No Odor RV Holding Tanks! RV Black Tank Cleaning, Maintenance, Tips & Tricks - Using the GEO Method
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- Опубликовано: 12 апр 2020
- No Odor RV Holding Tanks!
RV Black Tank Cleaning, Maintenance, Tips & Tricks
Using the GEO Method
More RV Tips from Camp Liberty are curated on the RV Tips from Camp Liberty Playlist
Camp Liberty is our new sheep camp, a Solitude XL sheep camp, from Peak Mountain Camps in Spring City, Utah. Let the great guys at Peak Mountain Camps help you spec out and build the camp of your dreams!
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Home base for Camp Liberty is Mountain View Ranch located in beautiful Southern Oregon. Camp Liberty is not your regular travel trailer or RV camper! This is our second sheep camp. Camp Liberty always gets strange looks while on the road. We get many inquiries for a camp tour whenever we pull into a camp site or pull in to fuel up Big Red, our Ford F-350 tow vehicle.
Camp Liberty is an ultra-comfortable and completely self-contained four-season modern travel trailer modeled after the old nomadic sheep camps or range camps that were used in the sheep, cattle ranching and agriculture industries. These camps are roomy, rugged and super comfortable. While built to withstand the rigors of off-road travel in a rugged ranching environment, they are equally comfortable out on the open road.
These camps are hand-built by Peak Mountain Camps located in Spring City, Utah. The camps are fully self-contained with true four-season off-grid capabilities to keep you comfortable under all conditions. Full four-season comfort includes robust insulation, a forced air propane fired gas furnace, a wood burning stove to keep you warm when it gets cold and an air conditioner to keep you cool when the temperature soars. Lighting includes AC/DC LED and a propane gas lamp. Off-grid power is provided by a set of solar panels connected to a solar charge controller and a deep-cycle battery bank. Systems redundancy keep these camps operational and comfortable in harsh environments. This is the ideal travel trailer for both open highways and off-road adventures.
If you are interested in a camp like Camp Liberty, the awesome guys at Peak Range Camps located in the beautiful mountains of Utah will make you a customized range camp that you will treasure for generations! Call and ask for Weston Wheeler, he built Camp Liberty.
Peak Mountain Camps
website: www.peakmtncamps.com
phone: 435-462-7325
email: sales@peakmtncamp.com
15850 North Hwy 89
Spring City, Utah 84662
CAMP LIBERTY SPECS
Sleeps 4-6
42-gallon Fresh Water Tank
35-gallon Grey Water Tank
35-gallon Black Water Tank
Enclosed heated holding tanks
6-Gal On-Demand Water Heater
20,000 BTU Forced Air Furnace
7 cu.ft. Refrigerator/Freeze
4x80-90watt Solar Panel with Solar Controller
4 Deep Cycle Batteries
2 x 30lb Propane Tanks
Gross Axle Weight Rating (GAWR) 10,500lbs
Gross Trailer Weight (GTW) 7600lbs
Dry weight 7200lbs
Tongue Weight 740lbs
Length 25'
Width 92"
Height 9' 5"
Interior Length 19' 8 ½"
Interior Width 88"
Interior Height 80 ¼" 15"
Load D Rated Tires
Frame Ground Clearance 20"
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#Camp_Liberty #Camp216
I have used detergent and fabric softener.......with good results. I bet Dawn is a better surfactant will try it.
There you go ... using fancy scientific words ... surfactant ... love it!!
Camp Liberty 😝😝😝
Used 3/4 cup of Calgon and Dawn for overnight soaking. Added 7 lb. bag of ice for the drive to the dump station. Maybe a couple of gallons of from black water drained out after my last dump. Now my sensors register clean! This method works great.
Awesome news!!
Thank you! 💝 We love all your tips, tricks, and advice! 🙏
Thank you! We love our camp and we love RV life
Thumbs up. Thanks for the tips. I always look for second, third and fourth opinions. You are spot on adding those two chemicals. Pinesol can be used instead of dish soap. The calgon makes everything slippery and soap or pinesol is a deodorant. The key ingredient is lots of water. Experts say ice only adds extra water, which is key. Thanks again for the time and effort you put into this.
Thanks for watching! We use Pinsol in our gray tank.
