Use Pine Sol for Black and Grey tanks?

[Chet & Marie]

I have a camper friend that puts 2 cups of generic pine sol from the Dollar store in his 20 gallon grey and also in his 20 gallon black water tanks at the start of each trip as well as a packet of orange stuff in the black water. He says keeps his sensors working and keeps the valves operating smoothly. He also uses Dawn to wash the dishes. I am going to try this as I am sick of my grey water gauges not working most of the time in spite of all the other stuff I have tried. Any comments?

[ksquared]

Originally Posted by Bayoutalker

That's close to what I use but I don't add bleach. I'm not a fan of the smell of bleach and pinesol. Calgon, Borax and Dawn has almost no smell of its own and keeps the tank clean and odor free.

Cliff, newbie here--we just acquired our 195RB and emptied the gray and black tanks from the few gallons of treated liquid that were sitting for a l..o..n..g time in each. Harsh chemicals and I don't get along well at all, so I'd love to avoid all those masking agents, etc.

Can you please tell me the ratios you use in your Calgon/Borax/Dawn as you mix with water? I use Borax and Dawn around the house regularly, so am much more confident in their use than in any strong chemicals, and would love to give them a try!

[Hollander Mutthaulers]

Originally Posted by ksquared

Cliff, newbie here--we just acquired our 195RB and emptied the gray and black tanks from the few gallons of treated liquid that were sitting for a l..o..n..g time in each. Harsh chemicals and I don't get along well at all, so I'd love to avoid all those masking agents, etc.

Can you please tell me the ratios you use in your Calgon/Borax/Dawn as you mix with water? I use Borax and Dawn around the house regularly, so am much more confident in their use than in any strong chemicals, and would love to give them a try!

Perhaps overkill, but it's worked for our two 26 gallon tanks for past 7 years:
2/3 cup Calgon, 1/3 cup Dawn - (we carry 9 1-cup clear plastic screw-on lid bottles that are pre-mixed) - 90% goes in black tank, rest and bottle rinse goes in grey tank.
We also mix about 1/4 cup Happy Campers, 1/4 cup Washing Soda in gallon of water for black tank. Then add two more gallons of rinse water.
We wash dishes in a basin that fits in our kitchen sink. That basin gets dumped in the toilet, two handy steps away. Grey tank gets very little vegetable or animal waste, mostly hand-washing and shower water.
Everything comes out slick and clean at the dump station. We've had very little trouble with odors. Our tank sensors work sometimes, but mostly we can just sort of tell when it's time to dump.
This is one of perhaps 198,746 formulas. Whichever you try, hope it works well for you and that you have lots of good experiences in all the facets of RVing. : )

[ARoamer]

I put a mix of Pine Sol 50/50 with water in shallow trays and place in kitchen sink and shower when not using the 5er. Mice seem to hate the pine smell but I love it! Balsam Fir oil (Pine) is the active ingredient in Fresh Cab which has been shown to repel mice. I add more water as it evaporates. IMHO, I never have seen much advantage for holding tank treatments, sensors still don't work right and it's still gonna smell like perfume on a skunk.