We have to laugh at ourselves sometimes...

[lightsout]

Ok we have all been distracted or forgot something in the set up to tear down process of camping, let hear the stories. I will start

Been RVing and Motor Yachting for 30 years yet every once and a while I get side tracked or distracted and something unplanned happens.

Anyway last week the day before leaving our campsite of 2 weeks I was flushing out the Black tank and as most of you know the tank cleaning system does not do a very good job and it helps tremendously to allow it to run with the discharge valve closed to fill it up a bit and then drain to help get the solids out. My process is to drain the tank close the valve and then let the flushing work for about 5-8 minutes then open the valve, I do this 3-4 times as I have for years and yes I am aware of the consequences of over filling during this process.

This time forgot to tell my wife I was flushing the black tank and not to use the toilet

Well the wife went to the bathroom to do her business and when she flushed the pressure from the tank flush with the hose still on created a back pressure causing the contents of the bowl to blow out and up when she tried to flush. Oh boy was she pissed LOL it splattered much of the bathroom and her...

While the black tank was maybe 1/2 full from the flush it still built up pressure. I always stand guard while I flush the tank it so happens this one time I forgot to inform her... That will not happen again at least with this wife... She laughed about it a few hours later but she did not think it was funny at the time.

[WeBeFulltime]

Some things are better left UNTOLD!

[lightsout]

If this story saves someone elses marriage then it is worth telling...

[Tom N OH]

Um, it shouldn’t be building pressure. There is a vent pipe from the tank through the roof. If it’s building pressure, your vent must be plugged.

[lightsout]

Originally Posted by Tom N OH

Um, it shouldn’t be building pressure. There is a vent pipe from the tank through the roof. If it’s building pressure, your vent must be plugged.

That is what I thought but on the next flush I climbed up and I was getting airflow, although it was likely not moving air as fast as the water was filling or is partially blocked. Regardless never use the toilet when flushing the black-tank. I did not mention it above but we leave our 5er at the campground (private RV resort) 4 weeks ago I did take the hose inside and filled the Black tank to the toilet level and added Caravan Tank and Sensor cleaner to let it soak for a week till we return. I do this once every couple months. I also filed to 1/2 full with cleaner when we took the RV over (120 miles of windy roads) in mid May to allow it to slosh and clean.

[Tom N OH]

Originally Posted by lightsout

That is what I thought but on the next flush I climbed up and I was getting airflow, although it was likely not moving air as fast as the water was filling or is partially blocked. Regardless never use the toilet when flushing the black-tank. I did not mention it above but we leave our 5er at the campground (private RV resort) 4 weeks ago I did take the hose inside and filled the Black tank to the toilet level and added Caravan Tank and Sensor cleaner to let it soak for a week till we return. I do this once every couple months. I also filed to 1/2 full with cleaner when we took the RV over (120 miles of windy roads) in mid May to allow it to slosh and clean.

When you fill it to the level of the toilet, you're overfilling the tank by a good bit, therefore causing "debris" to possibly float into the vent pipe. Not a good idea in my book. Your vent pipe could be partly blocked by TP or other "fun things". This could possibly explain the pressure in the tank. The vent pipe is much larger than the water hose you're using to fill the tank & will flow way more than the water hose ever will. Another member on here recently split his tank by overfilling it & the water backing up in the vent stack. Not a good idea at all. I know in our unit, from the toilet valve to the top of the black tank has to be close to 4'. That's a lot of weight pushing down on the tank.

[Charlie 3931fb]

WOW!!!! What a mess I can imagine. I think I would be a little ticked off myself if that happened to us. I did something real stupid one time. We were getting ready to get back on the road. It was raining fairly hard and I left the awning out so I could be under-neat something so I wasn't getting soaked> well we got everything done ans started out the campsite when our neighbor started yelling at us to stop. I left the awning out and we were getting ready to hit a tree. Talk about felling stupid! So thing's do happen to us out there sometimes. BUT>> We always learn from our mistakes...RIGHT

[Loneoak]

I think this is what you call a **** storm. Actually two of them. The first when it happened and the second after it happened!

[Mikendebbie]

Been there...done that...got the tee-shirt complete with real stains!

[1retired06]

Feeling the need for a super flush, I closed the black tank valve, ran a hose and started running water into the tank thru the toilet. Stepped outside, got in a conversation, lost track of time, and then the wife was yelling because the toilet was overflowing and flooding the fifth wheel. Guess who got to clean up the mess.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by 1retired06

Feeling the need for a super flush, I closed the black tank valve, ran a hose and started running water into the tank thru the toilet. Stepped outside, got in a conversation, lost track of time, and then the wife was yelling because the toilet was overflowing and flooding the fifth wheel. Guess who got to clean up the mess.

I know this is about self induced dilemmas but something happened just recently that was an eye opener for me;

Bought the new MHC in signature and on 1st trip - here in FL. The folks that mow the grass always leave room around the sewer/water etc. and I trim it. Got back from town one day and a new guy was just working away with a weed eater manicuring all around the water and sewer lines. Didn't think much of it. Went inside, unloaded everything and we decided to take a quick nap since it was 90s and about 200% humidity.

