Black Tank, drainage frequency?

[BMATT]

Alright, here is my conundrum...I use my RV pretty much every weekend, but generally not for anything extravagant - sometimes just to a friends house, sometimes just to cruise around, etc.
Problem is, I have no trailer parks or RV dump stations readily close by and therefore need to "store" waste in the black tank for a few weeks at a time.

Now when I say waste, it isn't much at all - generally just my woman and I, perhaps 1-4 uses a weekend. I make sure to dump a lot of water in and ensure that the toss in chemical pack is in there as well.

How long can I keep this up? Obviously if I have more people using it I would make the trek and empty, but this does not happen often.

Any help would be appreciated, thank you and Happy RV-ing.

[iowasparrow]

Until it's full. It's a holding tank, that's what it's made for.

[vocoder]

Generally speaking, I don't empty the tank until it's 2/3's or so full. I find that the force behind the gravity feed doesn't always move all the solid waste out of the tank otherwise. I've got no evidence to back this up, but I'd also believe the longer the chemical packs have to work on the waste, the less solids there will be when it's time to dump.

That said, if the RV isn't going to be used for more than a couple of weeks I will dump it regardless just to avoid any unpleasant odors if the bowl doesn't seal right or something like that.

[iowasparrow]

Agreed, almost full, or if it smells due to a poor seal or something.

[elind]

I all depends on different things. When I was in Arizona this spring for two months and would drain it at about 2/3 full. One night we had a bad order in our RV. It was so bad that we couldn't sleep. Found out that the black tank started to brew with the 80-90 degree days we had for the past week. Drained the tank at 1am and able to sleep the rest of the night.

[caesar101]

As above, drain it when it starts to smell.

[Brother Les]

Use your gray tank to back flush and clean your black tank after you have emptied your black tank first.

[savi18]

Where do you guys dump your black waste, in NZ we have to locate dump stations to hook our hoses up, I suppose in the states it my be a few miles to find one,

[Ford Idaho]

The city waste treatment plant is 5 miles away, county fair grounds has two and is 10 miles away, Pilot TS is 15 miles out.

I dislike the idea of letting the waste settling in the tank so I use one of the above before unhooking the lite.

When camped I dump it when it is about 3/4 full.

[mike.t]

I am with elind. If the weather is warm/hot i would make sure there was enough water in the tank. Would not want it to evaporate and leave chunks in the tank.

[jmencel]

As was said .. it is a "holding" tank. As a former boater (sail plus Great Loop on a cruiser) I only dumped my holding tank when it was getting full. Sometimes it would be weeks before I dumped it in hot weather, and as long as you kept the odor control chemicals in it, all would be fine. Can't think why my RV would be any different.

[mike.t]

During warm/hot weather i am sure the bottom of your boat is a lot cooler than the bottom of an RV.

[Big Bill]

how does the black tank smell get into the living space ? if there is a water seal in the toilet and water in the sink and shower traps? thanks

[mike.t]

Water seal? You mean the the seal that holds the water in the bowl? If the blank tank smells every time you flush it it would release an odor.

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by mike.t

Water seal? You mean the the seal that holds the water in the bowl? If the blank tank smells every time you flush it it would release an odor.

That's only momentarily, I think he was saying it was constant which shouldn't be unless he was getting it from the outside vent blowing inside.

[mike.t]

Guess i didn't read all of it. If it is constant that is a problem.

[Witch Doctor]

Originally Posted by BMATT

Alright, here is my conundrum...I use my RV pretty much every weekend, but generally not for anything extravagant - sometimes just to a friends house, sometimes just to cruise around, etc.
Problem is, I have no trailer parks or RV dump stations readily close by and therefore need to "store" waste in the black tank for a few weeks at a time.

Now when I say waste, it isn't much at all - generally just my woman and I, perhaps 1-4 uses a weekend. I make sure to dump a lot of water in and ensure that the toss in chemical pack is in there as well.

How long can I keep this up? Obviously if I have more people using it I would make the trek and empty, but this does not happen often.

Any help would be appreciated, thank you and Happy RV-ing.

I had the same problem in hot weather, Then I switched to a product called full timer from CW. The problem ended sometimes depending on heat I might put 8 oz's instead of the 4 that it calls for. Also if your bath fan is on when you flush it draw the smell out....

[bob caldwell]

Originally Posted by savi18

Where do you guys dump your black waste, in NZ we have to locate dump stations to hook our hoses up, I suppose in the states it my be a few miles to find one,

In this area, rest stops have dump sites... some truck stops,for a small fee, also. Or, late at night, at your neighbors door step ( right coasters)

[B and B]

Your neighbours to the north would hang you up by a redwood for such thoughts! They protest someone using a jet ski on english bay for gosh sakes...

[outloud]

I drain at about 2 weeks. But when I had to redo my driveway for the concrete I dug a trench in the driveway and I put in power/sewer made a 15% drop in the sewer line and connected it to my main house sewer. But before that I used the Flying J which was 2 miles down the road.