RV Digest-It is an extremely effective and solution for eliminating odors and waste in your tank. However, certain external factors can cause some users to get less successful results, leading them to believe that RV Digest-It wasn't the solution for them. Things like hot temperatures or water usage can have a huge impact on RV Digest-It's ability to work, so it's important that you understand how to properly use RV Digest-It in your holding tank systems to get the optimal results.
Below is a very comprehensive set of instructions to make sure that you are getting the most out of RV Digest-It Liquid, Powder, and Drop-In Pods.
Note: 2 oz treats a 40 gallon tank
Treating your tank regularly with RV Digest-It varies if you are camping with full hook ups or if you are dry camping.
Camping With Full Hook Ups
When you treat your holding tank with RV Digest-It you are getting the best of both worlds: Waste Digestion (liquefying the solid waste in your tank) and Odor Elimination. To effectively treat your black tank system, follow these steps:
1. Dump your tank.
2. If possible, flush your tank for 15 – 20 minutes (or as long as you reasonably can).
3. Close your valve.
4. Fill your toilet with water.
5. Shake the bottle well.
6. Pour 2 oz. RV Digest-It into the toilet (if this is your first time using RV Digest-It treat with 4 oz.).
7. Flush your toilet.
8. Make sure you keep water in the toilet bowl at all times to keep tank smells suppressed.
9. Repeat each time you dump your tank.
Dry Camping (Boondocking)
You can certainly use Liquid RV Digest-It when dry camping, however, dry camping often involves much lower water use and therefore requires specific bacteria formulations to help control odors. We recommend using RV Digest-It Powder formula or RV Digest-It Drop-In Pods if you are dry camping.
If you choose to use RV Digest-It liquid when dry camping, follow the steps above for 'Camping With Full Hook Ups'.
Everyone has differing ideas on how to properly treat your gray water holding tanks. The method you ultimately choose is your decision and it should be based on how you routinely camp. Here are our recommendations when using RV Digest-It for Camping with hookups and Dry Camping:
Camping With Full Hook Ups
If you are camping with full hook ups it’s unlikely that you'll need to use a treatment on a very regular basis (like, every 3-5 days) like you would with your black tank. For your gray tank treating once per week should suffice as long as you are following the correct gray tank procedures.
Why don't you have to treat your gray tank the same way as your black tank? Well, the majority of the waste going down your drain should only be liquid, so solid waste (aka clogs) shouldn’t really be a problem. If you don’t already use one, a good sink strainer is crucial to ensuring that only liquids go down your drains.
Your goal is to never allow solids down your sink, showers, or dishwasher lines.
Even if you allow only liquids into your gray tank you will still accumulate grease, soap, and residue buildup in the tank that can eventually lead to foul tank odors and cause sensors to misread, so it’s important you follow these steps to make sure your tanks remain operating properly and that you don’t get odors in your RV.
1. Keep your gray valve open (Important! It’s crucial that you make a 'trap' in your sewer hose to keep dangerous and disgusting sewer gasses from backing up into your RV). We recommend using a hose support like this one and simply dropping a trap (a dip in the hose that goes down to the ground) directly where the hose comes out of the valve, before the top of the support. Here is an example.
Note: Some states have varying rules on waste hose use and can require you keep your hose off the ground. Please be aware of and follow all local laws.
2. Once per week close your gray valve and pour 2 oz. of RV Digest-It with several (about 5) gallons of water into your gray tank and allow solution to sit for about 30 minutes
3. Open your valve and dump your Gray tank
4. If possible, flush your tank for about 15 – 20 minutes (or as long as you reasonably can)
5. Repeat regularly - we recommend once per week
Some will argue that it’s not good to keep your gray valve open because you may get solids backing up that can cause a clog or cause your sensors to get debris on them and cause them to misread. This simply shouldn’t be the case if you are ensuring that no solids go down your drains and end up in the gray tanks.
And by treating your gray tanks once per week you help eliminate any grease buildup in the lines and on the bottom of the tank that can lead to odors or sensor malfunction.
We suggest keeping your gray valve open because so many different types of grease (from food waste, soap, shampoo, etc.) get into your gray tank that you are potentially coating your sensors with grease by allowing your gray tanks to fill up unnecessarily. By leaving your valve open the grease and residue will run out of your tanks naturally so long as you don’t allow solids into your gray tanks.
