Comments on: Odor Control in Your RV – Part 5 – Evacuation

By: RV Plumbing: What Is This?

RV Plumbing: What Is This? — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 12:00:35 +0000

[...] the last few weeks a contributor to this blog, Gary Bunzer, has posted an excellent 5-part article on odor control in your RV. It covers a wide range of topics of concern to us all so that our RV [...]

By: Donkath

Donkath — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 02:47:06 +0000

3 questions if I may:

1 – as I do not have any access except the drains, how does one get ice cubes into a gray water tank ?

2 – can you test the vent device under the sinks to ensure they are operating?

3 – I am noticing a black mark on the toilet valve that seems to be coming from the seal. Should I be lubricating the seal and , if so. with what. Vegetable oil?

By: Gary

Gary — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:13:52 +0000

I wish you well Tom. But I’d probably spend the time it will take you to devise such a plan of attack, napping!

Sorry Dan…I’ve not done any further studies on holding tank additives. I’m sure there are many products that actually do the trick.

Nice pun Gina. Was that intentional? (see if you can find it)!

So true John. It sickens me to see how some dump stations are maintained. And good point about making sure the slide valves are fully seated. Another reason to obtain the electric gate valves I spoke about.

Great tip about the crushed ice TXBrad! We actually featured that on one of the episodes of RV Roadtrips. For those of you not familiar with that method; dumping a bag or two of ice into the holding tanks will help “scrub” the sides as you travel down the road. This is helpful if you have in-tank sensors for the monitor panel. The scrubbing action of the ice will help dislodge any contaminants clinging to the sensors. Plus the ice will help break up the solids; it won’t eliminate odors, but smaller bits will drain easier, minimizing the chance of clogging in the tank outlet or the drain hose.

Speaking of drain hoses….please avoid those “cheap” hoses. I’m doing research on a brand new hose that will soon hit the market. It will set the standard for all drain hoses. One hose will last the life of your RV and not succumb to those weed-wackers in campgrounds! More info to follow as soon as possible!

Gary

By: Clark Cupery

Clark Cupery — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 02:31:45 +0000

Thanks for the refresher course. Keep posting..It helps everyone.

By: TXBrad

TXBrad — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 04:32:01 +0000

Good info as we “seniors” need to review the basics & good added replies. but, like Tom above, I to am Lazy! Unless I planned a long stay, I do not “hooked in”
to park system. W/ 2 people, we often go several days. While the wife gets inside ready to hit the road, I’ll dump/flush tanks in the a.m. We like cooking outside @ days end & tank dumping don’t mix well!
A RVer suggested putting crushed ICE ( a bag of) in tanks before hitting the road.
“Ruff” roads will help clean tanks & melt by p.m. TXBrad

By: John

John — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 13:56:31 +0000

Gary: in reference to you RV ODER article, there are a couple of things I would like to add. In #1, the gloves, it would be nice if the campgrounds would but a waste can at the dump station to discard gloves. I have seen many campers just throw the gloves on the ground, or worse yet into the septic tank. I have only see a couple of places with waste baskets.
In reference to #2 Make sure that the gate valves are closed before taking of the end cap. I am speaking from experience. Contrary to what people say, the t handles do sometime vibrate open, especially if not closed properly.

By: Gina

Gina — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 13:40:45 +0000

Gary…Very interesting articles, we are new to the ‘lifestyle’ and need all the help we can get. This is always a grey area for us, I guess the more we do it the better we will get at it. These articles are very informative and will keep them in our ‘to do’ book. We look forward to more articles from you.

Newbies on the road,

Eric and Gina

By: Dan Promen

Dan Promen — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 22:14:56 +0000

Gary

I was wondering how the RM Tank Cleanser compares to Oxy-Clean tank deodorizer? Have you had any opportunity to compare the two?

I thoroughly enjoyed your posts….keep up the good work.

Thanks
Dan

By: Tom Hargreaves

Tom Hargreaves — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:05:46 +0000

Thanks for the article, Gary. Yours is the first recommendation I’ve seen for “holding” the gray water — something I started doing late last year for many of the same reasons you cite. Actually, there was one more reason: laziness. When I pull in to a park that has waste connections, I may not even hook up the waste hose for several days, just out of pure sloth. And if I ever get around to implementing an idea I saw elsewhere, that Mean Time Between Hooking Up may extend farther: use a transfer pump to pull gray water through a strainer from mid-level of the gray tank and dump into the black tank vent pipe (well above the black tank to eliminate the risk of backflow) to equalize the fill rates a bit.

Good point on the P traps, too!

Thanks for taking the time to put out the info!

Tom

By: Conniei

Conniei — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 19:08:10 +0000

Thanks for this article. After reading everything on the subject that I could get my hands on, I have seen two tings in this article that I had not seen before (or noticed). So I will follow your procedure and appreciate your posting it.