Tanks but no tanks - RV holding tank tips - RV podcast 356
This week on the StressLess Camping RV podcast in response to your questions and comments we have helpful information about the care and maintenance of your RV tanks, including fresh water, grey waste, and black waste tanks. We bring Matt from Liquified on to share some of his insights - and the best black tank story ever!
We also have an RV gadget that’s totally brightened up our lives.
Other places to hear the podcast
Mentioned on this episode
Article further explaining Amazon Health AI
How to get started with boondocking on RVTravel
Our RV boondocking resource center
We love the Wolverine folding water tote bags
One of our most popular articles - checklists make for StressLess Camping
Do you need to use RV toilet paper? We have the answer!
We like this clear fitting you can put in line for your sewer system
We like this clear end for our RV sewer hose
Our interview with the folks from the WeighSafe hitch
We have the Lion Prowler portable power station - discount code STRESSLESS
We are using Lion Energy’s three-bulb UBS-powered light string - discount code STRESSLESS
If you’re confused about solar, battery power or just want to upgrade your RV we have found the solutions from ABC Upfitters are both reliable and exceptional.
We have a podcast episode and video where you can learn more here.
Use coupon code STRESSLESS for 20% off your Liquified orders! 🤑
Automated transcript of StressLess Camping RV podcast episode 356
Peggy
In response to your questions and comments. This week's Stressless Camping RV podcast, we have some helpful information about the care and maintenance of your RV tanks.
Tony
That includes fresh water, gray water, and black water tanks.
Peggy
We also have an RV gadget that's totally brightened up our lives.
Tony
We have this week's podcast along with the notes and stories and all the details that go with this episode, along with discounts, deals, helpful tips, and more at our home on the web at stresslesscamping.com.
Peggy
Thank you so much for your likes and your shares and obviously thank you so much for joining us for podcast episode 3 56, Stressless
Tony
Camp Stressless
Peggy
Camping.
Tony
I'm Tony.
Peggy
I'm Peggy.
Tony
And we're two RV industry veterans who travel part-time
Peggy
In a Rockwood mini light,
Tony
Looking to share big adventures and help you with great tips,
Peggy
Tricks,
Tony
And discounts. I read something over on RV Travel and we'll put a link to that article in the show notes. But Amazon has announced beta testing of a thing they call health ai. What it is, is it's an AI powered tool to kind of help guide personal healthcare decisions. You can have it integrate with your health records or not. It's up to you, but the tool supposedly is there to help you explain diagnoses, help you make a decision before seeking further care, answering questions about symptoms, help scheduling person appointments, stuff like that.
Peggy
Interesting.
Tony
Now obviously if you've fallen and broken your arm, go to the go to the doctor. But if you're like, Hmm, you know,
Peggy
Is this rash dangerous?
Tony
Yeah, whatever. Amazon already has one medical, which has three health clinics in San New York, San Francisco, and L.A, and it looks like they're expanding. You know, you can get prescriptions on Amazon. So it looks like they're expanding more and more into the healthcare world. And I, I don't think, you know, say what you will. I am kind of happy about that. Just 'cause we need to do something.
Peggy
I gotta do something. Well, what can we do? We could do something about, well you could do something we already have. Yeah. About how to boondock and have enough battery power to stay off the grid.
Tony
Yes. So if you're looking, I just wrote an article for RV Travel again about how to get started with boondocking. And one of the ways that you can, if you are already like, okay, I'm already addicted, I need more, is to go with the solar and lithium system from our fence at ABC Upfitters. Now they provide all masterful sourced solar and lithium systems that are designed to work in unison and be upgradable.
Tony
So you could start small and work your way up, or you could go nuts at the beginning or whatever suits your camping style. Something I like about working with ABC Upfitters is they will ask you a lot of questions to determine what that style is. Yeah. And then customize the system to fit your needs.
Peggy
Does that sound good to you?
Tony
I know it sounds
Peggy
Good to me.
Tony
Pretty great.
Peggy
So if it sounds good to you and you want to ask them some more questions, you can give them a call at (574) 333-3225.
Tony
That's 5 7, 4 3, 3, 3, 3, 2, 2 5.
Peggy
And we have more information on our website, which is linked as a QR code somewhere here.
Tony
Well, it's a tankless job, but somebody's gotta
Peggy
Do it. Somebody's gotta do it. Last week we talked all about toilets and we started to talk about tanks and said that's its own topic. So here we are with its own topic
Tony
And a few of you have written in or messaged us somehow and said, oh, we have questions or Yeah, please talk about now. So, you know, Peggy did her master's on groundwater geology, so she, that has
Peggy
Nothing to do with black tanks.
