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Old 07-15-2018, 04:45 PM   #1
Kiwi2000
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Holding tank does n donts

I am asking other owners of their own practices of storage between trips. Should I empty all holding tanks dry between outings? If so what is the criteria for total drainage, is it if I am not using it for a week or a month? Same question for draining the HWT .
What about winter storage for the holding tanks, dry or add anything? We have had our unit 9 years now and all is well. We would like to keep things that way.
 
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Old 07-15-2018, 06:07 PM   #2
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9 years you say?! Keep doing what you've been doing.
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Old 07-15-2018, 07:12 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kiwi2000 View Post
I am asking other owners of their own practices of storage between trips. Should I empty all holding tanks dry between outings? If so what is the criteria for total drainage, is it if I am not using it for a week or a month? Same question for draining the HWT .
What about winter storage for the holding tanks, dry or add anything? We have had our unit 9 years now and all is well. We would like to keep things that way.
1st and foremost,Welcome to this forum!!!

So please enlighten us fellow forum members, Exactly what do YOU do in reference to your own questions? I`m thinking if you have done it for 9 years without issue, you must be doing something correctly.
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Old 07-15-2018, 07:16 PM   #4
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Welcome to the forum! We full time now, but the year before we went full time I just drained all that would drain out and left it at that.
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Old 07-15-2018, 08:19 PM   #5
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We leave the gray tanks empty, put a couple of gallons of water with chemical in black tanks. Been doing that way since 1984 and first rv.
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Old 07-15-2018, 08:51 PM   #6
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Kiwi,

Welcome to the forum!
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Old 07-15-2018, 09:41 PM   #7
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Not that are's sets much but when it does I drain the gray tanks live about 5 gallons of water and happy camper in the black tank and drain the water lines. And we leave the fresh water tank with 2/3 full all the time for when we stop on the road for a pee brake.
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Old 07-16-2018, 06:39 AM   #8
Kiwi2000
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Originally Posted by 1retired06 View Post
We leave the gray tanks empty, put a couple of gallons of water with chemical in black tanks. Been doing that way since 1984 and first rv.
Thank you all for the warm welcome. Responding to the quote however. You feel it ok to leave fluid in the black, for how long a period? I ask because we did just that with two weeks between outings we left a good couple of gallons and chemical in the black. We also put in a small amount of dish detergent in the galley with water. Oh boy did it smell.
I am thinking about leaving all tanks dry between outings.
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Old 07-16-2018, 07:31 AM   #9
1retired06
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Unless you did an immaculate flush, storing the black tank dry will cause anything left in the tank to turn into concrete. We don't have the smell issue you have, we do flush all tanks via hose thru the toilet a couple of times and then we close up the rig. Our Montana seldom sits unused for more than three weeks. I will take a wild guess and say the major contributor to your odor issue is "stuff" in the tank still left after your flush. Difficult to get it all.
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Old 07-16-2018, 07:45 AM   #10
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Welcome to the forum.
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Old 07-16-2018, 09:28 AM   #11
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Leave 4 to 5 gallons in the black tank with some Happy camper has no smell! Don't leave it dry you mite end up with concrete in the tank.
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Old 07-19-2018, 07:18 PM   #12
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Use Happy Camper and can go for a week

Ref Black Tank:
When we're camped for months at a time (our usual WorkCamping or Snowbirding life), we dump once a week, flush with the Black Tank Flusher several times - once after cleaning toilet with Toilet Cleaner or Conditioner, Laundry Detergent and Calgon Water Softener and letting sit for a while. When finished (we use a Clear Extension so we can watch "Sewer TV" and see when the tank is mostly clean -aka no solids), Close Valve and run flusher for 60 seconds to put water in the tank for the next week (so stuff floats, not plops). Clean toilet again with Happy Camper Tank Treatment (we've tried MANY others not as good) and it goes into the tank with the next flush. We use Northern Two Ply TP, don't flush after every pee, and the Tank has never been filled by the both of us in a week. We also use other Bathrooms at work, while we shop, go out, etc A LOT. The Black Tank Sensors work partially using this approach (not full after dumping).

We keep the Galley Tank closed for a week, unless it gets stinky before then. We rarely fill it up in a week, but sometimes do and have to dump it. Its Tank Sensors usually ALWAYS show full even after dumping and after being pressure watched.

