Black tank flush
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Forum Name: Podmods, Maintenance, Tips and Tricks
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URL: http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=10538
Printed Date: 30 Jun 2025 at 2:34pm
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Topic: Black tank flush
Posted By: tsherv
Subject: Black tank flush
Date Posted: 21 Aug 2017 at 9:48am
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I have a 2014 R-Pod 179. Last night I dumped my black tank. After it drained, I hooked a hose up to the black tank flush attachment and turn on the water. I kept the drain tank hose hooked up and my valve open. I have a clear elbow on my drain hose and noticed that water really wasn't draining while running the flush. Just a week ago I did the same process and there was a significant amount of water that drained from the flush process. Is there a chance that something is plugged or not working properly?
When the flush process was running, I walked into my camper and noticed a strange "humming" noise in the bathroom area.
I'm thinking of adding a bunch of water to the black tank and try draining it again to make sure nothing is plugged. My indicator light shows that the tank is empty.
Any thoughts or ideas? Thanks.
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Replies:
Posted By: mcarter
Date Posted: 21 Aug 2017 at 3:20pm
It should drain as you fill with the backflush. If not, I agree first step is to fill black tank and drain again with backflush attached. Lets see what you see with clear elbow. The black tank can collect blockages. Especially if you are not using any chemical additives to assist in breakdown of waste. From your post I am thinking you have verified your backflush worked at one time.
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Mike Carter
2015 178
" I had the right to remain silent, I just didn't have the ability."
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Posted By: flat6s
Date Posted: 21 Aug 2017 at 3:23pm
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Fill black tank full with water. I put hose right thru toilet valve as flush connection takes too long. watch down the toilet to see when you have reached full. Drain and repeat. I can dump in my field, so I put 1/2 tank full of water in, with a bag of ice, drive it down the country roads, swerving back and forth and a little hard brake. This cleans the tank out very well. Flush that and repeat. I will say this, when you think. your tank is fully drained, it is not. There is still several gallons in your tank that did not flush out, After I empty my black tank, I drive around the field, while swerving a bit and you would be surprised at how much comes out, after I have let is gravity drain fully.
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Posted By: GlueGuy
Date Posted: 21 Aug 2017 at 5:23pm
Hey Bubba!?! Who's that guy driving his trailer around like a crazy person out in the south 40?!?
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bp
2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River
2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost
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Posted By: lostagain
Date Posted: 21 Aug 2017 at 9:27pm
Hey flat6s, I hope you're not growing cantaloupes or spinach in your field. Does your neighbor onto whose property your field drains know of your field dumping? Their lettuce crop may not turn out so tasty. Your field doesn't drain into Wildcat creek and thence to the Wabash river does it? I guess a little E. Coli never bothered the folks in Lafayette. After all, beggars and lords the streets of London during medieval times didn't mind the dumping in their streets, as long as you avoided a direct hit. It just toughened them up, .... if they didn't die from cholera.
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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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Posted By: flat6s
Date Posted: 22 Aug 2017 at 10:05am
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Hi ya all! I just knew my post was going to get comments. Listen, I always dump the load at the last Camoground we stay in and do a full rinse there as well. So what I am dumping in my field is rinse water with no solids. Understand there are close to fifty head of cattle in that field. Also, within three miles there are twenty three confined hog barns with almost five thousand piglets in each barn, producing one hundred and fifty thousand gallons of waste per year per barn. All of this waste routinely is spread on the open fields. Now my county has signed a contract to allow Lafayette indiana waste water plant to apply their treated waste on our fields as fertilizer. That amounts to millions of gallons of waste. Hard to think my twenty gallons of water will have an effect on anything...just sayin
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Posted By: john in idaho
Date Posted: 22 Aug 2017 at 12:05pm
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Somewhere I read a post on this subject. Someone put a whole bottle of Dawn down in the tank and drove around. Next thing they noticed was the HP car with lights and windshield wipers on. Apparently the Dawn had foamed and was coming out the roof vent pipe and blowing all over the road behind.
