Waste water tank

What do others use in their waste water tank (if anything ) to keep if from smelling. Have noticed a very bad smell coming from ours. Havent put anything untoward in it and empty if regularly. Dont want to damage the tank by putting bleach etc down. Any advice please??

HH

Hi Helen,

We wash ours out with Milton every so often, but other half puts a few drops of 'Zaflora' or some such liquid down every now and again.

There are quite a few threads on here about cleaning out the water tank, and one of the good ideas to come from that was that rather than just empty the tank of cleaning solution run it through the system into the waste tank leave it in for a couple of days preferably after a few trips just to swill it about a bit, then empty the waste tank.

They both seem to work, as we do not seem to get any nasty stuff from the waste tank

Stuart

stuartneale1 wrote:They both seem to work, as we do not seem to get any nasty stuff from the waste tank

Stuart

Well I've learned something today I didn't think Riminis had waste tanks

Frank

Hi Helen,
At the first sign of any niff from the sink we pour about a quarter of a bottle of Zoflora or similar concentrated distinfectant down the plughole of the kitchen sink, although smells can come from the tank they also come from rotting food residue trapped in the ridges inside the waste pipe.
If your tank has one of those big round caps in the bottom of it remove this as well when draining the tank you will be suprised how much water is still in the tank contaminated with food residue which will go rotten and smell.
One of these things cost about £1 or less, in the plughole works wonders at keeping major amounts of food residue out of the tank.




Brian2

As Murph has shown a plughole strainer (if that is what they are called) trap most items that you don't want to go into your waste tank.

We have used one of these in our kitchen sink and wash basin outlet (we have a tipping basin) in each of the motorhomes we have owned and I cannot recall any bad smells from the waste.

Hi there,

We use the same Formil liquid bio laundry liquid (in sachets) from Lidl for both the toilet cassette and the waste water tank. (We use the same stuff but from a bottle for the toilet flush as we need less that a sachet every re-fill.)

It works fine in hot weather and we tend to use one sachet for every two "emptyings" (if there is such a word!).

Best regards,

Well Frank

Perhaps that's why 'her in doors' does not like the taste of the water from the main tank?

No we have both fresh & waste water tanks, I must admit I was surprised when I got it but and you set me thinking, I got the AS manual out, and hey presto no mention of a waste tank.

I must assume it has been fitted as an extra by one of the two previous owners!

Well I hope thats the case other wise I will stick to wine & beer in future

Stuart

I think that very few Trafics are bog-standard Stuart. For example, AS didn't fit leisure batteries to the early vans, but most have them now.

Frank

Thanks for all your advice. I have been using a strainer in the plug hole but its really too big and lets stuff down the sides. Any suggestions where I can get ones that are small enough to fit into the small plug hole of a Nuevo?

Thanks HH

Hi Helen,
We bought ours at a Warners motorhome show for 50p but I know that they are on sale at our local hardware store. Our Lancashire is a series 1 Neuvo in all but name and probably identical in most respects to yours.

Brian2

When we get home after a trip away, I buy a 2 ltr bottle of cheap bleach from Sainsburys 32p if I remember correctly, certainly no more.

leave it in the tank for a while, shower room smells like the swimming baths for a while.

Pete

We have just come from our 2nd trip away in our new 2 us van, and our bathroom area pipes stink. We now know why a air freshner was stuck beside the door. We have put some puriclean down all the pipes just hope it works ,has anyone else used puriclean?

We haven't had any odours whatsoever in our Nuevo's waste tank since getting the vehicle.... I haven't put any kind of cleaner into the tank since owning it, but ensure after emptying the waste I always put some clean soapy water back in the tank by running the tap or emptying a container into the sink with a drop of washing up liquid whenever leaving site to swill around as we drive, after draining I always leave the waste tap open so the system can breathe which seems to work for me.

A few motorhomes we looked at when viewing at dealers were pretty smelly
Might be worth checking the pipes for sagging as trapped water would pong after a few days regardless of cleaners put through the system.

Greetys... I've used Puriclean in the past and it's good stuff, it's ideally intended for treatment of the fresh water tank rather than cleaning waste tanks, having said that I see no reason why it wont clean, sterilise and freshen the tank though....

CC

Auto-sleepers don't fit traps in the waste lines. Easy to fit and cheap from CAK tanks. I got ours done under warranty by the dealer. However, because of the silly design, we still get waste water coming up into the shower tray when en route with more than a few drops of water in the waste tank (it happens on left hand corners when the waste rushes to the offside of the tank) so am considering putting non-return valves in the waste lines. Again, not expensive and from CAK.

inspiredron.....Unfortunatly there is no way to fit a smell trap in my Executive .....unless someone out

there knows differently I usually leave the tap open, and drain straight through into a bucket

Ray....

sapper997 wrote:inspiredron.....Unfortunatly there is no way to fit a smell trap in my Executive .....unless someone out

there knows differently I usually leave the tap open, and drain straight through into a bucket

Ray....

