Black Tank - Am I missing something?

[rjohnsonnm]

We have been using our MS for about 6 months/year for 3 years now and I am wondering about something. I see these special toilet tissues that cost a small fortune, along with the chemicals that smell worse than the black tank and wonder why or if they are needed. The black tank is only a holding tank that I flush at least once a week, usually twice. It has a 3" outlet which is bigger than anything that goes in it. Since the chemicals are for "digesting" the TP and solids, why would you need them, or the special paper. None of it is in there long enough to get "digested" by the chemicals nor big enough to clog the outlet. I use lots of water along with a little detergent if we are moving down the road and my tank smells fine. I tried the chemicals and truthfully I think it smelled worse with them than without. Am I missing something???
Ron

[Gemstone]

The only thing I see that is a bit unusual is your frequency of dumping the black tank. This is usually done only when full, as a full tank seems to evacuate solids better using the big slinky hose. The use of plenty of water, along with the natural decomposition of solids is all I need to dump our black tank every two to three weeks, and we only use a 3/4" Sewer Solution hose. Some folks use an additive to help digest the solids, cheap insurance I suppose. Detergent or TSP and some water in the tank while traveling seems to help keep it cleaner.

Regards
Gemstone

[BobW]

I think the only reason I use the blue stuff is to keep the smell down. Not sure what happens in the tank and I'm not sure I care to find out.
The paper we use is the cheapest stuff you can find. It seems the cheap stuff will brake down faster and not clog the pipes. To test this, take some paper and put it in a class of water and see how long it stays paper. not very long.
If you think about it, most of the stuff in the tank is only water. If there is more water than solids, you should have no problem with your system.

[Motor31]

The black tank is a holding tank. not a sewage treatment center. The chemicals that break down solids usually take longer than the material will stay in the tank. They also may not be kind to your valve seals. The chemicals that some RVers use also may end up "killing" the sewage treatment facility that the park uses. Someone used a boat load of chemicals at one of our favorite RV parks and killed the "bugs" that did treat the sewage in the treatment plant. That left he park with a severe odor problem until the chemicals were finally flushed from the system. Previously there had been no odor problem there.

We dump once a week as that is how long it takes us to fill it. We have gone as long as 9 days but that is chancy as the gauge reads full due to gunk fouling the internal probes in only 3 days. The better probes are the external ones that do not get coated with the contents of the tank. Of course they are more expensive so they were not put in the rigs.

The only time we have had trouble dumping the tank was when the seal on the black tank valve let the liquid drain leaving the solids during the week. Adding a bunch of water let it drain and we replaced the valve. The spray cleaning jet built into the system does an adequate job of flushing remaining solids from the tank after the liquid is gone. Remember that "stuff" floats and is not carried out by the first dump of the tank. You have to rinse it to get it clean. We also put in about 5 gallons of water in the tank when done.

We do 2 loads of wash to get plenty of grey water for hose flushing when stationary. If we are moving a last load the day before and a couple showers are enough to flush the hose the day we leave.

We use no chemicals and no additives in the tank and do not have an odor problem. We do occasionally dump a cup of apple vinegar down the bathroom and kitchen sink to keep the "P" trap fresh.

We're fulltimers so the tanks are never out of use.