OK, What's the Best Black-Tank Wand?

[Mr Lynn]

Having our own toilet in our Casita is a nice benefit, but dumping and cleaning is the price we pay. Flushing with a hose is not enough. I think we need one of those wands that spray around inside. But which one? Reviews on Amazon are mixed: some break, some leak, some have a weak, useless spray.

Recommendations, based on experience?

I wish Casita had built in a flush with an outside hose port, as some stickies do. One fellow on the Casita Forum has posted instructions for such a mod, but it's more plumbing (cutting holes in tanks, etc.) than I'm ready for at this point. . .

/Mr Lynn

[Glenn Baglo]

I just have the cheap Camco wand, but Escape drilled a couple extra holes in the end, at a forty-five degree angle so that the wand shoots up and to the side.

[Jack L]

I had one of the cheap ones and decided to make one myself. Home Depot had everything I needed. Pipe, ball valve, end cap and garden hose to pipe fitting for about $10. Mine is much stronger than the ones you buy at Camping World. For extra good cleaning, hot water improves the process.

[Casita Greg]

Why even mess with a wand at all?

I used a standard 4" hole saw to cut through the dinette bench cabinet and on through to the fiberglass bathroom pertition wall. This "sandwich" is about an inch in thickness measuring from the fiberglass wall of the dinette bench, the carpeting in between, and the rear wall of the bathroom. Once through the bathroom wall (drilling forward from the underside of the dinette bench) you will find an air gap of about 3/4" before you run into the side of the black water tank itself. Your pilot bit will probably punch into the side of the black water tank by the time you finish cutting the 4" hole through the bathroom partition, but this is not a bad thing, as it will serve as your reference centerpoint for the smaller hole you'll need to install the quickie flush sprayer (J C Whitney, cat. # 810951, about $25 bucks). The trick here is to develop a "touch" for when you have cut through the partition, and go slow so as not to cut a 4" hole in the side of your black water tank!

The rest is pretty straight forward plumbing using a few feet of reinforced plastic tubing (got mine at Lowes) and some barbed connectors (2 with threaded and barbed fittings and 1 double barbed elbow), and and 4 stainless steel screw clamps to attach it to the threaded fittings to the sprayer and the inlet (standard trailer water hose inlet fitting available at any RV supply) which needs to be mounted in the sidewall of the trailer where it will come in under the front side dinette bench. To seal the sprayer to the side of the black water tank I used a good marine grade permanent sealer (such as 3M 5200 or equivalent.) I would caution against using anything like silicone sealant or common bathtub caulking as it isn't strong enough and you certainly don't want this one to leak.

In case anyone was wondering, the sprayer unit does have a built-in backflow preventer to keep "black water" from flowing in reverse, but I still use a dedicated hose for flushing and another for potable water, just to be safe. I also incorporated quick detach hose fittings to the trailer inlet and the flushing garden hose just for added convenience.

This mod is one of my favorites, and every time I flush my tank I am so happy I did it. No more pulling a dripping nasty contaminated hose and wand through the door or window anymore. No having to hold the flush valve open and inhale all the wonderful tank aromas, etc.
The whole job probably took about a hour, not rushing at all, to completely install it. Now tank flushing is a "white glove" job. No sloppy hose to drag in and out of your trailer.

[Franswa]

heck, more than that... why bother with "cleaning" the black tank at all....

you know when you're about to dump your tanks.....a few miles away, I stop and run more water into the black tank....just the normal drive to the dumpstation will "wash" all surfaces in the tank...I spike the brakes a few times for good measure...

when I put the trailer away for the winter I do one more "cycle" (drive) with nothing but clean water and some bleach in the tank...that is it for me as far as the black tank is concerned...just what I do...no odors, no complaints

the biggest problem/mistake with black tanks IMO is not starting out with enough water in there to begin with (wanting to have as much capacity as possible)

[Mr Lynn]

