Tank sensors

[donblanco]

used some 'commando' tank cleaner. Let it sit for almost 24 hours w/ a tank as full of water as I could get it. Drained tank. Still showed full on the sensors.

 

[cavie]

you can spend hours flushing/rinsing along with lots of $$$ on sensor cleaning products trying improve their accuracy & will have wasted both. I've had several different rvs in the past 40+ years & have yet to own one that those sensors were worth the voltage to illuminate the pretty red lights.
Learn the "burp" sound when flushing the toilet that will indicate it's about time to dump & ignore the sensors.

 

[BigD-THOR]

So our new used rig shows the black tank to be 2/3 full even after visiting the dump station this morning and having it connected directly to a sewer drain in our current RV park. So other than ignoring it, what is the easiest way to remedy this situation?

Some units (mine is a 2018 Axis) have a second black tank valve which is located under the back bumper usually near the exhaust. Both of the valves have to be open to dump.

 

[taylorbob1]

My tank was staying on 1/3 all the time
So I finally spent some time on it like Boerne RV does.

I built a home-made wand like the one pictured below.
EZ to do out of about 3' of 1/2" PVC, a screw-on hose connector at the top, an end cap, and a few holes drilled right above the end cap.
All parts at Home Depot for under $5 + the PVC pipe cement.

Then I went thru the toilet seat.
And after several minutes of hard blasts of water, rotating the end of the wand toward the sensor (which I had previously located), it now works great.

Sensor now reads "E" when it's empty.

 

[phalexander]

Having external sensors is no guarantee that they always will work. My SOB has three sensors glued to the side of each tank at 1/3 increments. Usually it works fine but it’s been “stuck” a time or two. One thing worth noting is that to top sensor is a fair ways from the top of the tank so I’ll get incremental readings of 1/3, 2/3 and full with a small margin for continued use.

 

[Laco]

After awhile, you will know how often you have to dump the tank(s). Twenty years of RV's, never had tank sensors that were reliable. With just my wife and me, I knew we could safely go five days on the black tank, then dumped. I basically looked at those sensor lights, and considered them entertainment, since they were essentially useless for anything else. Really was no big deal.

 

[macdaddy1111]

we let the sprayer run for 30 minutes and it was a miracle! haha

We acted like we won the lotto! ha

We did get other one to go down to zero for little bit, forgot to take pic!

You hit it on the nail, you figure out when it is time to dump!

 

[macdaddy1111]

we let the sprayer run for 30 minutes and it


was a miracle! haha

We acted like we won the lotto! ha

We did get other one to go down to zero for little bit, forgot to take pic!

You hit it on the nail, you figure out when it is time to dump!


this attachment thing is crazy and i am typing so it will let me post pic

 

[macdaddy1111]

poo tank on empty

we let the sprayer run for 30 minutes and it

was a miracle! haha

We acted like we won the lotto! ha

We did get other one to go down to zero for little bit, forgot to take pic!

You hit it on the nail, you figure out when it is time to dump!

 

[Karenfleck]

We have had the same unresolved problem for 18 months! They tell us to use a bag of ice and tank blaster to clean the probes the next time we travelled (didn't work). We have had issues with our Lippert Panel and all we get from them is check the Can Bus connection. The tank probes are INSIDE the tank, so there is no way to see if they are functioning without getting underneath and pulling the probes out....yukkkkk. We just keep track of how many showers we have taken and empty both tanks, black first, then gray. Even though it says 66%, we know they are empty.

 

[MLP-THOR]

A lot of us that have camped for quite a while do not pay any attention to the level monitors. You know after a while when the tanks need to be emptied. You will spend more time and money trying to keep them working for an approximate level measurement. Not worth the time or any amount of money.

 

[JamieGeek]

Or just roll your own capacitive tank sensors:
https://www.thorforums.com/forums/f27/diy-capacitive-tank-sensor-1177.html