Another black tank question

patrick1945

Well-known member
I think one of my problems with draining the black tank is I don't get enough water in the tank. I empty the tank when the monitor reads full. I notice that there are different color lights in the series leading up to a reading of full. There is a green, followed by an orange and then to 2 reds. Am I to dump with the forth light is at red regardless of the colors of the others? Page 39 of the manual just says the monitor will tell you when the tanks are full.
 
You dump the tanks when they are full. I wait for mine to be all the way full before I dump them. We have the black tank flush system installed on my 2009 Big Country 3490rb so that is not really a problem. I have always filled the gray tanks up as well when I flush black, that way I have plenty of soapy fresh water to rince the sewer hose with.

Your monitor will show you all the lights ON once you are full. Keep in mind, that even though the sensor turns the lights on, you still have more capacity to fill it up some more. Just don't let it get up to the level of the floor. That is too full.

If you flushing system does not empty it enough to turn the lights off after you dump, you might have some debris on the sensors in the tank. So flishing it out from the toilet might be in order. There are some pretty good wands that you can use that will allow you to get into the tank and flush it. I don't know the plumbing of your tank, but explore that if it's not showing empty all the way.

As a last resort, if you can't get it to empty on the monitor, and you still want to get it to work, and flushing did not help. You can fill your black tank about 3/4 full and then tow it around the town. Shaking up the contents of the black tank when you are towing, also risnes off the sensors and loosens up the stuff that is stuck.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress....
 

TXBobcat

Fulltime
Hello Patrick
I never pay any attention to the gages. They end up not showing correct readings.

On the Black Tank, if we are staying a week or a month in the same place, I will let the black tank fill up until you get the Blurp where you might get your tush wet if you don’t dump. You will know what I am talking about when it happens. If we only stay a couple of days I will dump when I get enough in the tank to wash out all the debris. I always use the Sani flush to wash out any solids that might remain in the bottom. When you use the sani flush you will see the water stop coming out for a little bit then a big flow will wash out. I keep this going until the water runs easy and is mainly clear. You need to have a clear attachment between the drain and the sewer hose. About once a month or so I will fill up the black tank all the way until I see it coming up in the toilet and then dump the tank. I may do this more than once.

For the gray water, I empty them before I travel or once a week depending on how much we use it. I have had the kitchen water fill up into the sink and then go out dump the tank. Seldom do I let the shower fill up. I hate to have water standing in the shower and I am not finished and covered with soap.

A lot of people on various forums talk about different methods of taking care of their black tank by using Calgon, GEO and other chemicals in the tank. Most of the long time Fulltimers I have spoken with do not use anything in the black tank. Natural enzymes will do the job for you the majority of the time. In real hot weather you might put in a odor additive, but nothing else most of the time. This can get into a big debate, like the Ford, Chevy and Dodge truck.

This is what we do.Have fun and travel safe

BC
 

PUG

Pug
On my 3950 I leave the grey tank valve for the bathroom open to drain as it gets the most water from bathing etc. I shut the grey tank valve for the kitchen to flush the hose after dumping the black tank. The black tank I just go ahead and dump it every third day as guages aren't very accurate. When dumping the black tank I open this valve and turn the tank rinsing valve on as it is dumping and after shutting the black valve off, I let the rinser run for a few minutes to add water to the tank. I hooked up my outside shower valves to the tank rinser using the hose provided in the utility center. This way it is hooked up all the time so when I want to flush the black tank I simply turn the outside shower cold valve on and let it run. Don't walk off and over fill the tank as I did once.
 

JohnDar

Prolifically Gabby Member
Depending on how many people are traveling in the rig, you should be able after a time to "gauge" when you've put enough in the tank to dump it. Since we sat on a seasonal site all last season, the contents never got sloshed around to clean the sensors, so I pretty much ignored them. Even backflushing and tank rinsing never got them 100%. So, with only two of us in the rig, it got down to dumping the black tank every 4 or 5 days (never heard my toilet "burp", though). I don't leave the gray tanks open unless we're running the washer, so I always have plenty of water in them when I dump the black.

Most of the summer, I just dissolved a cup of Calgon powder in a bucket of water and poured that down the toilet after dumping and flushing. Occasionally, I did put a small bottle of Aqua-Chem in just to get rid of the excess stock I had on hand.
 
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