Shower for back flush?

[Rondo]

Moderators/ Administrators please move this if it is in the wrong topic area. It may be considered as a survey, I don't know.

How many of you, that have the outside shower connection in the convenient center or those that have an older unit that does not have the convenient center but the outside shower is on the outside of the unit, use this to back flush your black tank? I've seen some doing this but I've tried it and I don't seem to get enough pressure to flush the black tank. If you use it, are you getting your tank clean with it and are you getting a lot of pressure from it?

Just curious on this aspect of dumping and cleaning the black tank! Inquiring minds want to know!

[bncinwv]

Have done it on the last two rigs and have never had a problem with it. May be worthwhile trying it when pumping from the fresh water tank to verify that the low pressure is caused by something within the rig and not city water pressure. Even with this method, I still do the five minute fill routine with the flusher before emptying the black tank.
Bingo

[BB_TX]

I use it for winterizing the black tank flush lines. But have never tried it for actual flushing. I would guess there would be some drop in pressure after going thru the smaller internal pipes and fittings vs coming directly from the water faucet.

[rmthelen]

Have used it for flushing but not often. It is better than nothing but pressure is too low as I use a pressure regulator for the incoming line. I also used a backflow regulator to ensure no contamination of the fresh water system. Most of the time I use a dedicated line from the water source with no regulator which works real well for me.

[DQDick]

I have a Y in my incoming water hose I use for the black tank flush.

[WeBeFulltime]

I have done the same as Bingo on our 2008 and on current 2012 without any problems. When I hook to an unknown source I always use a dedicated flushing hose with a dedicated pressure regulator attached.

[jcurtis934]

Tried a couple of times using the silly coiled, small inside diameter hose that came with the rig. My opinion was that it was barely better than nothing. John

[PackerFan]

X2 what John said.

[bigskyjimmy]

IMHO it is worthless for a back flush you are WAY better off having both grey tank tanks pretty full and having a end termination valve then close it THEN open both grey tanks and let them blow into the black tank for about a minute then close them and open the end termination valve and THAT really does the job

[Fire5er]

Never use the outside shower for anything, let alone black tank flush. I guess it would be better than nothing but I use a hose connected to a Y on the water outlet

[Rondo]

Thanks to all that came back on my question. I've done both and really believe the shower hose is worthless also. Can't seem to get enough pressure from the shower to actually wash the tank out, at least it doesn't seem that way anyway. I'm also using a Y on our city hook up to get the pressure and also use at least one of the grey tanks to back flush the black tank for a short time with the valve in on the end of the dump line. Thanks again and we'll be bringing this up at the Tips and Tricks at the Fall Rally also.

[Mudchief]

Rondo, I changed out the connector to one that will except the garden hose. They make a 3 foot white hose and I connected that to the Black flush. It works great. However if you use the shower hose you have to remove the flow regulator out of the connector.

[Bill-N-Donna]

I’ve always used the outside shower for back flushing the tank. I thought it was doing a pretty good job until this summer. I had filled up the tank with water and dumped it several times until I seen clear water coming out of the drain. However, even though the outside shower seemed to be cleaning it well I accumulated a build-up in the tank. Once I realized what was happening I borrowed a spray wand that I placed through the toilet and flushed the tank with good water pressure. At times I also used the outside shower with the wand. It broke up a lot of debris that had built up over a period of time. As it was flushing I noticed way more debris and chunks breaking loose than before. I haven’t had any more problems since. The problem was also causing the toilet to gurgle whenever I would flush due to the restriction. After that I went to Wally World and purchased a wand for cleaning. I carry it in the camper now. It was under $20.00 and with the right water pressure it really broke things loose.

[Jimmer]

I back flush my black tank about 5 times. About the 5th time the water is very clean. I use a flush King to back flush my gray tanks. It is amazing what comes out of the shower water, lots of chunks of soap. I do the same thing for the galley tank. When I get ready to hit the road I use a little automatic dish washer soap in all of the tanks with about 3-4 gals of water and drive and when I get to my next stop I drain all of the tanks. You will be surprised what comes out of all of the tanks.

