Black tank won't empty

[puttin]

Rpiersie,

I ran accross this helpful article last week, maybe it would work for you (instead of Rid-X).

Black tank dried up for 2 years, RVer wants to clean it out | A Blog from RVtravel.com

["007"]

Originally Posted by shaman52

Recently ran into the same problem and my black water valve was opening fully. Probed with a fish tape past valve. Tried all of your methods and even tried tilting the coach using the hydraulic levelers and nothing was working. Spent 5 months desert camping and had not used the built-in tank flusher, ERROR!

Solution was to get a 20 foot long shower and drain pipe snake at Home Depot and reverse snake the piping from outlet to tank. I had a bucket positioned to catch any YUCK and had my DW with instructions to close the valve when I yanked the snake back out. The perfect plan!

Hit the obstruction and flow started. I started extracting the snake as fast as I could. The perfect plan being executed.

Only problem was that my DW got excited and closed the valve before I could get the 1/4" snake cable out of the piping. I yelled for her to open the valve then, fully extracted the snake and the valve was finally closed. Needless to say the clean-up took a while . I then used the tank flusher till I saw no large debri in the clear pipe section of my hose.

While my method works, next time I will try snaking from the top down.

He already has the fluid I would follow this advise and flex the tape toward the drain pipe to loosen up what ever is blocking his 3" black drain, only open drain partially until water starts flowing if snake gets caught reverse direction of your turn in tape dispenser.
Put the fist tape down from the toilet shut off water to toilet with the flap open.

[Passin Thru]

We have carried a wand that you hook up to a hose, for years and used it twice. When you get it ety and from now on, dump 10 lb of ice in your toilet after dumping and when you are going to drive it and it will slowsh around and break up clumps.

[Rpiersie]

Evening all,

If you are ever in need of an EXTREMELY friendly and accommodating dump facility near Rochester NY, the village of Webster sewer plant is awesome.

I called ahead to tell them of my project and they said come on down!

They let me use a large sewer grate for project unplug instead of the usual small 5" hole in the ground.

I First tried to snake, couldn't reach it. They had a high pressure hose, snaked it up as far as I could get it, and after a few blasts and rinses, the shizit started flying

Because it was flying onto the pad near the grate, I could see all kinds of sediment, construction materials, and get this... A truck thermostat flew out?! What the heck did previous owners eat?

It's obvious to me the holding tank was not emptied before it sat on the dealer lot last year, and my stupidity of not priming with water before usage compounded the problem

The sewage pros there recommended i use ridx, so unless someone has a bad experience using that I'm gonna go with it this weekend.

Tank was definitely full, and now sensors say empty and the tank rinse is now functioning. On this point, if the tank has the built in rinse, would I benefit from the wand? And on this unit you can't see straight down into tank from toilet, there is a big 3" elbow that goes to tank. Does the wand bend? I am guessing it would lose effectiveness.

And yes, I brought a change of clothes and shoes and needed them for there was some splashing but nothing that would have made a video go viral.

Many thanks to you all for your help, and to the awesome guys at the Webster plant.

Oh, I didn't try the clear RV hydro flush took only because camping world is a 40 min drive and I didn't have that much time. I am going to pick one up, my gut tells me it would have helped this situation, but wouldn't have been as funny a story. My goal is the device sits in the basement never to be used, for I've definitely learned the importance of poo management.

Rob

[Iwillbeit]

Just a last bet of advise, I would still fill the tank at least half full of water while you park it to let the deposits soak. You might even go ahead and add the Ridx now if you can leave it setting awhile. Go luck, I am glad your story has a happy ending :-).

[osok]

Good to hear you found a solution. Oh the sweet smell of success. I'll start leaving some water in back tank when in storage.

[Muddypaws]

A thermostat? Really?

Got to wonder how that happened.

[BFlinn181]

Glad to hear things are flowing again. You mentioned fabric softener. Not heard of that, but the GEO method works.
https://sites.google.com/site/cbruni/

Calgon Water Softener is available sometimes at Walmart or you can get it on Amazon. It definitely cleans out the tank by making water 'wetter' so tank gets clean.