We are new to this thanks for the tips
Awesome! Needed this tip! Thank you 😊
Thank you for watching!
Great tips. Thank you
I will try this. Thanks
Thank you very helpful
I have been living full time in my fiver for 7 years and using this method all of the time. I don’t use the ice but I do use the sprayer each time I dump. I dump, spray, fill the tank again and the water is clear after the second dump. No smells.
Excellent method, Pat! Thank you for watching!
Going to try this. Thankyou!
Let us know how it works for you! Thank you for watching!
Thank you so much for this video!
Thank you for watching!
Will try this thanks!
Thanks for watching!
We are new at this but I think this is very good thing to know. T Y
I like the Calgon addition. I am going to have to try this.
Calgon is quite useful, just a bit hard to find sometimes! Thank you for watching!
I'll try it
"I never add chemicals to my tank"........"so here's the chemicals I add to my tank...."
I thought the same thing
😂😂👊💯🎯
Thank you for your input!
Soap?
@@michaelplunkett8059 - "Dawn Liquid Dish Soap" Yes, Dawn and Calgon are chemicals. My point was that we have never used RV tank chemicals. @FranklinHicks-qs4gs likely "misunderstood" my claim of "never using harsh chemicals" in our tanks. Everything is a chemical at some basic level. Hope that clarifies things for you. Thank you so much for watching!
The ice is a good idea. We always seem to have some left over. Will try it on our first trip out this season! Thanks for the tip!
I saw a video of a guy who explains how this works. HIS method, and he explains it scientifically, is Dawn, Calgon and 20 Mule team Borax. The Calgon is used to put a film on the walls of your tank, to prevent things from sticking to the walls, where the Borax and Dawn do the rest. I personally, don't do the Calgon. I do the Borax and Dawn and it works great! No odors, no fruity, flowery, chemical smells at all, none! I will be adding the Calgon to my treatments going forward. Also, I don't use 3/4 cup. I do about 1/4 cup Dawn, and about 1 cup of Borax....Either way, it's cheap and it works!
Awesome! Glad this method is working for you. Thanks so much for watching. Safe RV travels!
We started doing this too after seeing Chad on Changing Lanes suggested it.
I used pinesol and 20 mule team borax for 20 years, worked very well.
Like the new channel.
Thanks buddy!! 👊🏻
I also use Borax as a cleaner
Thx for sharing. How long does this last if we are camping long term?
Thankyou. My place never moves, so can't use that motion for cleaning tank.
The best way to get rid of the smell is to replace the black tank vent with the one that turns with the wind and it vents out the back of the vent, never had any smell sense
Great advice, thanks for watching!
I AM LIIVNG IN NEW ZEALAND. I ALSO LIVE IN A COTTAGE FROM CEDAR CREEK USA YES AMERICA. FABRIC SOFTNER IN NZ COMES IN MANY NICE FRAGRANCES AND DISHWASH AS WELL SO I THINK BEING A COMMERCIAL CLEANER THE COMPOSITION OF BOTH PRODUCTS WOULD BE THE SAME SO NEED TO EMPTY BLACK TANK AND REPLACE THE BALL SEAL THEN I WILL HAVE WATER IN THE BOWL AND WILL GIVE YOUR METHOD A TRY. i PUT THE FABRIC SOFTENER IN WITH SOME DISH SOAP SMELL GONE! THANKS
I heard about this method recently, but borax instead of Calgon what is the recommendation but I suppose they work the same.
I never had any issues with my tanks until my husband decided to try aqua max from Thetford. Since then we’ve had problems with the sludge and stinky toilets.
I’m going back to the borax and dawn method .
I suppose it could have something to do with where you are camping. We spend a lot of time in the desert. Dry and hot environment vs a humid one.
Thanks for the helpful video. I was actually looking for information on how to properly maintain a tank during storage. There are so many different opinions out there. I guess I just have to do it feels right for me and hope for the best.🙏🏻
If I understand correctly you add the mixture and ice after you have dumped and are traveling? If so did you add a little water to the tank (10% tank volume)? Once you arrive at camp just use your tanks as usual until you dump?
When u pour calgon and dawn down the sink for gray water do u pour down both Sinks kitchen and bath? Do you add water to Sinks or just pour down drain?
