Shake Test

[ols1932]

I was one of those who brought an alert to the MOC when I found that all of a sudden Angel Soft changed. Where it used to break down immediately when placed in a glass of water, it change where it didn't seem to break down at all.

For what it's worth, we picked up a 4-roll pack of 2-ply toilet paper today from Albertson’s in Carlsbad, NM that seems to break down fairly rapidly. My wife did the “stir” test with her finger in the glass of water and the paper began to disintegrate immediately and was all apart in about 4 minutes. The name on the wrapper was Essential EVERYDAY™, Soft & Strong Bathroom Tissue. It is distributed by SuperValu, Inc of Eden Prairie, MN.

Orv

 

[Kenneth Deiss]

Originally posted by ols1932

I was one of those who brought an alert to the MOC when I found that all of a sudden Angel Soft changed. Where it used to break down immediately when placed in a glass of water, it change where it didn't seem to break down at all.

For what it's worth, we picked up a 4-roll pack of 2-ply toilet paper today from Albertson’s in Carlsbad, NM that seems to break down fairly rapidly. My wife did the “stir” test with her finger in the glass of water and the paper began to disintegrate immediately and was all apart in about 4 minutes. The name on the wrapper was Essential EVERYDAY™, Soft & Strong Bathroom Tissue. It is distributed by SuperValu, Inc of Eden Prairie, MN.

Orv

That is the product we have been using purchasing from Shop N Save Super Markets in the Pittsburgh Area The whole Sale Supplier Super Value so far working well!

 

[WaltBennett]

Just tried the test with our Costco Kirtland TP - 90 seconds and mush without much shaking, just rocking (figure that's what goes on in the tank going down the road anyway).

 

[richfaa]

Well let me tell you .We never paid much attention to TP brands as long as it said septic tank safe we used it and have never over many, many years of black tanks had any kind of a TP issue. Scots is in the camper now and we did a test on Charmin that we had it the S&B results posted in this thread.

Well today I willfully, deliberately and with premeditation purchased a 4 pack of Angle soft, regular, septic safe, two ply with soft shield layers. Several sheets are soaking in a plastic container here in my PC room. They did not dissolve in 15 seconds, they did not dissolve in 15 minutes and after 2 hours are a stringy, mushy mess that comes apart when I try to lift it with a pencil.

I said to myself.....my self how often do you dump the black tank. Since we are 99% of the time at a full hookup we dump every at least every 3 days. We do not wait for that gross "burp", We use plenty of water and flush thoroughly. We, my self said do not dump every 15 seconds or every 15 minute's so why am I concerned what it does in 15 seconds or 15 minutes or 1 or 2 hours. from what I observe here in front of me after 2 hours it is not going to be a problem in 3 days,

So use plenty of water, flush well and TP will not be a problem.

 

[richfaa]

24 hours into the Angel soft test. The TP is in a plastic container in 2 inches of water. I am looking at a white haze suspended in the 2 inches of water. There is no solid to it at all. Still have another 48 hours to go before I would dump the tank. The Angel soft will clog the black tank myth is busted.

Now let the tank dry out, do not flush properly or do not use enough water with any brand and you are in trouble.

 

[troutslayer]

Tires, toilet paper...tires, toilet paper...tires, toilet paper. I'm so conflicted!

 

[sreigle]

The shake test works very well for us but I don't let it sit there in the water. I shake it immediately. You can see if it disintegrates but that may not be enough. To pass my test I pour the shook up results down the kitchen sink drain. If any catches in the drain cross bars, that's not good enough. It has to go through cleanly.

Angel Soft used to pass the test, before they changed the formula. Then we started having problems. OLS1932 posted similar problems. A new shake test showed it appeared to disintegrate but not enough to go cleanly down the drain. We tested several others, trying to find one that also passes the happy butt test. We finally settled on Scott Extra Soft single ply. It is single ply but it's thick and it passes all tests. I didn't like the Scott Mega Roll but I can't recall if it was just the happy butt test it failed. The Extra Soft works very well for us. Not quite as nice as the Angel Soft but we've had no more build up problems since switching last Fall.

That situation last Fall was where we had pyramids built up in the tank and the tank would not allow any more into the tank, even after dumping the tank. This happened several times. I tried backflushing with an attachment at the dump pipe end. I tried high pressure down the toilet. Each time (except the last time), I was able to knock the pyramid down enough to allow the water to go into the tank. However, we were having to dump every 3 days instead of 5 to 7 days.

The last time I could not break it down for the life of me. I tried everything I could for several days. Finally I made an appt at our dealer, 85 miles away, and after quite some time he was able to break it loose. He said large clumps of TP came out. That was the last of our use of Angel Soft. I then experimented with other papers, doing the shake test on each until we finally settled on the Scott Extra Soft single ply.

My point is the Angel Soft says Septic Safe. And it probably is in a 1000 gallon septic tank, or whatever size they are. But in this 38 gallon tank, it doesn't cut it for us.

The Angel Soft appeared to pass the shake test but pouring it down the drain, it caught, badly, on the drain cross hairs. Not good enough.

 

[richfaa]

the shake test is Ok I guess but my concern is what does it do after 3 days or so in the black tank as that is how long it usually stays in there. In the testing we did on this thread after 72 hours in 2 inches of water they were all stringy mush including the new angle soft.

 

[bobsals]

I think in a nutshell, we are trying to get a paper that breaks down as quickly as possible. I think most of us pre-charge our black tank with enough water to suspend any paper or solids, (I dump in about 4 gallons along with the deodorant). Why, we want to have paper and solids to float away from the inlet pipe area so as not to collect there. The better the paper breaks down when submersed, the better it will disperse in the tank. Another reason we want the paper to dissolve is so it doesn't get caught in the valve gate channel. The more dissolved the paper is the less chance it will get caught and prevent the valve from closing all the way. We want 100% of what goes in to come out.

 

[bigred715]

We now use the Kirkland brand after seeing recommendations on the forum. We also wait and dump after about 15 days in our winter stay in Mesa Arizona. After dumping I let it refill for about 5 to 7 minutes and dump again. Do this about 3 times before refilling for another 5 minutes and add chemicals.

 

[richfaa]

Well it is not going to dissolve as in disappear. The water in my test plastic containers after 72 hours was a milky white with all three brands, Scott, Charmin and Angel soft. It would not stick to a pencil. Now when I dumped it on a paper towel and it dried out it returned to something that could clog a tank if left dry long enough. We have been using black tanks for over 20 years. We use a lot of water always keep our tanks wet even now parked along the house. We have never had a clog with any kind of TP.A clogged tank is due to not doing something properly...IMO.

 

[Carole-MOC]

I just did the shake/dissolve test on the Dollar General Premium Soft bath tissue 2 ply, and it dissolved better than any other paper I have tried. Much better than Angel Soft, White Cloud or Charmin. I will be using this brand in the Monty all the time. I was very pleased with the results of this test.