Brandi,

Yikes! Yeah, baby wipes are not good! I recently had a friend that flushed female sanitary products down the toilet during a weekend trip. So I feel your pain.

The best thing to do is to keep flushing the tank out. Fill it all the way up and then let gravity do it’s thing. Hopefully the wipes were marketed as “biodegradable” or “flushable” – many are these days. If so, I’d recommend that you use some enzyme cleaners to help speed up the process. I recommend Bio Clean. Fill up the tank with warm (not hot) water. Then mix in a scoop of Bio Clean and let it sit for as long as you can. Eventually the water and the enzymes will help break up the wipes. (Easier for part-time RVers that don’t need to use the toilet on a regular basis).

That’s what I did after my friend messed up my black tank. I filled it (using the black tank rinse) and then let it soak and soak some more. Fortunately, I was moving the RV soon, so I also got the agitation from driving. That helped mix it all up. Then when I flushed, because it was full, there was a lot of quick draining/gravity pushing a lot of stuff out. It’s likely gonna take several cycles to get it all out – so be at a full-hookup spot.

Kimberly

Absolutely great article! I am researching Black tank issues because a family member has been flushing baby wipes for months down the toilet. Guess what has happened? Oh, I’m sure you’re right… Any suggestions on how to fix? I’m limited on funds, any possible DIY?

Hi Rick. Sounds like you have found yourself a doozy of a problem.

I’m wondering if you haven’t got something similar to a poop pyramid in your galley tank. Remember, this tank will have any debris that has gone down the drain of your sink or that dishwasher you installed. And if you use pods in the dishwasher, those are known to create problems in low water applications because the covers won’t dissolve very well.

If you drained the water out of this and then winterized, it could make all the stuff quite solid in there. One reason that I recommend that you don’t put anything like food debris down the sink. Also why you should leave the gray/galley tanks closed until you dump as well – it helps to flush out all that stuff and not let it build up.

If this is possible, perhaps the best thing to do is to make sure the tank is closed and then fill it with water. Use the Bio Clean Drain Cleaner mentioned above to try to dissolve the stuff in the tank. Let it sit for a few days so that it can drain into the tank and then get to work. It might take several tries to get it cleared out as it eats at the various layers of the pyramid.

Let me know if that works. If not, we can keep trying to find some more solutions.

Kimberly

Connie, thank you for the kind words! Let me know if I can help answer any questions on your Tiffin. I also highly recommend checking out the Tiffin Facebook groups if you aren’t there already. There are some great ones that have lots of knowledge just waiting for you.

Don’t hesitate to ask questions – if nothing else, they can make for some new blog posts. Because if you have questions, so do a lot of other people.

Kimberly

This is so helpful. We are newly retired, and just came home with our Tiffin 32 SA two days ago. We are complete newbies, though both my husband and I have camped in our younger days. We broke the rules and didn’t buy anything cheap or used, because we figured we would be better off purchasing what we really wanted and taking the time to learn. Husband is an engineer by education, former Air Force pilot and airline pilot, so we know we can do this. Thanks for the extensive explanation of black & gray tanks procedures. I am going to have him sign up for your newsletter–pronto!