Before we arrived at our next stop, we stopped at a KOA to empty our black water tank. This is the tank dedicated to collecting what goes in our toilet. Our tank supposedly holds 35 gallons of yuck, but it has been showing 2/3 full almost from the first use. Our clean water tank shows Full or 2/3 Full. Our gray water tank shows 2/3 full and our Black water tank also shows 2/3 full. As Ari says, "our trailer doesn't know how to do math."
Any way, I belong to a Facebook group for full-time horse people living in LQs and I asked them how do they make sure that they really empty their tanks and nothing is, well, stuck inside of them.
One of the group members suggested this method - which strikes me as brilliant...
Empty the tanks at the dump station as you normally would.
Basically, you pull up to a dump station and there is a small hole in the ground with a cover on it. You remove the cover, you connect the sewer hose to the LQ. You open the valve for the black water first and let the tank empty. You close that valve, then you open the valve for the gray water (water used for bathing, cleaning dishes, cooking, etc). You empty the gray water and that helps clean the hose. If water is available, you can also rinse the hose.
Then, before you pull away, you dump a bag of ice down the toilet, add 1/4 cup of Downy softener and 1/4 cup of Dawn dishwasher liquid, and flush.
The ice and cleaners go into the black water tank. As you drive down the road, the ice slushes around with the cleaners and scrapes any remaining crap off the sides of the tank. Then the next time you empty the tank, it should be well and truly empty.
You can also purchase a device called an RV swivel stik which you stick on the toilet and basically hose down the tank, but I like the ice method better because it seems less likely to damage the toilet or tank.
Our tanks still show as being full - even after being emptied - so I am hoping a few cycles of emptying and ice will resolve the math problems.
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