Calgon article

[WACOT]

I know it has been discussed before and that I am going to get yelled at, but here goes. I have searched and searched for the article by some chemist about using Calgon in his black tank, There was a web site that he had just for that topic. Can anyone help me here.
Thanks.

[TheCoachPotatoes]

Here is the article you are referring to:

http://www.newrver.com/publish/holdingtank.shtml

AL and Nita
2003 Chevy Dually
2005 3670RL

[Parrothead]

Good article, glad I have been doing it right except for the amount. I only use 1 cup and it seems to work. I hadn't thought of the drain stopper but then those aren't the tanks normally smelly. But I am going to do it on our bathroom sink since it drains into the black tank.
Thanks for posting the link to the article.
Happy trails...........................

Sue and Ed Rowe
Hemet California

2005 3400RL

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

[CountryGuy]

I note with some surprise, that the article in that link states:

"Occasionally, I pour a gallon of liquid bleach into each tank to sanitize and disinfect them."

Could he really mean a FULL GALLON in each tank?? HOLY MOLY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, I cannot see putting a FULL GALLON in any tank at one time. I might dump a cup of bleach in the tanks, but a GALLON??

okkk, it is his article, and I am with Sue, I do a lot of what he says just the same way, but, I won't be dumping a FULL GALLON of bleach down any of my tanks. I won't say never, cause never is a bad word, it bites back, but, geeshhhh! Shudder!!! NADDA.

Carol


(Thanks Glenn)

Al & Carol Stevens Tipton, Mi.
Retired - Traveling with 4 Yorkies
2004 3295RK
2003 GMC 3500 Allison/8.1
PullRite 15.5K Super 5th
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Bilstein shocks
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[Wrenchtraveller]

It is a good article but like Carol, I think a gallon of bleach would be excessive. Also the last bit of advice about leaving a stopper in the drains is not necessary. This is what a trap does for you and why when you winterize you fill the trap with a cup of plumbers anti feeze. You want to push the regular water out of the trap as well as keep the seal. A trap will evaporate out but it takes a long period of not using your plumbing. The plumbers anti-freeze does not evaporate.

Also, I have left my Grey water tanks open while hooked up to sewer for the last 30 years and I will continue to do so. I don't want to be standing in the shower up to my ankles in water yelling, " Donna go open the sewer drain"

But overall, some good ideas and thanks for the link.

Don & Donna
Vancouver Island
2005 Ford F350 V10 Lariat CC 4x4 LB SRW 11200 GVWR
2006 Montana 2955RL
click on the little pic to see a big pic

[CountryGuy]

We keep the gray and galley closed, so that things that float (but don't always get out the drain, holding tank, pipes, etc.) will not end up as a dried mess on the bottom of the tank. Yes, I am talking gray and galley. Food particles (no matter how careful we are at scraping the dishes before we wash em) are the worst, but, all that soap scum is messy too. Soap scum will form a hard deposit. If you don't think so, go into some bathroom where it is not kept clean, ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, look at the white scummy deposits, from the soap.

Each to his own for sure, but we keep those tanks closed just like the black tank. Dump every so many showers, or so many days in the galley. We get caught once in a while, ya know, oldtimers, etc. We have managed to laugh off our silliness so far.

Each to his own,

Calgon rules! HA HA

Carol

[Longwell]

As a long-time emergency services volunteer, I was taught that to sanitize surfaces, equipment, etc., you need a clorox solution that is 10% clorox. That is 1 gallon of clorox in every 9 gallons of water. Less than 10% won't sanitize; more than that is a mild waste of clorox.
I don't know the capacity of your holding tanks, but if you add one gallon of clorox for every 9 gallons of water, you'll have a solution strong enough to sanitize.
I hope this helps.
Larry

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[Parrothead]

I follow what I learned a long time ago in Girl Scouts when camping. A tablespoon of bleach to a gallon of water. I think there is a difference in the application we are after as opposed to sanitizing. The products you can buy like at CW to put in the gray tank are not 10% bleach. I'm with Carol on not putting a gallon in there. We do leave our galley open when parked and have done this now for almost 15 years and never had a problem. And we have been parked as long as a year in one place. Again lots of water helps that also. Dishwashing soap is different than bar soap and I think that makes a difference. As Carol says though to each his own. I think you have to do what works for you. We have to leave the gray tank open when running the washing machine but close it when done so we have water from showers to rinse the hose after dumping the black tank.
Happy trails..........................

Sue and Ed Rowe
Hemet California

2005 3400RL

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

[CountryGuy]

We have been known to use some bleach to clean the fresh water tank. I can tell you, that is 60 gallons, we fill it up and add some bleach, like a 1/2 cup! Last time I thought we would never get rid of the bleach smell. Now, don't get me wrong, it does not bother me one bit, but Al is seriously offended by the smell when he is taking a shower.

Now, we are supposed to have traps to keep the smell from coming back out at us, gotta say, you better be praying yours are 100% functional if you are gonna dump that much bleach in those tanks! Whewiieeee, it would drop you to your knees if the chlorine smell escaped from the tanks into your rig. YUCK!

Larry the tanks are 38 gallons. By your numbers we would have to use 4 gallons if we filled up each tank, yes??

Ok, I gotta go shudder someplace. yikes! Way past my comfort zone here! HA HA

Sue, I don't leave the galley open after I saw what came out with some rinse water one time. We had a small amount of water in there, had to drain it in the yard (we live on 5 acres, so not a public health issue here) and we do not have access to our septic (wish we did ! ) Anyway, we had to dump a bit of gray and galley water out, and yikes, all those food particles. The thought of them laying on the bottom of the galley tank just really got me going. More ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww factor. So, my comfort zone, my galley is kept closed too!

