Black tank

[otto0813]

Okay, so this has probably been answered & discussed before, but I'm not having any luck doing a search. The gauge for capacity on our black tank must not be working; it still shows empty after quite a bit of "use". So how do we know how when to empty the tank as we are dry camping. It seems to be "spitting" at us - is that our answer? Need some advice, please.

[Trailer Trash 2]

I would say if the toilet is burping when you flush, it must be getting close or you have a dome build up where the waist falls into the tank, Run some water into the tank from the factory installed flushing system, then have some one watch the opening in the toilet so it does not over flow hten flush the Black tank a couple of times, mine has never been accurate sence it was new, when it starts to burp I dump. I can go for 1 week for two untill it's time to do it again.

[Glenn and Lorraine]

It burps, you dump. Simple as that and forget about those worthless gauges.

[TLightning]

quote:Originally posted by Glenn and Lorraine

It burps, you dump. Simple as that and forget about those worthless gauges.

None of those guages work.

[Trailer Trash 2]

I agree Glenn those gages are the worst. with all the teknolagy we have inthis century there should be something better than checking the resistance in a tank. I made a sugestion to Keystone years agoto put a sight gage on the tank when the basement compartment door is it would be a easy thing to do I had a electroct toilet that used a sight gage on it when it got full I pulled the dump valve and ot went into the tank then I recharged the otilet with new water and cemicals and started the process all over again.

[dsprik]

I agree with the rest. You can spend a lot of time and effort trying to get your gauges to read accurately. Or you can just go camping and enjoy yourself. You will get the feel of when to empty all of your tanks.

More important is making sure you backflush thoroughly - use a clear 45 degree elbow at your main gate valve and make sure you are getting clean water out of the black tank. This problem of not cleaning out your black tank properly will end up costing you a lot more grief than your gauges not working properly. I guarantee...

[otto0813]

Thanks for all you responses; we've dumped the tank this morning. And will continue to watch for burping as a signal. I agree the gauges are worthless!

[clarkandsheila]

I'll chime in too. The guages Keystone installs are USELESS.
Ours didn't work after 2 weeks from brand new and hasn't worked reliably since.
There are good aftermarket units that sense from outside but at $300-500 or ???? my wife and I learned roughly how long the tank was good for and pay attention to the BURP.

[ols1932]

quote:Originally posted by clarkandsheila

I'll chime in too. The guages Keystone installs are USELESS.
Ours didn't work after 2 weeks from brand new and hasn't worked reliably since.
There are good aftermarket units that sense from outside but at $300-500 or ???? my wife and I learned roughly how long the tank was good for and pay attention to the BURP.

As I remember it, the sensors came on my replacement tank as part of the tank. I don't believe we can blame Keystone. I've been RVing since the late 60's and have had a trailer with a black water tank with its sensors since 1980. No sensors worked on any of my RVs. No problem!

Orv

[Art-n-Marge]

Sensor, schmensor.... I gave up on these. Every 3-4 days before I retire for the evening I grab a chair and sit at the valves to empty and backflush the black then close, then the galley flush and close, then the gray (shower/lavatory) flush and close. If we have visitors I do it more often and as discretely as possible because some visitors cannot handle the thought (I'll leave it at that).

For my rig the typical Full indicators are now: 1.) The black tank burps on a flush, 2.)the kitchen sink does not drain, or 3.) the shower does not drain. Any one of these will prompt me to drain all 3 (why worry about individual tanks).

[richfaa]

We also gave up on the gages. When we are at full hookups and we are 99 % of the time we dump all the tanks every day or every other day. A good flush on all the tanks takes maybe 1/2 hours. The burping thing on the black tank is disgusting. We do not skimp on water we use as normal. If you are on full hooks pulling a handled is no big deal.