["007"]

Well that's a relief thinks are flowing again.
I would not use a wand its too stiff and your tank rinse will do the job now.
With the off set elbow always use plenty of water in toilet before flushing by lifting gently up on foot pedal that way things will not get stuck in elbow.
I think some one was being funny and put that truck thermostat down the toilet.
Safe happy travels now for everything now.

[JFXG]

I came upon this thread too late to offer advice to Rpiersie, but I'll relate my story for the benefit of anyone else so afflicted.

I had a similar tough blockage a few months ago, a couple of days after we had some all-day guests who apparently didn't grasp the concept of "easy on the paper and lots of water". Solid blockage.

I chewed on this problem-- so to speak-- for a little while, trying to come up with a way to run my snake up from the outside but still control the anticipated tsunami. Hmmmmmm.....

Light bulb!!!!! Jumped in the car to CW, picked up one of those clear 45* fittings with the flush out hose connector as shown above. Got out my handy-dandy dremel and enlarged the flush hole just a bit so my snake would just fit through.

Put the new fitting into the sewage circuit, connected everything up to the ground connection, then with heavy rubber gloves and a wad of rags at the ready I worked my snake through the little flush hole and up the 3" line toward the tank.

[I ran the snake manually, because its rather small diameter, and twisting a small diameter snake in a large diameter pipe will give you lots of kinks.]

At just about the right estimated length of snake I hit obstruction. Poked and prodded several times, back and forth. A bit of a fight, but soon enough the dam broke. I just clamped my wad of rags around the little flush hole the snake was running through, while the entire 45 gallon content went rushing smoothly by me down the tube and into the ground system.

Worked like a champ, no big cleanup! I hope none of you ever has to use this solution, but I offer it up as field-tested and approved!

[harleychief]

Rpiersie, Great news on getting it fixed I would do the "ice" thing as soon as possible. The scouring effect should help get rid of any "hanger-ons" just make sure you have water, ice and make some turns to get things really moving. Then flush the "S*#t" out of the tank (pun intended).
P.S. Don't let anyone eat thermostats, it's never a good thing.

[OC Bill]

How do you introduce the ice method with these electric toilets?
Also the same applies to dumping 5 gallons of water to an empty tank.

This was no problem with old "open the foot valve and dump stuff in" method.
It doesn't seem like I can do that with these electric toilets or am I missing something.

Bill

[sirpurrcival]

Originally Posted by JFXG

I came upon this thread too late to offer advice to Rpiersie, but I'll relate my story for the benefit of anyone else so afflicted.

I had a similar tough blockage a few months ago, a couple of days after we had some all-day guests who apparently didn't grasp the concept of "easy on the paper and lots of water". Solid blockage.

I chewed on this problem-- so to speak-- for a little while, trying to come up with a way to run my snake up from the outside but still control the anticipated tsunami. Hmmmmmm.....

Light bulb!!!!! Jumped in the car to CW, picked up one of those clear 45* fittings with the flush out hose connector as shown above. Got out my handy-dandy dremel and enlarged the flush hole just a bit so my snake would just fit through.

Put the new fitting into the sewage circuit, connected everything up to the ground connection, then with heavy rubber gloves and a wad of rags at the ready I worked my snake through the little flush hole and up the 3" line toward the tank.

[I ran the snake manually, because its rather small diameter, and twisting a small diameter snake in a large diameter pipe will give you lots of kinks.]

At just about the right estimated length of snake I hit obstruction. Poked and prodded several times, back and forth. A bit of a fight, but soon enough the dam broke. I just clamped my wad of rags around the little flush hole the snake was running through, while the entire 45 gallon content went rushing smoothly by me down the tube and into the ground system.

Worked like a champ, no big cleanup! I hope none of you ever has to use this solution, but I offer it up as field-tested and approved!

Interesting solution. Thanks for sharing it. I wonder if the guys who make the fitting would ever make one pre-fab for just such a device? Sounds like it would be a winner especially if it came with the snake itself.

[Muddypaws]

After using a snake one time I found a cleaner alternative.

I combined a 45 degree flush valve (Pic 1) and a gate valve (Pic 2) to make my own flush king (Pic 3). Not only was it cheaper it directs a HP stream of water right into the tank. Very effective and no mess at all.