Blank Water Tank Factory Flush

[dewey02]

Here's a question for the seasoned veterans.
I've got a Starcraft 235fb (twin to Jayco 22 fb). It has a factory installed black water tank flush that I've used for the first time this week. While I could hear a lot of water spraying noise when I hooked it up and turned on the water at a dump station, there was very little water coming out of the drain hose...very little. Is this normal? If the spray is that light, how can it possibly do any good cleaning the tank. I expected Niagra Falls (well, the volume anyway, and perhaps the pollution too!).

So, is my black water flush working ok? The small amount of water that was coming out was pretty clear, but then my TT has only had about 7 trips on it...but we do use the toilet. Thanks for your help and answers.

I added the "whoopie" icon because emptying and cleaning your BW tanks is always so much fun.

[tnchuck100]

Seven trips? Has the tank been emptied each time? Was it serviced with chemical before the first use? What indication did you tank level have?

It sounds like you may have dried waste with toilet paper clogging the drain port. If that turns out to be the case you need to put about 10 pounds of ice down the toilet and drive around a few mile and get every thing knocked loose. The fill the tank until you can see it is full by looking down the toilet. Empty that. Hook up the flusher again and give it a good rinsing.

Hope this helps. If this was it don't let it sit so long between emptying it.

[usmc616]

I too have a factory installed black tank flush and there is a label next to the water hookup stating to only use the flush with the black tank dump valve open, this way you do not overfill your black tank and flood your TT. Here is what I do each time I start to pack up to leave a CG and head home. What I found out works best for me is too completely empty the black tank, close the dump valve , turn on the water to the black tank flush, let it run for 5 minutes, open the dump valve, and observe the color of the water coming out. I repeat this several times until the water is clear, or as clear as it can get. I then add water to the balck tank and a deodorizer tablet.

[dewey02]

Originally Posted by tnchuck100

Seven trips? Has the tank been emptied each time? Was it serviced with chemical before the first use? What indication did you tank level have?

It sounds like you may have dried waste with toilet paper clogging the drain port. If that turns out to be the case you need to put about 10 pounds of ice down the toilet and drive around a few mile and get every thing knocked loose. The fill the tank until you can see it is full by looking down the toilet. Empty that. Hook up the flusher again and give it a good rinsing.

Hope this helps. If this was it don't let it sit so long between emptying it.

Thanks for the response.
Yes, the tank has been emptied each time, as it is nearly full (30 gallons) after a week of use (and dishwater being dumped down the toilet as well).
Yes, it is serviced with chemical and water after each draining.
No, I don't have dried waste or toilet paper clogging the drain port, as 30 gallons of waste comes streaming out the hose when I empty it.

The trickle of water I am getting is the drainage from the automatic blackwater tank flusher, being used on an empty black water tank. Sorry I didn't make that more clear in my original post. It seems like it doesn't put much water into the tank although it sure makes a lot of noise. I think I will use the method that usmc616 suggests, - keeping the dump valve closed for 5 minutes while I use the flusher, and then open it up, and repeat the process until clear water runs.

[oaeyeo121003]

I thought it was clear. I had dilemma this weekend when dumping. I finnally used the black tank flusher, sure makes a lot of noise. Unsure about the amount of water that should be coming out. Sure wish I would have tried it while tanks were new.

[tnchuck100]

OK, dewey, the picture is much clearer now. The flow would be what appears to be a trickle. The nozzle is spraying several very small but powerful jets of water to hit as many places in the tank as possible. That's the noise part. The total amount of water flow isn't that great.

Everyone seems to have their own methods on how they dump. You can just try several ways and see what works best for you.

This is my procedure. Usually my tank is about 60% full when I hit the dump station.
1. Hook up the tank flusher and turn it on. This gets things stirred up before the dump valve is opened.
2. Hook up the sewer hose. (I use a 45 degree clear coupling so I can see when it is done.)
3. Open the dump valve.
4. When running clear close the dump valve for 2 minutes, then reopen.
5. Turn off the flusher water.
6. Close dump valve.
7. Open the gray water valve.

[Rtazz17]

Funny,even when I keep the black tank valve open and run the flush I get plenty of water coming out the sewer hose.But I do close it and run it for a few minutes as well.But never get just a trickle of water coming out when left open..

[mikefos]

Try jiggling where the hose connects a little bit (lightly). I do that periodically while the flusher is going and it seems to help. The first time I used it I got hardly any flow. Now I get a fairly good flow (nothing like dumping though) and if it starts to slow down, I jiggle the connection a bit. It may get clogged w/ black tank debris or grit from the campground water system.

[dewey02]

Thanks to all who responded. It sounds like my system is working properly and I will try some of the suggestions all y'all have provided.