notorious for giving false readings. The sensor is probably coated with crud or some other buildup and reading 3/4's full when it is actually empty.
There are several strategies for helping to prevent this from happening but if your sensor is really heavily coated (or the wires may be at fault also), then it will always give you a poor readout no matter what you do.
People have:
1) thrown in some ice cubes down into the tank prior to leaving the site. The thought being that they will "scrub" the walls of the tank clean.
2) Flushed and reflushed the tank with a tank cleaning device such as a wand. There are several out there you can research.
3) Used Calgon in rinse water to keep the sides of the tank "slippery" and help prevent buildup of solids and TP.
4) Not letting their tanks dry out. When connected to sewer, don't open the dump valve until you are ready to leave.
5) Using the black tank flush if their RV has such a feature.

These are just a few suggestions for you to try. Hope this helps.
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Old 10-08-2012, 05:24 PM   #3
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Black Tank Level Light

Thank you Festus2.
After the initial dump I filled the black tank with clean water a couple of times
and emptied it but the light still showed some wrong indication.I will try the
wand and the Calgon as you suggested and see what happens.Another question,since Iam picking your brains,is do you have an idea where I can find
the wires feeding the light? I assume that they must be near the dump valve,
is that right?Looks like I have to cut into underbelly cover.You think it's worth
the aggrevation?
Thanks again
Bill.
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Old 10-08-2012, 06:45 PM   #4
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New Kid on the Block, Howdy;

Generaly the wires will be on the same side of the tank as the
control(?)board. Keystone isn't going to put anymore into these than
they have to to get it to the lot so it can be sold. Not being bitter,
Keystone is in biddness to make $'s not load these with extras.

hankaye
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Old 10-09-2012, 02:48 AM   #5
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One more little trick that I have used is while flushing the black tank "fill" the bowl up with water to the top and then flush. Do this several times and it usually will solve the problem for me. I believe the added volume of water suddenly being dumped into the tank is enough to splash the walls of the tank and remove what ever is stuck to the sensors. Works for me anyways. Good luck and happy camping
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Old 10-09-2012, 05:29 AM   #6
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Mine "work" but I don't put any faith in them whatsoever due to all the people that have issues with them. I don't even check my black tank level and generally not even the grays. I just eyeball the black tank from the toilet and when it looks like it's getting pretty close, I dump it. I know now from experience that my black tank will go 3 days unless someone is not having a good day or two. The bathroom gray I dump daily if we are all taking showers, but if not taking showers then it can go all 3 days. The galley gray can go about 2 to 3 days depending on what we cook and eat with. More dishes = more water so we try to use paper and plastics and cook on the grill. The grays will sometimes gurggle and back up into the sink/shower and you'll know it's time to empty those. I use the water softener and detergent "green" method in my black tank rather than chemicals and I put that in after I dump and flush the black before leaving the campground so it sloshes around while I'm driving and stays in there while I'm not camping.

If I was dry camping I would be a whole lot more reserved with usage all around, but my wife and kids enjoy the comforts of fun and entertaining camp grounds so that likely means I won't dry camp for quite some time.
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Old 10-09-2012, 09:59 AM   #7
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Thank You

Quote:
Originally Posted by hankaye View Post
New Kid on the Block, Howdy;

Generaly the wires will be on the same side of the tank as the
control(?)board. Keystone isn't going to put anymore into these than
they have to to get it to the lot so it can be sold. Not being bitter,
Keystone is in biddness to make $'s not load these with extras.

hankaye
Thank you for the info.It's hard to follow the wires.God forbid if any manufacturer makes things easy to find.I will try to see if I can trace
the wires.Worst come to worse I will try to figure the holding capacity
playing it by ear or eye.What ever works.
Thanks again
Bill
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Old 10-09-2012, 10:06 AM   #8
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Thanks

Quote:
Originally Posted by happytrails View Post
Mine "work" but I don't put any faith in them whatsoever due to all the people that have issues with them. I don't even check my black tank level and generally not even the grays. I just eyeball the black tank from the toilet and when it looks like it's getting pretty close, I dump it. I know now from experience that my black tank will go 3 days unless someone is not having a good day or two. The bathroom gray I dump daily if we are all taking showers, but if not taking showers then it can go all 3 days. The galley gray can go about 2 to 3 days depending on what we cook and eat with. More dishes = more water so we try to use paper and plastics and cook on the grill. The grays will sometimes gurggle and back up into the sink/shower and you'll know it's time to empty those. I use the water softener and detergent "green" method in my black tank rather than chemicals and I put that in after I dump and flush the black before leaving the campground so it sloshes around while I'm driving and stays in there while I'm not camping.

