Good tips for cleaning holding tank sensors

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
Broke Boater

Broke Boater

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 16, 2017
Posts
286
Location
Brentwood, Northern Kookafonia
Our grey water and black water tank sensors are indicating  water levels even when empty. I tried spraying them with one of those wands for washing holding tanks, also tried filling with clean water and tank chemical for a few hours with no improvement. Someone have a solution?,,,gregg
 
You can do an internet search for "geo method of cleaning tanks" and try that. Tank level sensors are notorious for bad readings. A more expensive solution is Garnett See-Level sensors.
 
I along with everyone else has that problem. Last Wednesday I dumped all my tanks and flushed the black water tank with the flusher until only clear water was coming out of it. I then added 15 gallons of water to each of my tanks. Then I added 1 cup of Dawn liquid detergent. Then I drove home back to NH. When I made it to CT which happened to be about 1300 miles, I dumped all my tanks. To  my surprise, all the indicators read empty when I was done. First time in 4 years. It probably won't last long.
 
I guess I've been lucky - through multiple RVs off and on spanning almost (OMG, I just did the math ?) 40 years, just last week I had the first holding tank sensor staying lit when I knew the tank was empty: the black tank continued to read 1/4 full when it was empty. I waited until the tank read 1/2 so I knew the sensor in question was covered by liquid. I then dumped 1 cup of Rid-X in the toilet and flushed it down. Another several days went by, and I drove the rig about 4 hours to another location. Today, after the tank read full, I dumped and voil?! now it reads empty.

Another solution I have heard about is to use a cup of automatic dishwasher soap instead of Dawn or other traditional soap. Dishwasher soap is acid based and doesn't foam up. Never tried this but have read that it has worked for some.
 
Not sure if it works as I've only read about it; put 10 or 20 lbs of ice in the tank and fill 1/2 to 3/4 with water then take it for a spirited drive.  Again, I've never done it and don't know if it's a good or bad idea.
 
Spring Creek said:
Not sure if it works as I've only read about it; put 10 or 20 lbs of ice in the tank and fill 1/2 to 3/4 with water then take it for a spirited drive.  Again, I've never done it and don't know if it's a good or bad idea.
Click to expand...

Pretty sure that by the time I half filled my 50 gallon black tank, that 20lbs of ice would be just more water.  I don't know who came up with that, but it never seemed to me that it would actually do anything.
 
There's a YouTube video where a guy builds a clear tank and tests the ice theory. It didn't work.
 
There's a guy who did a video and it looked like it didn't do much of anything using ice.

Update: Late again.  :'(
 
The video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH6acEmqvcw

Sensors were not tested, the material was not body waste and an extreme amount of that material was used to demonstrate the action of ice cubes.  My opinion is that the test is not valid.

Do I think ice cubes will help?  Of course they will do some good, how much will depend on the condition of the tank walls.
 
In my opinion...

The various home remedies, e.g. ice cube sloshing, the Geo Method, Calgon water softener, etc. all have some potential but none of them are a sure thing.  Worth a try, but don't get your hopes real high.  The ice cubes probably add a bit of abrasive action to the general sloshing and so may help a bit, but it's more likely the sloshing of mostly clear water that does the trick, assuming it works at all.

I favor a more rigorous treatment using Rid-X or Roebic K57 and letting it stew in a full tank of water for 3+days before flushing. That's not foolproof either, but it has a solid track record of working, i.e. "digesting" most all the nasty gooey stuff.

Frankly, if a lot of TP is clinging to the common thru-wall type of tank sensor, it's going to be a PITA to get rid of.  Some types of TP dimply don't dissolve very well and once it gets draped over the sensor pins it can be extremely difficult to get rid of.  It may take several treatments, whether the same one repeated or multiple methods.
 
I used a mix of Dawn and Calgon (Water Softener) in mine. likewise that's the only time the sensors ever showed Empty.. Oh they showed FULL when I first dumped (Full of soap bubbles) but after they bubbles popped they showed Empty.

Now I ignore them. Dump on a schedule no matter how full. No problems.
 
Gary RV_Wizard said:
Some types of TP dimply don't dissolve very well and once it gets draped over the sensor pins it can be extremely difficult to get rid of.
Click to expand...

Is it time again?  :eek: ::) :-[  I hope not.  :'( :)( ;)
 
Joezeppy said:
Our first outing is tomorrow - I'll get the ball rolling on the 2018 study. Now the only question is to wad or to fold?
Click to expand...

LOL. Oldgater's fingers are getting itchy already  ;) ;D

I have a theory that it's the wadding that is causing the sensor issues. Standing by for reports from the field  ;)
 
Someone should try inverting their tank clean out valve to create an instant bidet.  Problem solved.  No more TP sensor problems.
 
LOL! I did not mean to start a new TP debate. Most septic-safe products will do fine, but colored, perfumed or embossed papers are made of tougher fibers and more likely to cause problems than plain old TP.  "More likely" doesn't mean guaranteed, though, and some (many?) tank systems handle them A-OK.
 
Gary RV_Wizard said:
LOL! I did not mean to start a new TP debate. Most septic-safe products will do fine, but colored, perfumed or embossed papers are made of tougher fibers and more likely to cause problems than plain old TP.
Click to expand...

It's all you fault.  ;D :D ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 754 (members: 19, guests: 735)

Forum statistics

Threads
131,964
Posts
1,388,326
Members
137,718
Latest member
urnwholesaler
Back
Top Bottom