how full is my toilet........ and icy days

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
S

shatterproof

Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2007
Posts
7
hey friends... i had to recreate my account because i forgot my old username and password.  regardless.

i boondock full time in a Ford Falcon Class B.  she runs great, keeps me happy.

i just have this silly thing.... i dont know of my toilet gauge is broken, or if im just really clueless.  i empty it by filling a bucket and then taking it to a toilet....  but the gauge says it is still full.  i cant remember if it was always like this, or if it just started recently, because beofr i started using the toilet, i didnt pay attention to it. 

when i drain it, it seems to empty....  a lot leaves the tank....  should i assume the gauge is broken?  it just doent make sense to me that there would still be a whole lot of waste hiding in there someplace.  or is it not really emptying because im not using any kind of suction or pressure?  when you empty at a campsite, do you use a hose or something?

problem number two:  how do you keep your pipes from freezing if you are just passing through a cold place for a day or two.  no time or reason to winterize....  but i dont want my pipes to break.  i left flagstaff, az a few days ago with a frozen water tank, but it melted quick with no damage.  should i worry?  it felt like if i waited, the water tank could crack from ice pressure.

okay.  hope someone has some insight.  nice to be back.  hope you are all great
xo shatterproof

 
It could be your gage is dirty.  You might want to run some gage cleaners thru your system. 
As for your freezing tank, I dont have an answer since my system has an underhouse heater to keep it from freezing.  I also use heat tape on my hose when in cold areas to keep it from freezing.
 
hmmm underhouse heater. wonder if thats something i can get installed.  does it use battery?

how do i clean gauges?  i dont even know where they are, all i know is that i can read them in the readout thats mounted on my wall....  sighs

thanks
 
Toilet tank sensors are the worst.  Mine will often say full even if I know for a fact it's empty.  I have been known to pressure wash the sensor wall from time to time,  That fixes it.. for one trip
 
okay, so it sounds like its probobly the gauge, not my lack of toilet saavy thats the problem.  that seems a little easier to manage. 
mmm  im guessing that to clean the gauge i can flush my tank....  and to pressure wash?  stick a hose into the toilet and go to town?

confirm?

this is a huge help, i really appreciate it.

xoxo shatterproof
 
Camping World sells a wand you attach to a hose to help with the tank rinsing job.
 
We have friends that trailer is packed with gauges, clean water, grey water, and black water.  The gauge that gives them the most problem is the one in the black water tank.  Doing a "clean rinse once in a while (while on city water and black waste water drain might help (w some cleaner) to get the "junk" off of the sensor.  People on the RVForum are always doing TP tests.  Wonder if TP type (lasting or quick dissolving) could be contributing to the problem??

Heat tape -- Install with care.  My father-in-law bunedt an Airstream trailer to the ground once (at night while they were asleep in it - no batteries in the smoke alarm - etc. etc.)  The cause was judged to be the heat tape he added that was poorly installed (wrapped over its self).  They were very lucky.
 
Camping world sells several wands. The one to look at is called "The Twister" IIRC, it has a brass spinner nozzle on the end. so it does a good job, most of the ones they have are junk

What I did was fit a 1/2 inch PVC pipe with a cap on one end and a hose fitting on the other, it's fed by a ball valve, a spring check valve and a vacuum breaker (Kind of like belt and suspenders but hey, I like redundant safety)

The bottom end is capped, and a 1/4 inch (well, I think mine is 7/32") hole is drilled ln line with one of the lines on the pipe (Either the printed line or the blue stripe) put city water in the top, and move it up and down in the tank (Via the toilet) while aiming at the sensor wall, twist a bit to insure you hit all of the sensor wall

The "Twister" wand work the same way but I've not yet bought and tried it.
 
Thanks for the correction John. Our black tank has a built-in flushing system, so I'm really not an expert on the wands , although I did buy one and still have it (unused) in one of the bays.
 
No problem Tom.. Normally I'm the one thanking someone for picking up the item I overlooked :)

I have a wand I don't use too, it's not the Twister, which is why I know about them.. Tank has a built in flusher but the original one was, well... Well positioned (in the black tank, think about it) and the one I put in though quite a bit better is still not getting the sensors as clean as I'd like, the problem is that they are not positioned properly.

The want method works, 100% of the time.

Of course just now I know what is in the tank (A bit of pink liquid) since I'm stuck here in the currently frozen north
 
during the icy days, if it's not too cold you probably can get away with De-pressurizing the water system.Turn off the pump and open the water valves. Freezing won't break it as long as it has room to expand.

There are also suggestions for cleaning the "black " tank on this forum usually involving ice and "Dawn " dish washing liquid.
 
I have a Pleasureway class b... Probably has the same setup as yours.  The sensors would always read full except if the tank were drained and flushed.  Then the display would read full within a few days.  With the water pump turned off, you can open up the toilet valve and see into the black tank.  I flushed and rinsed the tank.  Then I got a two foot long half inch dowel.  Adding water to the toilet in 2 gallon increments, I marked the dowel with a sharpie.  I keep the dowel and a piece of towel with the drain hose.  It sounds a little messy, but it is better than stopping every couple of days to drain the tank.  I found two adults could go almost a week without draining the tank.
Art
 
glen54737 said:
during the icy days, if it's not too cold you probably can get away with De-pressurizing the water system.Turn off the pump and open the water valves. Freezing won't break it as long as it has room to expand.
Click to expand...

I think this is what I was looking for... Can I just leave the faucet tap open?

Thanks so Much,
SP
 
yes the only thing i had that broke when it froze was the toilet valve but i had air in he lines too keep the inside warm if you can too it takes a while to freeze up anyways
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 884 (members: 38, guests: 846)

Forum statistics

Threads
131,917
Posts
1,387,446
Members
137,672
Latest member
Davestic
Back
Top Bottom