How many black water treatment packages should I use?

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.
We use bio paks when we are just weekending it because things dont always break down over 2 or 3 days. They are cheap and we have a clear elbow on the hose they seem to break down things quickly... we also add a gallon or two of water
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20211123-173909_Amazon Shopping.jpg
    Screenshot_20211123-173909_Amazon Shopping.jpg
    85.9 KB · Views: 0
In the 4 1/2 years we've owned the Pace, we have never used anything in the black tank. If we dump once a week we don't have any order. We put 5 gallons of water in the tank after dumping. We did the Calgon water softener thing once or twice but honestly don't think it did much.
 
I don't think so, as I have lived almost all of my life west of the Mississippi and this is the first I have heard of a toilet pan. :unsure:
And I've lived most of my life East of the Mississippi and never heard that expression. I've heard it called a Loo, head, commode, toilet, john, crapper(there's a story there), and now a pan.

Use water; it is the universal solvent.
 
Here is how i do it. Since im living full time in my RV i dump every 7 days. All my tanks are the same size 79 gal black, 79 gal fresh, 79 gal grey. Dumping every 7 days gives the drop ins plenty of time do their job. Having the same size tanks means its easy to do it all at one time.

I know that when my fresh water is empty, its time to dump 79 gal from one tank to the other tank so when fresh is empty the black tank must be full (or close to it). I only use the fresh water for showing and toilet.

After the black tank has drained i fill the toilet up and then push the pedal and as that water goes down i also pour a gallon jug of water down the toilet hold it up high to create some water pressure down below. This gets it really clean and gets all that stubborn left over on the bottom out of there.

Then i close that valve and flush out the line by pulling the grey water and let it run until the water in the pipe gets clear. I never drain my gray water all the way just in case i need some water to clean the hose the next week.

After dumping and all valves are closed, i run about 2 gal of water down the toilet. Then i wait until mother nature calls before i add the first dropin (its good for about 45 gal). Then i wait and in a few days when i get just about half way full on the black tank i add the other drop in. Then by the time i have to dump it has had plenty of time to work.

Now our sewer system here actually has a grinder in it that chews it all up anyway. Our sewer pipe underground is only 1.5 pipe because there are no solids at that point in the process.

Then i fill the fresh water tank. I only use my tank and pump because it will tell me if i have a leak. If the pump goes off by itself and im not using water i know i have a leak(unless of course i have created hot water, when that water cools off the pump will come on for a sec to fill the gap as it cools down). Plus i can turn it on or off quickly.

Thats my process...
 
Man, all of this involved stuff. I use water, that's it. No odors, at all, once i pulled my cheap, plastic Dometic, cleaned it out, caulked around the in-feed line that was letting used toilet water flood the stupidly designed back area, and caulked where the two halves come together. I also caulked around the base, once I reinstalled it.

Note: Do NOT follow the directions of the poster who told you to keep your black stab valve closed while your outside tank clean-out is hooked up to a hose. That's crazy! You read what happened to him. Don't let it happen to you! I just let that system do its thing for about ten minutes, and watch what's going down the dump drain through my clear plastic Y connection. In very little time, you're good to go, pun intended, and your gauges should read empty.
 
Another reason not watching the outside tank flush and leaving it running for too long: I had hooked up the black tank flush system and had closed the dump handle so it would partially fill. Then I got involved in chatting with someone----and all of a sudden, I had sewage escaping through the vent on the top of my motorhome and dripping down the side. Oops. Son had to climb on my roof and use a hose to wash down my roof and then the side of my vehicle. He was not happy, and I did not blame him.
Well, I wondered what would happen if I overfilled the tank. I guess that's better than it coming out inside the RV! On that note, if the tank fills, will anything worse happen than just the failure of stuff to go down when you flush? Our lights always show almost full even after dumping, so I don't really know how fast the tank is filling.
 
Well, I wondered what would happen if I overfilled the tank. I guess that's better than it coming out inside the RV! On that note, if the tank fills, will anything worse happen than just the failure of stuff to go down when you flush? Our lights always show almost full even after dumping, so I don't really know how fast the tank is filling.
Fill the tank up and time it while dumping. Let’s say for example, it drains out in 3 minutes. Then close the tank drain valve and start your flusher and run it for two minutes. Then drain that water and time it if it’s much less then when the tank is right full, you may be able to fill for another minute using your flusher. I think I use to let mine run for 5 minutes but I have a 45 gallon tank. I also have a stop watch app on my phone and when I set it for 5 minutes, a alarm goes off when I reach 5 minutes. I don’t set the phone down. It stays in my hand until I’m done.

Another way would be that if you can see the inside of the tank and working with a 2nd person start your flusher and time it to a point where the tank is probably 1/2 to 3/4 full.
 
Last edited:
Shortly after buying our last three motorhomes, I replaced the unreliable and inaccurate "Empty,1/3,1/2,2/3,Full" type sensor systems with Garnet Industries' "SeeLevel II" external sensor system that displays tank levels as a percentage. The external capacitive sensors are not subject to the buildup issues that affect the "screw through the tank wall" sensors the KIB and others use. Installation consists of attaching the self-adhesive sensors to the tank walls and using the original wiring to feed the signals back to the display location. The SeeLevel display is available in various configurations that can include water heater and pump switches, as well as different tank configurations.


0117210908.jpg
 
The SeeLevel system is something we installed too. Internal sensors will be fouled no matter what you do. The SeeLevel sensors are outside the tank.
 
We, too are happy with our SeeLevel. It's great for all three tanks, and even has provision to monitor the propane tank, but we don't have one so that part isn't enabled.
 
For monitoring amount of water usage and flushing, I have a water meter on my fresh hose that I just look at the number, run the flush till I added a few gal, then dump again.
 

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
131,752
Posts
1,384,326
Members
137,523
Latest member
Sinbad
Back
Top Bottom