 |
|
07-12-2023, 12:23 PM
|
#15
|
Junior Member
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 23
|
I use Aqua-chem. 8 oz/35 gallon tank. It works good. I tried May environmentally friendly ones and never had much luck with them. I don’t usually rinse the tank unless I’m storing it. What’s the point? There might be a fleck of tp or a small bit of poop. The first thing you are going to do after you put water and chemicals into it is dirty it up again!
|
|
|
 |
Join the #1 RV Forum Today - It's Totally Free!
iRV2.com RV Community - Are you about to start a new improvement on your RV or need some help with some maintenance? Do you need advice on what products to buy? Or maybe you can give others some advice? No matter where you fit in you'll find that iRV2 is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with other RV owners, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create an RV blog, send private messages and so much, much more!
|
07-12-2023, 11:49 PM
|
#16
|
"Formerly Diplomat Don"
Newmar Owners Club
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Moorpark, Ca.
Posts: 25,321
|
There are some variables. We have macerator toilets which grind everything and use a lot of water. 90% of the time, water is sufficient. In really hot weather, I'll throw in a scoop of Happy Camper. A couple of times a year, I fill the tank half full, add two doses of Happy Camper and drive it home, leaving it half full until the next trip. This seems to help the external sensors that Newmar uses work better.
__________________
Don & Mary
2019 Newmar Dutch Star 4018 (Freightliner)
2024 GMC Sierra 1500 Denali 4x4 6.2L
|
|
|
07-14-2023, 12:44 AM
|
#17
|
Junior Member
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 23
|
Quantity
I use 8 oz per 35 gallons. I use Aqua-kem
|
|
|
07-14-2023, 07:58 AM
|
#18
|
Senior Member
Newmar Owners Club Ford Super Duty Owner
Join Date: Mar 2023
Posts: 562
|
Someone suggested you throw all of the left over ice in the toilet for the ride home to help clean the tank. Thoughts?
__________________
2023 Newmar Bay Star 3014
Norton, MA
|
|
|
07-14-2023, 09:25 AM
|
#19
|
Senior Member
Tiffin Owners Club
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Cedar Falls, IA
Posts: 2,322
|
Ice doesn’t work. There is a video somewhere with a guy showing a clear plastic tank and the results.
We use Happy Camper. They don’t say what’s in it, but I am guessing water softeners and maybe some of the SPC mentioned above. We don’t use it for odors, but to just keep the tank “stuff” from getting stuck. Water is the key ingredient. We always put at least 5 gallons of water in the tank after dumping. Even when rationing water while boondocking, we are liberal with the water used for flushing the toilet. We still end up needing to dump because of the gray tank, never the black tank.
|
|
|
07-14-2023, 06:34 PM
|
#20
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Rendon, Texas
Posts: 1,527
|
Check out the videos von Klein Tank. This company specializes in cleaning out RV and other tanks. The videos and web site will share with you tips and their recipe for clean tanks. Check it out.
__________________
May your smiles be many and the miles be plenty.
Karen & Allen Van Zandt
2014 Tiffin 34 QFA, 2013 Honda CRV3
|
|
|
07-14-2023, 06:57 PM
|
#21
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2022
Location: SW Idaho
Posts: 1,190
|
I've found that if you shut off the vent fan just BEFORE you flush, it helps keep the odors in the tank, instead of pulling them back up through the toilet and out the vent with the fan on.
I throw one of these in the black tank when I know it will be many days before I can dump the tank:
Walex Porta-Pak RV Black Holding Tank Deodorizer Drop-Ins.
Boondockers will recommend that you lay 3 to 4 squares (connected) of toilet paper across the bottom of the bowl from left to right and another 3 to 4 squares from front to back before you have a BM. This saves water and all the material is essentially wrapped in an nice bundle, not leaving any skid marks..
__________________
2020 Arctic Fox 27-5L
2021 Ram 3500 HO CC LB 4WD Retired Robotics Technician USAF
"The only thing that works all the time on an RV is the owner."
|
|
|
07-14-2023, 09:37 PM
|
#22
|
Senior Member
Tiffin Owners Club
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Cedar Falls, IA
Posts: 2,322
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Parafango
Boondockers will recommend that you lay 3 to 4 squares (connected) of toilet paper across the bottom of the bowl from left to right and another 3 to 4 squares from front to back before you have a BM. This saves water and all the material is essentially wrapped in an nice bundle, not leaving any skid marks..
|
Worse idea ever. The way to keep down odors is to keep solids in suspension, covered in liquid. This does exactly the opposite.
Signed: RVer who boondocks around 100 days a year.
|
|
|
07-15-2023, 06:47 AM
|
#23
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Western NY
Posts: 6,155
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by UTTransplant
Ice doesn’t work. There is a video somewhere with a guy showing a clear plastic tank and the results.
