Major black tank over flow- how to clean up?

[Silvr_Bullet]

Originally Posted by John & Roberta

Twice in a week I walked away from a black tank flush hook-up to take on other chores, forgetting to monitor black tank level . . . had to deal with Roberta when toilet overflowed onto our spotless Flying Cloud 30RB. Luckily, on both occasions, the trailer was trimmed slightly nose down. (A good idea, I think—now engraved into our Landing Checklist.)

As fast as a bat out of hell, I secured the water, added a length of hose and nozzle—which we keep at hand—eased the two nose corner jacks, eased the hitch jack even more, jumped inside with charged hose, began hosing with my back against our rear-mounted bed. All this time Roberta had been working the floor with whatever was at hand in the way of toweling and Lysol (wipes and spray bottle).

We tend to keep gear off the deck, but what is down must go out the door for later clean-up.

With hose spray, pushed all crud toward door, forward and out, me with hose, Roberta working nylon broom.

We now have a new protocol—any time one of us hooks up to the black tank flush, the other is assisting . . . and both of us stay with that one task till city water is off and hose is disconnected.

We like to maintain at least 10% black water volume, in camp or on the road, something for solids to plop into, something to slosh about as we waggle down the highway.

This maybe helpful. We mostly carry our phones with us habitually. I found one way to help pay for it is when I meter park my vehicle I start an alarm “ set alarm for 50 minutes” for an hour meter that gives me a ten minute window to extend or drive on. I think that can be applied to many tasks, that can save grief. Anyway works for me, I just have to remember what the alarm is for[emoji846]

[BillTex]

DO NOT USE THAT HOSE FOR DRINKING WATER AGAIN. Get a new hose...

[Safari 60]

Major black tank overflow.
I also did the same thing as a Newbe. I installed a BLACK cap on the black tank flush and have the white one on the fresh water inlet. Works for me

[TeckTavern]

Interesting thread. I guess I shouldn't be surprised someone said to sell it off to another person. Ridiculous. Use a 5% bleach/water solution and wetvac if you have any lingering evidence you didn't get it all the first time. Truth is, many bathrooms at homes all around the country have higher levels of bacteria than your well-cleaned AS!

[slpiotro]

Just one more dropping in to say don't feel all alone. I have done it also. Fortunately, my 23 Ft. backed up first on the shower floor and my wife started screaming. Full fledged disaster averted, but it took some extra cleaning to clear things out. I agree, the manufacturer's labeling and location could be better.

[Silvr_Bullet]

Originally Posted by Safari 60

Major black tank overflow.

I also did the same thing as a Newbe. I installed a BLACK cap on the black tank flush and have the white one on the fresh water inlet. Works for me

Both ideas are is brilliant, I make it a habit to read the warning embossed on the valve each and every time. That’s the reason they are prominently displayed on each valve.This is one instance where it pays dividends, do not rush. I do this after friends with a brand new trailer had someone uninformed close by hook up the hose, apparently at that time they were using the same hose for potable and waste.

[azflycaster]

This is a great reason why you should never go over and visit when someone is hooking up or setting up. People get in a hurry and mistakes are made.

[Gimper7171]

Sorry I was not paying attention to the threads to get you a prompt reply and very sorry you had to go through this. It is hard for me to imagine that if Wally had let that design out of the factory, which I doubt, that he would not have done a design revision immediately the first time he heard what happened. We would have in the manufacturing plant where I worked.

Well to the point, our city's water main broke three times in a little over a year and each time flooded our basement with contaminated water even with our new back flow device. The first two times we cleaned it up on our own in the way others here have described - porous materials thrown out, wet vac the place repeatedly, disinfect, repeat etc. The third time we had had it and hired a service, for which the city paid. We should have done that the first two times. The service responded within an hour. They did an outstanding job, tested, redid a couple of areas, tested and then gave us a certification that no more bacteria could be found. The last level of disinfectant after cleansers and diluted chlorine was diluted hydrogen peroxide don't know the rate. Even after you have cleaned it up yourself you could ask a disaster restoration service to check it.

Don't get discouraged, it takes a while after that kind of mess to enjoy your rig again yet you will. My Mom never gave up on me and I was frequently a mess. My experience with homes and RV's is if you will remove moisture quickly, dry quickly as suggested above and prevent more moisture exposure the homes and rigs are pretty resilient. It took me a number of mistakes to learn to not just immediately rip everything out and replace. Wait a bit to get an accurate assessment of any permanent damage unless it is safety related. If it is clean and does not smell your AS is on the road to recovery and take the advice above to alter the connections so this does not happen again.

[Al and Missy]

Originally Posted by Mattirs

...
How best do I clean between the floor and the cabinets?

Sorry for your troubles. You are not going to want to hear this, but here goes....

When my trailer was built the first thing that went in after the shell was on was the flooring. Anywhere there is carpet, that carpet runs under all the furniture. I left my roof vent open and it rained in the rear bedroom. A previous owner had replaced the carpet with a vinyl tile, but only in the walkway. Carpet ran under the beds and into the storage areas accessible from the outside.

