Black Tank Flush Master Class

[Craig Carter]

Moderator Note: The post below was originally in the GEO Method For Cleaning Tank thread. Well worth your time to watch the video Craig mentioned! I've edited Craig's post (hope he doesn't mind) so it stands alone in this thread (see original thread if interested in the original conversation). -Howard

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KleenTank (kleentank.com) performed a full tank cleaning on a Momentum. They have cleaned thousands of tanks and their company now recommends Lysol and Calgone Bath Beads (provides the mixture on their site). You just use one cup per tank after emptying. Apparently, the bath beads perform the same function as your water softener.

RV Black Tank Cleaning, Maintenance, Tips & 7 Mistakes To Stop Doing NOW!

Kleen Tanks recommendation is to NOT use chemicals to break down the waste and create the sludgy mess that is hard to get out of the tanks and clogs the sensors.

[howson]

A reference document from https://kleentank.com/downloads/Klee...ion_recipe.pdf



Kleen_Tank_Waste_Tank_Solution_recipe.pdf

[Craig Carter]

Nice! Thanks howson for posting the recipe.

[Country Campers]

Jim from Kleen Tank, the owner, does an excellent job cleaning tanks. He is usually at the National Rally and books up pretty quickly. He cleaned our tanks last year and with that you also get his cleaning solution and the recipe for it. We had a little bit of mold in our kitchen grey tank which he said the solution should handle.

Brian

[NoPeeking]

Interesting the Kleen Tank business model runs counter to pretty much the entire RV holding tank chemical industry on the premise of "holding" tank vs. "septic" tank. Makes sense to me...I just hadn't thought of it in those terms.

Mike

[Cate&Rob]

I have always questioned the addition of “septic system chemicals” to a short term holding tank. Interesting discussion on the sludge created by the various chemical concoctions recommended by some. We have never had this problem, but do not use any chemicals . . . just lots of water pre-fill and no paper. See post 10 and the rest of the discussion in this thread. https://gdrvowners.com/forum/operati...water-use-idea We have never had odour problems. This has worked for us for decades, going back into our boating years. And, actually a generation before that . . . I learned this from my Dad.

Rob

[Jeff Barta]

I started doing this with our flush. I believe it makes a difference. I also use it on my grey tanks. The last calgon i got was lavender, so it would be soothing to my black tank lol

[NoPeeking]

The last calgon i got was lavender, so it would be soothing to my black tank lol

Nothing soothes at the dump station like lavender... "Calgon, take me away"...

[bogen2]

I have been thinking about getting a back flush valve for a while but this video convinced me. I’m going to order one but needed to do a dump today and watching the way the back flush worked, I had an idea to use the gray water to back flush the black tank. I figured that if the black tank is empty and the gray is full, opening both valves should allow nice soapy water to “back flush” into the black tank until they equalize. And because the black tank is empty there should be no backflow to the gray tank.

So I fully drained and flushed the black tank the way I normally do. Then I closed the outside Valterra valve, left the black valve open and opened one of the gray tank valves. After about 15 seconds I closed the gray valve and opened the outside valve. After a bit of gray water went by, a LOT of lumpy brown water rushed by. I repeated this with both gray tanks until they were nearly empty.

This seemed to work really well. After this gray water back flush, the flow out of the black tank with the in-tank flush was really clear. I’m sure the Valterra Flush King will work better, but this is how I’m flushing the tanks from now on if I don’t have the time or water to do a proper flush.

Bob

[Guest]

We use Aqua-Kem enzyme (no formaldehyde) without issue. Sometimes its good to think about the downstream affect such as the septic systems in campgrounds. Lysol and Pine-sol are disinfectants and will kill off the healthy bacteria in septic systems. Enzyme RV chemicals will aid these systems. We have never had any issues with Aqua-Kem but then again, we never go longer than one week before the black tank is dumped. The black tank flush is used at the dumping station for as long as to not be an inconvenience to anyone, then once back home, it is flushed again. The tank is clean and the sensors work like new. To this fellows point, we use septic safe two ply household tissue.

Jim