JUST TO NOTE HERE MY RV IS A COTTAGE SEMI TRAILER AND ITS STATIONARY SO WILL DEFINATELY DO THE DISHWASH AND THE FABRIC SOFTENER. I AM A WIDOW ON MY OWN NOW AND CAN YOU SUGGEST MAYBE JUST A BIT EXTRA OF YOUR NATRUAL CHEMICAL INTO THE BLACK TANK AS IT TAKES ME A YEAR ANY SUGGESTIONS WOULD BE BENDFICICAL i DO NEED TO DO THE BALL SEAL THOUGH
Thanks - how often do you treat blk tank ?? ...do you add the concoction (treatment) right after draining your blk wtr. tank ...great ice trick too ..thanks for sharing your tips !!!
Good question. Did you ever get an answer?
Does this work at perminate site? We have our black tank emptied ever 2 weeks. Gray flows into a wet tank.
Mine is permanent, I live in it but I am hooked up to city sewer and water. What is a good method to clean out your black water tank
Agree with the Calgon and Dawn solution but putting ice down the toilet is almost worthless. I floats so if the ice does anything it might scrap the sides only where the ice is floating. There was a video demo on ice in a black tank, the tank was placed into a bed of a pickup truck and the truck was driven like MAD Max and with a video camera on the tank the water and ice was barely moving. SO a RV going down the road with ice in the tank would do very little. The worse thing for a blacks tank is not having enough water in the tank after flushing and the poop hits the bottom of tank and sticks. ALways keep 10-15 gallons of water in your black tank after dumping. The more the water the better.
Good point. When putting ice in our black tank after dumping and putting in Dawn and Calgon, I only put the ice in without water, knowing the ice would melt as we slouched down the road. Thanks so much for watching. Happy RV travels!
This I've Also researched this and says not to do it
@@jonandsaragalindez2930 - Thank you for your input!
Where does your use of “CAMP” come from? I’ve never heard anyone use it to describe their R/V,
Great question! Our rig is a sheep camp. The term camp comes from the the long heritage of sheep or range camps. People that own these rigs and the folks that build them use the term camp. We don’t really think of her as an RV, she is our camp and our home. Thank you for watching!
Thank you I'm in Walmart rn .. ironically in their bathroom because I couldn't 💩 in my RV .I do. Dry docking and afraid to poop as I'm waiting for my poop guy come to flush me 😂 ..( ohh the way that sounded ..I'm so silly . I make light of these things because lord knows I have cried many tears on my RV almost ready to give up as I'm a solo Female figuring it out most times by myself 😢 but thank you for the video 🙏 I'll get some of this too
Calgon it somehow always end up on the container and dries to a sticky substance
This seems like a very inexpensive and eco friendly way to clean the tanks. We had a cassette toilet for years, so I'm new at this black tank thing. We only have a 16 gallon black tank, so do we need to reduce the amount of Calgon and Dawn that we add? Those amounts seem a lot for smaller tank. Thanks and new subbie here!
YES I NEED TO EXPERIEMT AS WELL AS I AM ON MY OWN I MAY NEED A BIT MORE FABRIC SOFTENER AS IT HAS ALREADY DONE THE TRICK VERY GREATFUL
I just tried to clean out the toilet using a wand down inside the toilet for the first time. It is still not quite camp season so the only cleaner I added was the dawn dish soap. I then kept my tank closed while putting the lawn down inside the toilet. Although I didn't feel really any curves in the plumbing. Currently my tank is full of clean water and Dawn dish detergent. Do you think this should clean the black tank?
Thanks for the video👍🏻
I have a question. Can I add these ingredients in to dirty tanks overnight to soak and then drain them? Then fill them with fresh water and add calgon and dawn again, then I want to drive to the RV PARK and drain them again? We want to full hook up to stay for a few month but first we need to clean the tanks. Ours have a bad smell
Absolutely! That is the exact process I would follow. We still use this system but not very often because we now use "Unique Products", in particular we use "Unique Bowl Cleaner" and "Unique Digest It." This might be a good option for you if you have strong tank orders. Thanks for watching!
What about while you're camping
How large is your black water holding tank to which you add the 3/4 cup of Calgon and the 3/4 cup of Dawn? I want to figure out how much to add to my 5 gallon portable RV toilet. Thanks.
