To Empty or Not To Empty?

[chesaka]

Black tank question : Is it better to empty the black tank if used just a bit on a two-night camp and it still reads empty, OR, empty it after the next lengthier trip when it reaches at least 2/3? Any harm in letting pee and poo sit a while in the tank?

[Tosh]

I always empty the black & grey before returning to base, then add a few gallons of fresh water to each. I would try to avoid leaving waste in the tanks.

[HABBERDABBER]

Empty is better. It doesn’t improve with age or time.

[7Gentex]

Would you leave a toilet unflushed in the house for a week............same concept.

It's a holding tank, not a septic tank.

Empty it.

[fudge_brownie]

Com_on folks, what’s a little P among friends? Are the O rings going to melt over three weeks? You can boondock for two weeks and put up with a filling tank, what harm in two days of black tank? This is a sealed and vented system, designed for the express purpose of holding black water, what is wrong with letting it sit? This is not your home toilet.

[Ron in BC]

I think that the key word in the post was "next". Depends on when next is. A little bit of stuff, especially if it's not all liquid might tend to become an immovable lump in time.

I'd say there's a bit of a time limit on "next". Maybe a month but I wouldn't leave it longer.

Ron

[SageRpod]

Originally Posted by HABBERDABBER

Empty is better. It doesn’t improve with age or time.

Unless you have a composter. Those do get better with age!

I know that wasn't question but couldn't resist. Love our compost toilet. Would never, ever go back to a black tank.

[7Gentex]

Originally Posted by SageRpod

Unless you have a composter. Those do get better with age!

I know that wasn't question but couldn't resist. Love our compost toilet. Would never, ever go back to a black tank.

And what do you do with the urine and compost?

[NEWYORKHILLBILLY]

I always empty. if its been just a few days I add water to the tank before emptying.

[Fender]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

I think that the key word in the post was "next". Depends on when next is. A little bit of stuff, especially if it's not all liquid might tend to become an immovable lump in time.

I'd say there's a bit of a time limit on "next". Maybe a month but I wouldn't leave it longer.

Ron

A few years ago I stopped into an RV dealer to ask a service technician a question.
He was working in the bathroom of a trailer they had just repossessed, using a sharp stick to try and break up the hardened mass down in the black tank.
Not his favourite job for sure but according to him not as rare as you'd think.

[SageRpod]

Originally Posted by 7Gentex

And what do you do with the urine and compost?

Of course you have to dispose of that stuff. As far as I know there is no pee and poo fairy out there But the options are more plentiful than finding a dump station. Urine can go down any toilet, double bagged compost can go in a dumpster, gray water can be emptied into a bucket and disposed of down any drain.

I probably shouldn't have said anything. I posted about composting toilets on the Rpod forum once and the debate raged on for weeks. You'd have thought we were talking religion, politics or greasing the hitch ball.

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by fudge_brownie

Com_on folks, what’s a little P among friends? Are the O rings going to melt over three weeks? You can boondock for two weeks and put up with a filling tank, what harm in two days of black tank? This is a sealed and vented system, designed for the express purpose of holding black water, what is wrong with letting it sit? This is not your home toilet.

Hi: fudge_brownie... Aah "Fudge"!!! I find our 5.0 TA travels better with the waste tanks empty and the fresh tank 1/2 full. YMMV Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by SageRpod

But the options are more plentiful than finding a dump station. Urine can go down any toilet, double bagged compost can go in a dumpster, gray water can be emptied into a bucket and disposed of down any drain.

Okay, you got my dander up and I'll play. There is NO SUCH thing as a composting toilet for an RV. NONE. I don't care what fancy name it's called. It takes from 4 months to a full year for human feces to COMPOST from last use. Until then, you have nothing more than a human litter box. Double bagging poop is just adding more plastic to the landfills. So while your poop may compost inside the double plastic bags, it's NOT doing Mother Nature much of a favor. Many of us are trying to use LESS plastic. Pant, pant, pant... whew. Old fashioned outhouses over a hole in the ground make better composters....

[Bobbie54]

Originally Posted by HABBERDABBER

Empty is better. It doesn’t improve with age or time.

I think it does improve with age. It breaks down the solids much more if you wait and you'll get a more complete empty especially if it is summer and if you have anything in the tank that helps break down the paper.

[SageRpod]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

Okay, you got my dander up and I'll play. There is NO SUCH thing as a composting toilet for an RV. NONE. I don't care what fancy name it's called. It takes from 4 months to a full year for human feces to COMPOST from last use. Until then, you have nothing more than a human litter box. Double bagging poop is just adding more plastic to the landfills. So while your poop may compost inside the double plastic bags, it's NOT doing Mother Nature much of a favor. Many of us are trying to use LESS plastic. Pant, pant, pant... whew. Old fashioned outhouses over a hole in the ground make better composters....

Yup. This is what happened on the Rpod Forum

[Chasing Trials]

Originally Posted by chesaka

Black tank question : Is it better to empty the black tank if used just a bit on a two-night camp and it still reads empty, OR, empty it after the next lengthier trip when it reaches at least 2/3? Any harm in letting pee and poo sit a while in the tank?

Interesting ? I wonder about tossing some of the good bacteria in, before sitting?

[splitting_lanes]

This thread got a lot better when Donna jumped it. Lol! There’s truth and humor there.

We wind up using the toilet once in a while and just dump at the next camp, days or weeks away. Put a little dish water or black tank orange smell stuff in…. Let’s face it, your black tank will always have a little ‘booty juice’ in it.

[Chasing Trials]

Originally Posted by splitting_lanes

This thread got a lot better when Donna jumped it. Lol! There’s truth and humor there.

We wind up using the toilet once in a while and just dump at the next camp, days or weeks away. Put a little dish water or black tank orange smell stuff in…. Let’s face it, your black tank will always have a little ‘booty juice’ in it.

That what I hope, as I might be doing things like 2 or 3 weekend Dog Trials in a row, & they would even have toilets on site.

[SageRpod]

Originally Posted by splitting_lanes

This thread got a lot better when Donna jumped it. Lol! There’s truth and humor there.

Humor? Absolutely. Truth? Well.....

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

Okay, you got my dander up and I'll play. There is NO SUCH thing as a composting toilet for an RV. NONE. I don't care what fancy name it's called. It takes from 4 months to a full year for human feces to COMPOST from last use. Until then, you have nothing more than a human litter box. Double bagging poop is just adding more plastic to the landfills. So while your poop may compost inside the double plastic bags, it's NOT doing Mother Nature much of a favor. Many of us are trying to use LESS plastic. Pant, pant, pant... whew. Old fashioned outhouses over a hole in the ground make better composters....

Hi: Donna D... One of life's little difficulties is that few company's print a catalogue these days!!! Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie