Tank level

[CBALLA]

Can anyone tell me how the waste tank level work's on a 5th wheel or trailer. I have 4 tanks on my 5th and two of them read 3/4 to full all of the time.

 

[klenger]

The tanks have electronic sensors inside to detect fluid levels. The black tank is especially susceptable to bad readings because of waste on the sensors. You can flush the tanks to see if that will clean the sensors. You can also dump a couple of bags of ice in the black tank and then drive around for 30 minutes or so and then flush. The ice will help clean out the tanks. For the most part, I just ignore the sensors.

 

[NETim]

Sensor wisdom

Black tank sensors are notoriously crappy.



Tim

 

[TRLRTRSH]

holding tanks

CBALLA, as others have already stated the sensors in the holding tanks are very unreliable. My wife and I are fulltimes and the only time our tank sensors work is after we drive for 1500 miles or so with a formaldehyde based tank cleaner I have heard of the ice trick also but have never tried it.



Bill

 

[FJfonda]

I noticed in my 2004 marine catalogs that there are new sensors listed that mount on the outside of the tank and detect the level through the tank wall. Sounds maintenance free... ... at the 1st in tank sensor failure I will be changing the boat waste tank over.

The kit handles up to 3 tanks.

http://mastercatalog04.westmarine.com/0516.asp



Material Sciences Sensatank marine 100

 

[jfrow2]

CBALLA, as others have said, the typical waste tank sensors are almost useless. As you use your camper more, you will get a pretty good feeling when the tanks must be emptied.



For example, on my rig with two people, I have learned that the black tank will go 7-10 days, the front gray (shower and bath sink) is good for 4 showers, or 7 days without showers. The rear gray tank (kitchen) is good for at least 14 days.

 

[jandtjil]

Originally posted by NETim

Black tank sensors are notoriously crappy.



Tim

LMAO

 

[Gunny]

I never had heard of the Ice trick, New one on me. The sensor on my 34 ft 5er black water tank has always shown full, always even since new. I have a trip up to Montana for there Silhouette state championship shoot, leaving Tuesday. Was finishing up loading and getting the triler ready for this 2,000 mile trip when I read this about the Ice. So i dump 40 pounds of bagged ice into the black water tank. drive about 50 miles, needed propane anyways. Get back check the sensor and damn for the first time the black water sensor reads empty. Fill tank and flush all readings seem to be right, reads full when full and reads empty when empty. Thanks Klenger great idea!!



Gunny

 

[jfrow2]

Originally posted by Gunny

I never had heard of the Ice trick, New one on me. The sensor on my 34 ft 5er black water tank has always shown full, always even since new. I have a trip up to Montana for there Silhouette state championship shoot, leaving Tuesday. Was finishing up loading and getting the triler ready for this 2,000 mile trip when I read this about the Ice. So i dump 40 pounds of bagged ice into the black water tank. drive about 50 miles, needed propane anyways. Get back check the sensor and damn for the first time the black water sensor reads empty. Fill tank and flush all readings seem to be right, reads full when full and reads empty when empty. Thanks Klenger great idea!!



Gunny

Don't mean to burst your bubble, but it has been my experience that the fix is short lived. Once the tanks are full again, you will probably start having the same troubles. Hope you experience something different, please let us know.

 

[CPG]

You might want to use a "Wand". Most of the sensor probes get plugged with too much paper. My Alpenlite trailer has a built in flusher, but for the first time in 12 years it did not work to dislodge the paper covering the sensors. I used the wand down the slide valve of the toilet and it did the trick. To those that have not used these, they work most the time. A water hose is connected to the wand to flush. There is a valve on the Wand to turn on and off. It does a good job most of the time when this happens. Too much paper is the "Culprit" here and not enough water. These can be purchased at Wal/Mart or any RV supply



Chuck

 

[Gunny]

jfrow2,



Well you certainly wouldn't be the first to try and burst my bubble. They didn't succed either! But for the first time in 3 years the damn sensor works thats cool with me, if it stops working again I am already ahead of the game.



Gunny

 

[OTRPU]

Mine don't work too well either. Seen an after market that is just dandy, cept cost too much. Now when I wanna know how much is in the crapper, I look down the hole. Wanna know how much fresh water, go out and open the front hatch and look at the translucent water tank. Works every time. LOL



Cheers,

Steve J

 

[cwsoules]

I try to ignore my sensors as they so seldom work properly. The gray seems OK but the black and kitchen grey are not. From experience my wife and I can use our tanks for a week and still not fill them. I recommend not spending a lot of time tryiing to get them to work.





I fill the black tank as full as possible about weekly to ensure that there is good flow to flush it. The "smell" problem gets worse with moving daily from fark to park and only dumping what we put in them in a day. The black tank just does not flush solids properly under these conditions.

 

[Murietaman]

Guages

My Alpenlite 29 is only 14 months old and have never had a problem. Below the lights are rubber plugs you can take out and adjust the levels. Since day one I have occasionally added Cal Gon water softener to all tanks. Maybe it works maybe not. But, as the man said as he passed each floor after jumping off a ten story building, "so good so far":-laf :-laf :-laf

 

[rblomquist]

Iv'e heard oldtimers say to dump a bunch of ball bearings in the tanks and drive around but I'm sure the dump station folks wouldn't appreciate that trick

 

[TRLRTRSH]

Originally posted by rblomquist

Iv'e heard oldtimers say to dump a bunch of ball bearings in the tanks and drive around but I'm sure the dump station folks wouldn't appreciate that trick

NOT

 

[GerryDrake]

We routinely dump all of our ice in the toilet when we are headed home, but have dumped before we leave. It sloshes around and does some to scrub the inside (bottom area) of the tank, then we stop at the rest stop with a dump station about 5 miles short of the house and give it a good flush. This doesn't help the level gauges much, but it helps avoid waste buildup in the tank. Have heard of people using kitty litter and even sand, but considering the flush valve, neither sounds good to me. There are contact cleaners available at RV shops and such that want you to fill or nearly fill the tank (how else would it reach the top sensors?) and pour in the chemical then drive. They also sell a product that is allegedly a 'tissue digester'... We just know the black water tank is good for 6 or 7 days, and the shower/basin grey water is good for 4 to 5 days, and the kitchen one is left open if we are hooked to a sewer, but with no sewer can be stretched to 5 or 6 days... . Each of our greys and the black are 37 gallons...

We nigh to totally disregard the sensors as they are very unreliable. .

 

[whiteknight]

My parents grey water tank started having the same problem 5 or 6 years ago. After trying many fixes I installed a "Quickie Flush" kit that has a spray nozzle that permanently mounts in the tank through the outside. You connect it to a water hose to spray water and clean out the tank. I placed the spray nozzle so that it would spray on the sensors. I installed one in the black tank as well. They have not had a problem since.



When I bought my trailer I installed them in mine and I have not had any problems with it either.

 

[Oliver88]

WhiteKnight,

I've seen these and wanted to purchase one of these, especially for the black water tank. I was afraid it would leak around the hole where I installed it. Have you had any problems? How did you cut the hole in the tank?

Thanks,

Greg

 

[klenger]

I installed a quickie flush on the black tank of my Fox. Very simple installation. No problem with leaks. Keep in mind it's mounted above the normal water line. You can use a hole saw or a piece of pipe heated with a torch to cut the hole.