[vipermanden]

Sorry for the newbie question, but what is the proper method for draining and cleaning your GW & BW tanks. I have the black water flush system on my 2017 Monty, but still not sure what order I am supposed to do what? I did a 2 day shakedown trip, and in a few days we will be going on a 3 week 2,500 mile trip. On my shakedown trip, I drained the black water tank first, then closed it. Then opened one gray tank and let it drain, and then closed it, and then opened up the other gray water tank and let it drain, hoping to clean out the hose of any black water debris, then closed it. Then I ran the black water tank flush, keeping the valve open to the BW tank for about 5 minutes. That was it. Should I then fill all 3 tanks with some water and the Happy Camper powder to slosh around as I travel to my next stop? Then repeat this procedure at every stop? Or what do all of you suggest? Thanks

[JandC]

quote:Originally posted by Jimmer

I back flush my black tank about 5 times. About the 5th time the water is very clean. I use a flush King to back flush my gray tanks. It is amazing what comes out of the shower water, lots of chunks of soap. I do the same thing for the galley tank. When I get ready to hit the road I use a little automatic dish washer soap in all of the tanks with about 3-4 gals of water and drive and when I get to my next stop I drain all of the tanks. You will be surprised what comes out of all of the tanks.

Same Same GI....I started using the Flush King a couple years ago and never use the factory black tank flush. I simply connect the little kinky factory hose to the Flush King from the convenience center to back flush my black tank (with grays closed of course). When I repeat for my gray tanks it is amazing how much "junk" actually comes out of them after a couple of flushes.

[BB_TX]

quote:Originally posted by vipermanden

Sorry for the newbie question, but what is the proper method for draining and cleaning your GW & BW tanks. I have the black water flush system on my 2017 Monty, but still not sure what order I am supposed to do what? I did a 2 day shakedown trip, and in a few days we will be going on a 3 week 2,500 mile trip. On my shakedown trip, I drained the black water tank first, then closed it. Then opened one gray tank and let it drain, and then closed it, and then opened up the other gray water tank and let it drain, hoping to clean out the hose of any black water debris, then closed it. Then I ran the black water tank flush, keeping the valve open to the BW tank for about 5 minutes. That was it. Should I then fill all 3 tanks with some water and the Happy Camper powder to slosh around as I travel to my next stop? Then repeat this procedure at every stop? Or what do all of you suggest? Thanks

I drain the black tank until most all drainage stops. Then I start the black tank flush. I close the black tank valve and let the flush run for a couple minutes, the open the valve again while flush is running. When most of the water has drained, I close the valve again for another couple minutes and open the valve again. And may repeat once or twice more. Each time there is additional "stuff" that comes out until the water finally runs fairly clean. Then I close the black tank valve, let a little more water run in, and then stop the flush. After that, I open the galley tank valve and let that one drain, and then open the grey tank valve and let that one drain.

I leave the black tank and galley tank valves closed except when draining. But I leave the grey tank valve open so that it is always draining. More than once I have found myself standing in an inch or so of water in the shower because I forgot to drain the grey tank. So now I leave it open. I close the grey tank valve some time before I expect to drain the black tank so that it will accumulate enough water to flush the sewer hose well.

[vipermanden]

Bill,

Since we will be a 2-3 day for each stop on our trips, I like your method, but am thinking I should not drain until after we arrive from driving from the previous spot, to get things all churned up. Then do your routine, then add 2-3 gallons to each tank and add the "Happy Camper" powder, and repeat this process at each stop. Or maybe I should do at after each two stops, so every 4-6 days? Thanks, Bill

Dennis

[BB_TX]

I travel with some water in the waste tanks sometimes, but I don't like to travel with more than quarter tank or so.

And if you run the black tank flush with the valve closed as I do, be sure you don't get distracted and forget the flush water is runnng.