Cleaning a black tank - what REALLY works

[LETMGROW]

Originally Posted by twogypsies

If you use plenty of water and don't dump until it's full, you won't have an issue with your black tank. Why do folks make it so difficult? It doesn't have to be sparkling clean and stuff shouldn't build up if you use sufficient water. It will break down.

I agree but even with the best of care occasionally those pesky level sensors want to act up. This is what I use to give the tank a rinsing and usually gets the sensors reading correctly again:
https://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/...insers_89-8503

There is no shame in filling and draining your tanks before they really need it. Water is your friend. Get to know it well.
Lynn

[gsgriffin]

I'm currently stationary for a while, so I'm at this thread to see what everyone has tried for a chemical solution to the problem.

I would like to suggest a different idea that what I've seen on this thread. I came across a YouTube video and tried it, and for me...it worked really well.

If you are about to head out on the road, you can add some water to your black tank and then pour in as many bags of ice cubes as will go down the drain...just before you depart. The motion of driving and the ice cubes actually does a pretty good job of scraping off anything that is stuck.

Here's a video testing the idea and demonstrating its effectiveness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH6acEmqvcw

[twogypsies]

Originally Posted by gsgriffin

I'm currently stationary for a while, so I'm at this thread to see what everyone has tried for a chemical solution to the problem.

I would like to suggest a different idea that what I've seen on this thread. I came across a YouTube video and tried it, and for me...it worked really well.

If you are about to head out on the road, you can add some water to your black tank and then pour in as many bags of ice cubes as will go down the drain...just before you depart. The motion of driving and the ice cubes actually does a pretty good job of scraping off anything that is stuck.

Here's a video testing the idea and demonstrating its effectiveness.

Did you really watch the above video? He doesn't recommend this method as it doesn't do much.

Just fill with water the night before leaving and dump. Use a flush if you have one and you're good to go. You'll never get a tank completely clean... even a grey tank with possibly grease, food particles and coffee grounds adhering to the sides. We don't put any of that down the sink drain. Wipe dishes with a used paper towel and wipe out the coffee ground container to eliminate it.

There was a post on here within the year where the guy had to cut out his black tank to replace it. He took a picture of the inside of the tank when cut. For a 20-year-old RV it really wasn't bad.

Don't obsess with cleaning it out. You'll never succeed completely. Just use lot of water when flushing and you won't have issues. We didn't after using our tanks daily for 16 years - never used additives.... just water.

[gsgriffin]

Originally Posted by twogypsies

Did you really watch the above video? He doesn't recommend this method as it doesn't do much.

Just fill with water the night before leaving and dump. Use a flush if you have one and you're good to go. You'll never get a tank completely clean... even a grey tank with possibly grease, food particles and coffee grounds adhering to the sides. We don't put any of that down the sink drain. Wipe dishes with a used paper towel and wipe out the coffee ground container to eliminate it.

There was a post on here within the year where the guy had to cut out his black tank to replace it. He took a picture of the inside of the tank when cut. For a 20-year-old RV it really wasn't bad.

Don't obsess with cleaning it out. You'll never succeed completely. Just use lot of water when flushing and you won't have issues. We didn't after using our tanks daily for 16 years - never used additives.... just water.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beYAnfK-rPM

I believe it really depends on what your problem is. The guy in the first video did use too much water. I really didn't have to use much water at all as the ice slowly melts. I had a blockage that had developed over time to the point where I believe a wall was nearly created. I do flush, have a built-in rinse I use every time, and backflush, but sometimes things happen.

I'm proposing that for some who are coming across this thread with more serious problems, the ice cubes can work to break out and clean up bigger blockages. I've tried wands, fill and rinse, a few chemicals. Fill with water and leave. None of those worked for me with a more solid blockage. The ice did work for me. That is just my personal experience that I'm sharing in case it helps others stuck in the jam. I'm only providing videos so people can see the concept. This is not for getting a tank crystal clear. This is for breaking down a serious blockage.

[Winemaker2]

Take a look at this thread... post #2.
https://www.irv2.com/forums/f84/black-water-digesters-another-crappy-question-517902.html

Sodium percarbonate is used often in boat holding tanks and works e trememy well at cleaning up residue & sediment. Im not sure why it hasn't taken hold in RVs?
It is available at a commercial product called NoFlex Digester but is available in its generic form a lot cheaper.
You use very little... like 1 tsp/day/ person.
This stuff is the active ingredient in oxiclean and other cleaners but they are much lower concentrations.

