How To Clean My Rv Black Water Tank

Important Note: If you're looking for help restoring your gray tank sensor probes, we have an article for that as well! Touch or click here for tips on restoring misreading level gauges in your gray tank.

Key Points:

Misreading black tank sensors are caused by poop and toilet paper getting caked on the sensors. This causes the sensors to read "full" when the tank is actually only partially filled.
Follow the easy steps below to use Unique Sensor Cleaner to fully restore your black tank sensors.
Sometimes, you will need to repeat the steps given below several times before your sensors are fully restored. However, in rare cases, your sensors might simply be broken and need to be replaced.

Within the RV community, misreading black water holding tank sensors are known for being one of the most frustrating issues anyone can run into! It can sometimes seem like you've tried everything possible to restore your sensors, and they still won't read correctly. For example, many peoples' sensors will read "full" when the black tank is only a quarter filled!

We have written extensively about this topic in the past. Contrary to what you might initially think, it's actually pretty simple and easy to completely restore your black tank sensors. So, in this article, we'll show you how to use Unique Sensor Cleaner to restore your black tank level monitors.

Why Are Your Sensors Malfunctioning?

Before we get started, it's important to understand why this is happening. As you might have guessed, malfunctioning black tank sensors have everything to do with poop and toilet paper! In fact, what happens is that poop and toilet paper cake the surface of your sensors, which causes them to read "full" when the tank is actually only partially filled. That's the basics, but if you want to see the full picture on why your sensors are malfunctioning, you can learn more by touching or clicking here.

Guide Continued Below

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Restoring Your Black Tank Sensors

Restoring your malfunctioning sensor probes is quite easy! Follow these steps and you should be back on track in no time.

Close your black tank valve.
Fill your tank with water. You have to have water as high as the highest misreading sensor to clean it!
Shake your bottle of Sensor Cleaner very well.
Pour half the bottle into your black tank through the toilet.
Let sit for as long as possible. There is no amount of time that is too long to let Sensor Cleaner work. In fact, the longer the better! By allowing Sensor Cleaner to work longer, you're giving the active microbes more time to digest the waste clinging to your sensor probes. Sensor Cleaner can be left inside a tank for weeks or months at a time. It will do no damage to your holding tanks with this extended working time. However, in general, we recommend allowing for 48 - 72 hours for optimal cleaning.
Open your black tank valve and dump your tank.
Rinse your tank very thoroughly.
Repeat if necessary.

In 99% of cases, if you follow these steps, your tank level gauges will start reading properly again. In the 1% of cases where this doesn't work, you may simply need to repeat the process. Sometimes, that waste can be pretty tough to break up, and you will need to hit it multiple times with the strong bacteria microbes in Sensor Cleaner to make a noticeable difference.

If, after 2-3 cleanings, you still don't see improvements, then it's also possible that your sensors are simply broken and need to be repaired.

Conclusion

We hope that this article has proved helpful as you restore your malfunctioning black tank level monitors. If you run into any trouble or snags along the way, we're always here to help. Every day, we help people solve their sensor issues, and we'd love to help you, too! Please contact us for help. We'll be sure to offer guidance in any way we can!

Adopt The Unique Method

You bought your RV so you could enjoy life and spend time with family and friends. The last thing you want to do is waste precious time and money on fixing wastewater holding tank problems. Keeping your tanks in peak operating condition doesn't have to be hard, confusing, or expensive if you follow our proven process: The Unique Method.

The Unique Method is a comprehensive tank care plan that we developed after years of conversations with real customers facing real problems. The Unique Method provides you with simple, preventative steps to stop odors, clogs, and sensor problems before they start so you can spend less time worrying about your holding tanks and more time enjoying the freedom and adventure of RVing. Try it yourself and see why thousands of campers trust their RVs with The Unique Method every day.

If you need more help with anything covered in this guide or simply have a comment, we're here to help you anytime!

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