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Posted By: lostagain
Date Posted: 22 Aug 2017 at 12:36pm
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Yes, live hog barn waste has become a very serious contamination issue and is spreading disease, not to mention causing algae blooms and oxygen depletion, in rivers and lakes all around the mid-west and south. Bovine waste is not as complicated since they are herbivores, but in high concentrations, it can also cause serious contamination problems. As for treated waste water from a sewage treatment plant, you can be pretty sure that the solid waste has been removed and the that water has been treated for infectious bacteria. Indeed, properly treated effluent can yield perfectly safe drinking water. ... once you get over the eeeuuuwww and ick factor.
But you're right, the little bit of solid waste and the bacteria that is broken loose with the ice is probably a drop in the bucket when you consider all the other stuff you mentioned. I don't think I'll go fishing or swimming around Lafayette, IN.
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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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Posted By: GlueGuy
Date Posted: 22 Aug 2017 at 3:15pm
If you have Netflix, you should check out "SH*t Happens" (Season 1, Episode 3) from Doc Martin ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Doc_Martin_episodes#Series_1_.282004.29 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Doc_Martin_episodes#Series_1_.282004.29 ). Indeed it does.
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bp
2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River
2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost
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Posted By: Kup-Pod
Date Posted: 22 Aug 2017 at 9:10pm
LOL, I love John-in-idaho's post... I can just see the foam blowing out the top of the TT as the driver calmly heads down the highway oblivious to what's going on behnd him!
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2017 RP-178
2021 F150 5.0l
"Lead me on a level path"
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Posted By: Happy Tripping
Date Posted: 23 Aug 2017 at 7:57am
Originally posted by tsherv
Is there a chance that something is plugged or not working properly? ... I'm thinking of adding a bunch of water to the black tank and try draining it again to make sure nothing is plugged |
I also have been worried that my black water flush might be incomplete and a blockage result, I am not able to always 'max out' the black water tank before flushing. This product works really well for rinsing and gives me complete peace of mind.
https://www.etrailer.com/RV-Plumbing/Flush-King/F02-4350.html?feed=npn&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyYTe57Lt1QIVELnACh3vPQLxEAQYBSABEgK3nvD_BwE
In fact, I'm looking forward now to getting my tank blocked so I can nuke it with this.
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Posted By: Hawkeyes
Date Posted: 05 Sep 2017 at 5:14am
We were boondocking with tent campers in Colorado. Everyone soon began using our toilet and before you know it we had a clog. We thought driving over washboard roads on the way down would clear it, but it did not. Husband read to try Dawn and we dumped the whole bottle in. By the time we got down to Denver and dumped everything came out fine. There did happen to be lots and lots of bubbles at the dump station. Our kids bought a camper and somebody didn't realize you could not put Wipes down the toilet. Major clog. Dawn again to the rescue. They were able to dump. Got home filled the black tank to soak and have good pressure to drain and bubbles did come out the back drain pipe. It got all the wipes out though.
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Hawkpod
2013 Surveyor Sport 189
2017 Chevy Silverado
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Posted By: JillV
Date Posted: 12 Sep 2017 at 10:43pm
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We have a 2016 179 and dont poop in our potty. When hooking up our black water flush and turning on the hose, nothing happens, no water goes in and certainly no water comes out the sewer hose on the other side. Someone suggested maybe we have a crimp in our line somewhere, but what else could be the problem??? I get impatient and just put the hose down the toilet to flush it out but we want to know why our Black water flush isn't doing anything. Checking with you experts before we take it to the shop.
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Posted By: Happy Tripping
Date Posted: 13 Sep 2017 at 7:58am
Originally posted by JillV
We have a 2016 179 and ... our Black water flush isn't doing anything. |
This really needs a new thread.
If you don't put 'stuff' in your black tank, why worry?
Around that time, Forest River put in some flush valves backwards. If you want to find out more, there probably is a screw-in panel on the inside wall of your trailer that allows access to the area, or make your own hole. Examine the 'L'-shaped black flush valve. It has arrows to indicate direction of flow. On ours, the arrows pointed upstream. You can just reverse the unit, altho that may kink the tubing, or spend $$ at the dealers, but if the toilet was used at all, dried 'stuff' has probably thoroughly blocked the nozzle inside the tank. This can be removed by removing the tubing at the black tank and cleaning the nozzle, putting it back and recaulking.
