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Old 05-19-2016, 01:14 PM   #71
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Old 05-19-2016, 07:09 PM   #72
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I've heard this line of reasoning before, but I don't agree with it. Septic systems don't hold waste water for long periods of time. The rule of thumb is to size the septic tank large enough for the average daily use to fill 60% of the tank capacity. The tank is constantly draining as waste water enters.

My black tank holds waste for 7 to 10 days on a regular basis. Plenty of time for bacterial action to breakdown solids. I can see this when I drain it - paper is broken down.
Having said that, I should get back on topic and say I would never put wet wipes in my black water tank - heck, I won't even put Kleenex in there. Only septic safe toilet paper and what runs through your body.
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Old 05-20-2016, 05:15 AM   #73
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Grey and Black tanks are NOT septic tanks, they are merely hold tanks to transport waste until it can be dumped. Very little digestion of waste materials happen in your holding tanks, therefore, bleach is a great sanitizer to kill bacteria until the waste can be dumped in an approved sewer system.
I will respectfully disagree with you plus remember that each of us are entitled to our opinions and I had posted mine and you had posted yours.

If needed I can post facts that have been researched on the Internet and stated by experts that support my "opinion".

Bottom-line we will have to agree to disagree.

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Old 05-20-2016, 12:48 PM   #74
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Originally Posted by Koop View Post
I've heard this line of reasoning before, but I don't agree with it. Septic systems don't hold waste water for long periods of time. The rule of thumb is to size the septic tank large enough for the average daily use to fill 60% of the tank capacity. The tank is constantly draining as waste water enters.

My black tank holds waste for 7 to 10 days on a regular basis. Plenty of time for bacterial action to breakdown solids. I can see this when I drain it - paper is broken down.
The point was that you don't need to worry about potentially killing off bacteria in your tank since it is not a "septic tank".
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Old 05-22-2016, 10:14 AM   #75
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Well from one who will admit that I did put a wipe down the toilet in our
first RV DONT do it. After camping for 5 days then having to use the dump station hubby was saying that the tank sure was slow to empty. When I went out side to see what was taking so long ,hubby showed me how the black tank was basically only trickling out. Hmmmm strange. So then I asked if he wanted me to put water down the toilet, maybe that would help, not a good idea. So after running water into the tank and I am now seeing it coming back up towards the top it was time to think of something else cause now we defiantely have a full tank of crap.

At this point I'm not sure what hubby was doing outside but I can tell you I was in a panic, what do we do next? What if we can't empty it? What will happen to the tank? Told you, total newbies. Light bulb moment, what if we put a coat hanger up inside the pipe, maybe that would dislodge what ever was blocked. Give hubby the wire hanger and he slowly removes the sewer hose to push the wire up inside the pipe. Not what you really want to be doing any day of the week. So he is pushing the wire further up into the hose but it's still only trickling out.

Then I have a brilliant idea, ok maybe not so smart but hey what ever works right?
I remember the short piece of garden hose that we had in the basket. Hmmmm maybe just maybe we could push that up inside the pipe, that should push what ever is plugging up the toilet out of the way so that it would drain. OK you get the picture, standing behind hubby with hose and explain my way of thinking, AND in frustration he takes the hose and starts to shove it up into the pipe with not so gentle force. Yup that did the trick cause we could hear the tank start to gurgle and rumble, and the look of panic on hubby's face is one I will never forget, sheer terror as he backed up and saw the sludge start shooting out the pipe. Luckily for us we had the drain pipe directly over the sewer hole. Not like we didn't get a little messy, but I did have to admit that I had flushed a couple 2 wipes down the drain. Lesson learned, NEVER FLUSH WIPES DOWN A TOILET IF YOU'RE NOT PREPARED TO GET THE TANK UNPLUGGED. Lesson learned that first trip will last a life time. Now we laugh about it, but then again, it's been over 10 years.
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Old 05-22-2016, 10:21 AM   #76
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Originally Posted by Tundra View Post
Well from one who will admit that I did put a wipe down the toilet in our
first RV DONT do it. After camping for 5 days then having to use the dump station hubby was saying that the tank sure was slow to empty. When I went out side to see what was taking so long ,hubby showed me how the black tank was basically only trickling out. Hmmmm strange. So then I asked if he wanted me to put water down the toilet, maybe that would help, not a good idea. So after running water into the tank and I am now seeing it coming back up towards the top it was time to think of something else cause now we defiantely have a full tank of crap.

