What Chemicals in Black Tank?

[dannyl]

I had a plug in the black tank and had to have it flushed and cleaned by the dealer. He said I had to use a chemical to break up the solids.

What are you using in the black Tank?




Mountaineer 348RLS
Dodge 3500 Cummings dually
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An Okie caught in Texas

[Parrothead]

We've talked a lot about this on the forum. Instead of chemicals a lot of us use Calgon or Borax and detergent. Any of the chemicals you can buy at Wal-Mart or Camping World work also. The Calgon/Borax way is cheaper and doesn't smell like chemicals. You should use a septic friendly TP and lots of water also. The water is probably the most important thing.
Happy trails.....................

Sue and Ed Rowe
Hemet California

2005 3400RL

2006 GMC 3500 Dually, D/A, Crew Cab, Long Bed

[CountryGuy]

As a gentle reminder, that black tank needs to be kept closed unless you are dumping it. To leave it open is inviting the trouble you had. Not saying that is what happened, just that it is one of the causes.

I am with Sue, less paper, more water, and Calgon!

Good luck

Carol

[Glenn and Lorraine]

I no longer use any chemicals in my tanks but I do use lots of water. I have no problems with odors or clogging.
The key is "lots of water" when you flush the toilet.
Always use Septic friendly toilet paper.
Never dump the Black Tank less than 2/3 full, 3/4 is better and full is better yet. If you must flush with less than 2/3s than use the flush valve to add more water. After dumping let the flush valve run for awhile to get any left over solids out. I'll even close the dump valve and let the flush valve fill the tank and than dump. Depending on what I see coming through the clear elbow I may repeat this 2 or 3 times.




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[gitrdun]

Also when you leave your site you need to run water in the black tank and make sure you put water up in the tank and not just in the discharge pipe. Also add calgon, boraxo or whatever, as you travel down the road it will wash the sides of the tank and make it less likely for stuff to stick to the walls. Anyhow, it works for me.

[sreigle]

I've recently tried what the Keystone Service Center recommended. Pine Sol. We got the Walmart store brand with a lemon scent (smells good). For about a buck you get a 40 ounce bottle. I put in about one ounce after each dump. I've only done this twice but am very impressed with the results. Flushing after the dump shows almost no additional solids/paper and just some dirty water. But I've only dumped twice with this method.

Danny, if you get another plug up, you might get yourself one of those dump caps with the hose connector, hook up a hose and back flush into the black tank (valve open). I unplugged ours that way once. The cap wants the female end of the hose as does the park's hose bib so I also got a female to male adapter. The problem with this method is when you remove the dump cap the dump pipe is full and will run out. If you get one of those twist on dump valves (around $20) from CW (or maybe an rv store) you can close that valve at the dump cap and eliminate that problem.

See another Montana or Mountaineer on the road? Flash lights twice, it might be one of us!
Steve Reigle (pronounced Regal)
Fulltiming since 3/21/03
'07 3400RL
'05 Ford F250 SD Lariat CC SB 6.0L PSD/TS FX4 4x4

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[ols1932]

We use a granulated product called Snow Fresh. Works very good and is relatively inexpensive.

Orv

[Driftwoodgal]

Guys and Gals,

Just curious how and where do you add the Calgon, Borax, Pinesol etc.? Do you put it in the potty and then flush? If so how much water do you then allow into the tank? Do you let this water sit in the black tank or do you drain it out before you leave the campground?

Colleen

[CountryGuy]

Colleen

We use a capful of the liquid laundry type Calgon, maybe 2 to 3 ounces?? That is if we are running, I rarely use it if I am parked in a camp for a while.

We dump the tanks, then close valves, then add Calgon to bath sink (mine goes into the gray tank), the kitchen sink and the toilet. I have been known to add a capfull of liquid laundry soap to the toilet. No need to add more soap to gray tanks, they have enough already. Then we add 3 to 5 gallons to each tank.

Drive away. If going home, it sit there till next time we use the rig. If going to another campground, it sits there till the next time we dump. If we are going to be on a full service site, whenever we dump out it goes. If we are going into a site with no sewer, and we remember we have 5 gallons of cleaner in each tank and we are gonna be there a while (usually at least a week, more likely 15 days), then we dump on the way in when we fill with water. It is enough of a challenge trying to get by 7 to 15 days on 60 gallons of fresh water and then sewer water, don't want to have to deal with the 15 gallons up front. (does this make sense-- first cup of java!! HA HA)

Carol


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[Driftwoodgal]

Carol,

Your java is working just fine It is mine that isn't since Bob forgot to set it on auto last night.

In the 3400 we have three tanks, the galley and then the grey tank next to the black. I am guessing that the kitchen is the only one on the galley grey tank. Second guess is that the grey next to the black is tied to the shower and the bedroom sink.

