Black Tank Gauge

[rrheik]

Question for all you Montana veterans. My black tank gauge normally reads full after one day. This happens quite frequently, even though we have used it fr 3 weeks. My Wildeness had the same size tank and lasted for 5 or more days, depending on if grandchildren were here. I know the gauges are very inaccurate, but this one seems to be totally off. It starts out with the typical empty, then hits 1/3, 2/3, and then full, after I empty tank I giveit a good flushing with the internal tank flush. Any suggestions? Does anybody make an accurate gauge?

Thanks,

barb and bob

[Mrs. CountryGuy]

Any suggestions??

only one

IGNORE the silly gauges.

Ozz, I believe, installed some others, he'll tell ya about them, Ozz, it was you, right???

[Ozz]

You betcha!
Vena tank monitoring system. I'll try and dig up a picture.
They send a signal through the tank wall, never get dirty, always accurate-only way to go.
(This picture was right after I installed it, hadn't calibrated it yet.)
Ozz
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...3/107737e3.jpg

[ols1932]

Most of us just ingnore the gauge. Any little debris that contacts the sensor will cause a misreading. You can tell when your black tank is approaching full when you start getting what I call "blow back." This is a sort of momentary bubble that is created when you open the toilet to flush it. We are full time (going on 7 years now) and find that we usually have up to two days before we have to dump after we first notice this "blow back." That may not be a correct term but it's all I can think of at this time.

Orv

[rrheik]

Thanks for the info.. I normally ignore the gauges, but since this was sort of prevalent , figured I would ask. When I break camp Thursday, I will chuck some ice cubes in the tank, along with a cup of calgon, a see if I can get rid of the debris. Ya'all take care.

barb and bob

[scattershot]

Mine reads 2/3, right after I dump, I think the gauges on my Montana are junk.

[Parrothead]

Scattershot, we have had 3 5th wheels, 2 were not Montanas. The gauges have been the same on all 3. We have found that on the Monty when we do the black tank flush really good, the gauge will read empty until we use it again. The others never read empty. Most RVers do not pay attention to the gauges for the gray or black tanks.
Happy trails......................

[Bobcat]

The flush on the Monty is much better than our last 5er. We flush the tank everytime and it always goes to empty.

[SKOOBDO]

If I use the black tank flush system my guages work fine, but if i just dump the tank and don't use it...then the guage is off. But even when the guage works and shows the system is full...I don't dump until several days after I get a "blow back" like the other poster said. Which is about 30 days in my case.

[gkbutler]

I think those gages are the by product of an unhappy, disgruntled engineer who got his or her revenge on their employer at the expense of the RV industry.

In theory, they are a great tool to determine the need to flush your gray or black tank, but in reality, they cause more aggravation and stress than anything else.

In our year of fulltiming, we have learned that when the black tank burps at us, it is time to flush. When the water backs up into the shower, it is time to flush the grey tank. The galley tank is flushed about every three days.

Hang a nice picture over the gages and forget about them.

[Mudchief]

If your tank is indeed filling up that fast, check and make sure they don't have some gray water going into it by mistake. I know someone that had that problem.

[scattershot]

Glad to know I'm not alone, anyway. My flusher doesn't work, so maybe that's part of the problem. Will have it looked at under warranty when we get back to Beaudry in January. The fresh , gray, and galley indicators work pretty well, it's just the black that doesn't.