Key Points: You should be dumping your holding tanks every 3-5 days or when tank levels reach two thirds or three quarters full.
With two people living in the RV, that shouldn't be less than one week, but keep an eye on your sensors. If you have a grey holding tank that also needs to be emptied, dump the black before the grey. The greywater, which comes from your sink and shower, will flush out any remaining solids in your hose.
At the very least, you should do a deep clean after each trip, as you won't want to store your RV with wastewater in the tanks. Otherwise, it's recommended that you clean your RV tanks monthly in the summer and every other month in the winter.
Short answer: Maybe kind of, but not really all that great. I wanted to go all “Myth-Busters” on it and declare the old advice a hoax, but in the end, you can get a very limited scrubbing action with the ice cubes.
You should be using a lot of water to keep solids in suspension, but 30 gallons and 1 person would mean 7-10 days for me too. And I will say you want to dump no sooner than 2/3 - 3/4 full. If you need to dump sooner, add water from your fresh water tank to get enough liquid in the tank.
At the very least, you should dump and empty your black water tank after each camping trip, or every 3-5 days during a trip. It's important to empty your tanks at the end of a trip, because you don't want to store your RV with wastewater in the tanks.
You know where to go and what to do, but how long can you boondock in an RV? Some national forests and BLM areas allow boondockers to stay up to 14 days. Others will place a limit to typically under a week. Designated campsites and parking lots will likely have stricter guidelines about how long you can stay.
Most RVers simply drain the fresh water tank and bypass it. Should I put RV antifreeze in my black tank? The same advice applies to your black and gray tanks—there's no harm in adding it to either.
To prevent RV clogs, you want all of the toilet paper and waste inside your black water tank to be nearly, if not completely, liquified. The best way to accomplish this is to regularly use a high-quality, bacteria + enzyme based holding tank treatment, like Unique RV Digest-It Plus Ultra.
You may not think it's a big deal, but you could be asking for trouble. Read on to find out why. This may seem obvious, but NEVER leave your black tank gates or pulls open while you are camping or using your RV's holding tanks.
The waste plumbing system of your RV is usually divided into two separate systems: the black system for solid waste from toilets, and the gray system for liquid waste from sinks and showers.
Flushing the gray tank after the black tank helps flush any solids stuck in your sewer hose. If you keep this valve open, you will not have that extra water to flush out the sewer hose after the black tank. For easy clean up, go slowly when detaching the sewer hose.
Some RVers report that a 40-gallon black tank will last two people about 10 days before needing to dump, but again, this all depends on toilet paper usage, water usage, and the number of people using the water systems. Another technique is to always dump when your tanks are two thirds or three quarters full.
After I dump it and clean it at the campground I add a few toilet bowls full of water and add a scoop of powder tide, and a scoop of water softener. I let this swish around for the ride home and leave it until the next trip.
An RV is designed only to transport the waste, while a septic system is designed to treat the waste and return clean water back to the water table. Two major issues arise when emptying RV holding tanks into a septic system, and both can lead to catastrophic system failure.
Compacted tanks often occur when an RV is stored with full black tanks. Over time, the liquid waste evaporates (or leaks out of faulty valves) and the solid waste is left behind and hardens into a solid brick of poop and paper.
If you have an on-board black water tank rinsing system, you can also use it to add additional water to the black water tank (after poking holes in the waste), allowing the treatment to break down the pyramid more effectively.
Prolonged temperatures below freezing will eventually freeze a tank, either preventing you from dumping or preventing you from getting the fresh water you need.
Propylene glycol-based antifreeze products are the safest option when it comes to RV winterization. They are non-toxic and safe for both living beings and the environment.
Pour one quart of special RV antifreeze into the gray and black tanks to protect the drain valves and seals. Do this through all sink and shower drains—you want antifreeze in the pipe traps as well. Add about a pint to the toilet bowl to protect its flush valve and seals.
What is the 10-Year Rule? Many RV parks have a rule that limits access to RVs older than 10 years. This helps to maintain a certain level of quality and appearance within the park. The rule is infamous among RV travelers, especially with the growth of van life and refurbishing vintage vehicles.
Walmart, as a private entity, has the authority to set its own rules regarding overnight parking in its lots. While some Walmart stores welcome boondockers with open arms, others have implemented strict "no overnight parking" policies.
Depending upon what you power and how much, you can generally boondock for 2-7 days. But a lot depends on what type of batteries you use. If your batteries aren't efficient, and don't hold much charge, your trip will be shortened substantially. So it's critical to choose the best battery for your needs.