I started a new thread because many are old, though I discovered my problem by reading through many of them--thanks all, I thought this would make it easier to solve similar problems.
This will be a long post that describes how I created my problem and then solved it. But first, here are essential items that you might want to address a stopped up toilet.
1. TankTechRX is a probiotic mixture that eats poop. Buy it here:
https://www.justscience.com/store34be7f59/
2. This is the best tool and beats any snakes you can buy:
Camco Camper/RV Holding Tank Swivel Stik Rinser | Features Powerful Rotary Cleaning Action & 34-Inches of Flexible Reach | Equipped with 1/4 Turn Shutoff Valve & Ergonomic Easy Grip Handle (40074) available at Amazon.
Now the story. We have 2010 Classic Model Montana that still functions well.
We parked it just above the sewer cleanup for the new house we are building as a place to live while building the house. I rigged PVC pipes from the black and gray water clean outs into the sewer cleanup, so I could dump directly without flimsy hoses. THIS IS IMPORTANT--I put CLEAR joints from CAMCO in the PVC pipes, so I could see the color of the water leaving the tanks.
For 2 years, I dumped the tanks every couple of days when we were using the Montana and all worked well. Then I got the (not so) bright idea that since I was going straight into the sewer cleanout, why bother holding the black water in the tank at all. Why not just go from the toilet, through the tank, and right into the sewer. THIS WAS NOT A BRIGHT IDEA and caused my toilet to back up.
I gleened this from reading a lot of old toilet and black tank posts and don't have any technical knowledge to back it up. So, to smarter readers, please correct the info I'm about to tell you. Apparently, there are several angles in the pipes FROM the toilet TO the black tank. These are places that solid can catch on the way to the black tank. If you have the valve closed on the black tank, then solids with the help of black tank treatments (I used TST MAX Orange Drop-Ins from Camco) dissolve somewhat in the tank so they flow out easier. When I stopped dumping and left the black tank cleanout valve permanently open, I didn't allow there to be any "treatment" of the black tank solids.
After about 3 months of doing this, I noticed that the toilet would back up. I immediately, flushed the tank, but some of that water (with the valve open) backed up to the toilet. I used a shopvac to suck out as much junk from both the toilet AND from the cleanout. Fortunately, because we were building our house, there was a portatoilet to dispose of the waste. Sucking this yuck out, didn't help. When running the toilet constantly (to test), the toilet would still start to back up and nothing came out of the clean outs. However, after a day or so, the water would seep into the tank and it could be dumped out of the black tank cleanout. Then, I once flushed the black tank, during this time and the water came right out and it was relatively clear. AHA. So, I thought I might have solved the problem, but when I added water from the toilet it still backed up. By now I thought maybe I had a bad valve, BUT if flushing worked then the valve worked.
Then, is when I got the information in one of hundreds of posts that
leaving your valve open is BAD THING. And I learned that poop and toilet paper could clog up in the PIPES going from the toilet to the tank. I was about to give up but decided to try TankTechRX (recommended in other posts) to see if it would eat up the poop bomb stuck in my pipes. (The poop bomb would cause the toilet to back up, but water would seep through it after a day or so and you could empty that water from the tank).
SO, I administered, more than called for, of the TankTechRX and let is sit for several days. Then did it again.
THEN, I took the Camco Holding Tank Swivel Stik Rinser and pushed it as far down the toilet as I could. The good news, the water did not back up, it went down into the tank. After a while, I paused the Swivel and emptied the Black Tank and a bunch of brown water came out. Remember, I had clear joints in the PVC pipes leaving the RV and going to the Sewer Cleanout; so I could see the "quality" of the discharge.
I now left the valve open and turned the Swivel back on. I moved it around breaking up (I think, because I couldn't see) the poop bomb. While this was happening more stuff continued to flow out of the cleanout. I then turned on the tank flush so I had water from the swivel and from the flush going into the system and ALL of it with remnants of toilet paper came out of the cleanout valve and visible through my clear tube. I just left this running for 30 minutes and by the time I turned them both the water from the cleanout was CLEAR!!!!!!!!
Victory over my stupidity with thanks to others who posted on previous threads.
May you never go through the month or so of this struggle that I did, but if you do encounter a similar problem, scroll back to the top of this post and buy the two products I recommended before you do anything else.
Here's a toast to clear cleanouts in your futures.
Tom
I unblocked my toilet
Linear Mode
