Proper RV Holding Tank Chemicals to Use
Dave SolbergDescription
There are a lot of different RV holding tank chemicals available to use for your system. The chemicals available today are much better than the old-school methods of cleaning holding tanks. In previous years, many RV owners would use cleaning products such as Lysol and Pinesol. Neither option is good to use because they will kill the good bacteria that is needed to break down solids in the black water tank. In addition, these chemicals will eat away at seals and clean away lubrication wanted inside the tank.
It is best to use approved RV holding tank chemicals. These chemicals come in liquid form and are biodegradable. Some black water treatments come in a container with its own measuring device, while others come in biodegradable packets that can be tossed right into the tank. Aquachem by Thetford is one example and a popular option that also includes a deodorant. This can be used to help control odor in the grey water tanks, which can develop over time from water coming from the shower, kitchen and bathroom sinks.
The Thetford Tissue Digester will help breakdown toilet paper in the black water tank. However, it is still a good idea to use an approved RV toilet paper that will easily breakdown on its own.
Other suggested RV holding tank chemicals include:
Using proper RV holding tank chemicals will help effectively clean the holding tanks without damaging any of the seals or other components of the system.
When it comes to chemicals for our wastewater system, we have a lot of choices. Starting with the black water tank. Now some old school RVers like to use household products like Lysol and Pine-Sol or perfumes in the black water tank. These are not really good to use because they're going to kill the good bacteria that we want in there. They might also do damage to the seals down in here and eat up a little bit of that lubrication that we need to make those working. So it is a good idea to use the approved chemicals. Now, this one we have here is the liquid. It is biodegradable. It has no formaldehydes in it so it's not going to kill the bacteria and the enzymes you want in there. It does actually do its own measuring. So you've got the various different sizes depending on the tank size that you have. Now. Other ones include this treatment, which is just a drop in treatment. And we open this up. You see, it's just a little biodegradable pouch in here and the powder's gonna go in. The thing you have to do with this is you do have to add some liquid into here to get this to dissolve, where that one I can just leave in. This is another brand. This is probably one of the more popular brands out in the market, Thetford with the Aqua King, or Aqua-Kem, excuse me. And again, just the same type of a packet. And it will have both the, in here the toss-ins, the holding tank deodorant for this one. Now some of the other ones inside here- We do have a gray water odor control. Now a lot of people say, well, you know, my gray water is just shower water and so forth. Why do I get an odor out of that? You have to remember that your kitchen sink, your bathroom sink also will dump into that typically. So you can get grease from cooking. You can get the dish soaps. So you can get a variety of different odors coming out of the gray water tank. This is a- Thetford makes a Tissue Digester, so it will help to break down that tissue in the inside, which brings up another good point. One of the most important things to use when you're using a black water tank is an RV toilet paper. One that's going to break down. Typically a single ply that will break down inside the tank and it won't gum up the valves or stick to the probes on the side. This is a level gauge cleaner. It will go in and kind of helps dissolve, digest, sediments, lime, that type of stuff that might get onto some of the probes and give us a false reading. And this is a drain valve lubricant. This I would put in when I would store the unit and any time I'm going to leave it sit for any period of time with nothing in it. Just put a quarter cup of this, or depending on the size, into it. And it just helps lubricate the valves that are back in on our gate valve. And this is a toilet seal. And what this does is lubricate the actual flapper valve or the seal on the toilet. And this is important because that seal is going to hold water in the bowl. But it's also going to keep odors from that holding tank from coming up inside the coach. So the last thing I would recommend a lot of people, the old school guys, too, when they get ready to go and they winterize it, or take it on a trip. Some people say they're even gonna throw rock salt down into the holding tanks because that'll keep the tanks from freezing, but that's going to eat up this stuff here. You can imagine what rock salt is going to do to that valve in here. Make sure you use a good RV antifreeze. If you are going to be putting that into the drain, it won't do any damage to the seals. So a wide variety of choices, chemicals you can use. Most of the new ones are biodegradable and safe for the environment.
With all those different holding tank chemicals. Is it safe to add any of them together. Or should I be doing one at a time?
I have given my bowl and seal a good cleaning as when I winterized I put RV antifreeze in the bowl to keep the seal moist. It at some point drained. I sent it to the dealer under warranty, they cleaned the seal and said it was good and held water for 20 minutes. However, it still drains it out. Is that okay or should it hold water in the bowl continuously? When new it held continually until winter storage. I have added conditioner to the bowl as well. Is this seal bad or what should I do? Since not holding water, the tank treatment and cleaner smell comes back routinely.
I am renting an RV spot for a month on a private lot. The lot has a septic hook up --- but the contract states: "Chemicals are not permitted in the septic tank. Only dump non-treated waste. The odor control chemicals are disinfectants to kill the anaerobic bacteria in the waste. When the disinfected waste is dumped into the septic tank it kills the necessary bacteria in the septic tank system." I am wondering what type of holding tank additive I CAN use -- can you please offer suggestion? Thank you!!
I've been in some porta-potties that actually smelled good. Is there an RV product that smells good?
Well water sat in our fresh water tank until it acquired a bad smell. We have emptied it, but now want to make sure we flush it out well to remove the smell. What product do you recommend?