We keep the Gray (Bath) Water Tank open until 2 days before dumping so we have Gray Water to flush the sewer hose after dumping the Black. We've learned the hard way that we can only use the Gray for 2 days/4 showers/sink use - if we go 3 days, the tank cracks. Even after just 2 days its more full than our Black Tank (as observed via "Sewer TV"). Sometimes I fill up and dump the Gray during the week to keep it cleaner as "scum" can build up (and its the only tank that the Tank Sensors work reliably).

For the weeks or months that the RV is parked in Storage, we dump all tanks and leave them empty beforehand.

That works for us. Hope it helps!
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Old 07-22-2018, 01:38 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RRman View Post
Ref Black Tank:
When we're camped for months at a time (our usual WorkCamping or Snowbirding life), we dump once a week, flush with the Black Tank Flusher several times - once after cleaning toilet with Toilet Cleaner or Conditioner, Laundry Detergent and Calgon Water Softener and letting sit for a while. When finished (we use a Clear Extension so we can watch "Sewer TV" and see when the tank is mostly clean -aka no solids), Close Valve and run flusher for 60 seconds to put water in the tank for the next week (so stuff floats, not plops). Clean toilet again with Happy Camper Tank Treatment (we've tried MANY others not as good) and it goes into the tank with the next flush. We use Northern Two Ply TP, don't flush after every pee, and the Tank has never been filled by the both of us in a week. We also use other Bathrooms at work, while we shop, go out, etc A LOT. The Black Tank Sensors work partially using this approach (not full after dumping).

We keep the Galley Tank closed for a week, unless it gets stinky before then. We rarely fill it up in a week, but sometimes do and have to dump it. Its Tank Sensors usually ALWAYS show full even after dumping and after being pressure watched.

We keep the Gray (Bath) Water Tank open until 2 days before dumping so we have Gray Water to flush the sewer hose after dumping the Black. We've learned the hard way that we can only use the Gray for 2 days/4 showers/sink use - if we go 3 days, the tank cracks. Even after just 2 days its more full than our Black Tank (as observed via "Sewer TV"). Sometimes I fill up and dump the Gray during the week to keep it cleaner as "scum" can build up (and its the only tank that the Tank Sensors work reliably).

For the weeks or months that the RV is parked in Storage, we dump all tanks and leave them empty beforehand.

That works for us. Hope it helps!
Yes I think I will do this as well. For a few weeks break I will leave a couple gallons of water and chemical in the black and the grey and galley dry. For long term storage all tanks will be dry.
Thanks for all the help I believe we can called this thread solved.
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Old 07-22-2018, 04:45 PM   #14
Dixie Flyer
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kiwi2000 View Post
Thank you all for the warm welcome. Responding to the quote however. You feel it ok to leave fluid in the black, for how long a period? I ask because we did just that with two weeks between outings we left a good couple of gallons and chemical in the black. We also put in a small amount of dish detergent in the galley with water. Oh boy did it smell.
I am thinking about leaving all tanks dry between outings.
Welcome to the forum. The H/W heater could be an issue if the water stays in there too long. When you heat the water most of the oxygen is depleted, so if it is left for a long period it will smell like rotten eggs and it is hard to get rid of the smell.

We keep our Montana at home on its own pad. I have water, electric and sewer hook ups. I don't worry about dumping until I get home and then I do a thorough job.
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Old 07-23-2018, 06:19 AM   #15
Kiwi2000
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Originally Posted by Dixie Flyer View Post
Welcome to the forum. The H/W heater could be an issue if the water stays in there too long. When you heat the water most of the oxygen is depleted, so if it is left for a long period it will smell like rotten eggs and it is hard to get rid of the smell.
Excellent point and thank you for that additional information, although the HWT is technically not a holding tank , it is advisable to empty it between outings for just that smelly reason.
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Old 07-24-2018, 11:23 AM   #16
paulinbaja
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I just purchased a hose connected water meter that reads in gallons. What a tool. Since tank sensors are of no value I now know how much water I am putting into the tanks. Recently had serious odor from 50gal black tank. Filled it twice to forty gallons and the tank cleaned itself, no more odor. Meter is available at Amazon, $15.00.
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