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Buckeye 
Newbie 
Joined: 20 Jan 2019 Location: LSL, MO Online Status: Offline Posts: 37 |
 Topic: New guy questionsPosted: 04 May 2019 at 9:12am |
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New at this so forgive me if some of my questions are mundane or have been answered elsewhere...I'm on the left side of the learning curve with all of this, but real excited to begin adventures with my Pod.
1. What is the most favored additive to use in the toilet to mitigate odor and facilitate degradation of deposits? 2. Correspondingly, which paper serves those needs best that works within the system? 3. Is a Good Sam membership worth getting? Craig
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Craig-retired teacher of the blind
Carol-retired legal admin asst Spot and Sam-the miscreant Shih-tzus "Politically incorrect with no real changes expected...” Former 2017 Rpod 180 F150 5.0 4x4 |
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StephenH
podders Helping podders - pHp 
Joined: 29 Nov 2015 Location: Wake Forest, NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 6285 |
Posted: 04 May 2019 at 10:01am |
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Hello and welcome! I'll give my opinion on these as there are many options. 1. I prefer biological additives such as TankTech's Rx, Unique Products' RV Digest-It, or other additives with bacterial components to break down the solids. Some chemicals mask the odor and use formaldehyde to kill the bacteria. This is bad for septic systems and not great for city sewer systems either. Some places forbid the use of additives containing formaldehyde. What helps with odors is to make sure the sink and shower traps have water in them. A lot of odor can come up from the gray tank through a dry trap. Also, don't run the vent fan on high unless there are enough windows open to make up the air being pulled out. If there is insufficient ventilation, the make-up air has to come from somewhere so it will be pulled in through the toilet valve when it is flushed if it can't come from elsewhere. 2. I've seen tests of different ones on YouTube. You don't necessarily need the expensive RV ones if you are using a good additive with lots of water to help break them down. As long as the paper is septic safe, it will likely work well in the black tank. Again, the key is sufficient liquid to flush it and not emptying the tank until it is at least 2/3 full. If you have full hook-ups, leave the black tank valve closed. It is okay to have the gray water valve open but you might wish to shut it if you anticipate dumping the black tank so it fills up some. Then you can use that gray water to help flush out your sewer hose after dumping the black water tank. 3. I have the GS membership. In reality, an Amazon Prime membership is probably more useful. GS membership gets you free use of dump facilities at Camping World (if available) and a discount on propane there as well as other discounts. Overall though the AP membership has been much more useful.
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StephenH
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS |
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lostagain
Senior Member
Joined: 06 Sep 2016 Location: Quaker Hill, CT Online Status: Offline Posts: 2586 |
Posted: 04 May 2019 at 10:08am |
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+ 1 to StephenH's comments and welcome to the forum.
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Never leave footprints behind.
Fred & Maria Kearney Sonoma 167RB Our Pod 172 2019 Ford F-150 4x4 2.7 EcoBoost |
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Buckeye
Newbie
Joined: 20 Jan 2019 Location: LSL, MO Online Status: Offline Posts: 37 |
Posted: 04 May 2019 at 1:00pm |
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Thank you, Sir.
