clogged toilet problem

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mausershooter

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Joined
May 23, 2014
Posts
12
I'm an NFG.

I have a 06 Fleetwood Gear box 5Th wheel. My toilet is full of black water. The tank indicator shows empty.  I used a plunger. I tried the wand on the end of the water hose. I've stuck a stick down the toilet. I put a 3 foot stuck down the toilet. It seems to be an air locked. I put the chemical in the toilet that "eats" waste and paper.

What does an NFG to do?

My real name is Donny....  Thanks in advance!
 
I was backed up and showed 2/3 full. We added water. Then pulled the dump valve. We flushed the tank 2-3 times. Now the rank indicator reads empty.

I'm thinking of pulling the toilet off.
 
Normally when you look down into the toilet, do you see the bottom of the tank or do you see an elbow? If your tank is indeed empty, and you normally see an elbow, the blockage may be just beyond the elbow. If that's the case, you would need to clear it using a snake.
If you normally see the bottom of the tank, then possibly your tank is full and you may have a blockage at the outlet of the tank. If that's the case, I would buy a sewer cap with a hose connection and pressurize the pipe blowing everything back into the tank clearing the clog. ONLY DO IT FOR A COUPLE OF SECONDS OTHERWISE YOU'LL END UP WITH A MESS ON YOUR BATHROOM FLOOR. Then QUICKLY shut the drain valve, remove the hose and cap then try dumping again.  Good luck and please let us know what you find.
 
It seems that most of this problem comes from improper dumping practices. Either leaving the dump valve open or not rinsing the tank properly after dumping.

Some how you need to gain some sort of flow out of the tank so you can continue to rinse the solid material out of the tank.  Either filling the tank and put a chemical in to help break down the solid waste or like some of the other suggestions above should get some sort of flow going. But even when you do get it dumped you better take the time and clean the tank out properly of all solid material if the mean you have to hitch up and dump a few bags of ice in the tank.

 
Ok, this morning I towed over to the dump. I drained and flush the black water tank (8-10) several times. My tank senor works. I could or would fill my tank and then drain it. The senor would show full when full and empty when empty.

My blockage is between the toilet and tank. I just put a bunch of tank treatment in the toilet and a bucket of almost boiling water.

If this doesn't work, what is my next step?
 
Whatever the blockage is, a common plumber's snake should clear it.  It appears your toilet does not dump straight down into the tank, so the blockage could well be beyond the reach of your 3' stick and solid enough to need some serious dislodging that, perhaps, a wand won't handle.
 
I will give the hot water and tank conditioner time. If it doesn't work, I will call "The Cousin". My cousin is a plumber. I hope he has a short snake.

Thanks!!
 
I'm starting to wonder if maybe someone accidently dropped a soda can down there and didn't say anything to anyone!!! Ask your cousin if he has a boroscope. It's a camera to look down the length of pipe
 
Hmmm... Shooting from the hip here how about one of those sewer clean out balloons that attaches to a standard garden hose. Place it down through the toilet into the pipe and turn on some water and let water pressure push the clog down.
 
If it's some type of foreign material and not just poop, I'd be concerned of pushing it down into the tank, then you'll have an issue with the object possibly plugging up at the drain valve.
 
I have never seen a toilet "Air Lock" but I have seen blockages in the drop pipe and  if the tank is near full and the vent pipe (Which should prevent an air lock) is full it will "Burp" at me.

Have you dumped the holding tank.. That would be the first step in my book,  and so far, in my book, save for the one (not mine) toilet that had a genuine blockage.. The last step as well.
 
mausershooter said:
Should I just take the toilet off if the hot water and chemical doesn't work?
Click to expand...

What did your cousin have to say?  Have you tried the snake?

As for cleaning, when you travel to your next campsite, put in 1/2 bottle of bleach and 1/2 cup of dish soap and then fill the tank 1/4 to 1/2 full.  During your journey, the water will slosh around and let the bleach and soap go to work.  This will ensure your tank has a long life.
 
mausershooter said:
Should I just take the toilet off if the hot water and chemical doesn't work?
Click to expand...

I would take the toilet off just so that there's no danger of damaging the toilet valve/ball if your going to be inserting a snake in the pipe.
 
Now that's a crappy problem.

I once had a poo pyramid that stacked from the bottom of the tank, right up in to the toilet. I didn't realize it was a straight shot from the toilet bowl to the black tank. A little stirring with a stick got things moving again.  After that little fiasco, I learned to keep some water/liquid in the black tank. Gotta keep those turds floating. I never want to do that job again.

Good luck 
 
Also, can't stress enough, don't dump unless you have at least 3/4 of a tank of fluids. Add water if need be. and don't leave your dump valve open all the time like you can with the gray tanks.
 
I always tell people my rule -- do not poop and use toilet paper in our toilet  If they have to use the toilet paper, throw it in the wastebasket.  If they don't like my rule, they can use the public rest rooms.  I don't want to have problems with our toilet or holding tanks.
 
So, here is my update.

I was able to fill up the tank and dump it. My meter was working. I could hear water going in the tank. I could see the dump hose flex when dumping. I decided to pull the toilet. The bathroom was a bizarre crime scene/ DNA train wreck.  I cleaned the bathroom and toilet before I pulled the toilet. I put some bleach in the bowl to clean it. Then I had an appointment and had to put the project on hold. My wife thought I cleaned it and fixed it. Well, for some reason it was kinda working. It was SLOWLY drawing water. I put a dead fly in the bowl and that wouldn't flush. But,  ow I had to refrain it because my wife filled it back up.

I drained the toilet, and it works. I don't know what happened.  But it works as advertised. My wife now, throws away the paper.

Draining the toilet is an awful chore. I bought a hand bilge pump. Of course there wasn't any hose assessors in stock. I bought a cheap water hose. I duck tape hose pieces to the pump. I pump the contents into a 5 gallon buck. I got close to 3 bucks worth of stuff.

What is odd, we really only #1 in the toilet. For #2 we go to the camp ground bath house. We bought the trailer used 2 years ago. We just started living in it about 7 weeks ago. I think I inherited this problem!!

Thanks for the info!
 
There is no reason why you should not be able to use your toilet anytime for anything including flushing the paper if used and maintained properly. If my wife or myself as far as that goes, had to go use the CG facilities every time we had to poop, I would give up RV'ing.
 
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