RV Black Tank Stink Problem Solved!

I have to share this solution with everyone! I’ve lived in an RV for five years now, and if you have lived in an RV for even one weekend, you likely know what the main challenge is (or one of the main challenges) . . . that blank tank. How to keep it from smelling.

There are lots of treatments out there, I’ve tried many of them over the past several years. I can’t use the ones that employ perfume as their main remedy because I’m sensitive to it, so I use the ones that are scentless. Some work better than others, but over the past few months, I’ve tried an idea that I came up with all by myself. And it works! And it’s cheap! So I have to spread the word!!

Take a bar of cheap soap; cut it in half, and send it down to the black tank. This is how I do it: I drain the tanks, then close them up, then I run what I imagine to be about two inches of water in my black tank. Then I put the bar of soap down there (remember to cut it in half–if you try to send it down whole, it will get stuck). I leave it to sit all night to give it time to dissolve a bit. I’m not a scientist, but I think bar soap can do a number on bacteria fairly well, and it also has a slippery quality to it. Between those two things, this idea seems to work really well. I hope it will help you, too. Let me know if it does!

Author: Carolyn Kay Hanson

Carolyn was born and raised in Idaho. She has worked with animals for most of her life (prepare yourself, the list is long): cats, dogs, horses, cows, goats, sheep, rabbits, turkeys, ducks, chickens, guineas, and geese. She was married to a cowboy for twenty-five years and during that time lived on seven different cattle ranches. She learned how to give shots to cattle, brand cattle, castrate bull calves and close the head catch in time to capture the beast that was flying through the working chute like a streak of lightning. She also learned to back the truck up to the trailer hitch and get it right the first time. When a teen, she attended horsemanship clinics and schools, and competed in horse shows that included dressage and jumping. She owned and trained seven of her own horses. After having two children, both of whom she homeschooled until they passed the SAT with flying colors (which is absolutely no credit to her as they both reside in the genius category and continually leave her wondering what the heck is going on) she dove into homesteading, learning how to make her own bread, make soup stock from scratch, butcher chickens, rabbits, goats, sheep, and cows, and one year had so much fun canning everything in sight that when she counted the full glass jars in the pantry, she was shocked to discover there were over a thousand. Her knowledge of settings used as the basis of her stories is diverse due to the fact that she has lived in many different states including Idaho, Montana, California, Texas, Missouri, Virginia, Indiana, New Jersey, Washington, and Arizona. She now resides near Seattle. Her hobbies include knitting, crocheting, soap making, and, of course, writing. Oh, and her favorite author? P. G. Wodehouse. View all posts by Carolyn Kay Hanson