Geo method

[Tonyg]

Anyone using the Geo method with Flush King to clean out their tanks?
If using Flush King what adapters are you using?
How effective is it in the control of oders?
Any other suggestions? Newbie!!!

Thanks,

Tony

[mi99amigo]

What is the Geo method??

I have friends that use the Flush King and they swear by it. I have always had a tank flusher installed in my RVs and they work really well. My 05 26RSB came with a tank flusher.

[bjepp]

Take a look at www.campingworld.com. They have products such as the Flush King and have consumer reviews on them.

Hope this helps.

[Tonyg]

From what I have read the geo system just uses a water softener such as calgon and some laundry detergent in the black tank along with occasional small amounts of chlorox. No other chemicals. See the following link:

http://home.mindspring.com/~cbruni/index.html


Tony

[Mike Jean Bandfield]

No offense to Mr. Bruni. I’m sure his Geo Method© works just fine for him. However, I find it much ado about nothing. Quite frankly it seems to be a lot of busy work and expense that just isn’t necessary. Nor does this method help the newbie by explaining how to adjust things for intermittent and irregular availability of hook-ups or dump stations due to dry camping locations or a hectic travel/camping schedule.

Tony, your BFT will be equipped with a tank flusher and if you pay attention to a few common sense procedures you can have more fun traveling and less time fixing waste tank problems or fussing with the Geo Method©.

The following procedures work for us:

1 Use a single-ply toilet paper that easily breaks down in water – usually cheaper is better. Before you load supplies, tear off a single sheet of tp and put it in a glass of water. After 30-60 seconds swish it around in the glass. It should easily break up and disperse particles of paper through the water without stirring. If it holds together in one piece – don’t use it - it will make nasty paper mache structures in your tank which you can read about on the internet. You need to do this before departing home and don’t count on the cheaper brands always remaining consistent from purchase to purchase. (We learned this the hard way.) Paper specifically sold for this purpose has no advantage - just costs more.

2. Use plenty of water in your black water tank. And use tp sparingly.

3. Don’t leave your black water line open while connected to campground sewers lines. The water flow of a single flush is not sufficient to clear the tank. You can leave the grey water line open for those long showers but leave the black water line closed and dump when the tank gets sufficiently full to create a strong flow to better evacuate the tank – then flush using the built in rinsing tool. If it is time to dump and the tank isn’t very full, add water via the toilet flush pedal until you have enough volume to dump effectively.

4. For a day or two there is usually no need for chemicals of any kind. (Waste treatment is only needed to control odor. ) Adjust this time depending on the outside temperature, the availability of a dump station or sewer line and the proximity of dumping services at the places you’re scheduled to be in the next few days.

5. If I know that I’ll have waste in the black tank for several days or there is a good chance that dumping facilities won’t be available for several days. I will add a ½ g of water to the tank at first use and some waste digesting treatment solution based on bacteria and enzymes. These treatments are supposed to breakdown the waste using a bacteria which doesn’t create a particularly offensive odor. We do not use the blue stuff, (contains formaldehyde) and works by killing all bacteria. It isn’t environmentally friendly and can shock septic systems. Nor do we add oils, soap, softener or bleach. In short, don’t put anything in your tank that will kill the good bacteria - if that is the method you intend to use to control odor.

Some of these enzyme/bacteria treatments seem to work better than others but I’ve never been particular about brand or prices. Others might chime in regarding brands that have worked well for them. Add more solution when you want to give it a faster start. Remember the good bacteria grows with a nutrient source. Once started you don't need to add more. Your objective is to give it a fast start so that it becomes the predominant bacteria and beats out the bad, odor causing, bacteria. Remembering to add the digesting solution early – adding it after a couple of days gives odor causing bacteria a big head start. This would likely produce poor results.

6. Rinsing the tank thoroughly and leaving it empty will prevent odors between trips. There’s no real need to sanitize the tank. After all, no one sanitizes sewer pipes – not even the plumber who works on them. When there is nothing for bacteria to feed on then odor won’t be a problem. You can also store the RV with some enzyme/bacteria solution in the tank. The bacteria will stay dormant and be ready to start digesting waste on your next trip. (Sume brands warn that freezing might kill the cultures.)