Tony
No, but but you understand water.
Peggy
Sure. Yeah. I also drink a lot of water, so
Tony
I do too. As long as it has hops and barley in it.
Peggy
Having a fresh tank that works is important to me. So hopefully I've written our notes in, in some kind of a logical fashion. But first let's start with it's, if you haven't already, it's just about time for most of us in the U.S. Hopefully let's hope to start getting ready to de-winterize and get your tanks ready to use for the season. Now, hopefully when you winterized you left all your tanks empty.
Tony
Yeah. That's the, that's the goal, right? You, you dump 'em out and then you put the pink stuff in and now you're gonna flush your system out and that tends to go into your gray tank or your black tank. So you go and empty those out. Now you want those sensors to work,
Peggy
Right? So if you didn't do this, which I can't remember if they had sensor cleaner when we, when it was time to winterize. I think so last, last fall. But if you didn't already do this, this isn't a time that you could do the sensor cleaner. And there is a product that Matt with Liquified has out that is a specific sensor cleaner. So it's good to keep your tanks always maintained. We're gonna talk a lot about that, but, but the sensors still are gonna get stuff on them.
Peggy
Yeah. Yeah. And so there's a certain, there's a special product that you fill the tank, put in the sensor cleaner, let it sit for a little while, rinse it all out, and then your sensors actually work properly again.
Tony
Yeah. I mean it, there's no reason that they shouldn't work properly. You just have to maintain them like any system. Now, we did an interview with Matt and as always, just hanging out with Matt is a lot of fun and we tend to go all over. So what Peggy is going to do is cut in answers that Matt provided as we did the interview. So you'll see all of a sudden Matt appear and disappear.
Tony
I have to say our trailer is sitting out there right now. We came home from, I dunno, a couple months on the road, obviously dumped the tanks and it shows empty. Yeah. The sensor shows empty. Yeah. So it, it just works. I mean,
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
Yeah, it really is amazing. Your sensors aren't malfunctioning. The problem is poo particle, you're not, people don't use enough water. They don't use enzyme and bacteria and poo particles just build up. It's giving you a false positive when really when you use an enzyme bacteria that eats away at whatever waste or toilet paper and then you use enough water and you back black back, flush it. I mean, it's magic.
Tony
Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's science.
Peggy
Especially right now, the it, and this is April, 2026, we try to remember to say those things 'cause you might be listening at a different time, but right now, if you buy a bundle from Liquified that has their sensor cleaner and black tank and gray tank treatment systems in as a kit, you'll also get a brand of called Blue Blu and that will help you sanitize your fresh tank and get it ready so that your fresh tank is as usable as possible.
Tony
Yep. And now you've partnered with Blue for the freshwater tank, correct?
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
Yeah, yeah. We did a collaboration with Blue Technology, who is the best high-end water filtration system in, in my opinion, and don't get me wrong, there's a lot of great lower end water filtration, but if you want that like Tesla of water filtration, they do an amazing job. I was out to dinner with Corbin, the owner of Blue. He was tell telling us about like his fresh tank cleaner. And we were at the Tampa show and we're like, bro, we should collaborate for a month.
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
I'll make, because again, people use bleach to clean to de-winterize, which is,
Peggy
Which
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
Is just crazy. And you gotta make sure you flush it out. And when it comes to anything consumables as a business, we're never gonna go down that route. It just too much of a liability. And he's like, dude, I have something. And so we, we collaborated for the month of April. I mean, it's freaking fantastic. There's a, a tank reset kit on our website when you buy Liquefied Orange, our gray tank treatment and our tank and sensor cleaner for dirty Tanks.
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
You then get the blue technology, it's called bleach free to clean your fresh water tanks. So it, it's been, it's been absolutely awesome and a real privilege to work with. Like, I don't want to say like an established company like Blue Technologies. Not saying like, not like crapping on ourselves, but you know, we're still, we're still young, we're still new, we're still small. And so to do a collaboration with a big company like that, you know, is very exciting.
Peggy
And I'm very excited because I'll be honest, I tell people to sanitize their fresh tanks, but because there haven't really been a lot of good solutions, a lot of good non-bleach solutions, I'm not very good about remembering or, or getting around to sanitizing our fresh tank. And now that there's this easy and good option that is more likely to change.
