black water tank

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albertm1960

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Joined
Jun 12, 2016
Posts
74
My Montana has a water hookup to clean black water tank. To fully clean a man on You Tube would close lever and fill tank to fully clean. But It clearly says by the water hookup to always leave drain open, as it does on his camper in the video (RV Geek Video).  But when he did this a lot more did come out, plus I hope maybe it will fix my indicator light cause they always shows full.  Any ideas if safe to fill? of course I would have to be guessing due to bad lights. thanks
 
The instructions are written that way so you don't close the knife valve, turn on the water, and then walk away. Regardless of your memory, you will eventually forget about it - I have heard stories on this forum of that being done and it ain't pretty! With that being said, my process is to close the knife valve while using the black tank flush but I stay right there. I let it go maybe 3 or 4 minutes and then open the valve to drain. Do this a few times and it will clean out nicely.
 
Ditto. A lot more "stuff" will be flushed out if you partially fill the tank and drain it a few times.
 
Yep, I close my discharge valve also. I do remain with it and keep check on my tank level.
 
Thanks, will do, won't move an inch away, hope it will eventually fix my indicator, I dump black water tank every 3-4 (only 2 people using it) days because I never know where it may be, but that seem to be where it gurgles a bit so I assume its getting full. But only a guess.
 
Joezeppy said:
The instructions are written that way so you don't close the knife valve, turn on the water, and then walk away. Regardless of your memory, you will eventually forget about it - I have heard stories on this forum of that being done and it ain't pretty! With that being said, my process is to close the knife valve while using the black tank flush but I stay right there. I let it go maybe 3 or 4 minutes and then open the valve to drain. Do this a few times and it will clean out nicely.

Exactly what Joe said the only difference is I let my flusher run for about 5 to 10 minutes.
I also learned the hard way. One day, I was flushing and was distracted and walked about 10 feet away until my DW started screaming. I knew exactly what happened. I ran over to the spigot and shut the water off. I went in and the bathroom was flooded. What happened is the tank filled and the water went up the vent pipe, and when it reached the top, it ran over and down the outside of the pipe and into the bathroom wall and eventually it ran out. Luckily I had dumped and flushed a couple of time before this happened so the water was somewhat clean. Now I don't walk away no matter what happens.
 
albertm1960 said:
Thanks, will do, won't move an inch away, hope it will eventually fix my indicator, I dump black water tank every 3-4 (only 2 people using it) days because I never know where it may be, but that seem to be where it gurgles a bit so I assume its getting full. But only a guess.

Can you look into your toilet and see the level of the water? With me and my better half, we go about a week before I need to dump. We also have a 40 gallon tank. You have to make sure you have at least a tank that's 2/3 to 3/4 full so you get a good flush when dumping otherwise some of the solids may not get dumped.
 
Rene T said:
Can you look into your toilet and see the level of the water? With me and my better half, we go about a week before I need to dump. We also have a 40 gallon tank. You have to make sauce you have at least a tank that's 2/3 to 3/4 full so you get a good flush when dumping otherwise some of the solids may not get dumped.
I never see that water when I look in tank, didnt want to wait that long. But what i notice after three days it gurgles a bit, the fourth day my wife says a bit of water spalshes out. ( I never saw that yet, not sure how because when I look in there is now water to be seen, Maybe air pressure?)  So I just empty. We have a 36 gallon tank. So doesnt make sennse it would fill so fast.  Since I'm getting used to this I may wait next one out and see.  Wish the meter would work :(
 
Rene T said:
Exactly what Joe said the only difference is I let my flusher run for about 5 to 10 minutes.
I also learned the hard way. One day, I was flushing and was distracted and walked about 10 feet away until my DW started screaming. I knew exactly what happened. I ran over to the spigot and shut the water off. I went in and the bathroom was flooded. What happened is the tank filled and the water went up the vent pipe, and when it reached the top, it ran over and down the outside of the pipe and into the bathroom wall and eventually it ran out. Luckily I had dumped and flushed a couple of time before this happened so the water was somewhat clean. Now I don't walk away no matter what happens.
LOL, its just happened now. Same thing. Only difference is I didn't walk away and only let it fill for a minute by timer. Is that possible to fill so fast?  (But it did flush a lot more out so I hope I can do again)
 
albertm1960 said:
I never see that water when I look in tank, didnt want to wait that long. But what i notice after three days it gurgles a bit, the fourth day my wife says a bit of water spalshes out. ( I never saw that yet, not sure how because when I look in there is now water to be seen, Maybe air pressure?)  So I just empty. We have a 36 gallon tank. So doesnt make sennse it would fill so fast.  Since I'm getting used to this I may wait next one out and see.  Wish the meter would work :(

When the tank is empty, can you look in using a flashlight and can you see the bottom of the tank?  Or are there a couple of elbows in the drain pipe before the tank? If your DW has seen a splashing effect, it may be that the tank is indeed full up into the pipe just a inch or so. And when you flush, the air in the pipe has to go somewhere so it comes up to the top and it may appear that water is splashing out where it's actually air going by the water.
 
albertm1960 said:
LOL, its just happened now. Same thing. Only difference is I didn't walk away and only let it fill for a minute by timer. Is that possible to fill so fast?  (But it did flush a lot more out so I hope I can do again)

I see where this is a 2007 RV. Have you had it since it was new or did you buy it used recently?  I'll explain why I ask depending on what you give me for a answer.
 
