Black Water

[vgforbes]

Black Water ..such a mild term for an ugly topic. Here's a heads up for you JUST IN CASE IT HAPPEN TO YOU...
For several weeks each spring we have to dry camp untill the Rv park we frequent opens for the season . Fortunately we have a place where we acn have power and water, but no sewer...so we get a local friend to come over with his HONEY WAGON to pump us out..... The first time we ended up in an awful mess and almost were asked to leave the park!!! It appears the the black water tank cracked while the fluids were being removed ( a bit on repairs later) Long story short,,, unless you open the flapper valve on the toilet while sucking the tank dry....it forns a vaccuum and thys the cracked tank... We just shut the water off and stick something in there to keep the flap open (DONT DROP IT!!!!!)
Repairs... the crack was about three inches long and it seemed nothing would stick to the pvc tank... As a cruising sailor, well we get creative,,, In the end I used fiberglass mat...but instead or poly or epoxy resin, i used good old JB Weld and it stuck like peanut butter to a blanket .....hope you never need to use this advice, but remember its worth what you paid for it !!! GARY

[richfaa]

There have been warning about having the tank "pumped out" At a rally up in Canada a couple of years ago the honey wagon folks emptied the tanks into a large tank then pumped that tank into the truck. When I asked them why they did that they said it was to prevent damage to the camper tanks.

[steves]

Good advice...I didn't know to do that!

[HamRad]

Unless the vent pipe gets stopped up I can't see any of the tanks breaking because of a pumper truck emptying them. The tanks should all be connected to a vent pipe. I've read of folks actually filling the black tank so full (using the flusher feature) that the stuff in the black tank was flowing off the top of the rig!

HamRad

[KTManiac]

quote:Originally posted by vgforbes

....We just shut the water off and stick something in there to keep the flap open (DONT DROP IT!!!!!)....

Here's a little doohickey that you might be interested in >>>Click here for link to Johnny-Chock

Here is a pic of what it is. >>>



It's hollow and has a flange on top that is bigger than the toilet opening, so it can't "disappear" into the holding tank. You just step on the toilet pedal, drop it in the hole, and release the pedal. Just don't forget it is in there and leave it for too long, or the whole rig will stink to high heavens!

Around $7-$10 at RV supply stores, ...or, if you are a do-it-yourself kind of guy, you can make your own out of PVC pipe with a glue on flange.

[richfaa]

You are correct Hamrad the tanks are vented and that should not happen. However for many reasons the vent can become plugged and if you dump hundreds of them in a day on a ongoing bassis you are bound to sooner or later ruin a tank due to the vent being blocked.. The company was takng no chances.