I conducted a black tank experiment.

[Ted S.]

I drove from CA to MA by myself and never dumped for over 7 days and my diet was horrible. Gas station food 100%. The black tank was 80% full, I never used a public restroom, I was looking for real ‘worst case’ conditions. Otherwise, my tanks are always well cared for, flushed and back-flushed. Grey tank was around 10% max, I never showered, didn’t want the grey tank to confuse things.

The only issue I had was during wind, there was some odor from the roof, I am assuming the vent. I’m thinking maybe a black tank active vent may take care of that? Any other heavy black tank users out there have an opinion? I’m looking to have a rig that will handle ‘worst case.’

Please, all you guys afraid to poop in you rigs please don’t respond, I mean I love you an all but, this is serious business, as in #2.

[dznf0g]

We always fill to about 80%. Maybe more, depending depending whether upcoming full hookup vs dry camping. 2 or more weeks sometimes. Use a quality enzyme digester.

[OTRA15]

Did you use any treatment chemicals in the black tank?

Smelly gas coming from the plumbing stack vent [usually singular -- vents both grey and black tanks BTW] on the roof is entirely normal, especially if you did not use any chemicals. [Edit -- Maybe your Classic has more than one roof vent?]

Not sure what you mean by "black tank active vent?"

What size is your black tank? Sounds like a normal trip IMO.

Cheers,

Peter

PS -- OT -- Driving that far -- solo -- in 7 days, while towing a 30' trailer, is asking for trouble IMO. FWIW

[Ted S.]

Originally Posted by OTRA15

Did you use any treatment chemicals in the black tank?

Smelly gas coming from the plumbing stack vent [usually singular -- vents both grey and black tanks BTW] on the roof is entirely normal, especially if you did not use any chemicals. [Edit -- Maybe your Classic has more than one roof vent?]

Not sure what you mean by "black tank active vent?"

What size is your black tank? Sounds like a normal trip IMO.

Cheers,

Peter

PS -- OT -- Driving that far -- solo -- in 7 days, while towing a 30' trailer, is asking for trouble IMO. FWIW

Peter, I used no treatment in the tanks. Normally, I use Pure Power Blue. I’m thinking an active vent as in a powered vent (fan). I think the tank is 54 gallons.

[OTRA15]

Not sure I would actively vent the gas out of the black tank -- why? If you had used your Pure Power Blue, doubt if you would have noticed much if any odor -- all seems normal IMO.

[Iansk]

That’s some commitment there Ted.

I have a vegetarian wife, a 7 yo boy and a 3 yo daughter who craps like a trucker... massive coilers if you get my drift. When camping I usually go in the park facilities unless it’s an emergency, as I’m the one who has do the business of dumping, as it were.

This last trip, the park didn’t have sewer hookups and the line was too long on my way out (I have a portable waste tank, but that’s a horror story for another time) so I figured I’d dump when I got home as I have a full hook up here.
Got a call on the way back for work (freelancer) saying I had to fly out early the next day. Got home, parked and leveled the rig and made sure there was water in the toilet bowl. Packed for my flight and left for two weeks.

Upon returning my wife informs me that the trailer kind of stinks, I go in there and am knocked down by the most horrendous sour and somehow sickeningly sweet smell. No water in the bowl. Either the Texas heat evaporated it or my seal is failing. Two hours of gagging and flushing and dumping finally got it back to normal.

I will never let that happen again. My tanks are usually well cared for. Also, yes, there was a steady waft of putrid sky farts emitting from the vent until I was well passed the cleansing phase. I thought about active solar vents then...

What exactly was your question?

Ian

[Gsmblue]

Hahaha! Brilliant! I love this! My wife complains that being out in the Airstream seems to bring the most out of her! As we head off for a trip I throw in a bottle of blue or a packet of something.. this keeps things passing the sniff test. We dump at 80% and do a good flush, then more chemicals go right in. Only failed the sniff test once when I forgot to add chemicals, the trailer was essentially parked in our liv No room the. So I had to deal with it with more chemicals and more water..

[SewStream]

OMG! Ted and Ian - I don’t think that I have laughed this hard in a long time! Ted, what a trip!

[bweybright]

Rugged dude....no shower cross country? I have done that run 24 times and would not want to live with myself if I didn't shower.
Good on ya for wanting to do this experiment. Not quite sure what it proves unless no showers gets you a clear check line at the Gas stations?