We use Happy Camper. They don’t say what’s in it, but I am guessing water softeners and maybe some of the SPC mentioned above. We don’t use it for odors, but to just keep the tank “stuff” from getting stuck. Water is the key ingredient. We always put at least 5 gallons of water in the tank after dumping. Even when rationing water while boondocking, we are liberal with the water used for flushing the toilet. We still end up needing to dump because of the gray tank, never the black tank.
|
Basically agree with this.
You can throw the ice out the window and it works just as well (or equally as bad)
I have seen threads that list the ingredient in Happy Camper but don't recall exactly... it is not SPC.
If you want/need to clean sensors and want softer water, which does help, why not buy & add Calgon liquid water softener? Available in many grocery stores in the laundry section. Add a LITTLE Tide (or other soap/detergent) to assist w cleaning.
There are all kinds of hacks that people use but if you check SPC one of its applications is sewage treatment plants... what a novel idea... use what the "pros" use instead of some other "off label" concoction.
This isn't magic and you are not trying to "treat" the effluent... just assist the normal breakdown and avoid any clumping of solids and/or TP so it can flow through the discharge.
Sufficient water is key... picture an empty 30-40 gal tank and you dump in a toilet ful of water (maybe 1 gal or less) and a healthy #2... what do you think happens?
The water results in a fraction of an inch in that large empty tank and the #2 sits there mostly "hi and dry"...
Sorry for the description but that is the biggest problem many RVers encounter trying to conserve water and avoid filling their tank too quickly.
Sent from my SM-T878U using iRV2 - RV Forum mobile app
__________________
Don & Marge
'13 Newmar Ventana 3433 - '14 CR-V TOAD
'03 Winnebago Adventurer 31Y - SOLD
|
|
|
07-15-2023, 09:25 AM
|
#24
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Watertown NY USA
Posts: 6,755
|
I have owned campers since 1976 and have always used water, plenty of water in my black and gray tanks and have never had a problem with build ups of anything. In extremely hot times I do add a scoop or two of "Happy Camper" as a cautionary measure against odor build up and always use a 1/4 cup or so of the cheapest liquid laundry detergent I can find to keep my sensors clean and reading accurately. I seldom let my tanks get above 1/2 full before filling them with clean water before dumping them to let the pressure carry anything laying around in the tanks out and be gone.
No Voodoo, just common sense good maintenance practice.
__________________
2002 Fleetwood Storm 30H on Workhorse P32 chassis 8.1 gas.
|
|
|
07-15-2023, 09:58 AM
|
#25
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2021
Posts: 308
|
Another vote for water. If there is an odor, something is wrong, I would just fix the problem.
__________________
2004 Winnebago Adventurer - W22
2013 Hyundai Elantra coupe - toad
2020 Ford Ranger
|
|
|
07-15-2023, 11:30 AM
|
#26
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 6,002
|
We've had 3 different motorhomes with holding tanks. I have used the blue chemical deodorant a few times over the years but that was just to help keep odors down while dumping. Water works just fine and the tank sensors on our 20+ year old rig have always been accurate.
I definitely agree that trying to keep holding tanks spic and span is a needless "waste" of time.
__________________
03 Itasca Sunova, Workhorse P32 with the 8.1 and 4L85-E
|
|
|
07-15-2023, 12:42 PM
|
#27
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2022
Location: SW Idaho
Posts: 1,190
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by UTTransplant
Worse idea ever. The way to keep down odors is to keep solids in suspension, covered in liquid. This does exactly the opposite.
Signed: RVer who boondocks around 100 days a year.
|
While everyone is entitled to their opinion,
I would say it depends on how many days the boondocker is away from a dump station...
This idea was presented at a seminar with hundreds of attendees (Escapees Escapade in Tucson March 2023 - 900+ rigs in attendance) as a method for water conservation when boondocking, not strictly for odor control. The skid marks can be quite a unsightly mess, producing it's own odors if not handled. I presume there is enough water content from other flushes into the tanks to keep things in solution.
I only boondock for 2 days at most at a time so this method works OK for me..
If water conservation is not a concern, this method helps reduce the residue when flushed.
__________________
2020 Arctic Fox 27-5L
2021 Ram 3500 HO CC LB 4WD Retired Robotics Technician USAF
"The only thing that works all the time on an RV is the owner."
|
|
|
07-18-2023, 09:28 AM
|
#28
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: North America somewhere
Posts: 32,253
|
Happy Camper SDS: https://www.happycampersworld.com/wp...17/11/MSDS.pdf
Happy Camper is 99% monohydrate. Look it up, then decide if it's worth the cost.
__________________
2000 Winnebago Ultimate Freedom USQ40JD , ISC 8.3 Cummins 350, Spartan MM Chassis. USA IN 1SG 11B5MX,Infantry retired;GS Life member,FMCA " My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. John F. Kennedy
|
|
|
 |
|
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
|
|
Thread Tools |
Search this Thread |
|
|
Display Modes |
Linear Mode
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
» Recent Discussions |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|