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Holding tanks


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I took my MH out this weekend to Antelope Lake, CA. It did really well considering it was LOADED. full of water, full tank of gas, full propane tank,  3 kids, a dog and the wife lol. I noticed as the time went on my fresh water tank gauge inside the coach would drop as we used it, however the black and grey tanks always just said empty. I know the Grey water was not empty at the end and the black should have been registering with a little as well.

Anyone ever have to fix this problem before. I would like to know how full all my tanks are and not just the fresh.

any help would be appreciated.

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The gauges on our tanks are notoriously unreliable! They get covered with junk over the years. You can crawl under your RV and see where the gauges are on your  tanks (they’ll be 3 sets going up the tanks) and make sure the connections are sound and not corroded. Others suggest almost filling the tanks with water and added a lot of ice cubes. Then you drive around and slosh the ice in the tanks to possibly dislodge anything covering the gauges. Don’t know if they make tank cleaners. 

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yea I'm going to have to crawl around down there and see what I can find. I also heard it helps to poor boiling hot water into your holding tanks and drive around. it seems to be a common problem with all RV's.

 

thanks for further insight.

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I sure wouldn’t put boiling hot water in my tanks good chance of cracking the old plastic!

 

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My holding gauges are dead.  I have found that after filling fresh and starting empty gray & black keep me out of trouble. When i got the camper, I took water, gallon jug by gallon jug and filled the 2 tanks , on the gray I waited till it backed in shower. With black, I watched it rise in the toilet and learned on mine, when you can see the water standing in the tank, you are about 2/3 rds full.

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Thank you. I'll keep that in mind with the black tank. 

 

I haven't decided if I'm going to bother with getting it right or not. 

 

I have this tendency when I get something new to me to run through it all and try and make it 100. I'm trying to learn to just enjoy something hahaha. 

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All of the older RV's had issues with tank gauges ice cubes are probably the best best chance. Even in perfect condition you are never going to be any better than 25% because there are only 4 sensors. If you really want accuracy  See Level gauges are the way to go but pricey. They are external and stick to the side of the tanks. Your dates are typical of most motor homes a vehicle date and a coach manufacture date that is representative of when the vehicle hits the road.

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I have the ability and knowledge to fix my gauges,  I don't bother.  After a bit you develop a sense of the status of the tanks.  Need to check the fresh tank, shine a flashligh on it, will show the level if it is an opaque tank.  Check black tank,  turn off water and shine flashlight in toilet.  Need to check grey tank,  have not got that one figured out yet!   

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8 hours ago, jjrbus said:

I have the ability and knowledge to fix my gauges,  I don't bother.  After a bit you develop a sense of the status of the tanks.  Need to check the fresh tank, shine a flashligh on it, will show the level if it is an opaque tank.  Check black tank,  turn off water and shine flashlight in toilet.  Need to check grey tank,  have not got that one figured out yet!   

It really is pretty simple water in water out worst case hooked to a hydrant you will never overfill the black if you are using dish water, shower (except some ) bath sink, making coffee etc. Out of water time to dump both.

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  • 2 months later...
  • 1 month later...

I am glad I read through to this thread, this was a question I wanted to ask.  Is there also a way I can find out the tank capacity differences, if any, between the same tanks in the shorter and longer versions of the  Sunseeker?  More shorter Sunseekers seem available lately, but I don’t want to lose too much capacity by getting the shorter one.  Thanks!

 

 

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  • 1 year later...

Is it possible/advisable to replace with larger tanks? I imagine weight would be the prime factor, followed by dimension … mainly a consideration for boondocking, not an issue if you are on hookups, apart from need to dump frequently.

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Compared to me you have big tanks. New holding tanks are very expensive and the space available won't really give you that much more room. Besides you are still limited by your fresh water tank. All the water in your fresh tank won't fill your both your holding tanks so why would you need more room. Use water more judiciously. Instead of a shower wash up with a hot damp towel. Yes it can be done. Instead of flushing pour water in the bowl first. When you empty it everything including #2 will go down in a second. Uses far less water. Do dishes in a dish pan outside or in your sink with biodegradable dish soap. Pour water on the ground. Not really dirty, just food particles. 

I can make my tiny Sunrader tanks last a week easy and I did for a year and a half when I drove to San Jose one week a month to work. Mind you I worked in Los Gatos, rich yuppy central, and I looked professional and not unkempt in any way. 

20 gallon fresh tank, 12 gallon grey thank and 8 gallon black tank

Linda S

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