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Craig-retired teacher of the blind
Carol-retired legal admin asst Spot and Sam-the miscreant Shih-tzus "Politically incorrect with no real changes expected...” Former 2017 Rpod 180 F150 5.0 4x4 |
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Richand Cindy
Senior Member
Joined: 16 Apr 2016 Location: New Jersey Online Status: Offline Posts: 328 |
Posted: 04 May 2019 at 2:57pm |
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We use Thetford Aqua-Kem which is a deodorant not a biologic. We empty the tank often and find that works best for us and eliminates odors. Toilet tissue is the biggest problem. If it does not break down fast it will stick to your black tank. Any paper that is safe for a septic system will do. Camco or similar RV paper is more expensive and not better. Search YouTube and you will see the difference. We use Scotts Rapid Dissolving RV's/Boats paer. It is only single ply but pretty soft. We have several campng memberships. You can wait until you plan your first trip to see what memberships to join. For example if there are going to be campgrounds that belong to Passport America (PA)and you are traveling when they will accept it then buy that and get 50% off. GS is good for discounts on gas at Pilot but we do not use it for buyng anything as we can always get it cheaper on Amazon. Another good one to consider is Harvest Hosts (HH) which lists wineries, farms, golf courses where you an stay for free for one night (but as a courtesy you should buy something). We use them as we find they are better than parking lots. But there are not that many of them. On our next three week trip we found 1 HH, 2 nights at PA, the rest are GS and KOA's so the 10% discounts pay for our annual subscriptions. We like GS for its itinerary mapping which only members can use. Its like Mapquest only it shows you all GS, other private campgrounds and gov't parks and Pilot gas aliong the route. HH also has routing for members so we have to enter the same information again to get list of host sites. Time consuming but worth it when mapping out an entire trip and trying to find the closest and cheapest places to stay after 250-300 miles we drive a day.
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OLD 2017.5 RPOD 180 + 2015 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk
NEW: 2018 Passport Elite 23RB + 2017 Ram 1500 Diesel |
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Pod People
Senior Member
Joined: 22 Sep 2011 Location: Chapel Hill,NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 1065 |
Posted: 04 May 2019 at 4:35pm |
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We have Good Sam for roadside assistance for the pod. We have used it several times with mixed results. If you are in an urban area and have mechanical issues, GS can be very helpful and worthwhile. Our tow vehicle broke down on an Interstate in Tennessee. Good Sam provided a roll back tow truck. the tow vehicle was loaded onto the rollback and the pod was hitched to the roll back. the driver took us to the closest campground(about 25 miles), deposited us and the pod and then took our truck to a repair shop. excellent service. If you are in the middle of nowwhere , then GS can be good or not so good. They don't seem to have much of a network or presence in the western part of the country and in isolated areas you are pretty much on your own. Again, we have experienced both good and not so good service from GS. However, we do keep the coverage as we have already used it to the extent that we are way ahead of the cost curve from the one tow job several years ago and a couple of other incidents. We also have AAA for the tow vehicle as well. Between the two services, we have been covered about as well as possible. That being said, if you have mechanical issues you must be patient and resourceful rather than expect immediate response from any service. Whatever services you purchase, make sure you understand the coverages and limits-particularly whether they cover both the tow vehicle and the pod. Vann
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Vann & Laura 2015 RPod 179 
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offgrid
Senior Member
Joined: 23 Jul 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5290 |
Posted: 04 May 2019 at 4:39pm |
Depends on what kind of camping you do. If you're a state and national park/forest/boondock type as I am then it is of no real use. If you stay in private full service places then its probably a different answer.
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1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
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harrypodder
Groupie 
Joined: 21 Jul 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 48 |
Posted: 07 May 2019 at 9:14am |
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Any Rv black tank additive will work I am guessing you will be camping on weekends any a couple of week long trips during the year your solids will not degrade much in the short time before you empty your tank so odor control is the benefit of an additive. On paper as stated above a good rv paper is recommended because when you use your black tank flush you want it to break up as much as possible. When your just starting you will drain your black tank and then do your flush when you first see clear water odds are your not done wait a minute and you will see more paper coming out that is why the thinnest rv paper you can live with will help this process. Also before leaving for a trip put some water in your black tank so paper is not hitting a dry spot on the bottom of the tank. On RV road assist memberships you want a company that specializes in RV's the reason like a boat since the Pod only has a single axle if something happens with the axle components that can't be repaired on the road it may need to be towed with a roll-back wrecker (hoping there are no low clearance bridges ) RV road assist company's are usually familiar with what needs to be used . You can search on-line you will get good and bad stories for about every company. I would suggest getting something even if you think you can change a flat yourself trying to do it with cars and trucks zooming past you at 80mph is not very safe a wrecker behind your pod with lights flashing is a better choice.
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New guy questions