Black Water Tank

[atom ant]

Originally Posted by travelin' texans

After rinsing once or twice I will add about 2/3 of of a cap of el cheapo laundry detergent & rinse a couple more times, I do this about every second or third time I dump.

Never thought of that. Does it foam up or is it pretty minimal?

[rcflame]

Many years ago a fellow camper told me about a concoction that he uses to help clean the tanks. It is equal parts pine sol, ammonia, and downey fabric softener. I take about a quart of each, put it in the tanks, put bout 1/3 of a tank of water and go for a drive. Usually I'll do this when we move from one place to another. Flush it out when we get to our destination, and it helps clean the sensors and looking at the stuff that comes out it gets a lot of stuff out of the tank. Don't do it real often, but when the opportunity presents itself.

[travelin' texans]

Laundry detergent foams very little. There is also a "Geo-method"
concoction that's detergent & calgon water softener that works also.

[S&K]

Does the Redwood come with this, or do you have to buy this separately? I'm trying to think thru having everything you would need on a trip, and you would need one of those if you were parked at a campground that didn't have full hookups, correct?

If so, how big of a tank would you get? How many use the portable system?

Thanks,

Shelley

[rcflame]

I have never needed a portable tank. We can usually go about a week without dumping tanks. If I am where I don't have sewer (which is very seldom now) I usually don't have water so if I had to dump tanks, I would probably need water also. Also some places (like quartzite where there are no hookups on the desert) have trucks that come around and you can dump the tanks and get water. Just never have really had the need for the portable tanks, and that is something else to haul around.

[Gegallant]

We make a habit of dumping left over ice into the black tank before we leave a campsite. Add a few gallons of water and you'll have "scrubbers" working on the tank as you travel until the ice melts. When melted, the tank will be ready to drain upon your next hookup.
BTW, use cubed ice since crushed won't have enough weight to break anything loose. Make sure the cubes are not clumped together so they won't damage any sensors. Somewhere between half a bag and a full bag will do the trick.
We also found that the cables that open and close the dump valves flex a little and don't always seal up all the way. This was evident by the dark liquid at the end of the drain hookup when the cap was removed. We added an additional shut off at the end of the between the end of the pipe and the cap. That will save you getting a hand full of goodies when removing the cap.

Safe travels
George and Kay

[atom ant]

There was a fella on the Montana club with a brand new Big Sky that put ice in his tank and headed down the road. I don't know what he did or what the circumstances were, but he split the tank wide open.

Just be careful I guess.

[Whistler]

I had a "Hurricane" irrigator installed on my black water tank. I empty it initially and then run the Hurricane for 3-5 minutes then empty it again. Sometimes takes one more time to get the lights to indicate it is empty.
Whistler

[AlanN]

Originally Posted by rcflame

I have been putting water in the black tanks and flushing our campers for years. I drain the tank, shut the valve, let it fill to a point I know is safe, and open the valve again. Sometimes I do it a couple times if it still looks like bad stuff coming out the first time. The first time I do it on a camper, I shut the valve, have the wife watch the gauge, (sometimes have to shut the valve off to get a good reading if it is splashing on the sensors.) I will let it go just a short time after it hits the 2/3 mark and shut it off. I have been keeping track of the time as I'm doing this. Once I know how long it takes to get to that point, from than on when I dump I use that time to know I won't overfill the tank.

I'm used to doing it this way myself, but haven't been RVing in ten years. I think I'll time the black water tank refill a few times; when I'm sure of the time I'll set it on a LOUD alarm. It would be just like me to walk away and forget, LOL! Thanks.

[gridiron]

Can you give me more information on the Hurricane irrigator please.

[atom ant]

Originally Posted by Whistler

I had a "Hurricane" irrigator installed on my black water tank. I empty it initially and then run the Hurricane for 3-5 minutes then empty it again. Sometimes takes one more time to get the lights to indicate it is empty.
Whistler

Isn't that what we already have installed at the factory?

[Dro67]

I thought that was the Black Tank flush...

[atom ant]

Originally Posted by Dro67

I thought that was the Black Tank flush...

I'm guessing Whistler doesn't have a Redwood or doesn't have one yet, and is talking about how he added a flush kit to his existing unit? maybe?

[Oriana]

Brad - I tried Google for Hurricane irrigator and didn't come up with anything?

[atom ant]

Andy, I couldn't either, but I do remember a one sheet manual for the one on my Montana, and I thought it was called a hurricane.

[NW Snowbirds]

You're close, Brad.Try tornado tank flush. But then you know all about tornados!
Terry

[atom ant]

Ahhh you're right Terry! Thanks for refreshing my memory!

Yes, it sounds like I may be learning a little more about Tornados today as well

[Oriana]

Brad - Was reading in the news yesterday about the weather you are experiencing, hopefully they aren't in your immediate area. The heat and humidity out here is nothing in comparison to what you are dealing with.

Hoping all is well and you can get away for your upcoming long weekend.

[atom ant]

Thanks Andy!

We are actually doing fine, our house has had very little moisture as everything seems to go over the top of us before it drops. Not always that way, as we had $48K in hail damage a couple of years ago when we lost our wood roof (finally ) and some paint and a few things.

We kind of go through this every few years - like living in London in 1940, never know where its going to hit or when. One of the reasons I typically just stay home on Memorial Day. Just hoping it doesn't clobber the Redwood this early in the season, as its sitting on the Dealer lot and we are going to get hit every afternoon through Sunday.

[40KB LIMITED]

I have a question and this post may be long! I am a traveling worker my brother and I lived in a fusion toy hauler. We were gone all day, only there at night, on average we had to dump the black tank every 2weeks according to the field indicator, I am traveling with my wife now in a 40KB she stays in RV most of the day while I am at work now I need to dump it every week! I am not saying anything about my wife but I think the tank is smaller or the indicator is wrong. I use the timer on my Iphone when I clean out the black tank I ran this test using a 5gallon Home Depot bucket I can fill the bucket in 3min with the water hose! I know how much water is going in my black tank with the valve closed so I set my timer at 2minutes to be safe, when the alarm goes off, I open the valve I do this 2times, then I always put a little water back in for the new week! I time this for one minute so I know there is only 2.5gallons of water in the tank. One time I wanted to see how long it would take to fill the tank from empty, I started the fill and set the timer, I ran inside held the indicator button and watched all the red LED'S come on until full! To my surprise it only took 6minutes, now if I can fill a 5gallon bucket in 3minutes that is 10 gallons in 6minutes. Either I have a 10 gallon black tank or the float needs adjusting! How many gallons is it suppose to be?