Toliet Brush In Black Water Tank!!?

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snodgrassjk

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I was cleaning the toilet a few days ago when the brush I was using broke off and went straight into the tank...I read some posts online where some people had the same thing happen and it passed right through...being optimistic, I was hoping for the same good luck! Yesterday, I went out to drain my black water tank, things started rushing out  ;D!!!......then....it stopped  :-[...really stopped  :'(, nothing is draining now. The tank is 3/4 of the way full. Any ideas? lol
 
Any chance you have a good picture of the configuration of how your drains are arranged? Access to that first elbow may be exciting. Mine have a single turn (elbow) from both the gray and black into a "Y" for draining.

My first thought would be to run a snake of some kind back up and move the brush to at least allow the tank to drain (which is going to be a mess) and then figure out how to fish the brush out from the toilet since it probably won't make the turn in the drain.

Simple plastic toilet brush or what?

Kim
 
How about a snake with a short length of string aqnd a treble hook on the end of the string then you could push through the blockage and maybe hook the brush to pull it out. :)
 
No matter how you do it , this will be an unpleasant experience.

If it is the standard wire in the middle brush head, you can make a fish tool with long hooks to grab the brush. I would take some time to work it from the toilet toward the drain and see if I got lucky. If not you will have to try from the drain and see if you can get it and either pull it through or push it closer to the drain where you can fish it out from there.

Either way you have a Sh*tty Situation.
 
Let me tell you our sad story. I lost the head of a toilet brush in our black tank. Fortunately, it was several years before it worked its way into an area where it was a problem. Mike took off the valve but sadly for me. His arm was too big to fit up the pipe. Soooooo, I stuck my arm in all the way to the shoulder and was able to grab that old brush head and pull it out. It took me 3 weeks, 8 showers and scrubbing my arm with soap and bleach repeatedly before the smell went away. You have my sympathies.
 
A drastic step: First, are you in a campground or at home ?

  You may have to hire a septic tank company to suck out the content through the toilet hole. With a little luck it will also get the brush out.

  No mess and probably a lot cheaper than tank removal.  Just speculating.





 
 
Wendy said:
Let me tell you our sad story. I lost the head of a toilet brush in our black tank. Fortunately, it was several years before it worked its way into an area where it was a problem. Mike took off the valve but sadly for me. His arm was too big to fit up the pipe. Soooooo, I stuck my arm in all the way to the shoulder and was able to grab that old brush head and pull it out. It took me 3 weeks, 8 showers and scrubbing my arm with soap and bleach repeatedly before the smell went away. You have my sympathies.
Click to expand...
Aww come on Wendy! I think it was Psychosomatic. Your arm probably didn't smell for more than two and a half weeks. lol  :eek: :eek: :eek:

OOphf! I just caught that 8 showers in three weeks??? Now I see why it still smelled!!!! ::) ::) ::)
 
Punch a small hole in the TOP of your drain hose--insert a wire/probe/snake into the hole --attach the drain hose--open the valve and attempt to push/dislodge the brush enough to get the tank to drain.  Attempt a back flush and begin the fishing effort.  With luck you may be able to fish it out the valve or be able to get it into the tank and fish it out through the top of tank--may have to remove the toilet.  As they say--rots of luck!!
Jerry H
 
snodgrassjk said:
I was cleaning the toilet a few days ago when the brush I was using broke off and went straight into the tank...I read some posts online where some people had the same thing happen and it passed right through...being optimistic, I was hoping for the same good luck! Yesterday, I went out to drain my black water tank, things started rushing out  ;D!!!......then....it stopped  :-[...really stopped  :'(, nothing is draining now. The tank is 3/4 of the way full. Any ideas? lol
Click to expand...

How big is the piece?
First I would buy a clear 45 degree elbow to put on the discharge pipe. Hopefully you'll get to see it pass through, otherwise, you'll never know. Then I would buy a cap for the end of the clear elbow, the type with a hose connection. Then you'll need a double female hose connector which will allow you to hook up a garden hose. Then turn the water on and once the pipe is pressurized, open the black water valve. This should unclog the pipe for now. Don't leave the hose on for too long. You don't want to fill the tank up for obvious reasons. Remove the hose and end cap and try dumping again. You may have to wait a few days without using the toilet to let all the solids liquify.  If you do get it drained, then it's a matter of gaining access to the valve, disassemble it and hopefully the brush will be right there. If not, I have no idea what to do except maybe using a snake to try and hook it. If you do get the tank empty, you can probably rent what they call a boroscope which will allow you to get into the tank through the toilet or the discharge pipe where the valve mounts and look around for the brush.
 
Wendy!

While reading your sad tale, all I could think about was 'Get out damn spot'! Remember Shakespeare?
 
mrschwarz said:
Wendy!

While reading your sad tale, all I could think about was 'Get out damn spot'! Remember Shakespeare?
Click to expand...

I do remember. In this case it would have been 'get out damn smell'.
 
Or, if the toilet brush has metal, why not try a magnet to pull it up and hopefully out?

ArdraF
 
There's a trick I heard will work for obstructed holding tanks. You need a sewer hose that is 6-8 feet long. Next you need to double check that the hose is very firmly attached to the fitting that attaches to the tank outlet. After insuring that you have a tight connection, hold the open end of the hose at about the same height as the opening on the tank outlet. Now have a second person completely fill the sewer hose with water. When completely full, quickly raise the end of the hose above your head. The pressure from the water in the hose will cause the obstruction to be pushed back into the tank. This produces a plunger-like action.

With a little luck and perhaps several tries, the obstruction may finally work itself loose. This may work if you see that the water drained out of the sewer hose when raised. I have never had to test this myself but a static head of water pressure that is six feet high would present a nice pressure gradient and makes sense.

It would cost anything to try this, just make sure the hose is tightly connected to the fitting and the fitting is affixed properly to the tank outlet. Good luck!

R
 
The really fun part is maneuvering the open end of the hose from being 6 ft. in the air to sticking into the park's drain pipe in one quick, smooth motion.  Otherwise you'll wind up spreading poop everywhere. 
 
Sounds like your solids and toilet paper have not liquefied, they have wrapped around the brush which may be  jammed up in the system at the 3 inch drain. Seems like once everything is liquefied again, you can at least drain the tank.

I am lazy... so I would use a toilet elsewhere for awhile and add more water and those sewer packets that speed up the process of liquefying the solids and paper.

 
I would combine the suggestions above to use two drain hoses and a rooter type drain cleaner (snake) about 12 feet long. Proceed as follows:
* Connect a drain hose about eight feet long to the black drain,
* Position a step ladder or similar so you can fasten the drain hose with its open end above the black tank.
* Run the snake into the tank through the open end of the drain hose (Could alternately use a hose).
* Do the fishing/turning thing until the obstruction is cleared.
* Remove the snake.
* Fasten the second drain hose to the first and to the sewer.
* Lower the junction between the hoses and drain the black tank!

Washing hands optional at this point!

Ernie
 
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