Sue, I think your concentration on the bleach would be much closer to something that sounds reasonable to me, and to my comfort zone!

I am gonna take my comfort zone away now, HAHA

Carol

[Jerzy54]

It is very informative article and I think I will implement most of his advices.
Only problem I have is with this quote---" When my RV is parked and not in use I place stoppers in my sink and tub drains. This allows the wastewater tanks to vent through the vent pipes to the outside instead of through the drains into the RV."
I think that every sink and shower tub contains so called "trap" which prevents septic fumes from entering thru the drains.
I am maybe wrong and that why I am adding my two words here. Any comments greatly appreciated.

Jerzy&Tricia05 Montana 3500RL05 Ford F250 Lariat 6.0L PSD SB CC FX4 4X4Reese Signature Series5TH Airborne King Pin

[rickety]

Sue, you're right, 1 teaspoon bleach, i gallon water=50ppm. just right for sanitizing just about anything. You will have to ramp up the quantity of bleach for sanitizing sinks, about 1/2 to 3/4 cup per tank is plenty.
Was a good and infromative article, I will be doing the calgon thing!

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Rick and Phyllis Trent,
2004 Chevrolet 2500HD/Duramax/Allison,exhaust brake.
2004 Monty 3280RL/slide toppers,sleep comfort bed. Full Timers since January 2006!
Gizmo the dog who thinks he's a Great Dane

[Bobcat]

Sue is right on the bleach mixture. One tablespoon of bleach to a gallon of water. This is what we are taught in the restaurant industry. Needs contact time of at least 15 min. I have just started using Enzomatic in my black tank. This is an enzyme producing bacteria that eliminates odors and maintains drains. This is mainly recomended for septic tanks. Can not use in galley or grey tanks, because hot water and bleach will kill the "good" bacteria. I have used this in the hotel and restaurant business with great success. I do like the reasoning behind the Calcon mentioned in the article. Right now, we do not have the hard water problem. We were leaving our galley open on the Wildcat we had. One day came home to an odor.
We do not leave open anymore and now put order control in tank. Worth whatever the cost.

[sreigle]

We've on rare occasions arrived to a destination to find a smelly interior in our rig. It appears a long day of very rough roads can sometimes jiggle the water out of the traps. Turning on faucets to fill the traps again and using the exhaust fan or fantastic fan to exhaust the odors is all we have to do.

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)

[Charlie]

We are still looking for a place to buy Calgon. Seems like no one in SE Texas handles it. Anyone have any suggestions?

Charlie
2001 F-250 Lariat SC 4x2 LB 7.3L PSD
BD Power ECM 80 HP Performance Chip
BD Power X-Monitor LED Digital Gauges
Firestone Ride-Rite Air Bags
2005 3295RK

[Ozzie]

Our local Cub Foods has the liquid Calgon. I haven't tried it yet, but have tried the Borax with a few back flushes.
I must take pretty good care of the tanks, because I haven't seen much black water coming out.


327RKS

[Lije Baley]

Calgon is hiding from us in northern California also.

"What's this smell like?"

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Bill and Mariana McCamy
'05 F-250 Lariat 6L PSD
'05 2955RL
Woodland, CA

[MAMalody]

I don't know the ratio, I have never calculated it, however I have been told that you use 1/4 cup of bleach for each 10 gallons of water. For 60 gallon fresh water tank that would be 1 1/2 cup of bleach. Works for me.

Mike

F350 7.3L LB SRW
2003 3575RL

[Bluegill]

Another good thread. I never would have learned this stuff on my own.

Blue



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




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[CountryGuy]

I have found Calgon at Walley world, in the laundry detergent aisle, found in liquid form more lately than in dry.

If you live in a part of the country where your water is particularly soft, you might have trouble finding it.

Bottle I currently have is white plastic, think the label has some pink on it.

Ha ha, did a search, came up with: http://www.calgon.us/

Guess the label is not pink! HA HA HA

They say: For more information, please contact Consumer Relations at:
Telephone: 1-800-228-4722

Maybe a call will let you ask WHERE in your particular area!

Good luck,

Carol


(Thanks Glenn)

Al & Carol Stevens Tipton, Mi.
Retired - Traveling with 4 Yorkies
2004 3295RK
2003 GMC 3500 Allison/8.1
PullRite 15.5K Super 5th
Line-X
JackRabbit tonneau cover
Bilstein shocks
Isolator Pin Box

Our Camping Rig History
Montana Improvements and Travel Reports
Recipe for the RVing Life

Our take on RV ownership, "Ya better be handy with your hands and handy with your cash."

Every day spent on earth is a blessing, every day spent in our Montana is a day blessed twice.

[dchafer]

when we purchased our new Escaper in 1994, we were so proud. We had the rear kitchen and it was great until our grey tank fell. What a mess. And in only approx 6 months usage. The tech came onsite, thankfully, and showed us the damage. Manufacturer replaced the tank no charge, but, looking back now, it was probably because we left it open and with constant usage for so long the soap buildup was incredible. Tech showed us the "residue" that remains in the bottom and it is amazing. It was about 8 inches of grey "lava", thats the only way I can explain it. It is worse than what is in the black tank, if you can imagine that... So, needless to say. We don't leave our tanks open anymore. Thanks for that calgon info. That is interesting. I printed that to add to my Files of warranty papers, its always nice to refresh your memory once in a while.
Diane

Diane,Dennis & Taffy
2006 - 3400RL
2003 Silverado 2500 HD D/A, Prodigy Control
Reese 16K Slider