We’ve been using the waste digesting bacteria/enzyme products since they came out about 11-12 years ago and rinsing the tank when dumping. Before that we would only use the blue stuff when the black tank would be holding waste for more than a couple of days and we used the same, flushing with water when dumping, procedure.

We’ve used these procedures for many years without a problem. On 2 occasions we’ve thrown out the remainder of a bottle of solution that wasn’t doing the job and replaced it. It may have froze or overheated while in storage.

I hope this helps those new to RV’ing understand the process. And, more important, to put all the different things they read into proper perspective. I read this stuff and sometimes wonder if those who seem obsessed with sanitized RV tanks are also the same people who obsess about their lower GI tracks – which, by the way, requires good bacteria to operate properly. Much of what you read about maintaining tanks is a result of someone’s experience or method of use. Some are more anal retentive than others. Your best method will be fine tuned by your particular use scenarios, climate and schedules. Read the opinions but do what works and makes the most sense to you.

I think I'll go out now for a "Garlic High Colonic". Maybe I can get a 2-fer if I take the Born Free.

*************************************************************

Ideas expressed in this post are my own opinion, based on my own experience, and are freely placed into the public domain for the use of anyone wanting to use it, in total or in part, for fun or profit. I make no claim of ownership and further more it is my opinion that the ideas expressed here are of such common knowledge that they can not be copyrighted. In other words - this post is neither intellectual nor property.

Mike

[Tonyg]

Mike,

Thanks for your comprehensive reply. It makes more sense than anything else I've read. Will follow your advice. I didn't realize the BFT had a tank flushing system. We are expecting delivery end of April. Lots to learn!!

Tony

[George Boley]

Mike, you have my vote. It's way to much about nothing. These collection tanks do just fine without ANY chemicals. Your recommendation on the single ply paper and dumping with a head pressure, is right on and about all one has to worry about. Last but not least, if it smells septic, leave it alone it's working. Sure beats what we had down on the farm. George B

[mi99amigo]

Sam, please DON'T go off the deep end

[Mike Jean Bandfield]

...dump 'em often, with plenty of water in the tank when doing so.

I wish I'd said that

Mike

[Trisha]

I think you can read too much, on some of those lists. I know I have.

Know what seems to work best for me? Use it. All the time. Don't pull into the rest area and use THEIR smelly, germy toilet when you have your own and you know who has been sitting there!

Use it, fill it, dump it, reguarlary. Lots of water. Not lots of solids, (esp. paper). Nothing else. I empty the tank maybe once every 4 days with CONSTANT use (black). Maybe 5.

Yes, BF has a flush system in the tank. It's nice. I use it about every 3 dumps.

Also nice, is putting the water from the bath vanity into the black tank (so watch what you use in that sink, too). I hand wash a few garments that I'd rather not replace too often, and tha textra water helps. Just use plenty of water (I know that's harder when boondocking) but the more you have just going through, with use, the better it will be. I almost never have any odor (and then I'm not sure you can blame the setup so much as the person and what they ate).

The venting is done right, and the rest of it is just designed to sell things, I suspect. Go for simple. Paper that breaks down, not too much, and some things work better with regular use. <g>

You can think anything you like about that last one.

Trish

[bcope01]

Yes, BF has a flush system in the tank. It's nice. I use it about every 3 dumps.

Is this true for all BF models? I'm not aware of one on my 2004 BFT, but then again it is still new to me and I am learning new things every day.

Bill

[BornFree_n_Now]

Our 2002 unit does not have the integrated flush, but we have used an after market apparatus, picked up at Camping World, with some success. It is called “RV Hydro Flush with Anti-Siphon Valveâ€

[bcope01]

If/when I get a digital camera, I can/could post pictures of what the whole deal looks like, from the underside of the coach. So you would know what the assembly looks like. Maybe another BF owner reading this, could do that here for you. Anybody want to volunteer to take some pictures for Bill?

Sam: I'll take you up on that if/when you get a chance and if/or it isn't too much trouble. No rush.

Thanks, Bill