Dried up Black Tank

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Chlorine for treating water and Enzymes for treating Waste of any sort.
 
Chet18013 said:
Carson, I think you might have missed the fact the the tank was allowed to dry out when it was full of waste and the object is to remove the accumulated waste-now like dried cement.

Woody, If your buddy adds chlorine, he'll just make matters worse. In my prior life, I used to teach courses for waste treatment plant operators. If we wanted to stop all bacterial action, we'd use chlorine. He wants to remove the dried sludge, not sterilize it and leave it in place. The anaerobic sludge or enzymes is about the only way he has a chance to break it up--unless he wants to stick a pressure washer wand down the hopper and blast it loose. When a waste water plant wants to clean a tank, they NEVER consider chlorine. except as a sanitizing agent AFTER the tank is clean.

Chet18013


I just got off of the phone with him, he had the same concerns that have been stated by some here, that the bleach, and possibly the borax, might kill any bacteria that would feed off of the dried "stuff" in there. I'll try to find the Roebic at the hardware store or Home Depot tomorrow and maybe we can put it in this weekend. I do have a power washer but want to use it on his tank as a last resort. Not sure if my hose will even reach inside, it is non-adjustable and sprays at 6gpm@2,000 psi. I can lessen it somewhat with the fanspray attachment but not much.

Woody
Click to expand...
 
Well, we got a half gallon bottle of Roebic Septic System Treatment last night and poured half of it in five gallons of water and then poured the water into the black water tank. He drove the coach around today, bought 60 gallons of gas at Flying J for $3.35 a gallon, and gave the water in the BT a good sloshing around. He is gonna let it sit for a few days now and see if it starts to dissolve the crud.
If that doesn't work then we will try the cleaning formula.

Woody
 
I'd bet it gets the better part of it going, at least.  If it doesn't  add the Ice /cubes and slouch it around a good bit again and let it set again.
 
I know of someone who drained the tank, opened the commode, and scraped with a screwdriver.  :eek:
 
I looked down the commode and there was water there. then we put a stick down the commode before we added the solution and it was not6 rock hard but was definitely not liquified. Lets hope the Roebic does the job.

Woody
 
That is a good sign Now water and movement would assist it process.  I worked as a Sales Rep years ago and Roebic was one of our products and I've had a lot of experience with it in  successful uses.    When you do flush this out, you might want to treat it one more time when you store it again.  Also they make a drain cleaner K67 that I use once a month in the house in each drain,    I put a tablespoon  in a quart jar and fill with hot water shake it up and pour down the drain.  I do that in our MH also but not as often.  This puts Enzymes in the system and clean hardened and blocked pipes.  This is a safe product to use.  It's the only thing I would ever use in my MH  Other than that Nothing, except in your case.  Hope this works and I know it will.  Good luck.
 
Give it at least a week. If your buddy cracks the flush valve and gets a strong odor, it's working and let it go longer. Since he isn't heating the tank, the bugs will be working slowly. It could take a couple of weeks. Tell him to be patient!

Chet18013
 
Here is the fix, tried and true.
Add several bags of ice cubes and a couple gallons of water then drive to your next campsite.
Presto - the problem is fixed by the scouring effect of the ice.
Never add chemicals to your septic tank especially stuff like bleach.
Jim Harp
 
JHarpJ said:
Here is the fix, tried and true.
Add several bags of ice cubes and a couple gallons of water then drive to your next campsite.
Presto - the problem is fixed by the scouring effect of the ice.
Never add chemicals to your septic tank especially stuff like bleach.
Jim Harp
Click to expand...

That would normally work but in this case the crud has been there for such a long time it has dried out thus the reason for using a different approach to improve the natural digestion of the crud.
 
Roebic makes some pretty good stuff for sewer systems.  I might have opted for the K47 Cesspool Cleaner for this problem rather than the K37 Septic Treatment, but K47 is hard to find these days because Cesspools are no longer used (or even allowed) in most areas. An RV system works more like a cesspool than a septic, though the distinction may be academic.
 
True Gary but the enzymes is what is needed and the boost of enzymes comes from the K57  to dissolve crud and that's what he's got.
 
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