Holding Tank Questions

[Blessed]

Thanks everyone.

Hope ya'll have a terrific Tuesday.

[Anthony j]

Can I use Eagle 7 septic clean treatment in my RV

[sandsys]

2 hours ago, Anthony j said:

Can I use Eagle 7 septic clean treatment in my RV

I've never understood the need to clean a black tank. How often did you clean the sewer pipes in your house? We only did that once and it was because tree roots invaded the pipe creating a blockage that had to be cleared and then we only cleaned the pipe near the tree not the pipes in the house itself. Unless you plan to store the RV during very hot weather, why would you feel a need to do that? Even then I would just flush the tank a few times until the water ran clear through the dump hose. Water is, after all, the universal solvent for this type of application.

Linda Sand

[Kirk W]

12 hours ago, Anthony j said:

Can I use Eagle 7 septic clean treatment in my RV

Welcome to the Escapee forums, Anthony! While I see no problem in using that product and many have used Rid-X and similar products with no ill effects, it probably doesn't do much for you. If you use one of those products it may speed the natural process that begins in your black tank when you add nothing at all, which is the same natural process as takes place in the first stage of a septic system. It is a natural breakdown that is enhanced when mixed with plenty of water if nothing is added to the tank to prevent the natural bacteria from doing it's work. Most of those products enhance that natural action. But they may not remove any residue that is left behind on the walls of the tank you you dump it. 

9 hours ago, sandsys said:

I've never understood the need to clean a black tank. How often did you clean the sewer pipes in your house?

In a properly designed and installed sewer drain system those pipes never sit filled with liquids & solids without any movement of that liquid in the way that things do in your black tank, which is a storage tank. In the black tank everything sits still with only occasional agitation by the action of flushing if you are not traveling. In this situation the natural process does begin to change solids into liquids but because there isn't always enough time for that process to change 100% of the solids to liquids, dumping the tanks will often leave behind remnants of toilet paper and other dissolved solids which then coat the tank walls and bottom. The walls of the tank then sit exposed to air and so that the residue begins to dry and harden. It is that remaining coating that causes the cheap button type of level indicators to read incorrectly in most RVs since it also conducts electricity. The importance of removing that coating of a tank is the subject of much debate. In my experience, it has never caused me any serious problems but I also believe in prevention rather than correction and so I have used a cleaning solution in our black tank from time to time while traveling. I have never paid to have our tanks cleaned by a service. 

This is about the time for some folks to jump in to point out that the black tank is not a septic system, which is correct but the natural process that makes a septic system work does begin in any black tank, if it isn't prevented from doing so. 

Edited January 21, 2020 by Kirk W

[Barbaraok]

The answer is, and always will be, water, water, water.   Use plenty of water and the problems will be few and far between.   If you feel good paying for a tiny bit of some additive plus water in a bottle, go ahead, but I'm cheap, and we just use water and plenty of it.   And don't dump until 2/3 full or more.