It is also very important that you put a 'trap' in your discharge line so foul smelling, dangerous sewer gas doesn’t back up into your unit. If you forget to make this trap by creating a 'dip' or 'kink' in the line as mentioned above you will know it pretty quickly as your unit will fill up with foul smells from the sewer.
Dry Camping Without Hook Ups
If you are dry camping (boondocking) and don’t have access to full hook ups it’s important that you use a waste treatment product to keep odors down and help keep your sensors operating correctly as you will often keep your gray valve closed.
Important: Make sure NO solids get into your gray tank. The waste going down your drain should only be liquid waste so solid waste doesn’t accumulate in your gray tanks leading to clogs and misreading sensors. If you don’t already use one, a good sink strainer is crucial to ensuring that only liquids go down your drains.
1. Close your gray tank valve
2. Fill your sink with 1 – 2 gallons of water
3. Pour 2 oz. RV Digest-It into the water
4. Release the sink water and drain sink
5. Repeat each time your dump your gray tank
Note: 1 scoop treats a 40 gallon tank
Treating your tank regularly with RV Digest-It varies if you are camping with full hook ups or if you are dry camping.
Camping With Full Hook Ups
When you treat your holding tank with RV Digest-It you are getting the best of both worlds: Waste Digestion (liquefying the solid waste in your tank) and Odor Elimination. To effectively treat your black tank system, follow these steps:
1. Dump your tank.
2. If possible, flush your tank for 15 – 20 minutes (or as long as you reasonably can).
3. Close your valve.
4. Fill your toilet with water.
5. Pour one scoop of RV Digest-It into the toilet slowly to allow proper infusion of product into water
6. Flush your toilet and run water down the toilet for a few seconds
7. Make sure you keep water in the toilet bowl at all times to keep tank smells suppressed.
8. Repeat each time you dump your tank.
1. Dump your tank.
2. If possible, flush your tank for 15 – 20 minutes (or as long as you reasonably can).
3. Close your valve.
4. Fill your toilet with water.
5. Pour one scoop of RV Digest-It into the toilet slowly to allow proper infusion of product into water
6. Flush your toilet and run water down the toilet for a few seconds
7. Make sure you keep water in the toilet bowl at all times to keep tank smells suppressed.
8. Repeat each time you dump your tank.
Everyone has differing ideas on how to properly treat your gray water holding tanks. The method you ultimately choose is your decision and it should be based on how you routinely camp. Here are our recommendations when using RV Digest-It for Camping with hookups and Dry Camping:
Camping With Full Hook Ups
If you are camping with full hook ups it’s unlikely that you'll need to use a treatment on a very regular basis (like, every 3-5 days) like you would with your black tank. For your gray tank treating once per week should suffice as long as you are following the correct gray tank procedures.
Why don't you have to treat your gray tank the same way as your black tank? Well, the majority of the waste going down your drain should only be liquid, so solid waste (aka clogs) shouldn’t really be a problem. If you don’t already use one, a good sink strainer is crucial to ensuring that only liquids go down your drains.
Your goal is to never allow solids down your sink, showers, or dishwasher lines.
Even if you allow only liquids into your gray tank you will still accumulate grease, soap, and residue buildup in the tank that can eventually lead to foul tank odors and cause sensors to misread, so it’s important you follow these steps to make sure your tanks remain operating properly and that you don’t get odors in your RV.
1. Keep your gray valve open (Important! It’s crucial that you make a 'trap' in your sewer hose to keep dangerous and disgusting sewer gasses from backing up into your RV). We recommend using a hose support like this one and simply dropping a trap (a dip in the hose that goes down to the ground) directly where the hose comes out of the valve, before the top of the support. Here is an example.
2. Once per week close your gray valve and pour one scoop of RV Digest-It with several (about 5) gallons of water into your gray tank and allow solution to sit for about 30 minutes
3. Open your valve and dump your Gray tank
4. If possible, flush your tank for about 15 – 20 minutes (or as long as you reasonably can)
5. Repeat regularly - we recommend once per week
Some will argue that it’s not good to keep your gray valve open because you may get solids backing up that can cause a clog or cause your sensors to get debris on them and cause them to misread. This simply shouldn’t be the case if you are ensuring that no solids go down your drains and end up in the gray tanks.