So the question is would you add more soap to the kitchen sink or is the amount of soap you use when washing dishes enough? The Calgon you use is this laundry detergent or is it dish soap detergent?

Now I am going to get my first cup of coffee.... hope this post makes sense

Colleen

[crandallbradley]

I started with chemicals 6 years ago, now I don't use anything. When I dump I add a gallon or two of water and I ONLY use septic tank safe paper. I do get a smell on the days when the temps get to 100 or so but it's not bad and only happens 4 or 5 times a year in the SF bay area.

[CountryGuy]

Colleen

I only add laundry soap to my black tank. If, I had a unit that dumped the bath sink INTO the black tank, as some of our members do, I would not bother at all, then would go ONLY with the Calgon.

I do NOT add any additional soap to the galley or gray tanks, they already have soap. Part of the idea of the Calgon is to clean the soap scum off the sides of the gray and galley holding tanks.

I use Calgon that is in the laundry detergent aisle of the grocery store. As Sue (Parrothead) and others have pointed out there are several other products that do the same thing. Borax, I think is one of them.

I use liquid laundry detergent and Calgon in the RV, more in my comfort zone than dry stuff. That is purely a personal choice.

Carol

[sreigle]

Colleen, hold the flusher open in the potty and pour it down.

As Carol said, which product you use is personal preference. I'm personally far more impressed with the lemon scented Pine Sol equivalent than I ever was with how Calgon worked for us. Plus, I like buying it at a buck for 40 ounces. I just pour in an ounce or so after each time I dump the tank. I add about 20 seconds of water, like I did when using chemicals and Calgon.

See another Montana or Mountaineer on the road? Flash lights twice, it might be one of us!
Steve Reigle (pronounced Regal)
Fulltiming since 3/21/03
'07 3400RL
'05 Ford F250 SD Lariat CC SB 6.0L PSD/TS FX4 4x4

Our RV Travels (now Firefox-compatible)

[bob n pam]

We have used Pure Power, which is an enzyme product, for several years and are satisfied with the results. As others have said, it is important to keep water in your black tank at all times and not to leave the valve open unless dumping the tank.

[Driftwoodgal]

Ok, can you tell me when you should use the product of choice? Right now we are just testing out the Montana and staying in it for three days, in full hook ups, and then driving it home. We could dump any of the tanks out where we have the Montana parked after adding the product of choice, we live in the country, but would prefer not to dump the black water tank, even though we have cows, peacocks, deer, squirrels etc dumping in the same pasture.

When Bob goes out for storm work he will be parked for possibly over a month at a time. When do you add the product of choice then?

Sorry to be a dummy in this area, but if you listen to CW you can spend a fortune. I am finding Wally World and Target are so much cheaper. Words of wisdom from the masters, fanatics, wizards and just people of camping knowledge sure saves my pocket book. Now saying that if you don't apply the wisdom in the correct order it is like Windows on the computer... it waits until you give it a correct command. I have cleaned grease traps out before, I don't want to do a black tank. I leave my septic tank to the pros when it has to be cleaned.

Colleen

[Parrothead]

Colleen
We use the product (Borax or Calgon) after we dump and add water. If we are leaving a campsite and know we are not going to use the Monty for a while, we fill it up with water and then dump. However, we have the ability to dump at home so sometimes we wait. It takes 40' of hose to dump at home so it is a major job. The longer the Calgon or Borax is in the tank, the better job it does.
Happy trails.........................

Sue and Ed Rowe
Hemet California

2005 3400RL

2006 GMC 3500 Dually, D/A, Crew Cab, Long Bed

[CountryGuy]

Colleen

We tend to use Calgon when we are running. So, if I am sitting at a campsite, full service, for say, 2 weeks, while we are there, we just dump, and Al does one or two of those long power rince procedures for the black tank. Then when we leave there, we do Calgon in all tanks.

If we have been at a camp where we have to use the dump station, we do Calgon after dumping - which again, will be when we are running.

I usually don't do Calgon when we are sitting somewhere for a long time, use mostly when we are running.

I'd bet it would help to use it in the gray tanks while we are sitting, I just don't bother.

Mostly I guess you would say, we use it when we can agitate it.

Carol

[Driftwoodgal]

Thanks for the clarification on when to use it.

Colleen

[Bluegill]

This is some valuable information right here.
I will start off on the right track thanks to you guys.(Y'all)
Thanks.

James



'06 F350 SD King Ranch CC LB 6.0L PSD FX4 4x4
Still shopping for the Monty !




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[bob n pam]

We use the enzymes after every dump of the black tank, and alway add around 3 gallons of fresh water at that time.