Black tank & Storage

[buck58]

Does anybody do anything with their black and gray tanks when they put their coach into storage? Other than drain them of course...

[brobox]

Freezing conditions or Florida storage?

[Dennis4809]

I drain, flush, and fill with water. Nothing drys out. Just drain again before use.

[buddy110]

Originally Posted by buck58

Does anybody do anything with their black and gray tanks when they put their coach into storage? Other than drain them of course...

If you're in winter temps, I would flush some AF down there.

[yeloduster]

I live in freezing country. I flush both tanks. With the last dump I be sure that the RV is leaning toward the dump valves to help insure that all possible water it drained.

I then leave the dump valves open and the caps off. This assures that any residual water cannot collect on the dump valves or in the pipe at the cap.

Works good!

Note, water puddles on the bottom of the tanks will do no harm. Water damage only occurs when the freezing ice is restricted like in a pipe. A puddle just grows bigger or gets a little bulge on top. No damage.

[jbhobbs54]

I try to make sure that there is about 1/2 - 1 gallon of antifreeze in the black tank to ensure the lower pipes and valves don't freeze. Been doing it that way for 16 years.

[Dippelj]

So, for those of us normally using the macerator to empty the tanks, what process do people use after emptying the tanks to ensure there is antifreeze in the macerator? I remove the macerator drain hose at the quick connection and try to get some antifreeze into the unit that way but it’s kind of a blind process. Never sure if there’s enough antifreeze in there.
Question... if the tanks are dumped completely through the macerator and the slides for both black and grey are closed, and there is some antifreeze in the tanks from pouring down drains and flushing the toilet, is there really a need to back flow antifreeze into the macerator or is there enough space for expansion that it will be ok to freeze. Basically I’m wondering if my final step of forcing antifreeze back into the macerator is really necessary? Opinions?....

[buddy110]

Originally Posted by Dippelj

So, for those of us normally using the macerator to empty the tanks, what process do people use after emptying the tanks to ensure there is antifreeze in the macerator? I remove the macerator drain hose at the quick connection and try to get some antifreeze into the unit that way but it’s kind of a blind process. Never sure if there’s enough antifreeze in there.
Question... if the tanks are dumped completely through the macerator and the slides for both black and grey are closed, and there is some antifreeze in the tanks from pouring down drains and flushing the toilet, is there really a need to back flow antifreeze into the macerator or is there enough space for expansion that it will be ok to freeze. Basically I’m wondering if my final step of forcing antifreeze back into the macerator is really necessary? Opinions?....

That's a good question. I have never opened the valve to let antifreeze into the macerator, but it would be a prudent measure to do so.

[schad]

Originally Posted by Dippelj

So, for those of us normally using the macerator to empty the tanks, what process do people use after emptying the tanks to ensure there is antifreeze in the macerator?

Dump a couple gallons of RV antifreeze into a waste tank, doesn't matter which, and then run the macerator until its output is pure antifreeze. You can probably do this as a side effect of winterizing, since filling the P-traps will necessarily put some AF into the grey tank. Just make sure your waste tanks are nice and clean before you start, and the macerator should pick up pure AF pretty much right away. Clean waste tanks are also a really good idea if you haven't got a clear pipe installed, since you'll be holding the hose out of the sewer to observe what's coming out of it...