Monday, April 24, 2017

Plugged Tank

Our gray water tank has been plugged for the last few days of our trip and I thought I knew the problem - ME!

I thought it was OK to wash coffee grounds down the sink as long as we were hooked up to a sewer, the valve was open and I had the cold water tap running while I emptied the coffee basket. This is evidently not the case as when I opened the gray water valve I only got a few drops of water and a few wet coffee grounds! We conserved sink use until we got home and only had a quarter of a tank of grey water when we parked.

I had decided on a plan of action on the drive home and tackled the problem yesterday. I intended to give the tank and it's drain pipe a reverse flush.

I parked on the sloping driveway where a little grey water would do no harm, opened the grey water valve and sure enough only a few spoonfuls of water and a few coffee grounds came out. I got our garden hose that is hooked up to the high pressure (city) side of our house pressure reduction valve out and dragged it over. I wrapped a rag around the end to make a seal, jammed it in the outlet and held it in place as I released the water flow. Nothing seemed to happen! The seal was good as only a little water was dripping into the ground but otherwise, silence.

Suddenly I heard water gurgling and flowing into the grey tank! Whatever the blockage was, it was free now. I let a few gallons in and pulled the hose and rag out. Wow! A ton of dirty looking water came out and flowed down the driveway. A closer inspection showed a lot of coffee grounds in it. I repeated the maneuver a few times, getting more coffee grounds out every time. The last time, I let the tank fill to about 3/4 full before I released it to give it a really good flush. There were still coffee grounds but only a tablespoon full or so. The problem was solved without calling out the plumber and his "snake" which was going to be 'Plan B'!

Now to look at our taxes. Norma is sorting the several pounds of mail, looking for our tax information. This is going to be fun!

14 comments:

  1. Good job with the grey water tank. W don't put the grounds in our grey water and always leave it closed until full.
    Our taxes are done, and filed, nice that we once again paid no income tax, makes life easier for us.

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    1. I think the grounds all settled into the pipe below the tank and it was not going anywhere. I thought of filling the tank to add some weight/volume to it before trying again but feared it would not work and would not leave me any room for further experimenting. Norma gets very angry when her shower stall fills with grey water! :)

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    2. Well, after all, the shower stall IS Norma's clothes closet! LOL!

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  2. lol, thats usually when we empty our grey water tank.

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  3. I learned about coffee grinds and RV plumbing systems about 8 years ago. Since then never mix the two. You got off lucky. In my case I would empty my tanks at home with a macerator pump and long industrial garden hose. The clog resulted in the need for an immediate shower after taking a quick outside unexpected shower. What a surprise the amount of pressure that water can build up in things.

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  4. Really? Coffee grounds in the sink? Wow, you were lucky you have a situation where you could wash out the tank.

    Now that you are home from vacation, get to work! LOL

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    1. The Job Jar is overflowing but the Energy Jar is running on "low".

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  5. Email comment from Al:

    Hi Croft:

    We've had a plug or two in our tanks, but for us it's always the black tank, probably because of using "too good" multi ply toilet paper.

    We carry a back flush/valve combo, we shut off the valve, open the valve to the plugged tank and use a hose to back flush, same principle as you used except no leakage of those fluids onto your hands.

    The links to camping world are below, for us it was a good investment. The valve is also handy just in case one of the tank valves (or the opening closing handle system) fails.


    http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/twist-on-valve/27868

    This is the combo:

    http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/flush-king/20522

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    1. On forums like RV.net and specialized RV club forums, RV owners really like the Flush King and give it great reviews. However, some RV owners use a less expensive method a few times a year (whether the black water tank needs it or not) and that is dumping a couple of buckets of cubed ice down the toilet before they leave home and the bumpy ride going down the road for a couple of hours to the campground knocks debris loose in the tank; when they arrive at their destination, the ice has melted and they use the dump station. But with fine coffee grounds, you really have to be creative.

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    2. I have read about that one as well Dee but have not tried it. Someone else said a few gallons of hot/boiling water and half a cup of dish soap cleans the tanks pretty good as well.

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    3. Have not heard of that method, but sounds good--we'll try that one for the upcoming camping year in the mountains.

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    4. The full/empty gauge on our black tank has not worked all year so I would like to try this hot water method. I think it should soften up the crud on the contacts. It might have to be followed up by some other method, maybe the ice. I just have trouble thinking the ice would last long enough to do much good, specially in warm weather. I know how long it lasts in a Mojito.

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    5. Croft, If you were traveling in extreme heat in the middle of a desert, we know the ice cubes would melt before you pulled out of a camp site. Otherwise, I think there would be no problem. The problem I see with large ice cubes is the cubes knocking around and possibly damaging the sensors inside the tank (which never worked well from the time we bought our RV new, anyway). However, my son's Airstream has the sensors outside the tanks; nothing seems to be uniform from RV to RV.

      By the way, we can't wait to melt ice in our mojitos, gave Roly the arrival and departure dates, as he requested, but have't yet received confirmation from him with an address as to where we will be staying. Soon, I'll e-mail you with a few other questions, but don't want to interfere with your income tax preparation.

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