Originally Posted by Franswa

heck, more than that... why bother with "cleaning" the black tank at all....

you know when you're about to dump your tanks.....a few miles away, I stop and run more water into the black tank....just the normal drive to the dumpstation will "wash" all surfaces in the tank...I spike the brakes a few times for good measure...

when I put the trailer away for the winter I do one more "cycle" (drive) with nothing but clean water and some bleach in the tank...that is it for me as far as the black tank is concerned...just what I do...no odors, no complaints

the biggest problem/mistake with black tanks IMO is not starting out with enough water in there to begin with (wanting to have as much capacity as possible)

Franswa: Maybe a good idea if you're traveling, but if you're just leaving a campground after a few days, you'll want to dump your tanks at the 'free' dump station before heading out on the road, so you won't get it 'all shook up'.

/Mr Lynn

[Darral T.]

People could make their RV'ing life with a bathroom so much easier by taking a few tips/precautions. 1st, we dont put paper in our toilet...we use small sacks for that. Next, I use NOTHING but "Odorlos" for the chemical which zeroes out the smell and helps dissolve any solids in the tank.

I have the Dometic "stack" style with the commode sitting directly on the blacktank. It's translucent and light will shine through it. I double-clean it after I get home. YES, I always dump it before leaving a campground. NEVER have I hauled it home with the black tank occupied. Anyway, again, with the tank directly beneath the commode, it's easy to hold open the valve on the commode and I take my regular water hose with a strong-spraying nozzle and shoot it into the hole. Going on 7 yrs of my method and not ONE problem. No cutting holes, adding lines and valves that hold another potential leak point. Just simple and vigilant use and maintenance and we're done!

[Franswa]

I do tend to move every day....but/and have routinely gone for 3-4 days between dumps...different strokes...I guess....sewage don't bother me as much as some people (spent most of my working life in that business...AKA...underground utilities)

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Mr Lynn

I wish Casita had built in a flush with an outside hose port, as some stickies do. One fellow on the Casita Forum has posted instructions for such a mod, but it's more plumbing (cutting holes in tanks, etc.) than I'm ready for at this point. . .

/Mr Lynn

I have the cheap Camco Wand that I would mostly use at the end of the year to give the Scamps tank a good cleaning or after a few weeks of camping with the toilet having been heavily used. I normally add as much water to the blank tank as possible prior to dumping but if I have been camping without hook ups there is more often than not little water left in the fresh water tank to use. If the dump station is busy I do not like to hold up others by loading up more water and doing a second flush. I wait until I am home and would give it a second good cleaning with the wand.

I do have a built in flush system on my new trailer but it also has tank sensors that can occasionally get covered with TP and the built in flush system may or may not clear them off. I have had to use the wand to clear them off. When I acquired the trailer I used it for a week while towing it home and dumped the tanks close to home. Once home I wanted to start out with a nice clean tank so I did use the built in flush system - actually repeated it a number of times. Even after having done that I did use the wand in it and yup dirty water & bits of TP still came out! No one system is totally perfect.

[Glenn Baglo]

Hoping you didn't go down to Capilano RV Park and pay $16.50 to dump. Actually that was a few years ago. I expect it's more now.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo

Hoping you didn't go down to Capilano RV Park and pay $16.50 to dump. Actually that was a few years ago. I expect it's more now.

Thats were the portable tank comes in handy! Although I admit that I was thinking after several trips dumping it down the homes toilet that the Capitano RV park may have actually been a better deal!

[Mr Lynn]

I asked Larry Gamble at Little House Customs for a recommendation. He writes,

We stock one that has not yet appeared in our store. They're 15 bucks and Konrad at our Arizona branch makes them. It's a nice spray pattern and has a shut off valve so you can use it by yourself without someone attending the faucet for you.

It's not yet on their online store page, but he says you can order one by calling or emailing the shop: Home | Little House Customs

I think I'll try it!

/Mr Lynn