necessary to disinfect black/grey tanks?

[SmilinBeard]

One thing not mentioned is te effect of bleach or other disinfectant on wastewater treatment plants and septic systems. Hosting at a state park campground we needed to be careful of our use of bleach to avoid killing the microbes essential to that small system. If you have a septic system, you may need to put in an additive to restore to balance of your system. You would have no measurable impact on a municipal wastewater system.

[SF-GF]

Hello, I can talk from experience. I have had C-Diff at least 8 times confirmed. I have been hospitalized with it all 8 times and even underwent what is known as a fecal transplant twice. Hope your wife gets a great GI doctor along with a infectious disease doctor. Georgetown Hospital in Washington, DC is fantastic. Anyway, my husband never got it so I wouldn’t worry to much about that. Yes you can use Clorox disinfectant to clean services down. As far as putting bleach down the black and gray tank he didn’t do that. It’s not recommended for your tanks. They have cleaner for your black and gray tank that he used. Once flushed into tank and out it should be gone. Hope your wife gets well soon. It’s nasty stuff and it can come back. Tell her to stay away from all antibiotics and really look into the fecal transplant.

[SF-GF]

C-Diff survivor
Hello, I can talk from experience. I have had C-Diff at least 8 times confirmed. I have been hospitalized with it all 8 times and even underwent what is known as a fecal transplant twice. Hope your wife gets a great GI doctor along with a infectious disease doctor. Georgetown Hospital in Washington, DC is fantastic. Anyway, my husband never got it so I wouldn’t worry to much about that. Yes you can use Clorox disinfectant to clean services down. As far as putting bleach down the black and gray tank he didn’t do that. It’s not recommended for your tanks. They have cleaner for your black and gray tank that he used. Once flushed into tank and out it should be gone. Hope your wife gets well soon. It’s nasty stuff and it can come back. Tell her to stay away from all antibiotics and really look into the fecal transplant.

[Keithfirefighter]

My wife is a Nurse Practitioner she says they use bleach wipes to clean when someone has C Diff. So i would use bleach in the black tank at a ratio of 1 cup of bleach per 15 gallon of black tank water and let it sit full for a couple of hours or over night and i would say it will be sanitized. But i would not dump the water down in your septic tank at your house with that strong of bleach mixture!

[Steve W indy]

Yes, some kind of bleach cleaner is good. Or a dedicated disinfectant like Odo-Ban which i always have handy. 1 gal of concentrate makes gallons of solution for various purposes and dilutions; so i find it economical.

Filling tanks with relatively strong bleach solution and driving is a good idea. One habit i have is as follows: whenever we leave the park, we usually have anywhere from 5~10 gal of freshwater left (i bleach the FW tank and all the lines before we camp). I dump my tanks at the park and then empty the FW into the two GW and one BW tank; so about 2-3 gal in each tank. I put about 2 ozs. of dishwasher detergent in first, so that sloshes around while traveling. While bleach will disinfect, it does not do much for mechanical cleaning or grease breakdown; so any muck stuck in the tank will block the bleach from surface disinfecting. So ideally, you'd mechanically clean (soap and motion) the GW and BW's and then disinfect. If you don't have a BW flush, the old ice trick (dump 20# of ice in the toilet and drive around) might help.

You will NEVER get into all the nooks and crannies where spores can hide. They can be behind walls where they can't be reached. Therefore, the ozone generator is a pretty good idea. They also work well in a TT because it's such and enclosed space. You don't want to overdo it with an ozone gen cuz it can have a minor oxidation effect on electronic (contacts) and such, but you'd have to run it for days to affect that. I suppose you can rent one but a small one is $80 (https://www.amazon.com/Enerzen-Comme...5601604&sr=8-1) on Amazon. They're sort of lame as they are fairly modest output, but ideal for small bathrooms or TT's. They're also handy in the home on spills in a closet or pet accidents. Follow all safety guidelines please.

[kjlars]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

Bleach is cheap and TT's are small. Mix, spray, wipe, then shower.

I regularly remove all items I can launder from my TT and all eating utensils get regular trips through the dishwasher in the house.

I think a person who is worried about possible infection will pay attention to the sanitizing process than someone who's either worried about getting finished so they can go to the next job, or just go home for the day.

Another option would be to rent a commercial ozone generator. Close all windows fill the TT with ozone for a couple hours. Then make sure to ventilate well starting with a big box fan in the door for a while before entering to open vents.

Ozone is an oxidizer and directly attacks organisms where bleach releases oxygen that does the same.

As a side benefit ozone also will remove nasty pet or smoking odors as well as mold. Just be sure to VENTILATE before going back in.

Ozone will kill most germs but be careful to ventilate the TT. Ozone is extremely dangerous to the lungs when breathed in. I discovered this when looking for a way to sanitize my CPAP so I bought a medical ultraviolet device, does the job in minutes and do not have to ventilate the CPAP before use.

[Chrisb009]

Second on the ozone. Buy a ozone machine and place it in the camper (at the main door for ease of shutdown) with the air conditioning on circulate for around an hour or so with it closed up. Then shut it down and open all the windows, for a few hours, with a roof fan on to remove the ozone. Be very careful as ozone can cause damage to the upper repository tract. I've used ozone in vehicles and it works wonders in removing unwanted smells and killing bacteria. For the tanks I'd simply throw some beach in them and drive /pull it around a few miles then drain them.

[Jomo]

I use bleach & pine sol on everything!

[Chris Pastuzyn]

Check out Bioblasting .com pretty interesting concept and easy to use, A little pricey but not crazy $ for what it can be used on.

[dalspot]

And be careful buying bleach during this pandemic mess! We needed new bleach to sanitize the tanks this year and what I found at the local grocery store was older than my “old” bleach!

Originally Posted by TitanMike

Note: Bleach has an expiration date and it really means it. After that date it may not be strong enough to be effective for sanitizing when diluted as directed.

[GeauxMimiGo]

Been reading this thread. Learning much about how to approach sanitation. Still newbie, but eager to know all I can. Been avoiding use of chemical in the coach to keep sensitive little propane sensor from sounding that ear piercing alarm; so I can't help but wonder how in the world would all this bleaching take place without setting off the sensor. Would you just do all the bleaching with no power on? We have our unit hooked up to shore power at home.