Holding tank level indicators

[John3447]

I have a 2017 JayCo Eagle 317RLOK and I am having trouble with the tank level indicators some work some of the time but never do they all work at the same time. What have others experienced and are there any recommended fixes?

[Jagiven]

I assume you mean they are never accurate, and not that there is a short in the wire and you get no level reading. Unfortunately this is a common problem.

For the black tank, most of the time TP, builds up on the sensor probes and they stay wet, and give a false fuller reading. You can bring a hose into the camper and use a "wand" and rinse the tank, usually this helps. On a 5ver it might be more challenging. Some people swear by putting a bag or two of ice cubes down the drain and go for a drive. I personally like to use a water wetting agent. I use liquid fabric softener, others use "water softener" Basically this allows the water to more easily soak into the ick, and help it dissolve the matter. I use about a cup of fabric softener to 4 gallons of water. Poor about 1/2 the solution down each my black and grey tanks. I will do this about 3 times, after I dump and before I drive home, and let it slosh. Make sure to have plenty of fluids int the tank so it can slosh nicely.

Grey tank has a similar issue, but instead of TP, I think the issue is grease buildup on the sensors and tank walls. I use the same mixture to clean the tank. I never use bleach as it kills the good bacteria that keeps the odors down.

Also very important after dumping your waste tanks, make sure have enough water in them. In the Black tank add 10%+ of tank volume back in, so a 50 gallon tank should have about 5 gallons or more water put back in. The grey tank, I always keep a few gallons in mine.

[Rustynuts]

That’s just the way they are, the only real permanent fix is to switch to SeeLevel tank gauges and sensors. The sensors stick on the outside of the tanks and read through the tank and always give you a percentage readout. You can even use the existing wiring for the new sensors.

[John3447]

Thanks for the helpful suggestions. I have not been traveling with water in the tanks and will start that immediately!

[Joan617]

After giving up on the tank meters, We looked at installing SeaLevel gauges then decided the money was better spent elsewhere. We just don’t bother with the gauges and have no problems.

We keep the gray tank drains open except for the day before dumping the black, in order to accumulate rinse water for the hose.

We do the black tank once a week. When we fill it to rinse after dumping, we have a $20 inline flow meter on the inbound hose to accurately count about 40 gals going in out of 50 gals capacity.

We guesstimate 1/3 tank in the freshwater as reserve in case the campground hookup goes south.

Don’t need no blinky lights.

[Brownie]

I have 2 grey tanks - one for the kitchen sink and one for the bathroom sink & shower. When they start acting up, I drop a black-tank cleaner/deodorizer pod into each sink and run some water to let them dissolve. I keep the tank valves closed until its time to dump. When I dump, I see a lot of "gunk" in the water, and my indicators work fine . . . as least for a couple of weeks.