32-gallon black and gray tanks. Thanks for watching!
Is Is there anything in a Bind to use as a substitute for calgon?
Great question! You can use Borax. Best to mix with water first as the powder tends to form a hard solid that can be difficult to get down the drain. So, Dawn and Borax are a good combination.
That is my backup if we run out of "Unique Digest-It Tank Cleaner." We switched to Unique products almost a year ago and are pretty pleased. We have no affiliation but can confidently recommend their products (Digest-It, Bowl Cleaner, and silicone toilet brush).
Hope that helps!
Wishing you happy and safe RV adventures!
What about if you are parked in a spot for several months? When do we put the Calgon and Dawn in the black tank, before/after cleanout or before you use the toilet? after
Good question. Did you ever get and answer?
After packing up and emptying my tanks. I put about 2 gallons of water, 1/2 cup of calgon and pine sol into my tanks. On the way home, it all gets moving and coats the tanks. We store our RV until our next trip and it is ready to go. I like the idea of putting the ice in the toilet.....we normally empty our refrigerator.....this would serve 2 purposes. Hope this helps.
Are your holding tanks empty when you add the ice/dawn/calgon?
Is Charlie's Hard water treatment powder ok?
I am not familiar with "Charlie's Hard Water Treatment powder." Thanks for watching!
If you’re not able to use your tank was properly this is a great hack. But if you hooked to running water run the tank wash for 15-20 minutes this hack isn’t needed. We’re full time and run the tank wash after each time you dump your tanks.
Thank you for the message. I appreciate your suggestion about using "tank wash." However, not all rigs have a tank wash, including ours. We use a flush hose at the clear elbow attached to the drain. Even though we flush our tanks, I still prefer using this method. It's just a personal preference. Currently, we have switched to using "Unique Tank Cleaner" and "Unique Toilet Bowl Cleaner." I keep the "Geo Method (Dawn & Calgon)" as a backup process in case we run out of Unique products. Thank you for watching!
Someone included Pine Sol in the mixture. I assume you never do that? Also, by chemicals, I assume you means the black water treatment pods????
We were recently at an RV owners rally and a professional clean company recommended Pine Sol and Calgon to keep the gray & black tanks moving.
If Calhoun is not available can I use any liquid fabric softener?
It’s not a fabric softener, it’s a water softener. If you can’t find Calgon, buy Borax. Mix it in a vessel with warm water and pour it in. I prefer clothes detergent over Dawn as it makes lots of foam. Tide pods workers but don’t put the plastic in.
One of our RV stewards recently told us that he uses Dawn (or inexpensive soap) and Pine Sol in his tanks. I have never tried the FS option, but we have plenty after it clogged our washing machine. The tech told us to stop using FS in the washing machine. I will have to try the FS in the tank....the smell would be awesome!
Does the Calvin and dawn and ice break up number 2 and toilet paper? Thank you.
I meant calgon
@@marysiler8453 With plenty of water, you can keep everything loose until you can empty your tanks. Calgon and Dawn will just keep your tanks slimy and coated so nothing sticks. But one thing I learned.....keep plenty of water or you will regret it.....look up Poop Pyrmiad.
Is this done only when your leaving camp or right before each dump session? So your about to go on a trip do you add anything to the water before you leave or when you arrive at camp? Or is this odor control only done before you empty your tank? Thanks for these videos Doc, love these, more tips and tricks please.
Great question! Here is what we do. Before we pull the camp out of covered storage we put ice, Dawn and Calgon in the black and gray water tanks. We also dump a small bag of cubed ice in the black tank. We use the road movement clean the tanks as we travel to our first stop. Then we repeat this process every time we empty the tanks and travel to the next stop. More vids / tips // tricks coming. Thank you for the support! Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have more questions.
