Tank Gauges

[BorninPalatka]

How do we clean/maintain the tank  gauges ?

[Mainiac]

We put some ice cubes into the toilet, and some down the drain with a little water, on the way home. As you travel it "splashes" around and cleans any residue. When you are home (or your next stop) you can empty mostly water into a bucket and pour into the home toilet. We also use Eco-Save which is an enzyme material (scented) and only put in the tank when waste is present in the tank. Not available everywhere...

[bradbev]

Oliver tank gauges do not use probes inserted inside the tank so there is no maintenance issue, assuming your Oliver is like mine.  The sensor element is located on the side (outside) the tank and I believe uses capacitance principle to sense the liquid level.

 

I've had many RVs and this is the first one that uses this type of sensor and I love it.

[KarenLukens]

The one thing is that because the gauge is on the outside, you don't want to put any grease or slime down the gray tank because if the inside gets coated, the gauge readings will be inaccurate to the point of saying it's full all of the time. There are chemicals that you can buy to clean the inside of the gray tank, but it takes hot water and time to degrease.

[DanWestbrook]

do you know where the tank gauges are located, i.e., are they are the front of the tanks (toward the trailer tongue) or at the back of the tanks? Obviously, if the trailer is perfectly level it doesn't matter, but if it is off slightly it would make a difference. Are you better off to have the trailer slightly off to the back of the trailer or the front? Does slightly off side to side matter?

 

Thanks,

 

Dan

[Townesw]

The sensors are on the rear end of the tanks. If hooked to sewer at a campsite I like to be level side to side and tilted slightly back.

[Townesw]

The ice cubes in the black tank sounds like a good idea, but I think I would be careful about doing that. I’m sitting here looking at a cold bottle of beer right now and there are water droplets on it. Now if you put ice in your black tank and the humidity is moderately high you will have water droplets form on the outside of your black tank and the water will end up in your bilge (you sailors may correct me on the use of the term, if incorrect).

 

I have a thing I wash my tractor radiator out with. I stuck that thing down through the open valve in my toilet and blew the, well, you get the idea. Just be sure to stick it all the way in. Don’t ask me how I know.

 

Edited to add: Submitted by Bill. Not Martha. (She wanted me to be clear on that point).

[Mainiac]

Ice cubes only go in the tank when going down the road. As they move and help a 'splash' effect, to clean, they melt. We certainly wouldn't put enough in there to cause the condensation. We would want plenty of room for the 'stuff' to move around.

Doesn't your unit have a built in black tank flush port anyway? Mine is located on the curb side stern (back) side. Using that should eliminate any need for use of a high pressure wand. We do have a stick type of device that lowers into the toilet opening, that has a directional jet stream and an on and off valve. We had it for another SOB (some other brand) unit to eliminate a "pyramid of doom". But experience has taught us we can leave that at home. Just in case...

[mossemi]

Try searching the internet for the “Geo method”. It suggest using Calgon and Dawn dish soap for RV tank cleaning. Borax can also be substituted for Calgon. The Calgon or Borax will soften hard water and Dawn will clean the inside of the tanks. I add both after dumping my tanks. Driving the trailer home or to the next camping spot acts as the agitator. Works for us.

[Commanche]

I seen a article some years back, where this guy did some testing on ice cubes in the black tank, and his conclusion was, it was no help in cleaning the tank.

 

Stan

[Townesw]

Mainiac, we do have the black tank flush fitting but it is my understanding that it just allows you to put water in the black tank, same as if just pouring water in through the toilet valve. It doesn’t have a spray function to dislodge, as you put it, the “pyramid of doom”.

 

Edited to add: Mainiac, just reread your post. The black tank flush fitting is on the street side, outside, under where the front dinette seat would be. The curb side rear fitting is for filling the fresh tank and winterizing.

 

Edited to add: The black tank flush fitting has a check valve and a fixed nozzle with several holes in it that spray water in several directions. Look up Valterra No Fuss Flush fitting. 

Edited June 30, 2020 by Townesw

[Spike]

you don’t want to put any grease or slime down the gray tank

 

Reed, in your opinion, does this include drain valve lubricant? I recently ordered this product from Amazon after reading in the Oliver manual that using a product like this was recommended to keep the drain valve operational:

 

Camco 40246 TST Drain Valve Lube with Coco Oil

 

Is one forced to choose between the possibility of a stuck drain valve or a non-operational tank gauge?

 

DIFFERENT ISSUE: Since this thread has slipped a bit into the issue of cleaning the black tank, I thought that I would add this. We don't use our black tank since we opted for the Nature's Head composting toilet (and glad we did), but we have been using this product for the gray tank:

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CD4BK4U/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

We have been happy with TankTechRx. It seems to eliminate odors from the gray tank and the drain traps well. It has good reviews by folks who use it in their black tanks. The probiotics supposedly work to dissolve solid waste. (I, too, have read that the ice-cube method was ineffectual.)

[topgun2]

Spike -

I don't think that Reed meant to include products like Camco 40246 TST Drain Valve Lube with Coco Oil in with the "Grease and slime". I have used this Camco product for several years now and it simply does what it says it will do - lubricate the slide valves. I would guess that it also leaves a bit of slippery residue on the sides (and bottom) of the tank, but, that would help in keeping "things" from sticking to those side and bottom.

Remember that these tank gauges are not hugely accurate in the first place with the fairly wide gaps between reading coupled with the "problem" of our tanks being so long and low (subject to leveling issues). I simply use the gauge readings as an early warning system and make sure that I really flush the tanks well as often as I can. In over twenty years of RVing I've not had a problem in this area (yet).

Bill

[SeaDawg]

I'm curious. Aren't the sensors in the outside of the tanks? Most of the new Marine tank sensors are...

 

Sherry

[mossemi]

Yes Sherry, you are correct. The original posting about tank sensors slipped into cleaning tanks and I apologize for contributing to the confusion by not staying on topic.

 

[topgun2]

While our gauges are, indeed, on the outside of the tanks, there can be "false" readings caused by "stuff" sticking to the insides of the tank and/or not keeping a tank fairly clean. However, this problem is fairly simple to keep from happening - keep the tanks clean.

Bill