At this point I'm not sure what hubby was doing outside but I can tell you I was in a panic, what do we do next? What if we can't empty it? What will happen to the tank? Told you, total newbies. Light bulb moment, what if we put a coat hanger up inside the pipe, maybe that would dislodge what ever was blocked. Give hubby the wire hanger and he slowly removes the sewer hose to push the wire up inside the pipe. Not what you really want to be doing any day of the week. So he is pushing the wire further up into the hose but it's still only trickling out.

Then I have a brilliant idea, ok maybe not so smart but hey what ever works right?
I remember the short piece of garden hose that we had in the basket. Hmmmm maybe just maybe we could push that up inside the pipe, that should push what ever is plugging up the toilet out of the way so that it would drain. OK you get the picture, standing behind hubby with hose and explain my way of thinking, AND in frustration he takes the hose and starts to shove it up into the pipe with not so gentle force. Yup that did the trick cause we could hear the tank start to gurgle and rumble, and the look of panic on hubby's face is one I will never forget, sheer terror as he backed up and saw the sludge start shooting out the pipe. Luckily for us we had the drain pipe directly over the sewer hole. Not like we didn't get a little messy, but I did have to admit that I had flushed a couple 2 wipes down the drain. Lesson learned, NEVER FLUSH WIPES DOWN A TOILET IF YOU'RE NOT PREPARED TO GET THE TANK UNPLUGGED. Lesson learned that first trip will last a life time. Now we laugh about it, but then again, it's been over 10 years.
AWESOME story!!! Gross, but awesome!

It really is amazing how just a few pieces of non-dissolvable items in there really mess up the plumbing.
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Old 05-22-2016, 12:11 PM   #77
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Previous message got me worried, so I went out and double-checked everything.

I can see a little water when I look down into the toilet, but it does not appear to be very deep. Just to be safe, I shoved a garden hose into the dump tube from outside, and shoved it back and forth about 5' into the black tank. Nothing came out but clean chlorine-smelling water. I figure it would be better to do this now, while tank is clean and empty, as opposed to waiting for it to be full and nasty, like previous poster.

The gauge says empty.

I am guessing that little water left in the bottom is because the trailer is leaning slightly to the opposite side (drain is on driver side, trailer is leaning toward passenger side for A/C condensation drip-off). So I assume there is a little that won't drain off to the driver side.

Sound legit?

So anyway, I think I finally got the last of the obstruction out the last time I worked on it, when those last two chunks of paper came out. It seems cleaner now than it was at the factory.
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Old 05-23-2016, 10:18 AM   #78
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Koop View Post
I've heard this line of reasoning before, but I don't agree with it. Septic systems don't hold waste water for long periods of time. The rule of thumb is to size the septic tank large enough for the average daily use to fill 60% of the tank capacity. The tank is constantly draining as waste water enters.

My black tank holds waste for 7 to 10 days on a regular basis. Plenty of time for bacterial action to breakdown solids. I can see this when I drain it - paper is broken down.
Septic systems do hold waste for long periods of time. When waste enters the tank floaters like grease rise to the top and make a scum which remains in the tank for years until it is cleaned and waste heavier than water sink to the bottom and end up as sludge, remaining until the tank is pumped. The remaining liquid is mostly water and will exit the tank over and under a series of baffles after within a week or so and will then flow to the disposal field. Anaerobic (no oxygen) digestion in the tank will reduce the volume of the solids over time, but can't destroy all of the material, therefor the need to pump on a regular basis. Your RV's black water tank is designed as a a holding tank not a septic tank, and over a period of a week or so, you will get some digestion, but not enough to eliminate clogs from piles of poo and paper. By the way, it is much safer to poke those piles through the toilet than from the other end of the tank!
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