66 chevy beechwood

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Permalink Reply by Pat Daly on November 25, 2009 at 8:31am

Hi Mr. Smith. That's not a stupid question. We all had to learn it also.
The good news is it's real simple.

For the Black water tank just dump in a mixture of warm water and liquid dishwater soap (not too much soap, just normal)
with a 1 cup of reqular clorox bleach per 5 gallon bucket. Use at least 2 buckets. Let soak 4 or 5 hours and then go to a dump station and dump it. may as well do the greywater at the same time.

Take at least 2 five gallon buckets of pure water with you and after the black water is dumped and the valve is still open pour both buckets as quickly as possible down the toilet to rinse out the tank.
Close the black water valve. it's done. And then open and dump the grey water tank. this washes out the sewer hose of any "solids" left in the hose. after it stops running from the grey water, close the grew valve, unattach the sewer hose, lift it up in the air while the dirty end is still in the dump spot in the ground so that all water empties out of the hose, then, if a hose is available at the dump station put some fresh water down the hose cleaning the inside of it. DO NOT use your freshwater hose to the coach for this since you'll contaminate it with brown stuff!

Rinse the area around the dump in the groud with the water hose and then put your sewer hose away.
You're done.

Most of us wear those disposable rubber gloves when we dump cause there is always some little, or big, splash of brown that tends to get on your hands.

Use handi wipes which says antibacterial on it to clean your hands before you touch the handle of your coach.

Oh, watch the sewer hose and make sure it's inside the dump station hole, maybe place a rock on it or weight. they have a tendancy to "jump out of the hole" when the black water rushed thru it.

Go to youtube.com and watch robin williams movie "RV" for the funniest bit one dumping sewage the first time; it's about what actually happens at rv parks. Very funny, if it's not you.

To do the freshwater tank, make sure it's drained... since it's fresh water you can just drain it into your greywater tank. Then put 2 5 gallon buckets of fresh potable water with 2 cups each bucket of reqular clorox bleach in each bucket. pour into your freshwater inlet; i had to cut a short hose and put a funnel on the end so i could pour the bucket into my freshwater tank. Let the 10 gallons stand overnight to kill all bugs, drain the tank then attach the freshwater hose and run sweet potable water for about 5 minutes through your freshwater system, turning on each faucet and show one at a time until it runs "sweet" with no clorox smell. Running the fresh water for 5 minutes gets rid of all bugs and clorox smelly water in the freshwater lines.

It helps to have someone else to hold the hose or pour the water in and also to be INSIDE the rig to make sure that none of the interior pipes are broken or the bathtube plugged up... which will flood the inside. We did that our first time!

Is it freezing where you live? If so, you CAN:T leave fresh water inside your tanks or the water lines inside the rig, of course, or they will feeze and you will have a BIG problem. Go to our Forum on how to winterize if it freezes where you live... just a matter of draining all water out, maybe blowing gently out the water lines with air and then pumping in nontoxic rv antifreeze... wallmart is a good source. and pouring "pink antifreeze" into all traps, hoses inside, toilet. etc.

good lucki and let us know if we can help more.

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Permalink Reply by Becky Blanton on November 26, 2009 at 9:10pm

Another tip for cleaning your blackwater tank is to add a bag or two of ice to the tank and then drive. The cubes won't hurt anything, but will knock stuff you want knocked loose, loose. The cubes will eventually melt and become water, so you won't have to worry about cleaning it out. I used a 20 pound bag in my tank every time I left to go to a new campground. Dump your blackwater tanks, add ice and enough water so your tanks aren't full, but have enough liquid for the ice to work. By the time you get to the next site, the ice has dislodged nasty stuck stuff and melted, allowing you to dump the tanks at your next site. The ice won't hurt the seals either.

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