Grey Tank Treatment?

B11 · July 2022

I've searched and read this or other forums info regarding Grey Tank Treatment that I have been able to find and still don't see a definitive re:
1-Not treat the Grey Tank with anything,
2. Treat with holding tank treatment that is the same product as Black Tank treatment
3. Treat with specially formulated Grey Tank treatment.

Based on what I've learned, I'm leaning toward periodically treating the Grey Tank with the same product as the Black Tank treatment. Any thoughts on this?

subkron · July 2022

I use Happy Camper for both tanks,works great. Used on another RV for years before I got my T@B.

hustoncs · July 2022

@B11 We are new to the whole trailer thing, so I"ll chime in on what I know to this point!

For Grey & Black tanks I have "Pure Power Blue" I haven't used it yet since I'm currently using up the black tank treatment that the dealer gave us when we took delivery of our trailer.

I also have "Thetford Grey Water Odor Control" as well and I'll be testing both to see which works best.

However the Pure Power Blue can also work on clogged drains. Cheers

pthomas745 · July 2022

Your gray tank is water mixed in with whatever is going down your drains from your sink and shower. From the sink, there could be food particles, etc. Once everything gets down into the tank, that stuff can ferment, and begin to smell a bit. I leave a little water in the gray tank, with a little Happy Camper, and it stops any fermentation that might be happening. I once traveled with a completely empty gray tank after a stop at the RV dump, and there was a very "acrid" smell from it by late afternoon.

I used the other different "tablets" but really didn't like the "chemical" smell from them.

VictoriaP · July 2022

Due to the fermentation aspect @pthomas745 mentioned, another grey water Happy Camper user here, with a caveat: I pre-mix the HC with water *before* it goes down the drain. Previously, I’d just toss the powder in and follow up with plenty of water. I had to remove the sink drain pipe at one point, and found it 2/3 full of solidified powder, hard as a rock and a real pain to clean out.

Now I put 1/2 scoop into a protein powder shaker bottle, the type with a ball whisk inside. Fill with water, shake until thoroughly mixed, pour down drain. Follow up with more water.

Still the absolute best product ever invented for dealing with grey & black tank odor.

Denny16 · July 2022

I also use Happy Camper, a natural, biodegradable product, not chemicals, which can be dumped in septic systems also. Great stuff, beats the blue chemical,odor controller type priducts, and HC helps break down the waste to make dumping easier also.

The instructions for HC, call for mixing the powder in warm water (1/2 to 1 gallon) per scoop of powder, mix well then dump in the tank via toilet for black tank, and I use the shower drain for the gray tank, but galley sink works also.
You need to premix the HC powder in water first or you will have Victoria’s issue above.

Having a gallon or so of water with HC in your tanks when you start out, also helps to clean the tank and tank level sensor probe as you go down the road…
Cheers

dragonsdofly · July 2022

@B11 although we have a t@b 320, we currently reside in a 30 ft Keystone Laredo travel trailer. We have 3 tanks, a black and 2 gray water. We use Happy Camper in all 3 tanks, premixed with warm water as described. We also use it in the black and gray tanks of the t@b. Best product around and the only one we recommend. Since we full time and then primarily boondock, we consider ourselves experts in treating our 5 current trailer waste tanks and we give one big thumbs up for HC. -Jim & Denise

Freespirit · July 2022

We use a mixture of 50% Dawn dishwashing soap and 50% Calgon liquid water softener. We pre mix 2 ounces in a small plastic bottle, (19 gallon gray water tank), the day before our last night of camping empty mixture down the sink. Drain tank (in appropriate dump station) the morning before departing for home. Clean tank ready for next trip.

AnOldUR · July 2022

Denny16 said:

You need to premix the HC powder in water first or you will have Victoria’s issue above.

Recently switched to HC after the large bottle of liquid stuff that the dealer gave us ran out. HC does a much better job of preventing odors. My method has been to add a scoop to the mostly dry toilet bowl and then pour in a gallon of water from as high as possible without splashing then flush. Seems to mix well enough and driving from the dump station does the rest.

scott14 · July 2022

Does anyone use HC with a cassette toilet? If so, how much HC do you use and with how much water? The cassette toilet is only 5 gallons so I think it may be a problem mixing a batch of "HC brew" using a gallon of water and then dumping that into the cassette toilet tank. I would use 20% of the capacity! Thoughts? Thanks!

Denny16 · July 2022

A gallon of the home brew with a scoop of HC and warm/hot water is for a 20 gallon tank, so do 1/4 or a quart for a cassette 5-gal tank, should do the trick.
cheers

Sharon_is_SAM · July 2022

@scott14 - like the pre21 TaB tanks, the volume of the cassette is spread out horizontally and relatively shallow. If you could figure out the approximate volume that just covers the bottom of the cassette, you can minimize the amount of water used. I understand the concern as our black tank is only 8 gallons.

scott14 · July 2022

Thanks @Denny16 and @Sharon_is_SAM, I appreciate the input.

suram · July 2022

Freespirit said:
We use a mixture of 50% Dawn dishwashing soap and 50% Calgon liquid water softener. We pre mix 2 ounces in a small plastic bottle, (19 gallon gray water tank), the day before our last night of camping empty mixture down the sink. Drain tank (in appropriate dump station) the morning before departing for home. Clean tank ready for next trip.

Do you leave the tank empty after you dump the tanks? I think that is when I would want to use Happy Camper? Does the 50/50 solution do anything while it's sitting overnight? Do you only use the 50/50 solution in the gray tank? Why not use it in the black tank too? After 3 seasons of use I'm still confused over the best solution for managing black and gray tanks. Thanks

Denny16 · July 2022

Happy camper is for the Black Tank, and the mix is one scoop of HC in a 1/2 gal of warm water, mix well and dump in the toilet. I mix with 1-gal of water with the HC for the gray tank, and this works quite well without the 50/50 mix solution freespirt mentioned. The 50/50 soap/water softener mix is good to clean a gray tank, but does not break down waste like Happy Camper does.
Cheers

Freespirit · July 2022

@suram, our TAB 320 only has a grey tank, no black tank. Yes we leave the tank empty after our last grey tank dump. The mixture does nothing while sitting in the tank overnight. The benefit of doing it the night before, it is one less task to remember the morning of departure.

In our case the only water entering the grey tank is from washing our hands (biodegradable soap) and washing fruit and vegetables. We do not use our sink for washing dishes. There is not much to clean in our tank that the mixture will not take care of. That is our reasoning for not using chemicals.

With no black tank to take care of, I defer to the “black tank veterans”.

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