Post Black Tank Cleaning Survey

[RockwallJDGx2]

So there is lots of information about cleaning your black tanks so I'm good to go with that. My question is what do you do after your tanks are clean, you're returning home and don't plan on using your rig for a few weeks? I've been adding 1/4 cup of Calgon and 1/4 cup of Dawn and mixing with 5 gallons of water and pouring the blend in the black tank. What do you do?

 

[RoadJunkie]

Once the tanks are dumped and rinsed, I don't do anything more. I'm not understanding why you would put anything in tanks that won't be used for some time, especially in freeze areas of the country.

 

[RockwallJDGx2]

I'm not sure why but I didn't want to leave it empty but I'm perfectly willing to rethink it based on what people reply to my post.

 

[kowAlski631]

We leave ours empty. We put a couple of gallons of water and some enzymes in before we pull out and let them work while we're on the road.

 

[Oregon_Camper]

Finish black tank process.

Let Black Tank flush run for about 1 min...adding water to tank.

Wife drops in a blue packet.

Done.

 

[pjones1969]

I drain mine the best I can, don’t add anything after dumping


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[ksucats]

If done for the season (winterizing) then we dump as much as will come out and leave it alone. If we plan to use it again (no freezing expected) we will add a few gallons of water and some biomagic stuff (I don't remember the name - I think it is biochem ) and if it does get cold we run the furnace to keep it from freezing. Then when done, dump, run the tank cleaner a time or two to get it clean and then dump as much as will come out again.

 

[avvidclif]

Once the tanks are dumped and rinsed, I don't do anything more. I'm not understanding why you would put anything in tanks that won't be used for some time, especially in freeze areas of the country.

Texas is a freeze area?????

 

[jassson007]

Texas is a freeze area?????

Parts of north Texas see ice and snow on an almost regular basis


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[jayc]

We've lived in Texas all our lives and I've never winterized. We lived on the coast, so it was pretty safe but we are full timers now and stay in some cold winter spots. I now drain the ice maker line but thats about all I do. So far, no problem.

Fair warning...we usually have a hard winter after having a hurricane. Houston was hit by a doozy in case you slept through it!

 

[CDN]

Clean and flush. When winterizing there is some antifreeze left in the bottom of the tank against the valve usually let this drain to make sure no water is left to freeze against the valve. We do get -30 F at times here.

 

[RockwallJDGx2]

Thanks for all the replies. I think after cleaning I'll try leaving it empty. I'm in San Antonio so while we don't get lots of cold we can drop below freezing a few times each winter. I already planned to drain my water lines and add RV antifreeze to all my drain lines and tanks in advance of a freeze.

 

[happykraut]

Finish black tank process.

Let Black Tank flush run for about 1 min...adding water to tank.

Wife drops in a blue packet.

Done.

Ditto here, but I flush mine for a much longer time.

 

[SNOKING]

Thanks for all the replies. I think after cleaning I'll try leaving it empty. I'm in San Antonio so while we don't get lots of cold we can drop below freezing a few times each winter. I already planned to drain my water lines and add RV antifreeze to all my drain lines and tanks in advance of a freeze.

You want to run pink stuff into the water pump!

Chris

 

[esscobra]

in past 7 winters in san Antonio-emptied tanks best as possible- blew airlines out w/compressed air , added pink to drains- drained water heater - and when was close to or did freeze - turned on furnace to lowest setting - and opened all cabinet doors so heat could get to any plumbing inside- no issues- planning on doing same- with bighorn and even thinking of installing some timers onto the yeti system heaters- and going to adjust the basement heater routing

 

[SailorDon]

Texas is a freeze area?????

Texas is big, so it depends on where in Texas you store your travel trailer.

I live in Livingston, TX and there were 3 consecutive days of temperatures in the low 20's last winter. I was glad I winterized my trailer.
Note: I forgot to winterize the city water connection, but I got lucky and no damage occurred.

I had palm trees 15 feet tall that were killed by the freeze.
My next door neighbor had 20 feet tall palm trees, also killed by the freeze.
Bye Bye palm trees.

 

[dave10a]

For years now I have been using http://www.uniquedistributing.com/product_info.php?products_id=94 which does a great job of keeping tanks from orders and stervites. I suppose other probiotics for RVs would work as well. Before using it make sure your black tank is rinsed out well. When storing for a length of time, I add about 16oz to 5gals of water which does a great job cleaning any residue from the sides of the tanks. I don't store in freeing weather. If I did I would flush and empty the tank. I don't know if the microbes can withstand freezing. However the mfg claims that it will not freeze.

 

[Oregon_Camper]

Ditto here, but I flush mine for a much longer time.

LOL....the 1 minute was not the time to actually rinse the tank, that was the time I let the flush system run to add a bit of water to the tank after I'm done flushing.

 

[JohnDar]

I've been thinking about trying some Asian Carp in the tank to clean up after the sewer trout. Worked for the fish farms until they got flooded and lost their carp.

Noise of them jumping around in the tank might keep rodents away, too.