Best way to clean grey water tank?

gkillmaster

I can't seem to find this in the manual. What is the best way to make sure the grey water tank is clean enough when storing for awhile? Should I use any bleach?

Thanks for any tips on this!

Greg K.

Verna

Honestly, I leave mine empty. If there is an odor, I’ll put a scoop full of Happy Camper and some fresh water to get rid of the odor. 

I don’t use bleach in my gray tank as some dump stations use a septic system for the dump station and bleach kills the helpful bacteria. 

gkillmaster

Thank you!!

gkillmaster

Verna said:

Honestly, I leave mine empty. If there is an odor, I’ll put a scoop full of Happy Camper and some fresh water to get rid of the odor. 

I don’t use bleach in my gray tank as some dump stations use a septic system for the dump station and bleach kills the helpful bacteria. 

Hi Verna, do you also leave the fresh water tank full say if you are going to not use it for several weeks?

Verna

No, I drain  the fresh water tank. Too much “bad stuff” can grown in those tanks. In fact, I had a funky smell like sulfur in well water after coming back from out West and I sterilized the tank for the third time this year. 

gkillmaster

Thanks again!

Sharon_is_SAM

Make sure that you have the P traps filled with Antifreeze and then close the sink drain and cover the shower drain to prevent evaporative loss.  Then, no odors will creep back into your cabin.

Tundra57

@Verna I got sulphur smell too in clear water tank from SC somewhere. Took a lot of flushing over 2 years to finally kill smell. Bleach has no effect.

Verna

Thanks, @Tundra57. I almost emptied the fresh water on my last camping trip, but I added 5 more gallons. I did not smell the sulfur odor, so maybe it won’t take me as long to get rid of the odor. Fingers crossed!  (I paid extra for my water softening system at home so I don’t have the sulfur smell as I really hate that odor!)

Tundra57

@Verna it was wierd tho, it would only smell at first run of fawcet. Thought it was the drains at first. Drove me nuts lol. I always use a charcoal filter to fill up and always dump the fresh water when I get home. Oh well .. camping fun.

gkillmaster

I tried emptying my fresh water after our trip and even though the water stopped draining, the fresh water tank display stayed at 19%. I'm assuming maybe the indicator is not accurate. I drained it on level ground.

Verna

@Tundra57, yes the odor is only at the beginning…..and the very end. 

Tundra57

@gkillmaster drain is not at the bottom

 You need a left slope sideways. Filler side down. Even then still some in. There are articles on this

ScottG

@gkillmaster, I agree with @Tundra57. Your tank sensors may well be off a little bit, but regardless the FW system is not a particularly good design. The FW tank has no slope and tend to develop bulges in one direction or the other. The vent system is also sketchy. This impedes complete emptying of the tank by either the drain valve or the pump--as well as filling the tank--unless additional T@B acrobatics are performed. It's a tight fit and just one of those quirks we learn to work around 'cause we love or T@Bs.  :-)

For those with newer T@Bs having the plastic underbelly cover, here's a photo of the magic bits hidden up between the frame rails.

Sharon_is_SAM

And the models with the Nautilus have the drain at the rear of the tank=trailer, so tongue up to more completely empty.

Denny16

And the TaB400 tank is completely different, with drain coming from the front side, next to the wheel, and fill and pump intake lines come out the top of the tank, not the side or bottom, and directly through the trailer floor.  Each series of TaB’s is different, depending on when it was made.
cheers

ScottG

Good points. I've edited my previous post. It's getting hard for me to keep up with everything that has changed since 2015...  :-/