Black Tank Chemicals - Liquid or Dry?

[Orvil Hazelton]

     We have long used the liquid black tank deoderiser and cleaner sold in the green 64oz bottles at Wal Mart.  With our 70 gal. black tank, I tend to use significantly more of the product than recommendated on the container. If one's not real careful, this liquid can splash, causing a spill and possible damages. We have used the Happy Camper product with success. I find that i must use an additional scoop of the dry powder mid-week to achieve the optimum results.  Even then, when dumping, i'll notice that not all the detrisis properly desolved.  In extremly warm weather, we'll notice unpleasant odors eminating from our black tank, even though it isn't yet full. I don't know which product is truly better for our septic system, but the liquid wins for breaking product down and covering any odors. The Happy Camper wins on cost per usage as well as the benefit of a smaller, lighter and easier to use product.  You choose . . . you can't loose.

[Kirk W]

7 hours ago, Barbaraok said:

Jerry, you do realize your results are due to using enough water, correct?

If a person uses enough water it is amazing just how much they will be able to spend putting various products & home-brews into the waste tanks without problems. Use too little and nothing will help. 

[jerryneal]

7 hours ago, Barbaraok said:

Jerry, you do realize your results are due to using enough water, correct?

Sure, Happy Camper requires water to work, but nothing more than the typical RV flush. Using an enzyme like Happy Camper liquifies everything.  Makes dumping easier and keeps a cleaner balck tank.  Plus, we don't like those liquids that have perfume smell added to the tank.  The enzyme creates a natural process and keeps odor to a minimum even in the hotter climates. Other comments shared how much Happy Camper is used.  We purchased a large container and use a scoop every morning.

[chirakawa]

Ten years of full time RV'ing and never had a black tank issue or a gate valve issue.  Never used any time of black tank product other than water and the bacteria in my poop.  Probably used every brand and type of toilet paper available.  My sensors work great also.

[FL-JOE]

49 minutes ago, chirakawa said:

Ten years of full time RV'ing and never had a black tank issue or a gate valve issue.  Never used any time of black tank product other than water and the bacteria in my poop.  Probably used every brand and type of toilet paper available.  My sensors work great also.

Do you use your toilet or the CGs facilities?

[chirakawa]

18 minutes ago, FL-JOE said:

Do you use your toilet or the CGs facilities?

I use my own toilet, but dump my tank into the CG's system.  So, both.

[FL-JOE]

You have some pretty good sensors my friend.  Our current coach is about the only one that has had sensors that have kept working.  What type of RV do you have?  What make/style of sensors are they?

[chirakawa]

I have a fifth wheel, no idea what kind of sensors.  There's been a couple of times when they would indicate a level above where I knew it was, but a good flushing with the black tank flusher cleared that up.  I think it helps to have the flusher properly located to get a good flushing and to keep the sensors clean. 

No flusher in the gray tank, don't know why they keep working.  Maybe it's because I wash dishes twice a day, all that dishwashing liquid keeps the sensors clean.............maybe.

[Pat & Pete]

Sensors , what novel idea .

Folks be getting pretty lazy when they need something to tell them the glass is full . LOL

[Barbaraok]

3 hours ago, jerryneal said:

Sure, Happy Camper requires water to work, but nothing more than the typical RV flush. Using an enzyme like Happy Camper liquifies everything.  Makes dumping easier and keeps a cleaner balck tank.  Plus, we don't like those liquids that have perfume smell added to the tank.  The enzyme creates a natural process and keeps odor to a minimum even in the hotter climates. Other comments shared how much Happy Camper is used.  We purchased a large container and use a scoop every morning.

Jerry,  

If you smell odors get the seals on the toilet fixed.  We have an 80 gal black tank, use only  water and never  have odor.   

Muse vinegar to help keep seals working and baking soda down every drain to buffer tanks and help natural activity along.  

[Kirk W]

1 hour ago, Barbaraok said:

If you smell odors get the seals on the toilet fixed.  