If I was dry camping I would be a whole lot more reserved with usage all around, but my wife and kids enjoy the comforts of fun and entertaining camp grounds so that likely means I won't dry camp for quite some time.
Thanks Paul.
I think I will follow your advice and play by ear.It seems kind of too much to try to resolve the issue.For two people,me and my wife,I think we can work
the limits without having any issues.My wife can give the dog a bath using
the outside shower.
Bill
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Old 10-09-2012, 10:12 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TAZ23 View Post
One more little trick that I have used is while flushing the black tank "fill" the bowl up with water to the top and then flush. Do this several times and it usually will solve the problem for me. I believe the added volume of water suddenly being dumped into the tank is enough to splash the walls of the tank and remove what ever is stuck to the sensors. Works for me anyways. Good luck and happy camping
I wiil try that too and see what happens.Thank you
Bill
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Old 10-09-2012, 11:21 AM   #10
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Bill -
I'm not sure whether removing a section of the coroplast underbelly, trying to trace wires, etc., will give you the results you hope to achieve --- an accurate, reliable, consistent black tank readout. I've got one gray tank that always gives a goofy reading and I've learned to live with it.
I decided that it just wasn't worth the time, effort and frustration to solve this problem. It's like trying to catch the wind.
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Old 04-19-2013, 08:06 PM   #11
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nkb, what i found is that i have to wait a few hours after doing the whole process of dumping, flushing,etc. to get an accurate reading - i found one thing out, being new to all this, patience is the key.
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Old 04-19-2013, 08:51 PM   #12
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I always Dump and flush the black water tank just before I get ready to move. I then fill it, with water, until it is about 1/2 full and let it slosh around while I'm on the road. I then dump that when I get to my next destination. So far it has kept the tank/sensors clean and working.
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Old 04-20-2013, 12:24 AM   #13
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I would like to add another word of advice that won't really help cleaning the sides of the black tank but does seem to help in reducing the amount of solids that collect in the tank.First as advised by others keep the valve closed even if your site has dump capabilities to avoid a pyramid from building up in the bottom of the tank, then when you do dump the tank it is a good idea to make sure that the grey tank is in need of dumping as well.First open the dump valve on the blank tank then a few seconds later quickly open the valve on the grey tank.This will give additional suction on the black tank and help pull solids thru.
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Old 04-20-2013, 07:01 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Festus2 View Post
Bill -
I'm not sure whether removing a section of the coroplast underbelly, trying to trace wires, etc., will give you the results you hope to achieve --- an accurate, reliable, consistent black tank readout. I've got one gray tank that always gives a goofy reading and I've learned to live with it.
I decided that it just wasn't worth the time, effort and frustration to solve this problem. It's like trying to catch the wind.
x2 only one that is accurate for me is fresh water, gave up a long time ago messing with them.
Black tank I can tell just by the sound the toilet makes when flushing and if it starts to bubble back, then the level is above the vent pipe and time to dump very very soon.
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Old 04-20-2013, 07:22 AM   #15
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Originally Posted by raytronx View Post
x2 only one that is accurate for me is fresh water, gave up a long time ago messing with them.
Black tank I can tell just by the sound the toilet makes when flushing and if it starts to bubble back, then the level is above the vent pipe and time to dump very very soon.
The sensors in our '99 Sunline didn't work any better for the 11 years we had it, and the Cougar is just the same. Since we dry camp a lot, we're very conscious of the levels of black and gray. Since we use the campground's toilets during the day, the 38 gallon black tank usually gets us through two week without filling all the way. The gray tanks fill faster, especially if we choose to shower in the trailer rather than use the CG's showers.

But, I have a blue 25 gallon tote that up until now\ I have filled it and slowly towed it to the dump station. This year is going to be a bit easier and faster. I bought a 12vdc utility pump and a dedicated 50' hose. Now, I use the garden hose dump fitting on the trailer to connect to the pump, and the pump to move the gray water through the hose up into the blue tote sitting in the bed of the truck. When it's full, I drive to the dump station at normal CG speed and dump as usual. I used it the last couple of trips last year and it worked great.

Now I don't worry so much about the gray tanks filling because the tote trips are a lot less of a hassle using the pump.

On short stays in no-hookup CG's, I can also use the pump and hose to transfer gray water into the black tank if needed. That works really well on a 3 or 4 day outing. Then I don't even need to break out the tote.
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Old 04-20-2013, 09:41 AM   #16
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Generaly if is full when u flush and it will just sit there. That or kids using tooo much tp.
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Old 04-20-2013, 03:03 PM   #17
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My Sprinter has a 34 gallon black water tank. My wife and I can go 4-5 days before dumping. Gauge ALWAYS reads full.
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Old 04-20-2013, 04:57 PM   #18
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Has anybody tried the Horst probes? From what I have read and seen online, it sounds like "maybe" there's a solution to the problem without spending $300 for the upgraded tank monitor system. But, it would be nice to know if anybody has used these and if so, how well they work.

http://www.rvprobes.com/buyprobes.html
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