Waste water tank sensors

[Screwby]

I guess I don’t understand the obsession with the tank “idiot lights” not saying empty so people panic. We all know the sensors are terrible, there’s always that one or two people who swear theirs work great, believe me you are like unicorns. Once you use your camper enough you get a sense for how much you can use your tanks before they get full. The grey will gurgle and bubble as it’s getting close to full. Your sinks will drain slower and slower until they don’t drain and guess what, grey is full. Your black tanks will take a whole lot of “potty breaks” to fill up or a whole lot of people using it! You’ll fill up your grey tanks 2-3 times before the black needs dumped guaranteed.
If you know your going to be somewhere longer than a grey tank will last then you’ve already planned to dump it. You’ll soon learn how many dishes and showers you can get by with before it’s getting close, you don’t need a little LED to tell you. I’m assuming your dumping your black when you dump your grey since the hose is already hooked up and you use the grey to rinse the hose right? I’m assuming when you leave a campground you stop and dump all the tanks and give everything a good rinse right?
Sure an accurate tank reading would be cool, but I’m not tearing my enclosed camper belly apart to install aftermarket sensors. I’ve tried every trick there is and the factory sensors have read wrong since my second trip 3 years ago. Maybe I’ve had mine so long I just “know” my campers, but I never even look at the readouts anymore other than the fresh water, and even then I just fill it until the overflow tubes say it’s full. Call me old fashioned or weird but I’m going by experience with my rigs before I trust a $.30 part from China if possible

[SteveMM]

Originally Posted by Merrick

You could try a Flush King. Kind of reverse flushing starting from out fall. Ive been lucky with my sensors so far, and use water softener in gray tank.

Thanks. I actually looked into something like that, but neither of my tanks have a straight shot to the valve. In that situation, it's just as good to dump water into the tanks, because you're not getting any agitation from the reverse flush. It's just filling up with water.

[Tonyzsi]

I like this guys review/video on a few cleanout products. The tornado is the only one I would consider. I currently purchased a wand to stick down the toilet, but have not used it yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfTd0Slt_cU

[batman161]

Originally Posted by Joan617

When we Picked up a new Pinnacle last month, the fellow giving us the orientation tour, an RV'r himself, recommended dumping 10-20 lbs of Ice into the toilet after dumping and just before setting out on the road. The reasoning was that the ice would harmlessly slosh around, knocking loose solids as it melted. Sounded logical.


When we mentioned this to good friends of ours who are experienced RV'rs, they kind of scrunched up their faces, and expressed concern about damaging the fluid level sensors. I know that from early days working on planes, tank sensors were like little toilet bowl floats hooked to a rhreostat and would be vulnerable. I thought modern sensors would be passive optical sensors (?).

So where do we weigh in on the ice idea? Sounded clever to me.


Thanks
Angus

works well, look at a picture of the sensor in a parts catalogue, ice not going to hurt it

[batman161]

also, a dash of dawn liquid makes sense

[oldmanAZ]

Our black tank 'chemicals' alternate between Dawn and liquid Tide when the toilet bowl is cleaned.

[Isaacs]

I installed a Tornado in my black tank last summer, now I don't really have to use the wand. I never put food bits into the grey tank; all my sensors usually work perfectly.

The biggest problem is parks that don't have any place to hook a hose to at the dump.

[bigjake392]

I've installed the Horst Miracle Probe sensors in my last 2 trailers in both gray and black water tanks and have had absolutely no problems. I use a wand and do a good flush once in awhile in the black tank but have had no problems. The sensors are easy to install as they are designed as a direct replacement. It only takes an hour and you're all set. Look up the sensors and read the story behind them. He was a camper who was tired of all the problems. You must remember that even with these probes there are things to do with the black tank to keep everything in good shape. Fast flushes and a good cleaning with a wand or built in flush are needed. I installed a Tornado flush in the last camper black tank and that seemed to do the trick also. Good luck