Oh, the black tank—the pit toilet of RVs. Actually, they are more like a pit toilet than a home toilet, where you flush and whatever is in the toilet begins an underground journey to the local sewer treatment plant.
With an RV toilet, you flush and the contents drop straight down, or through a plastic pipe that descends slightly and eventually deposits the contents into the black tank. When the tank reaches a certain level, you head off to a dump station, attach a special waste hose to a disposal valve, open it, and the contents of both the gray and black tanks flow into the RV park’s sewer system. It’s just like magic! Well, sort of…
But sometimes there’s a problem. Not everything in the black tank flows away. It gets stuck. It attaches to the bottom or side of the tank. You can flush it out with various devices made for that purpose, but they are not 100 percent effective. And if the situation gets bad, the tank can get plugged!
And, no, putting ice cubes in the black tank and then driving your rig over bumpy roads is not effective—contrary to what YouTube experts say.
That’s when you summon the local RV waste expert. He has the high-powered hose and other equipment to clean the tank so clean that you could eat off it. (Yuck! We’re kidding about that, of course!)
So, our question today is, have you ever had your black tank professionally cleaned?
RELATED:
- Gadgets to keep RV black tanks stink-free and clean
- Flush-Safe—A review of new black tank flushing gear
- The RV black tank practices that do and don’t work
- There’s a poo pyramid in my RV black tank
RVDT2731
Honestly, I don’t get the current obsession with perfectly clean black tanks. I camped for decades before there was such a thing as a black tank flush connection or professional cleaning services. Has my black tank tank level gauge always worked perfectly? No. Do I care? No. Have I ever had an issue with my black tank? No.
100% agree. It’s a tank. A holding tank.
We do the Bio method. Over 25 years and 4 RV’s-2TT and 2MH- no problems.
And it’s also not a septic system requiring treatments unless it seldom is dumped.
Black tank dumped and cleaned once when they put the extra new valve on.
Been rving 40 years, just drop a tank pod in after dump, never had a issue. I do not use the tank gauge if toilet burps when flushing its full. Just use lots of water when flushing.
46 years now RVing as an adult. Never had a black tank issue other than the occasional sensor issues virtually everyone encounters. Never had one “professionally cleaned.”
When it comes to black tanks, water is your friend!
Did buy our daughter a used TT that had severe cake buildup in the tank. Dumped in a couple packets of Travel Jon, filled with water and let sit two weeks. Flushed it out and good as new. They used it 15 years with no issues.
I did it to fix the sensors, but they still don’t work right.
As RV owners of 20 years, we’ve never had an issue maintaining our black tank. We recently purchased a *new to us* RV and decided to have the black tank professionally cleaned. We now know we have a good starting point….
We did have our black and gray tank professionally cleaned after owning our 5th wheel for 2 yrs. I had it done mainly for the gray tank as the sensor wasn’t working as I thought it should. When we camp, it’s usually at a full hookup park, and we use our bathroom for urine only. Our tanks were very clean, and we haven’t felt the need to do another deep clean.
I had my black tank turbo flushed once but after a few uses the gauge issues returned as before. I think that proper flushing regularly is more beneficial than paying someone to clean my black tank.
Once – at an RV Rally at the fairgrounds in Elkhart, Indiana. Very little excess debris meant that I’ve been doing a good job on my own.
We are on our 8th motorhome and have never had the black tank professionally cleaned. I do occasionally drop a hose with a high pressure nozzle on it down the toilet and blast the tank until it is about half full and then empty it. Never had a problem in 40 years.
As we were driving through an rv park today, we passed a vehicle with a decal saying it was a tank flush service. First time ever seeing something like that.
I always say that” professionally cleaned” just means that you pay to have someone do it. The job of cleaning out Black water tank could easily go to the least experience person in the shop.(it’s not a job everyone rush to get involved in). I work out cleaning my tank out myself. At least then I know what the results are.
Snoozies have Marine Thetford Cassette toilets. My cassette holds 5 gallons
Thank you for the question, RV Travel! No, we have not. However, RV #2 is a bit more than 3 years of age. Have a great weekend and safe travels!