# Black Tank Flushing



## lakesider (Sep 1, 2004)

We tend to camp at sites where full hook-ups are not available. Often we have electric hookup only.

My question is how to get a good "flush" of the black tank when we are at the dump station about to leave the park. I don't think a quickie flush would do, as the dump stations don't seem to have a screw type hose connection (most are an open ended nozzle) so no way to connect a water source.

We have been doing the following process:
1. Dump black tank, then grey tank.
2. Close black tank valve and pour a bucket of water down the toilet (rapidly so hopfully it will "splash" around in the black tank).
3. Open the black tank valve again and let the the bucket's worth of water dump out.
4. Close the black and grey tank valves.
5. Add deodorizer to the black tank and add another bucket of water down the toilet.

This works "ok" for us, but sometimes in my haste to perform step 2 above, I end up with as much water on the floor of the bathroom as I do down the toilet.









Is there a better way? What to others do when dumping after dry camping?


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## matty1 (Mar 7, 2005)

I usually do similiar steps, but I try and use up all the fresh water in the tank by just running the toilet to fill the balck tank, use a block of wood to keep the flush handle open....then dump all that.


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## Katrina (Dec 16, 2004)

before you pull out of you site and head to the dump station, pump as much fresh water as you can into the black tank by holding the toilet valve open.
More water in the black tank will help and what were you gonna do with the fresh water when you got home anyways?


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## Guest (Feb 26, 2007)

You have pretty much the same system we use. Only we flush several buckets through & I'll try to rock the trailer abit to splash the gunk around some







. We add abit more water, about 4 or 5 gallons to help keep the tank clan & odor free. 'bout all you can do!









enjoy & travel safe.



lakesider said:


> We tend to camp at sites where full hook-ups are not available. Often we have electric hookup only.
> My question is how to get a good "flush" of the black tank when we are at the dump station about to leave the park. I don't think a quickie flush would do, as the dump stations don't seem to have a screw type hose connection (most are an open ended nozzle) so no way to connect a water source.
> 
> We have been doing the following process:
> ...


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## Kyoutbacker (Apr 26, 2006)

A "water thief" connector works good. The rubber bib portion slides over the connection. Does not give a "pressurized" water supply, but works good on filling up tank.


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## JimBo99 (Apr 25, 2006)

Kyoutbacker said:


> A "water thief" connector works good. The rubber bib portion slides over the connection. Does not give a "pressurized" water supply, but works good on filling up tank.


ditto


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## firemedicinstr (Apr 6, 2005)

I have actually made me a "tank rinser wand" took a 3' piece of 1" PVC, glued a cap on one end and a threaded end on the other. I cut small slits in the pipe at the capped end in a random pattern. I can connect it to the shower hose. After dumping the tanks I will run this down the toilet with the Black valve open and rinse until I run out of clean water.

MK


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## H2oSprayer (Aug 5, 2006)

lakesider said:


> We have been doing the following process:
> 1. Dump black tank, then grey tank.
> 2. Close black tank valve and pour a bucket of water down the toilet (rapidly so hopfully it will "splash" around in the black tank).
> 3. Open the black tank valve again and let the the bucket's worth of water dump out.
> ...


I hate to, but I would add another step. I think that you may want to separate step #1 into two steps, and save the gray tank water until after your last black tank dump, to flush all of the....well....







out of the valve piping. Maybe something like this would work:
1. Dump black tank
2. Close black tank valve and pour a bucket of water down the toilet (rapidly so hopefully it will "splash" around in the black tank).
3. Open the black tank valve again and let the the bucket's worth of water dump out.
4. Close the black valves.
5. Open the gray tank valve until all contents are drained, close the valve.
6. Add deodorizer to the black tank and add another bucket of water down the toilet.

Like others have pointed out, we use a water thief to connect to our Quickie Flush. They are cheep and they work great. Not sure what it looks like, click here -->Water Thief

Good luck

Chris


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## Not Yet (Dec 13, 2004)

JimBo99 said:


> A "water thief" connector works good. The rubber bib portion slides over the connection. Does not give a "pressurized" water supply, but works good on filling up tank.


ditto
[/quote]

I use one also but added a hose clamp so I could turn up the pressure. I also got an addapter and short piece of hose that I run from the outdoor shower to the quicke flush. That allows me to use the water in the tank to rinse - not great pressure but another option. Ice down the toilet and a lap around the camp ground works well to get things moving.

J


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## Y-Guy (Jan 30, 2004)

All the steps work, but a good Take Spray or use of something like the Flush King is still a major improvement. When we dry camp I just do a quick dump, then I do a better rinse when we get home. As mentioned adding a gallon or so of water and ice really helps to break up things on the way home.


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## johnp (Mar 15, 2004)

On my 27 I cut off the outside shower head and replaced it with a male hose adapter. I could turn on the pump hook the hose to the quicky flush and turn on the hot/cold water to flush the tank. If I needed to use it for anything else I could hook a hose to it or just a sprayer. Unfortunatly Keystone did away with the outside shower on the 32bhds.

John


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## Humpty (Apr 20, 2005)

I was able to unscrew the hand held shower head and remove the line from the little â€˜keeperâ€™ in the shower. I can spray hot water down the toilet to increase the volume when flushing at a dump station. The shower seems to flow water faster than holding the toilet lever alone.

There are other times when hot water spray in the bowl is useful, but we are not going thereâ€¦â€¦â€¦.Are we?









Flush as much water as you can through the system when ever you can. If no one is waiting, spend as much time as you can tolerate filling and flushing.

I purchased a clear elbow for the sewer line when I got the quickie flush. Not the most pleasant site, but lets you â€˜seeâ€™ how effective your flushing techniques are.

You could also consider filling the black tank with water / water softener etc before you leave home and stopping by the dump station on your way to the campsite.


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## H2oSprayer (Aug 5, 2006)

Humpty said:


> I was able to unscrew the hand held shower head and remove the line from the little â€˜keeperâ€™ in the shower. I can spray hot water down the toilet to increase the volume when flushing at a dump station.


This is a trick that we also employ. It is the last thing that we do, after we are all hooked up, the kids hands are washed and we are ready to head out. I figure, we are going to just dump out all of the water in the fresh water tank, we might as well put it to some good use. When attempting to get all of the







out of there, it's all about the amount of water attempting to wash it all away, the more, the better.


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

JimBo99 said:


> A "water thief" connector works good. The rubber bib portion slides over the connection. Does not give a "pressurized" water supply, but works good on filling up tank.


ditto
[/quote]

Wouldn't go camping without mine!!


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