Black water holding tank explodes!

[dogwood36322]

Did he hookup his fresh water hose to his flush. I saw this happen in a campground in Biloxi, Ms. Luckily he had just parked and tank was empty of waste.

[rockfordroo]

Black water tank explosion brings out best in tight-knit military RV community « ChristianAdventurer2
Never heard of this but guess it does happen, but what it does say is clean the tank every time you go camping and don't leave poo tank open when on full hook up. Make sure vent is clear and hasn't got plugged. If you bought your RV used don't trust the last owner to have done this stuff right, Flush the tank to make sure there is no build up. The only question I have is how do you make sure vent is working?

Interesting story, but I still see no evidence of an "explosion." Yeah, the tank leaked. Sounds like typical misleading journalism, to me.

[Slympicins]

Watching someone flush their septic system with their fresh water hose makes me wonder. How about another cheapo hose for washing off the patio, TT, truck and and rinsing the septic? Got one for mine.

[BamaBob]

Originally Posted by B47

That Lady wouldn't last a mile in the RV with me.

Yeah we MUST make sure if she IS at Goshen she camps somewhere else Than PPST

[ryand]

Originally Posted by dogwood36322

Did he hookup his fresh water hose to his flush. I saw this happen in a campground in Biloxi, Ms. Luckily he had just parked and tank was empty of waste.

Thinking the same thing. Gross! Ours have seperate bins and a dose of bleach water on the valve because of guys like this.

[BamaBob]

Originally Posted by Slympicins

Watching someone flush their septic system with their fresh water hose makes me wonder. How about another cheapo hose for washing off the patio, TT, truck and and rinsing the septic? Got one for mine.

Gag....just GAG...we have our hoses separated white is for drinking and black is for....not

Bleach spray and wipe you betcha!

So folks when is the last time you sanitized your RV water lines? (My son is a nursing student so he scares me often... 5% bleach solution in the holding tank for 24 hours and run through every faucet for 15 min...rinse and repeat x2 a year

[Witch Doctor]

Originally Posted by HSVBamaBob

Gag....just GAG...we have our hoses separated white is for drinking and black is for....not

Bleach spray and wipe you betcha!

So folks when is the last time you sanitized your RV water lines? (My son is a nursing student so he scares me often... 5% bleach solution in the holding tank for 24 hours and run through every faucet for 15 min...rinse and repeat x2 a year

I sanitize only when I take it out of winterization. Maybe if you you use your camper only 2 times per year or something and leave the stale water in your tank for 6 mos.. That's a little excessive. Also depends if you drink your water out of the fresh water tank or you are hooked up to city water or well water when camping. Do you flush your home lines 2x's per year? Or have you ever? We don't drink the water ourselves we use a pur water pitcher which filters the water the second time after the filter it has to go through to enter the system. Sounds like the old saying about don't drink the water in Mexico.

[campdohbrew]

Originally Posted by Bandit114

Maybe exploded isn't quite the right term, a buddy of mine was not paying attention when he was flushing his black tank, I don't quite understand what happened, but it built up pressure, and split a seam open, YUK! Don't think he will ever do that again!

This is more likely what occurred. A friend’s relative did this 2 times and about 1 month apart. They were flushing the black water tank and not paying attention. The tank burst. It cost them quite an amount to make the repair.

[KyDan]

We really need more details. Sounds bad but also a bit unbelievable.
I can see a full tank splitting a seam and barfing all over the ground.
Maybe that's what they call an "explosion".
Or maybe the guy had sewer gas and tossed a cigarette down the
crapper?!?
I -guess- that could happen....

[Ford Idaho]

This is a serious methane moment.

[Slympicins]

Oh we all have serious methane moments boys. Just ask our wives. As far as sanitizing the system every time, what ever doesn't kill you will make you stronger. We use bottled water to drink even at home. Remember when you were much younger we drank water straight out of the hose We are still here. As for drinking the water in Mexico...that applies to everywhere we go. Each state or city in the USA and Canada have different water than we are used to at home. Granted a good flush of the system when the camper sits unused for a week or a month can build up some nasty little buggers than need to be flushed. So the 5% rinse is good idea every time you open up the camper. Not sure about the black water tank though. New deposits in there will get rid of any micro nastys there. I would say add some bleach to your water filter (filter removed) and run it through the system with all faucets open until it's clear should do the job. That would end up in you holding tanks to fix them. A rinse of your fresh water holding tank as well. No more beans, chilly or beer will help the methane issue too but that's not going to happen either.

[joshuajim]

Stranger things have happened. Back in the 70’s when I was a project manager for a developer who was building tracts, our lender went bankrupt. We had a tract that was 95% complete, but all construction was stopped due to lack of funding. The project set for a year while the lender went through bankruptcy. A new lender came on board and the project was restarted and completed for sale.

One of the first units we sold, the new buyer was trying all the appliances at the final walk thru. A couple of minutes after turning on the dishwasher, it exploded! It blew the door completely off and expanded the tub to where it was almost impossible to remove it.

At first we thought that somehow it got connected to a gas line, not the water line. Final analysis revealed that the water heater was only partially filled with water for the vacant year. Algae formed and then turned to methane gas.

Turning on the DW pushed the gas into the tub and a spark from the motor set it off.

Never say never!

[Witch Doctor]

Originally Posted by Ida Ratherbe Camping

Did they mix two or more cleaning chemicals that they weren't supposed to? Wow... not a pretty pic.

I think that this could be it more then anything. People like to mix up there own cleaner and deodorizer. People on this forum use anything from pine soil to different mixtures. If you mix the wrong stuff it could have an chemical reaction.
It wouldn't make any difference if the vent was plugged or not at that point. I guess turbs might be right just don't use it. I always wonder why he came by to see me he always asked to use my head. I said to my wife god he go's to the bathroom alot.....