Cleaning grey water and toilet

[Lesherp]

Has anyone ever tried using water softener and laundry detergent to clean grey water and toilet? I know some people have had problems with the grey water level indicator getting junked up over time. I had my toilet apart once for maintenance and I can tell you the insides were not pretty sight. DW says she can detect a smell coming from the toilet when it is empty. It is not a problem when full and little stanker is turned on but after seeing the insides once I know it could use a cleaning.

The article I am referencing is for RV's with full sized black water tanks and probably larger grey water tanks. So my question is how much to use and if anyone thinks there may be some problem with putting this kind of solution into our tanks? This information is in item 3 of the article.

https://sites.google.com/site/cbruni/

I have used this method for year with no negative results. I will always add water, water softener and a bit of liquid dishwashing soap after dumping so the mixture can slosh around on the way home. I will dump at home. I also use the mixture going out to camp. So the tanks seem to remain very clean and I have had no problems with gauges. I think the sloshing around of the cleaning mixture is the key to keeping everything clean.

[ShrimpBurrito]

Scott - do you use this mixture in lieu of any thetford chemicals when using the toilet?

This sounds like the famous geo method, minus the bleach.

Dave

A little bit of blue Dawn dishwashing liquid and some water in the tank will loosen grease and organics quite well. Cheap and easy.

[Lesherp]

Are you putting this in both grey water and toilet? I am thinking it might work best for me to put something in before starting out and let it slosh around on the trip out. Fill toilet with blue stuff and more water when I get to camp and get rid of it when I dump. How much soap and such are you using. I don't want the toilet to have foamy flushes.

We have a porta potti, so I don't put soap in it. If you add Dawn to the toilet you will need to flush it out at your destination to avoid suds. Dawn in the tanks is a common trick in motor homes and fifth wheels with larger tanks.

I used the geo method on the tanks in the Elkmont. I had been having issues with the gray water tank gauges. It seemed to help a little, but has not totally corrected the gauge readings yet. It did seem to help clean out a lot of residual stuff that were in the tanks. I'm pretty sure that the previous owner had let the unit sit for long periods of times with waste in the tanks. I'll continue to use the geo method next year to try and get the gauges working better.

The bleach probably wouldn't hurt, except for the smell. I just haven't seen the necessity. I do use Thetford blue when the weather is warm and a more environmentally friendly product when it is cooler. I never considered not using a chemical, but the idea has merit if you have hookups. It would be very easy to do a quick dump (no pun intended!) every couple of days before the odor gets noticeable. The method I use is designed to keep the insides as clean as possible which hopefully lessens operational problems as well as smells.

I've had good luck with automatic dishwasher liquid soap, especially when it sloshes around for a day while on th road.

I read somewhere to fill it with ice cubes before you travel. Ice cubes along with water help clean the inside. Have not tried it. Maybe it will work.