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
Not only that, it does it all in 15 minutes too.
Peggy
Yeah.
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
It's alien technology. I tell you <laugh>,
Tony
I know a lot of our viewers are very cost conscious and they're like, well I'm just gonna use bleach 'cause it's cheap. But what you don't know is bleach can damage plastics. Like what your fresh water tank is made out of. And the last thing you want is that thing busting open. 'cause it'll always happen at the least convenient time.
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
Sure. Oh yeah.
Tony
Are you going to ongoing have the Blue Tank treatment as a regular? No, it's, so it's only for eight month, month.
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
It's a special edition, one month only package.
Tony
Oh. So better get on it.
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
You better get on it now. You can always buy the blue technology by go on their website. Blue technology. You, you can always buy that stuff from them.
Peggy
Okay.
Tony
Well it's perfect. A lot of people are still just bringing their campers out of winterizing winter, out of winterized mode and it's a great time to use your sensor cleaner and get things started correctly. Yeah. For the camping season. Yeah.
Peggy
Yeah,
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
Absolutely.
Peggy
Fresh water sanitizing is very important. And, and as I said when I spoke to Matt, I am not really good about sanitizing the fresh tank because I always thought that it had to be done with bleach and I hate bleach. I don't even want it in my house or my yard or my garage or anything. And so I love that there's this other alternative.
Tony
Yeah. You will wanna sanitize your freshwater tank and that's actually something that you should do on a semi-regular basis if you use it.
Peggy
Especially if you're gonna drink the water out of the tap, which I have a tendency to do. I know a lot of people won't even drink from the tap in their homes. I get it. I do. I'm perfectly healthy. I think nothing wrong with me,
Tony
Nothing wrong with me.
Peggy
But, you know, drinking from an unsanitized tank is probably not the smartest thing. Yeah.
Tony
It, it just, stuff can, can grow in there.
Peggy
Okay. So why, why would we use your product and not just use some bleach? Bleach is really cleansing, right?
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
Yeah. Bleach is, bleach is a chemical. You definitely don't want to use bleach. Bleach is like the worst thing you can use. I mean Yeah, don't use bleach.
Peggy
I'm gonna be honest, I'm asking that question rather facetiously, because I don't use bleach ever for anything. No way. No how.
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
Okay. Okay. But to, to answer it also, like why would you want to use this instead of like deodorizer? 'cause the deodorizer just masks the smell. The, if you use bleach, it's just gonna kill everything in there. So to answer the question, when you poop, you're putting bacteria in your holding tanks and that's why you want to use an enzyme bacteria-based toilet treatment because it's already all in there and then it eats away and it helps break down the waste.
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
So when it does come time to flush it, everything flows out.
Peggy
Right. Because enzymes, you know, eat bacteria. Right. And so that's what that you're, you're feeding them.
Tony
Yeah. Now another thing that people ask us a lot, we're still talking about the freshwater tank. Do you travel with freshwater in your freshwater tank? Right?
Tony
Other words, as you're driving down the street, do you keep fresh water in your RV's holding tank? And the answer to that is it depends.
Peggy
Yeah. So we do, I'll say that, yes, we don't always travel with a full tank, but no. If we know we're gonna be boondocking for a couple of nights and we are not gonna have an ACC have access to water, we've got to carry some with us. So we do carry some water. We don't usually carry it completely full unless we're going somewhere where we're gonna be off-grid for a long enough time to use a whole tank of water. Yeah. So what are the reasons that you might not want to do this?
Peggy
Well, not all manufacturers put that tank in in a way that it can be supported when it is weighed down with eight times 30 or 40 or 50 gallons of water. Yeah.
Tony
Water weighs about eight pounds to the gallon. So you figure even 10 gallons is 80 pounds. And I've seen in some cases where RV builders will just drop the tank and it's supported only by the frame. So there's no support in the middle. Well, what happens is it bows out and it can literally come loose from the frame.
Peggy
It can fall out as
Tony
Where it was sitting there. Ask me how, I know not all tanks are designed to travel with fresh water, which I know some of you are screaming at your whatever you're watching or listening to this with saying, why would an RV builder build an RV that you can't carry fresh water in because
Peggy
They don't know any better.
Tony
Right. I mean, truthfully, it's, it's, I know of a few that only have recently added support. So do know what's under Right. Your fresh And there's ways, we've had a lot of people put those unistrux, which is like a metal channel under their fresh water tanks because their RV maker didn't put any support.