In this picture you can see the extent of the water migration. The area in the upper right was the shore power connection junction box and wiring. It was inaccessible without removing the furniture. Yep, carpet in there too.


I tried wet vacuuming over and over but was never able to get all the moisture out and this was pure rain water. The foam pad is reluctant to give up the moisture. I tried to cut the carpet out but there were areas I could see but couldn't reach. There were also areas I couldn't even see the floor. If your trailer is like mine you will probably have to remove all the furniture down to the floor. It is all modular and comes out just like it went in, one piece at a time. Mine was screwed through the carpet and pad to the floor, to other pieces and to the wall. IF you wait too long the screws will rust and gather carpet fibers like a nut and will not back out through the wood frame of the furniture. I had to cut most of mine with a Dremel tool and cutting disc. Also as a consequence of my waiting too long, one of the supporting pieces of one of the twin beds rotted from continuous exposure of water to the end-grain plywood. This rot did not happen overnight. It was several weeks, maybe more than a month before I discovered the problem.

Here you can see my rotted bulkhead and the piece I made to replace it. A consequence of removing the carpet was that I had to shim up all the funiture to get it up to the original height. I left the area under the furniture bare, but I sealed it with several coats of Minwax wood hardener before remounting the furniture.


If you have carpet it and the pad will probably have to go.

[tjdonahoe]

Chloroform ANd warm water...

[mike28]

This (the first response)seems to be the best remedy, but do not use bleach.

[CanyonMan]

Originally Posted by smithcreek

Note to self, never buy used trailer from IdahoTrvlr.

I was thinking the exact same thing. Didn't seem like he would have been amenable to disclosing the issue.
Canyon

[Silvr_Bullet]

What it looks like is water infiltration over a long period of time as opposed to a one time event. I can understand staining of the subfloor, why did the previous owner change carpeting in walkway?

[Quincy1428]

Originally Posted by Mattirs

While setting up for camp I switched my hookup between city water and the black flush hookup and major over flowed the black tank into the back of the trailer.
Trailer is a 2016FC RB queen. Flooded the whole back area.
Suggestions on best way to clean up the mess?
Spray down the interior with a hose?

Help!

Thank you
Matti

I would clean it up the best as I could in order to travel, however I would turn this into my insurance company and take it to Airstream to overhaul. There should be no reason the insurance company wouldn’t cover this.
Certainly wouldn’t sell it off without doing this first.
Horrible thing to do to an unexpected buyer.
This could happen to anyone so don’t beat yourself up over it. Everyone makes big mistakes in their life. Good Luck to you

[Landshark]

49 people viewing this thread??! Must be more of a problem than I had imagined...

Anyway. Matti, how is it going? Do you have carpeting in your rig? So sorry to hear of this horrible happening. One of the good things about us vintage people is that since we don't have all the bells and whistles that you newer owners have, we don't have some of the disasters, either.

Maybe you should call in the cleaning experts as an earlier poster described? Please post and let us know what's happening.

Vivian

[77walter]

Take it to a professional ( or airstream factory )
Im sure ( I hope ) you would not sell that witou disclosure
( like suggested )

[Gary_B]

I am so sorry this happened to you. I am at the point in my life where I am labeling stuff to prevent things like this. The sewer clean out has a label - Make sure the black tank valve is open before turning on the water. The tongue jack - do not operate with stabilizers down. You get the picture......I seem to get distracted far easier than I used to!

[JimCT]

Originally Posted by IdahoTrvlr

Get all of that done and then trade or sell that beast as fast as possible. Likely the particle board and other porous materials wicked up the moisture causing serious long term damage. I would be looking to off load that trailer if it were me.

You are suggesting unloading it to some other poor soul that has no idea? So much for and Airstream community

[skniseley]

I'm in the club as well, So I just bought me first airstream a couple weeks ago and with out my reading glasses I could make out inlet on the connector... plugged it up and and turned it on.....while it did not flood the inside it did come out the roof vent and caused the deployed awning to fill up and bent the tube.....so I did not escape with out some damage, I just had to order a new tube....to make sure I will never do that again I bought the quick connects and just put them on the potable water hose and the city water connection so I don't have to pay the stupid tax again.....this camping thing is fun.....I think ; )

[ColeH]

Sorry to hear about the mess, hope the clean up is successful. In our new to us 2004 25 ft RB twin the city water inlet, the black tank flush and also the outgoing hose connection (for connecting a hose from the trailer when on city water) are all in the same compartment. The previous owner made a short length of hose that connects the trailer's water outlet connection to the black tank flush, with an inline valve, that connects to the black tank inlet connection and is connected all of the time. To flush the tank we connect the short hose to the trailer outlet (while the city water is also connected) and open the valve. There is no way to connect the city water hose to the tank flush without removing the short hose that is always connected to the tank flush inlet.
Am not sure how new trailers are set up, but with the trailer outlet hose and black tank flush close together this set up make it really hard to mistakenly connect a hose to the black tank inlet unless the tank is to be flushed.
Best wishes for your clean up efforts.