I do as above only I set a timer on my phone.  Set it for 5 minutes and when it goes off I open the valve.  The phone stays with me at all times while doing this.  5 minutes seems to be good to because I have timed it and even on good pressure it can take about 12 minutes to fill it to what I believe to be about maxed out.
 
Rene T said:
I see where this is a 2007 RV. Have you had it since it was new or did you buy it used recently?  I'll explain why I ask depending on what you give me for a answer.

I bet I know where you're going with this. My thoughts exactly.
 
Rene T said:
When the tank is empty, can you look in using a flashlight and can you see the bottom of the tank?  Or are there a couple of elbows in the drain pipe before the tank? If your DW has seen a splashing effect, it may be that the tank is indeed full up into the pipe just a inch or so. And when you flush, the air in the pipe has to go somewhere so it comes up to the top and it may appear that water is splashing out where it's actually air going by the water.
Yea, theres an elbow so I can't see bottom of tank. I'm gonna wait longer next time and see what happens, unless it get messy. Still hard to believe it would fill so fast for two peeps.but it may be as you said an inch below pipe.
 
Rene T said:
I see where this is a 2007 RV. Have you had it since it was new or did you buy it used recently?  I'll explain why I ask depending on what you give me for a answer.
I bought it used a few months ago and wife and I are living in it while we lift house from Sandy storm. So all is new to me. Been in here 3 months now about.
 
Elkhounds said:
I do as above only I set a timer on my phone.  Set it for 5 minutes and when it goes off I open the valve.  The phone stays with me at all times while doing this.  5 minutes seems to be good to because I have timed it and even on good pressure it can take about 12 minutes to fill it to what I believe to be about maxed out.
If I wait 5 minutes there would be a river running out side door..lol..Not sure how you got such a long fill...I timed 1 minute then heard wife screaming  ;D Again, can't believe water made it up air vent in 1 minute. I was hoping for longer so I could hopefully clear broken indicators
 
albertm1960 said:
I bought it used a few months ago and wife and I are living in it while we lift house from Sandy storm. So all is new to me. Been in here 3 months now about.

One more question. When you first started using the black water tank were you ever able to go more than 3 or 4 days before dumping. If not, I've got the feeling that the pervious owner left you with a surprise.

Your problem may be the dreaded POO Pyramid. What a lot of people don't understand is with a black tank you need to keep the drain valve closed until you're ready to dump and also means you must fill the tank until it's close to 3/4 full . If that's not done, what will happen is the liquids will drain out and the solids will stay in the tank. I'm thinking you may have a whole bunch of solids in there and they're taking up space in your tank. I could be wrong.
What you need to do is get something like RIDEX or similar and put it in your tank and try and leave it for a few days.
Then get one of these and do a thorough job of breaking up the solids you have in there.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Camco-Flexible-Swivel-Stik/14504324

If this is your problem it will take a lot of patience and several days of flushing/dumping.
Also purchase a clear elbow to put on the discharge sewer pipe. This way you can see if anything is still coming out of the tank.
https://www.amazon.com/Valterra-T1026-1-45%C2%B0-Clearview-Adapter/dp/B000NCS7GE/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1477948918&sr=8-3&keywords=clear+sewer+elbow+for+rv

If I'm missing anything, anyone please step.
 
Only one other thing.  After dumping, ALWAYS add a few gallons of water to the tank.  This becomes a welcoming committee for all deposits.  If, indeed, you have the dreaded poo pile, this water will also help to soften the pile.  You may even wish to use hot water if possible.  This also would explain why the monitor does not work.
 
grashley said:
Only one other thing.  After dumping, ALWAYS add a few gallons of water to the tank.  This becomes a welcoming committee for all deposits.  If, indeed, you have the dreaded poo pile, this water will also help to soften the pile.  You may even wish to use hot water if possible.  This also would explain why the monitor does not work.

I just reread your original post and you did say "plus I hope maybe it will fix my indicator light cause they always shows full" and saw what Gordon just said and I agree. The sensors may be surrounded by crap.

I hope your problem is something much simpler than what I'm saying.
 
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