Happy Campers tank care
Story courtesy Happy Campers
You’ll need: Disposable gloves, and a quality 3” drain hose, a white hose for your fresh water connection and a coloured hose for your rinser & other needs. It’s worth the expense to have a clear see through drain hose adapter to see when your drain and rinse water is clean.
BLACK TANKS
1. First, it’s a good idea to pre-charge the tank with about 12 l (3 gal) of water with your rinser if you have one. Otherwise, you can do it when adding the treatment. This extra water will wet the bottom of the tank so the waste can spread out and start to break down instead of being exposed to the air.
2. Fill your toilet with approximately 4 l (1 gal) of water, then sprinkle & stir one scoop of Happy Campers and IMMEDIATELY flush. For hot climates and tanks over 160 litres (40 gal), repeat the above and then add 8 l (2 gal) of water. IMPORTANT: Never add more than one scoop to approximately 4 l (1 gal) of water. Simply adding more water will improve your tank functions.
3. CAUTION: NEVER leave the black valve open. The liquid will drain away leaving you with a solid buildup in your tank that can be a costly repair job.
4. Keep the black tank valve closed until the tank is at least 2/3 full. (Dumping the tank when it is less than 2/3 full will not allow the tank to empty properly). Always drain the tank with the sprayer if your RV has one. If not, you can use the tank wand designed for cleaning and flushing the tank.
5. If your RV ends up with an odour after sitting a long time it’s likely a result of lack of oxygen. Bacteria like oxygen and after sitting still in the same spot for some time there isn’t enough shaking going on to keep the oxygen distributed though the holding tanks. Result: the bacterial fellows are unhappy, leaving the job half done. It helps to flush more often. If this happens: Fill up the tank, then dump it. Now nearly fill the tank, add at least a half a cup of baking soda, and let the whole thing percolate for a couple of days, dump the tank and add Happy Campers per instructions.
6. You don’t need to use RV tissue with Happy Campers. Some that are rated high and reasonably priced are Scott, Quilted Northern and Angel Soft. Not convinced? Take a square of what you want to try or compare, put it in a glass with water and see how long it takes to break up. Tissue should dissolve in five minutes.
7. Porti Potti’s & Cassettes: A simple way that works. Take a saltshaker or spice bottle, punch or drill about ten 3mm (1/8”) holes in the cap. Fill with Happy Campers. When using the toilet, sprinkle the waste and flush.
8. Recirculating Toilets: If needed, contact us for help.
GREY TANKS
1. You do not need to treat this tank every time you dump, but if your grey tank gets an odour the bad stuff usually grows from the top of the tank down. If this happens, you need to treat it with HAPPY CAMPERS (two or three scoops should do it). Easiest way to treat the odour is to sprinkle and stir 2 or 3 scoops into a large bucket until well dissolved and pour down the kitchen sink. Then finish filling the tank and let sit over night. If you are moving right away you can do the same, even better by filling the tank to approximately 2/3 full for agitation while traveling and rinsing it when arriving at your next destination.
2. We recommend you treat the gray tank every third time you dump. For normal treatment, fill the sink with approximately 4 l (1 gal) of water. Sprinkle & stir ONE scoop of Happy Campers and immediately drain sink.
3. GREASE: If you have a build up of grease in the tank, put 60 -90 ml (2 -3oz) of Original Blue Dawn (dish soap) in the tank to solve this problem.
4. NOTE: Never use antibacterial soap or disinfectant cleaners in your tanks because they will stop the action needed to keep your tanks clean and fresh smelling. Also some large dosages of medications can kill the bacteria after they pass though your body.
5. You can leave your gray tank valve open if you wish. Just realize that most RV parks are now designed to vent up and though your roof vent. It is best to close the gray valve in enough time before you plan to dump so you can use the grey water to flush out your drain hose.
Holding Tank Do’s and Don’ts
1. Never put Happy Campers in a toilet or sink without lots of water. With very little water it is powerful enough to become as hard as cement. If you goof and do it, just be patient, add lots of water (hot water works faster) and it will dissolve so you can flush or drain the sink. At that point it will always stay fully dissolved in water.
2. Never put anything in the black tank except water, body waste, toilet tissue and treatment. Nothing else.
3. Always add additional water with #2 business. Use moderation when using toilet tissue.
4. Traveling with a 12 l (3 gal) of water in both tanks will help keep them clean.
5. Never use bleach or home remedies. They can severely damage valves, seals and gaskets.
6. Do not mix different brands or types of treatments. This will most likely make both ineffective.
7. Some toilet tissues have chemicals that can imbalance the tanks.
8. Are your vents clear? It’s amazing what can build homes in vents.
9. Anyone on board a vegetarian? If so, expect to have some solids seen when dumping.
10. If storing your RV long term in a warm enough climate, it is best to leave some water in your tanks. The moisture will prevent hardening of any materials left on the tank walls.
11. EXTREME CLEANER will keep your tanks working well, and is used for a super annual cleaning of your tanks. Also for those of you who store your RV in cold climates, it will clean them for winter so you can leave them empty.
12. Once or twice a year, we get a call from a customer that they now have some odour in their RV. First put 30 ml (1 oz) of HAPPY CAMPERS in a small plastic sandwich bag and add 30 ml (1oz) of water. Hold it in the palm of your hand for 30 seconds and you’ll notice it will get quite warm. We now know the product is fine and there is a bug in the tank that has to be killed. It takes a treatment of “EXTREME CLEANER” to super clean and get the bad out. Please follow directions on label.
13. Sturvite: It’s a crystal like rock. In 14 years of selling Happy Campers, we have never had a customer complaint of sturvites. We hired a plumber with a line camera to look inside our 21-year-old black tank and it was clean.
SENSORS
They get tissue hung on them, they get corroded or have other problems. There are a few things that can help you keep them working:
1. Rinsing your tanks after draining is a big help.
2. Once in a while drive to your next destination with around a 1/2 tank of liquid for agitation.
3. There are businesses that have a high-pressure system that will clean your tanks for around $200. It’s expensive but they do a very good job of cleaning your tanks. It’s the best chance of getting your sensors working.
4. You can use our EXTREME CLEANER product, which will do almost the same job for less than $2. It will clean your tanks and there is a good chance your sensors will improve.
NOTE: Your fresh water tank. The Internet has a lot of information for you. Our insurance company will not let us give you suggestions when you might internally get a product that is not safe.
We hope this has been a help to you. If you have questions that we can help, feel free to contact us or one of our distributors.