Can you not see where the waste pipe goes into the side of the tank? Or is that all hidden on the Executive? On our Lancashire you can pull the corrugated pipe off the tank spigot and insert a u-bend trap.

Ron

Cheers Ron
Chucking it down outside at the moment, will have a look when I get chance, hadn't thought of your way,was thinking
more of U-bends under the sink and shower tray......dohhh!!! must have had a mental block I'm not usually that dim

Ray.. (sorry,can't get my head around how to post a quote,"technophobe")


Can you not see where the waste pipe goes into the side of the tank? Or is that all hidden on the Executive? On our Lancashire you can pull the corrugated pipe off the tank spigot and insert a u-bend trap.

Ron [/quote]

As a newcomer to the Auto Sleepers brand I have had a crawl around the underside of my 2008 Nuevo to see what is what etc.

I was very surprised to see that AS are still using ribbed flexible pipes on the waste systems. I previously had a 2005 Bessacarr. The waste system on that was all solid pipework with 'u' bends. Never had a problem with smells - there was no where for 'scraps' to collect. That van also had inboard fresh water tank too.

I have tested the 'alarms' for the fresh and waste water tanks. I found that the waste alarm activated at the same time as the shower room flooded with dirty water.

The waste pipe from the forward drain, the one by the loo in the Nuevo, is squashed between the underside of the bathroom floor and a chassis cross member. This revealed the previous owners suds still trapped in there. Nice!

The waste tank has four pipes feeding into it. All of them have dropped below their entry point into the tank. Is this Auto Sleepers cheap version of a 'U' bend - or just a designed place for water to freeze during the winter.

We are due to take our first trip in the van in the next few days. Keeping fingers crossed.

Geoff

cotswoldman wrote:

I was very surprised to see that AS are still using ribbed flexible pipes on the waste systems. I previously had a 2005 Bessacarr. The waste system on that was all solid pipework with 'u' bends. Never had a problem with smells - there was no where for 'scraps' to collect. That van also had inboard fresh water tank too.

I have tested the 'alarms' for the fresh and waste water tanks. I found that the waste alarm activated at the same time as the shower room flooded with dirty water.

Geoff

Sounds just like my Lancashire except that the pipes are cut so short that if they try to sag they will drop off the spigots!
I agree that the 100% waste alarm is a total waste of time - you have to guess when to empty.
Like your Bessacar my old Hymer had rigid pipes but they entered into the top of the tank and could not be seen or got at. I am not sure that you are right about the source of smells being debris trapped in the pipe. On the Hymer all the wastes were of a sump type which incorporated a trap incorporated into the outlet right under the sink or shower. The only time that we ever got smells coming up was if we used site showers for a week or two and the water in the shower drain trap evaporated. Then we had the same awful smell that you get sometimes when emptying the waste tank. But it was INSTANTLY cured by pouring some water into the shower drain to refill the trap. No other traps needed this because they were in regular use.
We did have one problem with the Hymer waste: if the van was leaning even slightly to the offside the kitchen sink waste did not drain freely - I think there was a long inboard horizontal pipe that got air-locked somehow - but I could not see it because it was all under the shower tray and above the floor!
Nothing is ever perfect. We keep the shower tray plugs (all 3!) in since we had to wash all the mats and carpet the first time we had waste come up into the shower.

sapper997 wrote: (sorry,can't get my head around how to post a quote,"technophobe")

Looking at the post hit the Quote button at top right and a reply box will come up with something like {quote="inspiredron"} then text of post (which you can edit to pick out the relevant bit) then {/quote} (but using square brackets where I have used curly ones).
Then add your 2 pennorth and press Send.
Hope this helps.
Ron

Looking at the post hit the Quote button at top right and a reply box will come up with something like {quote="inspiredron"} then text of post (which you can edit to pick out the relevant bit) then {/quote} (but using square brackets where I have used curly ones).
Then add your 2 pennorth and press Send.
Hope this helps.
Ron[/quote]
Cheers Ron........I think I've cracked it..


P.S. after looking at this trial......... no I havn't........never mind, I give up !!

sapper997 wrote:
P.S. after looking at this trial......... no I havn't........never mind, I give up !!

It looks like you deleted the first quote tag out.

I rarely use the waste tank for storing waste water instead using one of those smallish black 25 Ltr waste collection containers and leaving the drain tap permanently open so that all waste water drains directly into the container via a short piece of flexible plastic pipe screwed into the waste outlet, the waste container is small enough to be stored in the outside locker along with the levellers and hook up cable.
Since using this system I've had no niffy problems, I always leave the drain tap open when on the move to allow any residual water to drain away helped by the motion of the vehicle.
On a previous van with nasty niffs I cleaned the tank using a caustic soda solution which is pretty effective at dissolving grease and fat, this was carefully poured down the kitchen sink plug hole and then I drove the van for a few miles to let it slosh around the tank interior, this worked well but I would only do it as a last resort as caustic soda is quite nasty stuff to mess about with and should only be used with care and emptied into a suitable drain.

Cheers John