And by treating your gray tanks once per week you help eliminate any grease buildup in the lines and on the bottom of the tank that can lead to odors or sensor malfunction.
We suggest keeping your gray valve open because so many different types of grease (from food waste, soap, shampoo, etc.) get into your gray tank that you are potentially coating your sensors with grease by allowing your gray tanks to fill up unnecessarily. By leaving your valve open the grease and residue will run out of your tanks naturally so long as you don’t allow solids into your gray tanks.
It is also very important that you put a 'trap' in your discharge line so foul smelling, dangerous sewer gas doesn’t back up into your unit. If you forget to make this trap by creating a 'dip' or 'kink' in the line as mentioned above you will know it pretty quickly as your unit will fill up with foul smells from the sewer.
Dry Camping Without Hook Ups
If you are dry camping (boondocking) and don’t have access to full hook ups it’s important that you use a waste treatment product to keep odors down and help keep your sensors operating correctly as you will often keep your gray valve closed.
Important: Make sure NO solids get into your gray tank. The waste going down your drain should only be liquid waste so solid waste doesn’t accumulate in your gray tanks leading to clogs and misreading sensors. If you don’t already use one, a good sink strainer is crucial to ensuring that only liquids go down your drains.
1. Close your gray tank valve
2. Fill your sink with 1 – 2 gallons of water
3. Pour one scoop of RV Digest-It into the water
4. Release the sink water and drain sink
5. Repeat each time your dump your gray tank
Note: 1 pod treats a 40 gallon tank
Treating your tank regularly with RV Digest-It varies if you are camping with full hook ups or if you are dry camping.
Camping With Full Hook Ups
When you treat your holding tank with RV Digest-It you are getting the best of both worlds: Waste Digestion (liquefying the solid waste in your tank) and Odor Elimination. To effectively treat your black tank system, follow these steps:
1. Dump your tank.
2. If possible, flush your tank for 15 – 20 minutes (or as long as you reasonably can).
3. Close your valve.
4. Fill your toilet with water.
5. Drop one RV Digest-It Drop-In Pod into the toilet and allow the pod to completely dissolve, ensuring proper infusion of product into water
6. Flush your toilet and run water down the toilet for a few seconds
7. Make sure you keep water in the toilet bowl at all times to keep tank smells suppressed.
8. Repeat each time you dump your tank.
Dry Camping (Boondocking)
1. Dump your tank.
2. If possible, flush your tank for 15 – 20 minutes (or as long as you reasonably can).
3. Close your valve.
4. Fill your toilet with water.
5. Drop one RV Digest-It Drop-In Pod into the toilet and allow the pod to completely dissolve, ensuring proper infusion of product into water
6.Flush your toilet and run water down the toilet for a few seconds
7. Make sure you keep water in the toilet bowl at all times to keep tank smells suppressed.
8. Repeat each time you dump your tank.
Everyone has differing ideas on how to properly treat your gray water holding tanks. The method you ultimately choose is your decision and it should be based on how you routinely camp. Here are our recommendations when using RV Digest-It for Camping with hookups and Dry Camping:
Camping With Full Hook Ups
If you are camping with full hook ups it’s unlikely that you'll need to use a treatment on a very regular basis (like, every 3-5 days) like you would with your black tank. For your gray tank treating once per week should suffice as long as you are following the correct gray tank procedures.
Why don't you have to treat your gray tank the same way as your black tank? Well, the majority of the waste going down your drain should only be liquid, so solid waste (aka clogs) shouldn’t really be a problem. If you don’t already use one, a good sink strainer is crucial to ensuring that only liquids go down your drains.
Your goal is to never allow solids down your sink, showers, or dishwasher lines.
Even if you allow only liquids into your gray tank you will still accumulate grease, soap, and residue buildup in the tank that can eventually lead to foul tank odors and cause sensors to misread, so it’s important you follow these steps to make sure your tanks remain operating properly and that you don’t get odors in your RV.
