Grey/Black Water Holding Tank

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Murphcrud

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Nov 11, 2017
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Hello Again,
In our 2008 Fleetwood Jamboree, we have the 'check gauges' that indicate how full each of the tanks are currently.
In our unit they are set up as 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, full as LED lights.
My question is when any are lit up as being Full, is there a shut off or other indicator "OTHER THAN THE OBVIOUS"
to alert us to the situation - ie:  valve closure, toilet won't flush, sink won't drain etc. ??
Thanks
Harv
 
Two and one half answers. None of them good

Black tank... Generally NO. the toilet does not flush However this is the half one read on
Gray: The sink does not drain or it backs up into the shower. Either choice not good.

The half. IF YOU HAVE A MACERATOR type toilet. such as a "Vaccuflush" where you push a button and a pump wisks the "Stuff" to the black tank (I have one) then they are SUPPOSED to install sensors and a LED next to the button is Green, Yellow or RED and when RED the button is not supposed to work.

They did not install the sensors on my black tank si it will happely pump it .... Robin Williams Style (Which is not good cause the pipe is NOT sealed at the roof) I've never gotten it THAT full. But I have had it back up into the gravity flush toilet.
 
I had a small trailer, back in the day, and we did have a backup into our shower -- not good.
I look at it this way, if we have a full black water --- we probably stayed too long and should head home (dump before we leave park, of course).  Will just have to keep an eye on grey tank -- at least it is grey, not black.
Thanks for your input (tongue in cheek).
 
It's simple, and no doubt what you called THE OBVIOUS.  If either tank get full, the waste water backs up in the pipes and will soon appear in the drains. Whether toilet or sink or shower.  The lowest drain will get the smelly, cruddy water first.

The toilet usually gives a bit of warning with a glug-glug sound when you flush. When the level in the black tank gets high enough, it begins to cover the tanks external vent pipe and the flush action causes watery bubbles to go up the vent and produce a "glugging" sound. It's not foolproof and depends to some extent on how the vent pipe was installed, but most RV gravity-type toilets will do that. Whether you have a dozen flushes left or only 1-2 is something you learn by experience.

The gray tank just backs up, usually in the shower first (the lowest point).
 
My black water tends to start smelling before it has ever got full. Then it is time to dump. Usually about 5 days while travelling in the summer is pushing it. Grey water always has been in the shower to let us know it's full.
 
My tanks over flow and leak from the bottom of my fifth wheel.

I forgot to dump the grey tank, and it over flowed from the top of the tank, and dripped water to the under belly.  The same with the black tank, although it was mostly fresh clear water.  I had cleaned out my tank for the season, and I forgot to shut off the tank rinse valve after I closed the drain valve.
 
Senator said:
My tanks over flow and leak from the bottom of my fifth wheel.

I forgot to dump the grey tank, and it over flowed from the top of the tank, and dripped water to the under belly.  The same with the black tank, although it was mostly fresh clear water.  I had cleaned out my tank for the season, and I forgot to shut off the tank rinse valve after I closed the drain valve.
Click to expand...

You have possibly one of two causes. The first is the tanks may be split from overfilling or the pipe which goes into the tank or the vent pipe joints are leaking bad. Either way you should pull the belly down and find/fix the source. If you don't, you're going to have a very smelly problem soon.

In my case, I supposedly overfilled the black tank when flushing. I contacted the tank manufacturer and they said they only test their tanks to 1 PSI. Then someone on this forum said that for every 2' of water in the vent pipe, it adds 1 PSI of pressure to the tank. So I possibly pressurized mine to around 6 PSI.  My tank had a flat cover for the top and it was only vulcanized to the tank itself. That's where the split happened.
 
Senator said:
My tanks over flow and leak from the bottom of my fifth wheel.


I forgot to dump the grey tank, and it over flowed from the top of the tank, and dripped water to the under belly.  The same with the black tank, although it was mostly fresh clear water.  I had cleaned out my tank for the season, and I forgot to shut off the tank rinse valve after I closed the drain valve.
Click to expand...

You definitely have an issue you better resolve before it becomes a bigger issue. You should never have it leaking from above the tank. I agree you have either split the tank or have popped a joint apart. I am not sure if both your grey and black tank share the same vent or not. That would be best case scenario if it come loose. But whatever the case if water leaks the black tank odor is definitely going to be an issue in coach.
 
The potential problems that Rene cited are all too common. Sloppy workmanship can leave incoming waste lines poorly mated to the tanks, vent pipes poorly connected (or not connected at all), or supposedly sealed joints broken the first time the tank shifts a bit during travel.
 
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