Barely closed my eyes and I got a whiff of "something". Jumped up and told DW thought I smelled LP. Put my boots on and opened the door. About that time she opened the bathroom door and started yelling "the commode's overflowing - it's going everywhere"! Shut down everything and pulled the black dump handle. The new weed eater guy had run the weed eater all over the water connections and hit the valve on the Y at the faucet that the black flush hose was connected to turning it on. Big mess. Never happened before but lesson learned. Just fyi. Oh, and thankfully we had dumped the day before so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

[Charlie 3931fb]

Cleaning out our black tank's I always do a hose flush from the toilet down into the tank with a clean out wand that I made myself. Hook it up to full pressure and on a no kink hose that has a metal covering and let it clean the sidewalls of the tank's then I use the flush and add 15 gallons of water to finish the clean out. I then put 5 gallons of water back in the tank with Happy Camper or Calgon and Lysol to the tank and let the road mix it up. Seem to be working for us.

[Jeff n Susan]

Cousin Eddy would be proud of ya!
LOL

[Camp CA]

Not my folly.............but a friend of mine was anxious to drive his rv to the dump station so he and his wife brought the slides in then drove off ONLY to destroy their awning that was still fully deployed.

[bcrvman]

Originally Posted by lightsout

Ok we have all been distracted or forgot something in the set up to tear down process of camping, let hear the stories. I will start

Been RVing and Motor Yachting for 30 years yet every once and a while I get side tracked or distracted and something unplanned happens.

Anyway last week the day before leaving our campsite of 2 weeks I was flushing out the Black tank and as most of you know the tank cleaning system does not do a very good job and it helps tremendously to allow it to run with the discharge valve closed to fill it up a bit and then drain to help get the solids out. My process is to drain the tank close the valve and then let the flushing work for about 5-8 minutes then open the valve, I do this 3-4 times as I have for years and yes I am aware of the consequences of over filling during this process.

This time forgot to tell my wife I was flushing the black tank and not to use the toilet

Well the wife went to the bathroom to do her business and when she flushed the pressure from the tank flush with the hose still on created a back pressure causing the contents of the bowl to blow out and up when she tried to flush. Oh boy was she pissed LOL it splattered much of the bathroom and her...

While the black tank was maybe 1/2 full from the flush it still built up pressure. I always stand guard while I flush the tank it so happens this one time I forgot to inform her... That will not happen again at least with this wife... She laughed about it a few hours later but she did not think it was funny at the time.

I keep hearing stories like this. Turn off the exhaust fan, don't flush, smells coming up. I went on the roof with a hose and filled up the vent pipe for a while. When it didn't back up and I could see water flowing out the clear elbow I knew I had an operating vent. Now I never smell anything, I flush with the exhaust fan running and half fill the tank with the rinsers.
This is how it works when the vent is open. If your experience is different, I respectfully submit you have a vent problem. Try the hose in the vent and see if the water comes back up the vent or goes in the tank.

[bcrvman]

Originally Posted by 1retired06

Feeling the need for a super flush, I closed the black tank valve, ran a hose and started running water into the tank thru the toilet. Stepped outside, got in a conversation, lost track of time, and then the wife was yelling because the toilet was overflowing and flooding the fifth wheel. Guess who got to clean up the mess.

Watch timer, phone timer, mechanical timer on flush hose. Pick one.

[laverdur]

Not real sure how pressure built up in the black tank. Isn't it vented through the roof?

[Biker bill]

Before I got my montana I had a diesel pusher. I put everything away didn't think I forgot anything. I'm driving down the street and looked at my drivers side mirror. All I could see was a brown wall. I left the drivers side slide out. Oops, no damage to anyone or anything.

[saber707]

Originally Posted by lightsout

Ok we have all been distracted or forgot something in the set up to tear down process of camping, let hear the stories. I will start

Been RVing and Motor Yachting for 30 years yet every once and a while I get side tracked or distracted and something unplanned happens.

Anyway last week the day before leaving our campsite of 2 weeks I was flushing out the Black tank and as most of you know the tank cleaning system does not do a very good job and it helps tremendously to allow it to run with the discharge valve closed to fill it up a bit and then drain to help get the solids out. My process is to drain the tank close the valve and then let the flushing work for about 5-8 minutes then open the valve, I do this 3-4 times as I have for years and yes I am aware of the consequences of over filling during this process.




This time forgot to tell my wife I was flushing the black tank and not to use the toilet

Well the wife went to the bathroom to do her business and when she flushed the pressure from the tank flush with the hose still on created a back pressure causing the contents of the bowl to blow out and up when she tried to flush. Oh boy was she pissed LOL it splattered much of the bathroom and her...

While the black tank was maybe 1/2 full from the flush it still built up pressure. I always stand guard while I flush the tank it so happens this one time I forgot to inform her... That will not happen again at least with this wife... She laughed about it a few hours later but she did not think it was funny at the time.

You can't unsee that......

[DebNJim B]

I use an indoor/outdoor thermometer so I know what the overnight/morning temp is (we winter camp). I clip the outdoor sensor behind the J-wrap under the dining slide by the door to keep it in the shade. I have in the past forgotten to take it in when we de-camp and sometimes it's there when we arrive and sometimes it's not.

I'm on my fourth sensor...you'd think I'd learn.