Circle Checks and False Confidence
Fresh off my Old Faithful disaster, I started doing daily circle checks around the RV. Water regulator? Check. Hose on the correct side? Check. Holding tank filled properly? Check. I was becoming a seasoned camper; pat on the back, please.
The control panel made me feel like a pro: sensors for fresh, grey, and black tanks, plus battery levels. After a month of no issues, I was riding high. Until I noticed the black tank sensor hadn’t changed in ages.
Google vs. “Seasoned” Friends
Google said: “Sensors lie when toilet paper sticks to them. Use your tank flush after each dump.”
My memory said: “Remember the geyser?”
My gut said: “Maybe later.”
But when I went to empty the tank… surprise! The gate valve was already open. Had it been that way since Old Faithful? Oops. Oh well. Shit rolls downhill, right?
I decided not to flush with my potable water hose (some lines you don’t cross), so I closed the gate valve and left it.
When the Toilet Burps Back
A few days later, the toilet burped at me. Then it did it again. The panel showed full, but the dump hose trickled out like a sad garden leak. I smoothed out the sewer hose dips, but nope. Still blocked.
Enter my “seasoned” friends:
“Oh, you’ve got a poop pyramid,” they said.
“A what?” I asked.
“Yeah, when you leave the black tank open, liquid escapes but paper piles up into a concrete-like pyramid.”
Fantastic. I hadn’t discovered the Pyramids of Giza. I’d built the Pyramids of Poop.
The Magic Wand Quest
Solution? “Try the tank flush. If that fails, you need a magic wand.”
Yes please. A wand is exactly what I needed. $100 later, I was armed with:
- A new hose (for flushing only).
- A so-called “magic” wand (a glorified pressure sprayer that snakes down the toilet).
Tank flush attempt: fail.
Magic wand attempt: gross but promising.
I wiggled the wand in, turned on the water, and sludge started bubbling up. “Did I forget the gate valve?” Yup. Rookie mistake. Back inside, wand in, poke poke poke… five hours later… crunch! The pyramid crumbled.
Victory (Sort Of)
At last, the tank sensors read something other than 2/3. Sweet victory!
Lesson learned: close your damn gate valve, don’t trust sensors blindly, and always, always, keep a magic wand handy. Because sometimes the magic is simply breaking down pyramids one prod at a time.
