Grey Tank Flushing Connection

Chaplin28

Member
Black Tank Flushing Connection

We have never used the Black Tank Flushing connection until today. We had hose hooked up and valve open to keep dumping the system, once we turned on the water there was no water going through the system, just pressured up the hose. Are we missing something here to be able to use this system properly?
2011 North Country Lakeside Edition, 30 FT Quad Bunkhouse.
Thanks!!!
 
Last edited:

jimtoo

Moderator
Hi Chaplin28,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum and to the family. We have a great bunch of folks here with lots of information and all willing to share their knowledge when needed.

I think first we need to know what unit you have. I don't know of any that should just let hose pressure up thou. If you are hooked to the correct connection, then I would think the only thing that might cause that is the backflow check valve is stuck in the closed position. You might take the screen and washer out and see if you can tap it loose if it is stuck. Hopefully some of our other owners will jump in soon.

But please post what unit you have so someone maybe able to give better help as to location of check and such.

Jim M
 

donr827

Well-known member
I did not know that your trailer has a gray tank flush. Mine does not have one but does have a black tank flush connection. Maybe that is your problem, you have the gray tank valve open with the flush water going to the black tank or you just made a mistake in posting which tank you are talking about.
 

hoefler

Well-known member
When draining the black tank, most of the liquid can run out and leave behind a mound of solids blocking the drain line. Each unit will be different and depends on how level it is and how it is plumbed. By adding sufficient water to the black tank with the flusher, it will fill enough to push out the blockage and have a rush of water behind it. Just monitor it the first few times you dump it and you will learn how much water it takes to flush. With my particular unit, I have found that if I raise the front as high as I can get it, it will flush easier.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
When draining the black tank, most of the liquid can run out and leave behind a mound of solids blocking the drain line. Each unit will be different and depends on how level it is and how it is plumbed. By adding sufficient water to the black tank with the flusher, it will fill enough to push out the blockage and have a rush of water behind it. Just monitor it the first few times you dump it and you will learn how much water it takes to flush. With my particular unit, I have found that if I raise the front as high as I can get it, it will flush easier.

It's sounding like nothing is coming out of the sewer outlet while you're running the black tank flush.

If your black tank valve leaks a little bit, the black water can drain out slowly when you're not dumping the tank, especially if you leave the sewer line hooked up with gray valves open. As Hoefler noted, this results in a buildup of solids and paper in the bottom of the tank. When you begin flushing, it can move to the gate valve opening and block it until there's enough pressure to force it out with a rush of water behind it.

If you get some sense of the water flow coming out of the campground, you can run a timer on your cell phone while using the black tank flush. At 5 gallons/minute going into a 45 gallon tank (if that's what you have), you can run the black tank flush for 5 minutes without too much risk of overfilling, even if there's still water in the black tank. Somewhere in that 5 minutes, the blockage should clear. Be careful: if you overfill the black tank, things can get ugly.

If it doesn't clear, you'll need to backflush from the sewer hose. One way is with a Flush King adapter like this. If you don't have one, you can try filling the sewer hose with water from the far end (don't contaminate your hose), and hold it above your head to let gravity backflush the clog away from the valve.

During all these operations, it's a good idea to keep your gray tank valves closed.
 

Bardeenm1

Member
Have you used the city water hook up on your camper previous? If not it is possible the label for city water and black tank have been switched. You will surely be able to hear the water running into the empty black tank if you have good water presure. The other thing that crosses my mind is that the internal hose going to the black tank flush unit is kinked and not letting the water into the tank itself to flush.

Be sure to post what you find.
 

Chaplin28

Member
Yes, I know where the water hookup is located. We had water hooked up all weekend, went to flush system with no success.
 

hriker

Well-known member
Re: Black Tank Flushing Connection

I have heard of the check valve being installed backwards by accident. If it is backwards it will stop the flow of water from entering the black tank. Locate the check valve and ensure it was installed correctly. Just a thought.

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