I do look forward to your future posts of what you discover.
Do you have a special someone at the other end that is supposed to be happy receiving you in this condition?

[skyguyscott]

I believe the point of the experiment was to discover how bad it could get.

My personal hypothesis on this point is that it could, in fact, get much, much much worse. How? How, indeed!

A corollary to the the experiment was to discover how much he could stand. My personal hypothesis on this is that this is totally irrelevant and the key parameter here rests not with him but his wife. I could be wrong on this point, but my experiences generally indicate that (baby diapers notwithstanding, they being the one notable exception), it is most typically the wife who reaches a point of discomfort first, and demands corrective action be taken at once, whereas the husband is driven far more by his discontent with their travel progress and desire to be further along, especially if there is a sporting contest to be televised at a certain time, than by his discomfort with the olfactory situation.

I await with heald breath the report on the next phase of his experiment.

[mikeinca]

Best thread of the month!

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by mikeinca

Best thread of the month!

Then you might enjoy the "fork fell into black tank" thread . . .

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f444...nk-146797.html

[crispyboy]

You are lucky that the only smell came from the roof vent. Our recent trip was 4 days being parked in the same spot and fillin' the black tank. The trailer flat out smelled after 2 days of the 90+ degree hot summer heat. The tank was prepped with a few gallons of water, pine-sol/calgon solution and a couple of the drop-in pods. It didn't matter that I added more water and drop-in pods. We couldn't get passed the stink curve. Maybe the secret is to keep it stirred up like Ted S. did....
Our typical routine is to dump/flush/dump both tanks, fill with a few gallons of water and pine sol and when we get home drain the tanks. Everything seems to be squeeky clean afterwards.

Any recommendations on tank additives?

[Rgentum]

In my experience, one of these reduces the ongoing smell significantly:

https://www.amazon.com/Camco-40597-B...846971080&th=1

Available in either black or white.

[fwjumper]

Ted,
1. You get my vote for the most chuckling as I read your post.
2. I'm glad that you were alone.
3. If you don't use the toilet, why is it in there? I thought that's what it was for.
4. Other than you not showering, it all sounded pretty normal.
5. Sewer odors are inevitable, especially in hot weather, even with chemical.
Thanks for the info, but mostly for the entertainment!

One day, I'll post my sewer experience in a Las Vegas Casino parking lot "Campground."

[dznf0g]

On my old sob, I installed a computer muffin fan at the top of the black tank stack, under the cover. I wired it to come on with bath light switch. That unit had airflow over the roof such that odor would come up when flushing the toilet. Fan fixed that issue well.

[ROBERT CROSS]

Does anyone else drop with the pump off and an open flush valve to save water? 🤓
It does take some practice getting the correct seating posture. 🤔

Bob
🇺🇸

[GOUSC]

We try to make sure our black tank is around 60% or above before we dump. On our last trip I didn't dump until I got back home and waited about 3 weeks to do so. No real story here as no smell and no problem. I was pleasantly surprised. We use one of the tablet type deoderizers to keep odor down.

My worst situation was probably 30 years ago in one of our SOB Class B’s. We live in the Charlotte, NC area and had reserved spots in the infield for the NASCAR races in May and October. Our holding tanks were in the same ranges as our current Airstream 39/39/37 gallons. We would show up on Thursday night and leave Monday morning with the races being on Saturday and Sunday. You show up with full tanks but there are no dumps stations or ways to refill for fresh water.

We took another couple with us that had not done much camping previously. We cautioned them on rationing everything with regard to water use regarding showers / toilets / etc. On the last morning, I went to flush the toilet and nothing would go down as it was full. The first, and only time, this has ever happened to us and, hopefully the last. I took my foot off the pedal very quick to keep water in the bowl to a minimum.

Needless to say, I drove extra careful on the way home so that nothing in the bowl would splash out. I would have been very happy with an 80% full tank as 100% - plus was not a good situation.

[Toasterlife]

Rather than use harsh chemicals in the black tank, I use a capful of scented laundry softener in a cup or 2 of warm water after each dump - works well and friendly for septic systems and finally cheap as chips.

[mpbiagi]

What?? No complaints that Airstream doesn’t make a travel trailer with a self cleaning, odor free, 100% fool proof lavatory? Where is their quality control!

This is one of the best and most entertaining threads I have read in quite a while. Cheers to all of the contributors above!

Mike