[LETMGROW]

The old Ice cube trick has been discussed on this and other RV forums probably as many times as much as any other subject. Of all the posts I have ever seen about this I believe I have only ever seen a couple where someone actually said they had any success with it. That was probably only due to the water finally softening up the mound.
Like the video posted shows, the cubes just lay there and do nothing. If you drove an RV, whether a driver or a tow behind, violently enough to get ice cubes to break up a mound in a black tank you'd probably end up in a ditch, upside down, or run someone else off the road.
Put several bags of ice into a tank? Nah. If you did that the cubes would spread out on the bottom of the tank and there wouldn't be room for the cubes to slam around and break anything up. They'd just bump into one another.
If chemicals won't break up a mound or a wand run down through the toilet doesn't break up a mound about the only workable solution is high pressure from a hose run up through the black tank dump line. It can be messy but at least it's effective.
I have been through this twice with trailers I bought to renovate and resell. You need a strong stomach.
Save your ice cubes for a cold drink after you get the job done.

[gsgriffin]

Originally Posted by LETMGROW

The old Ice cube trick has been discussed on this and other RV forums probably as many times as much as any other subject. Of all the posts I have ever seen about this I believe I have only ever seen a couple where someone actually said they had any success with it. That was probably only due to the water finally softening up the mound.
Like the video posted shows, the cubes just lay there and do nothing. If you drove an RV, whether a driver or a tow behind, violently enough to get ice cubes to break up a mound in a black tank you'd probably end up in a ditch, upside down, or run someone else off the road.
Put several bags of ice into a tank? Nah. If you did that the cubes would spread out on the bottom of the tank and there wouldn't be room for the cubes to slam around and break anything up. They'd just bump into one another.
If chemicals won't break up a mound or a wand run down through the toilet doesn't break up a mound about the only workable solution is high pressure from a hose run up through the black tank dump line. It can be messy but at least it's effective.
I have been through this twice with trailers I bought to renovate and resell. You need a strong stomach.
Save your ice cubes for a cold drink after you get the job done.

I know they don't want us arguing, so I'm trying to only provide to other what my personal experience is so others can decide for themselves.

The video is a very tiny tank. I have a 40 gal that is 7ft wide. If anyone has ever seen a video or experienced what happens when you have liquid in a wide tank and then tip it a little suddenly, you will notice a large wave action that takes place. While the first video I posted had a guy driving very hard, that was to try to simulate what will happen in a larger tank that is both wide and with smaller motion.

If others would like to try..., the motion of a Class A motorhome (like I have), driving on streets normally, with only a small amount of water and few bags of ice, has proven to me personally, in my experience of actually trying it, to have worked where other chemicals, soaking, water alone, driving with water...did not work. Just telling it like I have done and testing. I'm not theorizing. If anyone comes to this thread with a more serious clog and would like to try this before they pressure wash and dump cr@p all over themselves, I would say that a couple of cheap bags of ice from Walmart is not going to cost you much to try....and from my personal experience...worked for me.

If you want to open the drain and pressure wash all of that on yourself, then I would in turn save a few cubes of ice for my tea as I watch you do that.

[TonyMac]

How I Cleaned My Black Tank

When I bought this repo in Sep of 14, the black tank had been full for over a year. The clowns who consigned this rig were an inbred sight to behold. The sensors were completely jacked for these years I've owned it. Fortunately, my toilet drops straight down into the black tank. So I fashioned a 4 foot section of 1 inch Sch40 sprinkler pipe, with a cap on one end and female garden hose threads on the other. I installed a hose shutoff on these female threads. I drilled a small 3/16" hole in the side of the cap that aligned with the lettering on the pipe, so I knew where the hole was pointing. I connected my contraption to my irrigation water, which is over 100 psi via garden hose. I snaked this hose and pipe configuration into the bathroom and, with the fresh water pump off, stood on the toilet flush pedal, stuffed the pipe into the toilet, all the way down through the toilet till the cap touched the bottom of the black tank. With the sanicon pump on I opened the hose shutoff and blasted the inside of the black tank with 100 psi water through a 3/16" hole, paying special attention to the corner of the tank where the sensors are located, but generally blasting 360 degrees in every direction and plane I could reach. It put out high pressure water faster than the sanicon could remove it, so I stopped occasionally and let the tank empty. During these emptying occasions, I went outside to check the effluent via a clear 90 degree elbow I have installed between the y pipe and the sanicon. Chunks of nastiness were passing by, till after a few attacks, nothing but clear water came out. Sensors show empty. Nice!

[Unclepaul]

Wall Mart sells a flexible hose with horizontal swivel nozzles that you can snake down your toilet hole.

It sprays a strong stream in a circle, and looks like it would make short work of any residual, plus clean the sensors at the same time.

Only used it once, but seemed effective.

[Old-Biscuit]

ICE is just EXPENSIVE Water

Waste tank outlets come out the Side Wall and therefore there is a 'lip' which is below the outlet opening and will always have some stuff left behind

WHOOSH Effect........fill it UP the dump it using stinky slinky
**Do it several times if you are having to remove dump valve