Or the tank vents. Each tank has a vent up through the roof and if that should get plugged up it will cause odors. I had a vent cap that was broken and didn't know it until my vent began to give problems. The indicator was the odors and a slight puff of air when we flushed. It turned out to be nearly plugged with mud-dobber nests. Cleaned the pipe and installed a new vent cap and the problem was gone with no more odors. 

[sandsys]

4 hours ago, Barbaraok said:

Jerry,  

If you smell odors get the seals on the toilet fixed.

That was my thought, too. Although Kirk also has a good one.

Linda Sand

[Twotoes]

First off a RV holding tank is not a septic tank or septic system. It is only a holding tank. So do not use anything ment for a septic system. When I had a fiver I used to use the packets, called them breath mints for the toilet. Now I have a Class A with a macerator toilet and I use a liquid. I only use it about every 2nd or 3rd time I dump  And if  I and going to roll, after I dumb I fill the black tank about 1/3 with water and pour a half bottle of Dawn anti bacterial soap down the toilet. When I get to my next stop I flush the black tank about 3 or 4 times with water to rinse it out  

 

[Orvil Hazelton]

     About once a year I take the hose up onto the roof and run a moderate stream of water into the black water vent. If water flows down into the tank, all is well.   If water begins to fill the piping, it's time to clean the vent.  DO NOT run a pressured stream of water to clear the pipe . . . you'll be sorry.  Use a mechanical means of clearing the obstruction.  I've used a long piece of Romex wire wire for this job.  I also choose to use a deodorant/cleaner in my black tank. After dumping, I refill the tank with water to flush it. Occasionally,  I'll use about 12 ounces of Pine Sol to further clean out the tank.  You have many choices, but this is what works for me.  

[Kirk W]

16 hours ago, Twotoes said:

First off a RV holding tank is not a septic tank or septic system. It is only a holding tank. So do not use anything ment for a septic system.

The waste tanks in an RV are just like any tank that holds effluent from a toilet where the exact same action as happens in the first section of a septic tank will take place if allowed to. If you only put human waste, septic safe toilet paper, and water into the black tank the very same activity will start to happen there as would if it had been flushed into a septic tank and if you happen to be in a rural RV park the chances are that when you dump your tanks the liquids will go down the sewer pipes and into a real septic tank. That is the very reason the RV community is asked not to use harsh chemical products such as those with formaldehyde in them.

16 hours ago, Twotoes said:

pour a half bottle of Dawn anti bacterial soap down the toilet.

If you go to Google and look at any list of things not to be put into a septic system, antibacterial detergents will be found on that list. If diluted enough it probably won't harm the campground's septic system, but the possibility exists. 

I have more than 30 years of RV experience and 12 years fulltime. I started using Rid-X in our tanks just before going fulltime at the suggestion of an RV tech I have known for years. In our second year fulltime I attended a seminar on RV waste systems put on by a Thetford engineer and he suggested that nothing at all was needed if you use enough water.  I then stopped using anything in our tanks other than laundry detergent and water while traveling a couple of times per year. That was in 2001 and this has been working fine for us ever since. 

[FL-JOE]

15 hours ago, Twotoes said:

First off a RV holding tank is not a septic tank or septic system. It is only a holding tank. So do not use anything ment for a septic system. When I had a fiver I used to use the packets, called them breath mints for the toilet. Now I have a Class A with a macerator toilet and I use a liquid. I only use it about every 2nd or 3rd time I dump  And if  I and going to roll, after I dumb I fill the black tank about 1/3 with water and pour a half bottle of Dawn anti bacterial soap down the toilet. When I get to my next stop I flush the black tank about 3 or 4 times with water to rinse it out  

 

You are 100% correct!  I'm not sure why many people treat it as such.  Almost all true legal residential septic systems are underground tanks that are not vented and have to be professionally pumped out every few years.  

A vented plastic (or in some cases aluminum) tank that has to be emptied only by gravity is an entirely different animal and should be treated as such.  In our sticknbrick when we had a septic system it was buried out in the yard 20 yards or more away from where we live, eat, and sleep.  In our RV we live right on top of that little thin tank of crap.  So I will stick with toilet paper designed for it and not septic tanks, plus I will add chemicals, and I will take an extra 10 minutes and flush/rinse that thing out with every dump until it runs perfectly clear.

