Grey/Black tank flush?

[Mtbiker70]

Hi everyone -- Winterized my E20X a couple of months ago and have it inside for winter storage. Been thinking about a few things and planning some trips for later in '21 and finally decided to ask a question that I haven't been able to figure out on my own. When everyone is talking about "flushing" the tanks (grey/black), what are you flushing them into? We used the our TT one time last year (only owned it for a couple of months before winter started) and had it hooked to services while we camped...but, when winterizing I'm reading that I should flush the tanks. The camper sits in my driveway...what would I flush the tanks into?


Does everyone flush the tanks at a truck stop with clean-outs, or can you head to a campground and work out a deal to flush into their pits?

[RogerR]

You want to flush out your tanks to make sure there are no "solids" gunk in the black tank and to keep the sensors clean in both kinds of tanks.

Simplest method is to add dish soap and 1/2 to 2/3s full and drive around so the sloshing action will break up the crud. There are also RV specific products to do that. Many people have products they like. After your driving around to agitate then go to some where you can dump. Some Interstate rest areas have free dump stations and a few towns do also. Local Rv parks may allow for a fee. Several sites will help you search, Sanidumps.com rvdumps.com and I use RVParky app which also have them. Or just google rv dumps near me.

I would recommend you look at a couple of youtubes on caring for your tanks. One thing is to let them fill up at the campsite and use the water to self clean each time you dump in a long term site.

[JimD]

To get the maximum use of water, which is sometimes in short supply here in Southern California, I always go through the same routine.

I sanitize my fresh water tank with the standard recommended bleach solution which I let sit for a couple of days. I then use that water to fill my gray and black tanks with a bit of additional bleach and let it sit for a few more days. Then I drain the tanks.

I am fortunate to have sewer access in my front yard for emptying my holding tanks.

[Pipejumper]

I think you may benefit from answering a couple questions you didn’t ask

First is flushing the black tanks after each use-

If you are hooked up to services, you should still leave your black tank closed and let it accumulate waste. Only dumping it at the end of the trip or when it fills. If you leave it open all the time, the solids won’t have enough liquids and you’ll end up with a build up of the brown stuff in your tank. Use adequate water with each flush to keep the solid/liquid ratio good

After each time dumping it, you should flush the tank to keep it clean. You can do that with either the built in flushing attachment on the RV if it has one or a hose/wand via the toilet. You’ll need to do this while hooked up to a drain so you can let the tank empty.

While on services you can leave your grey tank set to slowly drain but it’s nice to hold some back before draining the black so you have some grey water to flush the pipe after draining black.

Winterizing- when you winterize it is easiest to do it when you are hooked up to a sewer drain so you can really flush out the black tank and empty both grey and black completely.

If that’s going to be difficult for you, I’d make sure the last time you use it before winterizing you really flush the black tank and get the tanks as empty as possible while connected.

Then when you winterize at home you can catch the water from your faucets in a cup or bucket instead of letting it go into the tanks as you blow out the lines. Fill your drains with rv antifreeze and let a little extra flow through to the tank and you should be good to go.