Hi guys, we have had our 5th wheel for a year now ('06 Crossroads Cruiser) when we got it the black tank was nearly full, when I tried to empty it not much came out. I determined that the dump valve seal had failed (actually not installed correctly) allowing liquid to trickle through & causing a build up of solid matter, so I replaced the seals, filled the tank to the brim with water & some blue chemical, towed it around some bumpy roads, left it for a couple of weeks then drained it down. The tank gauge now reads either full or 2/3 full regardless of how much is in the tank (I can live with that) & the tank now holds enough that we have lived in it for 2 weeks before being full. I have just removed the toilet to replace the water valve & can still see dried solid matter on the walls of the tank, what chemicals would be safe to use to break this down without damaging the tank/sensors? I've already tried the wand that came with the trailer.

 

Some of the folks on the regular RV forums swear by Extreme Happy Camper cleaner: .

I don't have any experience with it (not exactly cheap either especially if you need to import it to the UK.

A couple trailers back I just used a hose down the toilet drain several times but the poo pyramid was still kinda mushy so it did clean up.

 

Might also try some liquid fabric softener. Something like downey...make smell real good!


Some have throw some ice in there before hitting the road as well.

 

Read this: https://sites.google.com/site/cbruni/

I started using this 2 seasons ago now and I won't buy any more holding tank chemicals. This works just too well and better for the environment.

 

Cheers guys


That's a good read & makes a lot of sense, when I get home next weekend I'm going to fill the black & grey tanks with some softener & bleach, then it can work it's magic before we go away again.

 

The laundry soap really helps the scrubbing action in the black tank! I also used it i my grey tanks and the color of the water when drained looked like I was dumping the black tank!!

Once all the tanks are clean you can lower the amounts used.

 

I didn't have much luck with a very dirty tank using the Geo Method. Does a great job keeping the tank clean once it's been 'purified' though.

 

Okay, okay, okay, I just gotta know. Why does anyone spend time worrying about the inside of their dump tanks? Is everyone having an odor problem? There is enough stuff to do on the maintenance list without adding to it. Maybe aesthetics? I don't know.

 

It just all adds to bad odor from the tanks....

 

As far as maintenance the most important thing is using enough water and not dumping to often. It doesn't hurt anything to go down the road with stuff in your tank, it will breakup buildup. I also never leave my tanks empty, when I used to winterize I put some RV antifreeze in the tanks to keep the seals lubricated, in the summer when stored I flush the tanks and leave water in the tanks to stop the dried scale that can buildup on the tank walls.

Denny

 

Couple gallons of water and a bag of ice worked wonders for me once. We had a 3 hour drive and put the bag of ice in right before we left and emptied once we got there.

 

The reason I asked this question is it is not a given that tanks produce odor in the RV. There is huge variability. Some really bad, some almost not odor at all. With our current fiver I have not used anything in the tanks and have never flushed them. Couple of rigs bad real stinky! I know some folks who have never added anything to their tanks ever and odor is not a problem.

 

We use Calgon water softener in the tanks on occasion, before traveling add some so the motion gets the suds going and do what it says it does. Never had problems and does seem to help with orders that start every once in awhile. I'm sure everyone has something they do that seems to work for them.

 

Go with this instead....does exactly the same thing and a LOT cheaper!

 

Ice doesn't really do much good in the tanks. Watch this video....


Also a good video on black tank cleaning systems...