[SWharton]

The original Blue Dawn is the normal recommendation. Not the antibacterial.

[Zulu]

For me, it's water and occasionally bleach. 

BTW, since sense of smell declines with age, some of you claiming to never have odor issues may just be unable to smell the "issues".

[RV_]

Folks,

Another thought are the actual septic systems you are going to dump yours into. Too much bleach and we lose another place to dump black water.

Odors inside are usually the result of turning the roof vent fan on before finishing flushing in which case it will suck up the odor when the vent pipe is nice and clear. Wait until you are done and flushed then turn it on.

You can't turn a sow's ear into a silk purse. Pine scented excrement is still excrement.

Dirt Daubers can clog the vent with their nests and have to be wet and knocked down, wasp's nest too. Also the pipe can be pushed down too far and be under water all the time which wil also cause the flushes to "Burp" every time.

We waited until our tank "burped" indicating it was full before we dumped. Never paid much attention to the black tank gauge, just the gray and the fresh tank indicators.

Just be sure if you must use "product" that it is clearly labeled safe for septic systems.

Arizona has lots of RVrs and the University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has published a paper on just this issue. The PDF is just 454KB here:

https://extension.arizona.edu/sites/extension.arizona.edu/files/pubs/az1233.pdf

Safe and non-smelly travels!

[Pat & Pete]

3 hours ago, Zulu said:

For me, it's water and occasionally bleach. 

BTW, since sense of smell declines with age, some of you claiming to never have odor issues may just be unable to smell the "issues".

If that's the case , then there is no 'issue' . And , definitely no need for added wasteful chemicals .

[2gypsies]

http://www.flohawks.com/blog/upsetting-the-system-bacterial-breakdown-in-septic-tanks/

Here's another article on what should not be put in septics.  Keep in mind that when you dump into the campground dump station, quite often you're dumping into their septic system, especially in public parks.  Bleach is on the list.  It also states nothing is needed. 

We volunteered at a national park and they had problems with their septic system occasionally because of chemicals being put down it.  They can ruin the whole breakdown process.

 

 

[Barbaraok]

3 hours ago, Zulu said:

For me, it's water and occasionally bleach. 

BTW, since sense of smell declines with age, some of you claiming to never have odor issues may just be unable to smell the "issues".

Bleach for what?  Why would you feel the need to put bleach into the black tank?  Actually can be harmful and certainly unnecessary.   

And my 'nose' is working very, very well.  

[Kirk W]

6 minutes ago, Barbaraok said:

And my 'nose' is working very, very well.  

Mine too, but some folks have a need to justify continuing to spend money needlessly. 

[Big Greg]

We started using tank chemicals because we thought they were needed.  After a year and listening to other full timers we stopped using them and for the past 10 years have used nothing.  Works great and my wife would certainly let me know if she smelled sewage.  I had the tanks professionally cleaned 3 years ago and was told they were in excellent condition.  After sitting for several months in the winter we use disk soap and Calgon  water softener one time in the black & grey tanks before we pull out.       Greg

[Five Wood]

I'm in the "no additives" camp.  If you stand over your commode, with your foot holding the pedal open and stick your head in the darned thing you should certainly smell bad stuff.  That smell is bacteria at work that decomposes the waste.  If you are using products that make the tank smell nice, most of them have bleach in them, which retards or stops the process of decomposition.  And you are then surely headed for trouble.  

If you are eating dinner and smell your black tank, you have a mechanical issue.  The issue could be a clogged vent, a worn gasket in your commode or a leak somewhere.  If your system is properly sealed, you should smell nothing.  I think some people stand there with their foot on the pedal, after doing their business, with the thought of rinsing the toilet.  All you are doing is holding the trap open to the "cauldron of bad stuff" and heat rises.  Just hold the foot pedal at 50% to allow fresh water to enter the toilet and then quickly push the foot pedal down to drain it.  

So that's how I do it.

 

Jim