@@CampLibertyRV Thanks doc! Is there a certain amount of water you add to the black tank before first use? I'm assuming for the cleaning while on your way to camp you use very little so the ice can contact the bottom because if you add to much the ice will float but do you add anymore water to the black tank when you arrive or just fill the toilet before your first use and all will be good? Sorry for being such a newbie lol
@@vaughnburrows Great question. Our typical procedure is to completely drain the tanks while in level position. If you are out of level as you can imagine that will effect emptying the tanks. After the tanks are emptied we add one bag of ice with the Dawn and Calgon. I only add enough water to help the ice go thru the toilet valve. Then we hit the road and let the road movement and ice clean the black water tank. When we set up at camp we just start using the systems. I try and keep a close eye on tank levels taking into account the monitoring system and the amount that we have used the system. I use the monitoring system as a rough gauge and just one piece of information regarding tank levels. When in doubt ... drain the tanks! I usually empty tanks before we leave a park so I am not hauling the extra weight. Sometimes we lay over in a rest stop and of course can'r empty tanks so we just keep moving. Every once in a while we will pull in to a Pilot / Flying J truck stop and pay a small fee and use their RV dump station. Hope that helps!
By the way, the point of the Dawn and Calgon is to act as a detergent / water softener / and surfactant (thanks BiologistJim!) to help keep solids / grease from accumulation on the tank walls and bottom. The net effect is cleaner tanks and effectively "odor control".
As an aside, we never let and food solids or cooking grease go into the gray water tank. We wipe off all dishes and utensils of any food particles before washing them in the sink. Beth has a separate "grease trap" container that we keep on the counter and empty before hitting the road. Yes, we will do a video on that!
Does it break down solid as well or this is just for odors?
Excellent question! Nothing in the Dawn + Calgon treament inherently breaks down solids such as a digesting enzyme or bacteria, Calgon acts as a surfactant increasing the slipperiness of water and decreasing things sticking to surfaces. Dawn is an excellent detergent that helps break down greasey solids.
We still use this method but not as often as when this video was orihginally recorded. My favorite treatment, and one we have been very happy with over the last year, are products from Unique (Bowl Cleaner and Tank Cleaner / Digest It.)
This is such popular topic in the RUclips RV space. Makes me think I should record an update to this video.
Thanks for watching!
Sorry to be stupid but do you do this process right after you have dumped your tanks so that you are starting fresh with this process and then repeat it every time after you dump. I’m sorry I’m new to all this!
Terri - Great question! Yes, you would do this after dumping your tanks. I now hold this system in reserve. My primary treatmment method now is using Unique products: Tank Clean (green label) in conjunction with Toilet Bowl Cleaner (blue label). Absolutely love these products!
@@CampLibertyRV thank you for the quick response. I’m bookmarking this answer for the near future!!
@@CampLibertyRVHi, why did you change your method?
👍🏽
What can I use if we can’t find Calgon detergent
Amazon or Google in shopping...
Borax. Mix it in warm water first.
Also, I have started, with my new motor home, not flushing toilet paper. Is that what most people do?
I have lived 7 years in my airstream full time, I never put toilet paper in the black tank.
No ice is needed
Appreciate your input. Thanks for watching!
I never have black tank odor mybe my poop dont stink.😊
Could be! Thanks for watching!
It looks as though you stopped making videos. Sorry. You didn’t say to just leave this in the tank until normal dump time. My opinion, ice is a waste of money. If you can’t find Calgon, use Borax. Dissolve 1 cup in warm or hot water and pour. You can use Dawn, clothes washing detergent, or dish washing detergent. The detergents don’t have foaming agents. Using this every tank will keep your sensors functioning correctly as it breaks down struvite, a rock like coating formed on sidewalls when you mix hard water, urine, and fecal matter. Digesters in black tanks are not good. It’s a short term storage tank, not a septic tank.
So, do you add this after you dump, then travel and use the tanks normally at camp, and then dump when 2/3 full?
@@98109woode. Just saw this. Yes.
Lol imma throw it all in there. Shit stinks.
"Camp"? Going to try out on my new-Used RV that registers 1/3 full even when tank emptied. Thank you! Will Report back!
"Camp" comes from "sheep camp" or "range camp" which are the traditional terms for these off-road capable trailers modeled after the old Basque sheep herder camps.
Camp????.....you mean your trailer...or rv! Let's not recreate the wheel!
@paula.2422 - Thanks so much for watching! Actually, I do mean "camp". That is what this type of trailer/RV is referred to in the community of people who use and enjoy them. I agree; let's not recreate the wheel. In this case, the wheel is pretty well established. Cheers!