Waste water tank sensors

BonnieL · 08-10-2018, 08:01 AM

We have a 2015 16XRB. Both the grey and black water tanks seem to have sensor issues. Even when water stops draining, the sensors show 2/3 full. We’ve tried various means to clean the tanks, but nothing seems to work. Does anyone have any suggestions?

DocBrown · 08-10-2018, 08:08 AM

I've never had trouble with the gray tank, but every so often the black tank sensor flakes out. I use a cleaning wand attached to a hose to clean the black and sensor.

BonnieL · 08-10-2018, 08:25 AM

Thank you! We might be heading to our local RV place to check out a cleaning wand.

Poppy · 08-10-2018, 08:32 AM

I installed a Tornado flush system in my black tank. It solved the problem of a bad read on the sensors for it, most of the time. I’m now having the same problem with my grey tank, and thinking about another Tornado, or possibly the geo-method.

BonnieL · 08-10-2018, 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poppy

I installed a Tornado flush system in my black tank. It solved the problem of a bad read on the sensors for it, most of the time. I’m now having the same problem with my grey tank, and thinking about another Tornado, or possibly the geo-method.

Is the Tornado something that needs to have holes drilled and a permanent connection?

thecampingcat · 08-10-2018, 09:07 AM

We have been using tank tech and always leaving some water and waste to slosh in motion. I found flushing all the time not really working. Of course end of season we flush and drain. Not that you need to do that either. This sturvite build up theory makes sense to me. And the nbacteria in the tank tech is the trick. Of course lots of water. We dump regularly. Add a couple of cap fulls.

Poppy · 08-10-2018, 11:24 AM

Yes, BonnieL, a hole must be drilled into the tank, and it is a permanent install.
When I dump my tanks, I hook up a garden hose that I have specifically for dumping, run the tornado for a couple of minutes. When the water coming out of the tanks is clear, I’m done with the black tank.
Here is what I have: Tornado Permanent Tank Rinser with Remote Connection
Catalog Item # 28091
This is from Camping World website.

Bassdogs · 08-10-2018, 12:03 PM

I am shocked that this thread has had 6 previous responses and not one of them has addressed the real issue here. The tank sensors used in just about all TT's and 5'ers are not reliable and most give false readings from the get go. There is nothing, including flushing, that will fix the issue as it is the sensor itself that is the problem.

Pretty quickly you get a feel for how long you can use your RV before filling a holding tank. Grey water tanks will back up into the shower base if they are over filled but with careful use you s/b able to easily make it thru a long weekend without issues. The black tank can be visually checked by opening the flush valve and viewing down the hole with a flashlite. Not a pleasant thing to do but a quick check will let you know if you are anywere close to needing a dump.

navymommy · 09-20-2018, 01:42 PM

"I am shocked that this thread has had 6 previous responses and not one of them has addressed the real issue here. The tank sensors used in just about all TT's and 5'ers are not reliable and most give false readings from the get go. There is nothing, including flushing, that will fix the issue as it is the sensor itself that is the problem.

Pretty quickly you get a feel for how long you can use your RV before filling a holding tank. Grey water tanks will back up into the shower base if they are over filled but with careful use you s/b able to easily make it thru a long weekend without issues. The black tank can be visually checked by opening the flush valve and viewing down the hole with a flashlite. Not a pleasant thing to do but a quick check will let you know if you are anywhere close to needing a dump."

Exactly what several wizened old Marines taught me when we first camped at Camp Pendleton and I had emptied and flushed our tanks 4 times and the sensors still said 3/4 full. They also said to always travel with at least 5 gal. of H20 in each tank, and add a good squirt of Dawn dishwashing liquid to each tank. It will agitate as you travel, and clean everything out. I don't even use the sensors now.

PlayersZ28 · 09-20-2018, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bassdogs

I am shocked that this thread has had 6 previous responses and not one of them has addressed the real issue here. The tank sensors used in just about all TT's and 5'ers are not reliable and most give false readings from the get go. There is nothing, including flushing, that will fix the issue as it is the sensor itself that is the problem.

Pretty quickly you get a feel for how long you can use your RV before filling a holding tank. Grey water tanks will back up into the shower base if they are over filled but with careful use you s/b able to easily make it thru a long weekend without issues. The black tank can be visually checked by opening the flush valve and viewing down the hole with a flashlite. Not a pleasant thing to do but a quick check will let you know if you are anywere close to needing a dump.