1. Keep your gray valve open (Important! It’s crucial that you make a 'trap' in your sewer hose to keep dangerous and disgusting sewer gasses from backing up into your RV). We recommend using a hose support like this one and simply dropping a trap (a dip in the hose that goes down to the ground) directly where the hose comes out of the valve, before the top of the support. Here is an example.
2. Once per week close your gray valve and fill your sink with warm water. Drop one RV Digest-It Drop-In Pod into your sink and allow it to fully dissolve and mix into the water.
3. Release sink water down drain and run sink so you add several gallons (at least 5) of warm water to the gray tank. Allow 30 minutes for product to work.
4. Open your valve and dump your Gray tank
5. If possible, flush your tank for about 15 – 20 minutes (or as long as you reasonably can)
6. Repeat regularly - we recommend once per week
Some will argue that it’s not good to keep your gray valve open because you may get solids backing up that can cause a clog or cause your sensors to get debris on them and cause them to misread. This simply shouldn’t be the case if you are ensuring that no solids go down your drains and end up in the gray tanks.
And by treating your gray tanks once per week you help eliminate any grease buildup in the lines and on the bottom of the tank that can lead to odors or sensor malfunction.
We suggest keeping your gray valve open because so many different types of grease (from food waste, soap, shampoo, etc.) get into your gray tank that you are potentially coating your sensors with grease by allowing your gray tanks to fill up unnecessarily. By leaving your valve open the grease and residue will run out of your tanks naturally so long as you don’t allow solids into your gray tanks.
It is also very important that you put a 'trap' in your discharge line so foul smelling, dangerous sewer gas doesn’t back up into your unit. If you forget to make this trap by creating a 'dip' or 'kink' in the line as mentioned above you will know it pretty quickly as your unit will fill up with foul smells from the sewer.
Dry Camping Without Hook UpsIf you are dry camping (boondocking) and don’t have access to full hook ups it’s important that you use a waste treatment product to keep odors down and help keep your sensors operating correctly as you will often keep your gray valve closed.
Important: Make sure NO solids get into your gray tank. The waste going down your drain should only be liquid waste so solid waste doesn’t accumulate in your gray tanks leading to clogs and misreading sensors. If you don’t already use one, a good sink strainer is crucial to ensuring that only liquids go down your drains.
1. Close your gray tank valve
2. Fill your sink with 1 – 2 gallons of water
3. Drop one RV Digest-It Drop-In Pod into the toilet and allow the pod to completely dissolve, ensuring proper infusion of product into water
4. Release the sink water and drain sink
5. Repeat each time your dump your gray tank
Tank odors are a result of the waste inside your tanks breaking down and releasing hydrogen sulfide gas (the oh-so-familiar methane or rotten egg smell). To eliminate the smells you need to do a combination of a few things.
1. Treat your tank regularly with RV Digest-It to force out the anaerobic bacteria that produce the foul-smelling gas and replace them aerobic bacteria that produce only carbon dioxide and water. The highly effective bacteria / enzyme strains found in RV Digest-It break down the waste and exhaust carbon dioxide and water instead of the foul-smelling gas you get when you don’t treat your tank. Using formaldehyde or chemical treatments only use chemicals, perfumes, and fragrances to mask the foul smells. Often these fragrances are so strong that they are overwhelming and foul smelling on their own.
2. Keep water in your toilets. Keeping water in your toilets is a crucial step to manually suppressing the foul-smelling gas that may be released while the waste is being broken down. There is a reason why your home toilets have a trap and contain water – it is to do exactly this – suppress foul-smelling and dangerous sewer gas. Doing the same thing in your RV is crucial.
3. Keep your black tank valve closed except when dumping your tank. If your valve isn’t kept closed the liquid waste (and RV Digest-It) will drain out of the tank immediately, leaving only solid waste behind to create disgusting odors and will eventually lead to clogs.
4. Do not clean your toilets with chemical, anti-bacterial, or bleach-based toilet cleaners. The chemicals contained in these toilet cleaners will kill the beneficial bacteria that is keeping your holding tank clog and odor free. Instead, clean your toilet with an RV toilet cleaner that uses tank-safe detergents to clean the toilets while injecting beneficial bacteria into the holding tank.
