Grey and Black Tank Treatment Suggestions

[Kowalsky]

The Kowalsky's are 2 weeks away from living in RV full time. Any suggestions on grey water and black water treatments

 

[RMcNeal]

We use Unique, but Liquified and Happy Camper have good reviews as well.
I put the Unique in our galley gray once in a while too, but not every time.

 

[Bobby P2]

I use Liquified Black and toilet bowl cleaner. Use cheaper Camco TST in grey tanks.

 

[Mark Samuelson]

Saw this on-line: 8oz of calgon liquid or bath oil beads, 40oz Pine-Sol, put into gallon jug, add water to fill jug. 8oz in each tank. Works great!

 

[Carle3]

First off, lots of water no matter what you use, that’s the trick. I like the enzyme based additives. I use Digest it plus, it also has bacteria in it. On grey tanks my wife likes the Camco TST lemon scent. It’s done a nice job of eliminating any odors which is all I’m after in a grey tank treatment. There’s a few YouTuber’s that have debunked the Calgon/Pinesol method I’d avoid that.

 

[DutchmenSport]

Will you be parked long-term or permanently when you achieve "full time" status. Or, will you be traveling, perhaps parked for several days in one location and then moving, not a permanent or long term stay anywhere.

Depending on your answer, the method to clean out your tanks is different between stationary / long term and transient living.

If long-term, suggestions above are all good. I may add, if you know how to back-flush the grey water into the black tank, that is one of the best methods you can use to help keep the black tank cleaned out. It works if you are stationary or transient. If you don't know how to do this, I'll share more.

Long term or transient, the toilet wand down the toilet hole is also, perhaps, the most effective way to flush out the black tank. Built in tank sprayers work OK, but they do not cover everything. The wand does. Again, this works for both transient and long-term life styles.

If transient, then the best thing to do is to dump the tanks before hitting the road. Then add 5 to 10 gallons of water in each tank and "take off". The sloshing of the water in the tanks when driving is the best way to clean the tanks. Just be sure to dump the tanks very soon after you reach your destination so "things" will not just settle back to the bottom and stick again.

If you notice, I did not recommend ANY chemicals or soaps. Doing these processes requires no special chemicals or soaps.

But, I have found that a bit of Dawn Dishwashing Liquid down the toilet and a bit down the sink drains for the grey tanks with that 5 to 10 gallons of water does a very fine job of washing the tanks (if transient). If stationary, then use an enzyme eater tank cleaner or drain opener. Apply a couple ounces once a week regardless of travel, and this will keep your tank healthy.

These are my "best practices" that has worked well for me for the past 25 years now.

Water and movement .... that's all you need.

 

[St. Michael]

We like to use digest it while stationary. Seems to work really well. When we’re going to go somewhere I like to put quite a bit of water in all three tanks then a cup of borax. I also add a cup of dawn in the black tank and a cup of degreaser in the greys then hit the road. The sloshing action really cleans things up.

 

[scottz]

I use nothing except some Pineglo and one of the Camco TST pouches to control odor. Remember, these are not septic systems that "treat" the sewage; they are simply holding tanks. Nothing except waste goes into our black tank, not even paper. I open the TST pods and dump the contents (not the plastic) into the tank. Makes dumping the tank much easier. Don't let the powder get on the ball valve seal; it will leak.

 

[BuckandTeresa]

Saw this on-line: 8oz of calgon liquid or bath oil beads, 40oz Pine-Sol, put into gallon jug, add water to fill jug. 8oz in each tank. Works great!

Just had my 2019 tanks cleaned by the Kleen-Tank guy who happened to be working this week at the Creede RV Park. First time.

I’ve been using the orange Liquify for the last 2 years, (since seeing a guy on YouTube test it), and the green TST before that.

The expert from Kleen-Tank recommended against all commercial products. He said they just dissolved everything so it could stick as a sludge to the bottom. He strongly recommended the Pinesol/Calgon Pearls recipe mentioned above, and even gave us a quart for free.

He says use lots and lots of water for each flush—one full bowl for number one only, 2 full bowls for number two, and it is a good idea to add 5 gals of clean water when you’ve finished flushing the tank thoroughly. The pinesol/calgon mixture makes everything slippery and flushes the tank thoroughly when dumping.

By the way, the number two gray tank (galley) was as black and gross as the black tank due to degrading food, grease and mold in a warm water environment.

I’m adding the mixture to my gray tank #2 and my black tank from now on.

He also recommended a professional cleaning each year.

 

[Mark77]

Another Kleen-Tank recipe user here. Have used this for a couple of years now and I have no odor issues and get great dumps and clean tank flushes every time. As stated above, be sure to start with 5 gallons of fresh water in your black tank after emptying and use plenty of water when flushing solids.

 

[scottz]

I found the Calgon stuff and Camco TST pods have similar ingredients. I drop one pod and a couple slugs of Pineglo (Pineglo from Walmart is a lot cheaper than Pinesol) into the black tank. I also had the Kleantank service a few years ago; they didn't get much gunk out of any of my tanks. I don't feel I need that again.

 

[DavidG425]

There are plenty of opinions (here are mine ) and lots of videos on YouTube on this topic. "RV Gear & Far" and "National RV Training Institute" have some great product comparison videos (sorry, can't find my bookmarks to them). The end results of their tests were Liquified or Unique RV DigestIt were the winners, and I would tend to agree with them.

Over the years, I have tried many of them, including the Calgon/Pinesol (biggest drawback was finding something to mix it in and the time it took weren't worth the minimal cost savings).

Water is the key! My rule is, any solids (human or TP) are followed by a full bowl of water (about 1 gallon). Never had a clog or bad smell, and the black tank rinses pretty clean after I dump it.

I currently use Liquified, because it's inexpensive and easy to dispense. Unique is around the same price point I think, but Liquified has a refill jug and I don't think Unique has one.

The "sludge" that everyone talks about is going to be caused by lack of water down the bowl and lack of adequate rinsing, regardless of which treatment or method you use.

Nothing that I have tried keeps the blank tank sensors working correctly all of the time. Only once and a while does the tank read empty after a normal dump/rinse, but a tank wand down the toilet resolves that issue. I don't worry about that too much. We know when the tanj is getting full.

As for the gray tanks, nothing there. Occasionally, a gray tank sensor gets fouled. 8 ounces of Dawn down the drain into a full tank before bed, dump in the morning and all is good. I leave the gray tank valves closed, eve though we are stationary, so that whoosh of water when I open tha valve will hopefully take any food particles with it.

Found my bookmarks:

 

[Spartacus]

Liquified for me.

 

[jkxtreme]

We only use the Pinesol / Calgon combo. Keeps it clean and no odor.