Cleaning Black Water Tank

[cheverly262]

Hi,
We took our Redhawk 24B on its maiden voyage this week. We boondocked for 4 days on Shasta Lake in Northern CA. The rig worked out beautifully (minor issue with losing water on the 70-mile trip to the lake), but now that we’re back, I have to clean the black water tanks.

Dumping was easy enough, but I’d appreciate some recommendations on two products/systems to remove any buildup in the tank. One is the flush valve system using the Flush King Reverse Flush Valve. The other is the macerator system using a product from SewerSolution. I found both on etrailer.com. Both had great reviews – 4.7/5 for the Flush King and 4.6/5 for SewerSolution. The Flush King is almost $50 cheaper than the SewerSolution. Has anyone used one or both of these products or systems? Any recommendations? Better solutions? BTW, if anyone has any questions about the rig’s performance during the trip just ask away. Thanks!

[pward]

Lake Shasta is indeed very beautiful. You most likely lost the fresh water thru the overflow hose due to a siphon caused by having the tank too full. You can flush the black tank using the hose connector by the city connection or by using a wand. Not sure why you need either of the options you listed.

[RetiredOne]

Originally Posted by cheverly262

Hi,
but now that we’re back, I have to clean the black water tanks.

The water connection to the left of your city water connection is the black tank flush connection. Just hook up your garden hose to that connection, and the spray head inside the black tank will do the rest.

[JFlightRisk]

We flush ours with a wand after every trip. My BIL was using the black tank flush port on his, and started to get odor problems. After he saw what came out of his tank with a wand, he was a believer. I did drill 3 more holes in the end cap so it was easier to get everywhere with minimal twisting. We can't use a Flush King type device, since the tank outlet has a 90* fitting.

[Lake Huron]

First, you will never get it all out. For some reason people are obsessed with completely draining the tank and getting every last morsel out of it. Not gonna happen. The black tank flush connection works ok to clean the crud off the sensors and walls. What tends to work well, for me, is I fill a 5 gal bucket of water at our site and keep it in the shower. Drive to the dump station, and pull the black valve. I have a clear 45* adapter connected to the end valve and the sewer hose connects to that. This way you can see when the flow is slowing down. At that point I go in the trailer and slam that 5gal bucket of water down the toilet as hard as it will go. That acts like a power flush and tends to get out almost all of the remainder of what's in there. Finish dumping the grey, etc...
I'll pull away to keep from being an anchor and holding up the line so the next person can get in. I'll then dump a solution of tank treatment in there to keep things from smelling and help dissolve anything that may be left in there. The trip home will slosh it around in there and take care of business. Only once did I do a concoction of like dishwasher soap, water and laundry detergent ( I'm shooting from the hip here because I dont exactly remember what it was but I did a search for it on the forum and found it) and drove from home to our destination 3 hour away, and it didnt seem to help anything but it didnt hurt anything either.
You're always going to have a little bit of something left in the tank, which is not always a bad thing. That's what the tank treatment is for. It adds some enzymes in there to help break things down and keep things working properly.
Remember, when you flush, water is your friend. Water helps with the flow and break the solids down.

[eeek]

I'll share with you what I do. I won't try to convince you that my way is better or you should only do it my way. This is what works for me.

I make sure we are at 3/4's full. We do a lot of 2, 3 night stays, so I have to add water. I use the black tank flush for that. Yes, I am aware that it specifically says not to. First, my wife watches the control panel. Next, I have a water meter to measure what's going in. I dump and then let the tank flush run for 7 to 10 minutes. Then I close it and fill it up through the black tank flush. Watching through the clear elbow, I will do this a few more times until I stop seeing things come out. A lot of stuff will come out and this will take 3 or 4 times. And again- there is a lot of stuff that still comes out. After that is done, I get two gallons of water. I fill the toilet, put in a scoop of Happy Camper, stir it, and flush it. If it is hot, I will add another scoop. I'll then dump the rest of the 2 gallons down.

If there is anyone behind me, I will pull up and let them go.

[gymracer]

Have never had a big worry about the black tank on my motorhomes. I have a sewer drain at my house so I can take all the time I need to flush it out. Latest MH must have been setting without completely drained as been having trouble getting all solids out. So this week ran a hose from a high pressure faucet and filled tank and dumped until I had clean water coming through. Probably ran a 150 gallon through it then treated tank. Having my own drain allows me to flush as much as needed.

[TaftCoach]

x2 Happy Camper product

Also while standing there after emptying the tank I've closed the black water valve and allowed the tank sprayer to go for a minute or two then released the valve. I'll rinse and repeat a few times as long as I'm not holding anyone up. Water and enzyme is your friend.