My tank sensors work fine when they're clean from flushing. The sensor isn't faulty, the design is. It's just a piece of metal sticking in the liquid at various levels. Any conductive matter stuck to a sensor will fool the system. It's only the black that has the issue, the two grays and fresh work fine. Aftermarket products can be found for alternative sensors if it's important to know what the level is. We can't look down the pipe as it doesn't go straight to the tank. I know that after 2 weeks it's pretty close to full though.

mohok1 · 09-20-2018, 05:48 PM

Lie-O-Meters, at best!!!

Joan617 · 02-01-2019, 01:53 PM

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

Screwby · 02-01-2019, 04:24 PM

Quote:

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

There is a pretty popular YouTube video where a guy builds a “waste tank” out of clear Lexan. He goes through all the popular devices and urban myths on cleaning black tanks and you can see the results because it’s a clear tank. He drives around like a maniac with the tank in the bed of his truck to be sure it all sloshed around violently. Ice was shown to be a big waste of time and did nothing to clean the tank.
https://youtu.be/iH6acEmqvcw

oldmanAZ · 02-01-2019, 07:41 PM

Once upon a time....

maybe the ice worked, or it seemed to work, for somebody, somewhere, at sometime. Since then, it has a very poor record of success.
IMO, if you have free ice, give it a try. If you have to buy it, you've just tossed $$ into the toilet.

che57vy · 02-01-2019, 07:59 PM

About the only thing I have done that works is the good ole tank wand you stick down thru the toilet gives it a good flushing then its not long before your back to square one again with false readings. The gray tank no access but it always has been close to correct readings

SteveMM · 02-04-2019, 10:39 AM

I'm kind of fussy about my tanks reading empty when I leave the campground.
My tank wand takes care of the black tank just fine, but I'm struggling with the grey tank. My wife didn't realize that scraping old food down the kitchen sink was bad, and during one trip she must have gone a little nuts about it. Since then, I've had a heck of a time getting that tank to read empty. I've dumped gallon after gallon of water down there, trying to loosen whatever is stick to the sensor, but it still reads 1/3 full. I'm going to dump 5-6 gallons down there along with some Dawn before we go on our next trip, to see if that takes care of it. Any additional tips would be appreciated!

oldmanAZ · 02-04-2019, 12:10 PM

Do you do dishes in hard water using lots of Dawn (my DW does)? If so, adding more Dawn may not help. From time to time I add water softener and laundry detergent to my grey tank because I thought it was a good idea. BTW, we wipe dishes, pans etc. with paper towels before washing to minimize solids and fats in the grey tank. Our grey tank sensors read OK; I don't know if it is because of what I've done or in spite of it.

SteveMM · 02-04-2019, 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldmanAZ

Do you do dishes in hard water using lots of Dawn (my DW does)? If so, adding more Dawn may not help. From time to time I add water softener and laundry detergent to my grey tank because I thought it was a good idea. BTW, we wipe dishes, pans etc. with paper towels before washing to minimize solids and fats in the grey tank. Our grey tank sensors read OK; I don't know if it is because of what I've done or in spite of it.

We generally use the biodegradable camping dish soap and wash our dishes in a tub outside, using the outside shower head. This particular time, however, it was just me and my wife on a two-night trip, so we weren't worried about filling up the grey tank. Also, it rained a lot so we didn't want to stand in the rain doing dishes. The result of all of this was my wife scraping food down the grey tank. She didn't know, but she knows now. Up until this trip, my grey tank sensors were always fine. There must be some kind of junk that's stuck like glue to the sensor.

I've actually wondered if pouring 4-5 gallons of piping hot water down there might help.

Merrick · 02-05-2019, 12:59 PM

Quote:

Any additional tips would be appreciated!

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.

**Mustang65** · 02-05-2019, 01:23 PM

Within the first 6 months of using our 2013 28BHS (when new) the sensors started acting up. We tried just about everything we read (RV magazines) or saw on YouTube, with no long term acceptable results. The contacts just oxidize and well, they stop working.

We stopped looking at them and started putting alarms in the iPhones (1 for gray and 1 for black) to remind us to empty the tanks. Has worked fine so far. Never go more than 4 days without dumping the tanks. You can hear the difference in sound when the Black tank is getting full, so follow up with a Ultra Bright LED, narrow beam flash light and look down the hole. Some may even find a "Poop Mountain" if you leave your tanks open all the time.

As I locked up the TT for winter, I looked at the "Idiot Lights", the Gray tanks had 1 bar, Black tank was half full (both were just emptied). Not to stop there the battery indicator showed 3/4, the SOLAR control panel showed the batteries at 13.2..... And you wonder why I hate Idiot Lights!!!!

Don
My Registry

RVing with SOLAR

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