5. Monitor your tank temperatures. If your tanks get extremely hot or cold the active bacteria that keep your system clog and odor free may become inactive and lead to excessive odors. Ideally your tank should remain between 45 and 85 degrees (Fahrenheit) to create the ideal environment for the beneficial bacteria in RV Digest-It to flourish. If your tanks get hotter than 85 degrees, dump your tanks more often (ever 3-5 days), add more water to your tanks to lower the tank temps and to provide more hydration for the bacteria, and increase your dosage amount. If your tanks get below 45 degrees you will need to consider better insulating your tanks or heating them.
Learn more about controlling odors in high heat here.
Black Tank Sensors
To keep your sensors operating correctly it’s important that you follow these steps on a regular basis:
1. Keep your black tank valve closed except for when dumping
2. Use a waste digesting holding tank treatment. Many of the products that are available are only designed to mask or remove odors and do nothing for waste digestion. Make sure you use a product like RV Digest-It that does both – digests waste (to keep your sensors clean) and eliminates odors without masking.
3. Use a strong aerobic bacterial cleaner like RV Digest-It. The bacteria inside RV Digest-It are specially formulated to force out the naturally occurring anaerobic bacteria (that come from your stomach) with the beneficial aerobic bacteria that keep struvite buildup at bay. If struvite (a hard, mineral-like coating) is allowed to form inside your tank it will cause your sensors to misread and malfunction as well as lead to backups.
4. Drive your unit regularly. Driving your unit with water and RV Digest-It inside the tank helps to swish around the tanks and clean off your level gauge probes.
5. Use a Sensor Cleaner regularly as preventative maintenance. RV Digest-It is a great sensor maintainer but it’s important to use a product designed specifically to clean sensors on a regular basis.
6. Flush your tanks often and for 15 – 20 minutes. Flushing your tanks is a very important step in deep cleaning your tanks and should be performed regularly – we suggest weekly when camping full time.
Gray Tank Sensors
Grease and other debris can wreak havoc on gray tank sensors and cause them to constantly read full. If you are camping with full hook ups we recommend keeping your valve open (Important! It’s crucial that you make a 'trap' in your sewer hose to keep dangerous and disgusting sewer gasses from backing up into your RV - see above.) so liquids don’t sit unnecessarily in your tanks and allow grease to build up on the sensors.
Preventing sensor issues in your gray tank varies depending on whether you are camping with full hook ups or if you are dry camping.
Camping With Full Hook Ups
Follow above instructions for treating your gray tanks with RV Digest-It Liquid, Powder, or Drop-In Pod.
Dry Camping Without Full Hook Ups
Follow above instructions for treating your gray tanks with RV Digest-It Liquid, Powder, or Drop-In Pod.
Clogs are formed in your tanks from build-up in your tanks from undigested solid waste (like pyramid plugs) and struvite build-up.
To ensure you never get clogs in your black water tanks, do the following:
1. Treat your tank regularly with RV Digest-It to effectively digest and liquefy the solid waste inside your tanks.
2. Keep your black tank valve closed except when dumping your tank. If your valve isn’t kept closed the liquid waste (and RV Digest-It) will drain out of the tank immediately, leaving only solid waste behind to create disgusting odors and will eventually lead to clogs.
3. Use ample water with each flush. The more water your keep inside your black tank the better chance you have of keeping your tanks clog-free. Not only does the water help break-up the solids, but it is also a crucial component to keeping the beneficial bacteria in RV Digest-It alive and active so they can effectively liquefy the solid waste (including toilet paper) inside your tank.
4. Do not clean your toilets with chemical, anti-bacterial, or bleach-based toilet cleaners. The chemicals contained in these toilet cleaners will kill the beneficial bacteria that is keeping your holding tank clog and odor free. Instead, clean your toilet with an RV toilet cleaner that uses tank-safe detergents to clean the toilets while injecting beneficial bacteria into the holding tank.
5. Monitor your tank temperatures. If your tanks get extremely hot or cold the active bacteria that keep your system clog and odor free may become inactive and lead to issues. Ideally your tank should remain between 45 and 85 degrees (Fahrenheit) to create the ideal environment for the beneficial bacteria in RV Digest-It to flourish. If your tanks get hotter than 85 degrees, increase your dosage amount. If your tanks get below 45 degrees you will need to consider better insulating your tanks or heating them.
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+ Unclogging an RV Toilet