Help! Gravity toilet backed up after 2 nights

[rockfordroo]

Originally Posted by LandKKnight

Can u plz explain what if anything the dawn and calgon do besides odor control? The dawn doesn't foam in the tank? And do you use black water chemical in the tank as well?

The Calgon is a water softener. Makes the water "slippery," so stuff in the tank can slide off/out.

Part of the "Geo Method." See here:

https://sites.google.com/site/cbruni/

Unfortunately, Calgon is getting harder to find. Walmart seems to be the best place, if you're lucky. It comes in both powder and liquid.

And don't confuse water softener with fabric softener - two totally different things.

[rlh1957]

My dad wasn't even there! Never met a toilet he couldn't clog up. Even managed to clog one of those big suction toilet on the cruise ship! Send a plumber, NO, they sent an engineer who opened an electronic panel in the hall with lights and buttons... click, click, push, engage and whooom... you could about feel the towels on the wall trying to jump off.

But as everyone has said here the tank is for pee and poo... but has to have lots of water in it to keep from setting up poo mountain and to effectively cause a tidal wave when the dump valve is opened. Never depend on an indicator light being accurate. I've seen lights indicate full when empty and showing Empty when the tank is full. These sensors are about as cheap of electronic sensors as you can get. This is another reason to never camp with the black tank valve open... all the liquid runs out and leaves the solids and paper high and dry in your tank.

[caseymyers]

Linda, I don't usually add chemicals for the smell unless I detect an oder and then I drop in one of the RV Toilet pods for smell, but only if it is noticed. However a little soap like the lady said is good occasionally as you are driving the sloshing will suds up and clean your tank. I like the Calgon idea, never tried it buy I will.

What works for me is the clear plastic sewer connection and I flush the tank till it runs clean. = poop free tank

[rlh1957]

I use the Walex Bio-Pak Holding Tank Deodorizer & Digester. I don't use so much for smell as I do the extra digesting power. I always keep water in the black tank, never just empty and then leave it empty. Because anything left will dry out as in paper that didn't finish breakdown or any spies still piled up in there. A weekend of camping is not enough time for everything to breakdown. Then you dump, wash or flush and see clear water with the see through clear elbow. But there is stuff that still can lurk. If you run it empty and leave it dry, if anything gets on your sensors, it will dry and harden and for sure sensors won't work properly. Just my opinion though. I do like the Walex Bio Pak and Porta Pak pod to just throw in each time after I dump. Then put a few gallons back in the black tank. The deodorizer helps for when you flush and one of your exhaust fans is running and you get a whiff... depending on how strong your fans pull!

[RKBob]

I thought the 30FW used a macerating type of toilet? Is this standard or optional? I understand having a gravity dump rather than a diaphragm pump, but a gravity toilet! That's like an old fashion outhouse! This may be a culture shock going from water cruising to land cruising.
Bob😎

[caseymyers]

Many RV's use gravity, the toilet usually mounted directly over the black tank. In the 30FW, the toilet is on the shallow end of the tank so Dynamax put in a macerating toilet to liquify the solids so that they would easily flow to the deep end of the tank and not build a 'pile' under the toilet. But this design requires some user skill, in that you have to add enough liquid to the solids so that you get a nice flow as it were... So in using a macerating toilet just simply use a lot of water with each flush. Should be fine.

[LandKKnight]

Originally Posted by caseymyers

Many RV's use gravity, the toilet usually mounted directly over the black tank. In the 30FW, the toilet is on the shallow end of the tank so Dynamax put in a macerating toilet to liquify the solids so that they would easily flow to the deep end of the tank and not build a 'pile' under the toilet. But this design requires some user skill, in that you have to add enough liquid to the solids so that you get a nice flow as it were... So in using a macerating toilet just simply use a lot of water with each flush. Should be fine.

Casey, I dont think the toilet in the 30fw is macerating. There is just the pedal to step on and the waste drops into the tank. We definitely needed to use more water, but it is gravity, not macerating.

[RKBob]

Well that's disappointing guys, another complication. My boat has a macerating toilet and reading the literature I assumed the motorhome would too; just good engineering. It's not a deal breaker but I'll need to do some re-education on the wife. Does the 30FW lavatory drain to the black tank, that would help.
Thanks for the info...😎

[caseymyers]

Linda, I stand corrected, you are right, I had them backwards the 36 DS is macerating.

[caseymyers]

RK Bob, there was a thread on here back a month or so on the subject and I think the Lav in the bathroom drains into the black tank, engineered that way to add some liquid into the tank.

[RKBob]

When is yours due Casey, mines the first of August? Should have boat sold by then and be off the water and land cruising north.

[caseymyers]

It's just into paint this week and I think scheduled for delivery the end of May. Fingers crossed. Where you are down in Florida?

[RKBob]

I'm on Marco Island 14 miles south of Naples . Google (it's amazing how nouns become verbs in this connected society) 1211Redwood, 34145 for the satellite location. I've been reading these forums since we decided to give up boating and buy a motor home. There are many commonalities with the two but as this subject proves there are significant differences. The wife and I are looking forward to new adventures and meeting some of the people I read about on this forum.