You may want to consider just getting one of those 'Flush Kings' and a black tank wand. I feel that this combo is much better at cleaning than the flush alone, even when it's working properly.
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Posted By: mcarter
Date Posted: 13 Sep 2017 at 8:00am
My 178 - there is a one way valve in the flush line, the backflush valve. It is between the outer fill port and the tank. Mine is in backwards and doesn't allow water to tank. To fix I would have had to remove bathroom sink as it is in shower wall. Several on the forum have had like issue. I chose to add a new backflush to the drivers side near the black tank drain. Fairly easy to do and now all my drain stuff is on same side. I'm not sure where the backflush valve is on a 179. In my case it was inaccessible without removing a major piece of TT. Plus I like my flush on drain side.
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Mike Carter
2015 178
" I had the right to remain silent, I just didn't have the ability."
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Posted By: StephenH
Date Posted: 13 Sep 2017 at 10:50am
In the 179, the valve is visible in the opening that is behind the panel below the sink. It is easily accessible. Mine was put in correctly, but had started leaking when the water was shut off and the pressure dropped. I replaced it and all is well.
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StephenH
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,...
http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=7712 - ouR escaPOD mods
Former RPod 179
Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS
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Posted By: mcarter
Date Posted: 13 Sep 2017 at 5:00pm
Cool Stephen good to know, in the 178 it is not easily accessible, I can see it from access on bed side of bathroom panel at bottom of wall.
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Mike Carter
2015 178
" I had the right to remain silent, I just didn't have the ability."
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Posted By: JillV
Date Posted: 13 Sep 2017 at 6:52pm
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Ok thanks guys I will look around for it. If any of you get excited to take a picture for me that would be awesome but don't rip your RPod apart in the process!
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Posted By: Tars Tarkas
Date Posted: 13 Sep 2017 at 7:22pm
I'm curious. I don't want to sound critical or be indelicate; I'm perfectly fine with "to each his (or her) own", but why would you not poop in your potty? I think there is some shyness, perhaps when moving from tent camping to trailer camping, about sometimes noisy bodily functions in a confined area, but the wife and I have found it pretty easy to take turns walking the dog to give the other some throne time, and we've gotten used to the intimacy to some extent.
I've heard of other people who won't use the shower. I'm guessing they could save $5000 or more on a camper without a bathroom and shower if they aren't going to use them anyway! I consider the full, even if wet, bathroom a significant luxury!
With a little care and nitrile gloves, I don't think emptying the black tank would be much less odious without the poop, and it's essentially hermetically sealed in the black tank until emptied.
What I'm about to say is silly, and again, I'm just trying to understand the thinking -- not be critical -- but it's kind of like not wanting to poop in your bathroom at home, it seems to me.
Any enlightenment on this issue may be too much to expect. And take this as a general question to anyone with any thoughts on the matter. I really don't mean to single out Jill -- because I know there are others with the same self-imposed restrictions....
TT
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2010 176
FJ Cruiser
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Posted By: fwunder
Date Posted: 13 Sep 2017 at 8:32pm
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I don't think this a good time for promoting poo, https://www.amazon.com/Whats-Your-Poo-Telling-You/dp/0811857824 - but this is a good book !
Having lived on a umber of different small boats, the hot (fresh) water shower and easily managed holding tanks are a piece of cake and a luxury! Thirty gallons of black tank storage is a lot of poo! And pee, if you limit your beer consumption. Grey water is easy to deal with with a five gallon lidded bucket or two or a tote. In fact, for most folks, you could manage by transferring from grey to black and never worry about dumping for a week - even with showers.
I will admit, I generally like campground bathroom thrones. A bit more elbow room, they often have WiFi and no one seems to worry how long I'm there!
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2014 RPod 178 => https://goo.gl/CV446f - MyMods and Buying Habits
2008 4Runner Limited 4.0-liter V6
Yes, those are wild ponies dining on grass while dumping tanks!
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