Pyramid of Doom

Pyramid of Doom
Brown Mound
Pooh Pooh Hill
Hurdle of Turd

Call it what you like, it is all the same.  My trailers, motor homes, campers hand holding tanks.  Depending on the size of your unit you should have at least 2 or more.  One tank is referred to as the "Grey Tank".  This tank holds the waist from your sinks and or shower.

The second tank is called the "Black Tank".  This tank holds the waist from your toilet.  Both tanks are separate in that the only place they are joined is at the drain point, so there is cross-contamination of fluids.

While your camping if there are no sewer facilities you keep the valves closed till you find a sani-dump.  A sani-dump is a drain to the sewer where you can hook up a hose and drain both tanks.  Many camping facilities have these dumps as your leaving the park or campground.

For us being stationary we have a sewer hose hooked up 24/7.  I have two grey tanks and both the valves are open all the time (there is some debate if this is wise or not).  If I was to close all the valves I would be opening them every other day if not sooner.  It doesn't take long to fill 40 gallons when you have a kitchen and bathroom sink, plus a shower filling them up.

The black tank I need to drain about once a week depending on how much it is used and how often we have company over.  We flush our toilet just like every other house hold with the exception that out toilet does not have a "toilet tank".  Hence when we flush the amount of water that gets flushed at the time of departure depends on how long we hold the valve open for.  In a normal house the solids fall down a pipe and exit to the sewer, in our case the solids fall down a pipe and into the tank.  There they wait for the weekly "flush".  Not wanting to fill the tank so quickly, we were perhaps a little to sparing on the amount of water being flushed.  This results in a pyramid of waist forming where the pipe enters the tank.  If it goes unresolved it could block the pipe and prevent the toilet from flushing and if left long enough solidify into an even more difficult mess to clean.

Ask me how I know..!  There are all kinds of remedies to fix the problem from vacuum trucks to water flushing valves, water hose down the toilet, cleaners, filling the tank and driving around, etc.  Lesson learned in that it takes more water to flush the brown down.  How much water does it take may need to be a government study with years of research, federal grants and a few million of our hard earned taxes.......OK....just kidding.

Also note it is wise to make sure those tank valves are closed all the way to prevent the fluids from draining off and leaving the solids behind, this too can cause a mess.  The proper order to flush your tanks when the time comes is: Black Tank first, then close this valve, second is the grey tank.  This way all your waist water from the sinks washes the pipe, drain, valve and the hose.  Close all the valves and the drain valve, remove hose and clean with water, chances are you will not run into a brown mess.  Run a good volume of water down the inside of the hose, at the same time slowly pull the hose from the drain in the ground and wash the outside of the hose.  I still use a good pair of rubber long sleeve gloves every time..!

P.S. make sure you have enough hose in the drain in the ground or place something heavy on the edge of the hose.  You wouldn't want the hose to pop out of the hole and spray you or others with waist.........and yes, I have seen it happen.