Peggy
Right. So there are ways of adding support. You know, if you aren't sure, just get under there and see how many supports there are and don't just look at when it's empty, when it, if you have it full, get under there and look and see how it flexes and how that changes. Yeah. Where it is sitting and how it is sitting in there. And if you are going to travel with full tanks, just make sure it's not gonna fall out.
Tony
Yeah. Yeah. Make sure, there was a famous post that went around a few years ago where an RV builder replied to somebody via email. So now it's written that said, oh no, you're not supposed to travel with fresh water in the tank. Well
Peggy
Then what's the point in having a fresh
Tony
Water tank? Yeah. Anyway,
Peggy
Another
Peggy
And yeah, and sorry, it's not just the weight, but also the motion is gonna have that water sloshing around. So whether it's completely full or whether it's a, you know, half full or a quarter full every time you move, which you do a lot when you're driving, every time that tank moves, the water starts moving and making waves and sloshing around. And you can do this, just look on YouTube for, you know, tanks of water sloshing and look at the incredible of like force of those waves.
Peggy
Yeah. Now think of what those supports are undergoing that are holding your tank up.
Tony
And another, so let's say you don't wanna travel with fresh water in the holding tank, or you only want to, you know, like have five gallons to flush a toilet, whatever, whatever your decision is. Right. And knowing your RV, we have used these Wolverine bags and we'll share a picture or we have a story about them, which we'll put a link to in the show notes. But I've been very pleased. It's a US-based, veteran-owned company that makes them, and we use them a lot to just go fetch water.
Tony
For example, a lot of grocery stores have that five-gallon water machine. Well there's five-gallon Wolverine bags. Right. And when you fill five gallons of water, five times eight is 40. And you carry that, you're like, wow. And my holding tank can hold a lot more than this. So it gives you perspective. Yeah. But we really like those Wolverine bags. I think they're
Peggy
Now the nice thing about the Wolverine kit we bought like the whole kit. Yeah. And it comes with a pump. So if you're strong and you don't have a problem holding five gallons up to the fill port of your RV, which is, you know, for some people waist to chest to shoulder height and you're gonna tip that bag upside down, I can't do that. So we have the pump. So we are able to just put the bag nearby and pump the water into the holding tank.
Tony
It's amazing how many people we have provided water to when we're camping off the grid.
Peggy
That pump has filled a lot of tanks.
Tony
It really has. All right, let's talk about, so the assumption is always that your black tank stinks, but to me the gray tank is the grossest.
Peggy
Yeah. And
Tony
That has a good explanation of that.
Peggy
Yes.
Tony
We focus a lot on black tanks. But let's, to me, the gray tank stinks worse than the black tank.
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
It does. Might go the
Tony
Dump.
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
Yeah. Yeah. Believe it or not, your gray tanks are dirtier than your black tank. And that's because like food will fall in when you use the sink hair follicles and stuff. And then like things start to mold. So we actually do have a liquefied gray tank treatment, which is now in our new bottle and it's lemon fragranced. So that way you can pour it down your sink and showerhead. And then it also helps with like soap scums and everything.
Tony
And keeps those sensors clean too.
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
We're protecting you one stinky holding tank at a time.
Tony
You are just flushed with solutions. No,
Peggy
Boy.
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
Oh man.
Peggy
Including those enzymes and solutions. That's right.
Peggy
Yeah. So we found out about the gray tank. I think what I think the first time we really, really noticed the gray tank is when we stayed at my sister's for almost a whole month, one summer. And we said, oh, we have to drive in a few days 'cause we're gonna have to empty the black tank, but our gray tank is full now. And she said, oh, just water the tree over there. Oh my gosh. And so we got an old hose and we used that to water the tree over there. And when we were standing there near the tree, we realized, wow, gray water is nasty things.
Tony
Yeah. But the tank everyone's afraid of is the black tank.
Peggy
Yes. Everyone's afraid of Black tank. Everyone has Well, I was gonna say, everyone has seen the movie rv. That probably isn't true. No, that's probably not true. There is a movie called RV with Robin Williams. He has good reason to fear the black tank. Oh. Why? He has a disastrous, you know, and and you've seen, or you've heard or you've seen videos of the, the, you know, the hoses coming loose or, or the pressure causing it to like snake up and and wiggle while it's pouring black.
Peggy
You know? Yeah, I get it. I get why you're afraid. It just means, you know, you wanna make sure that you take all the proper steps not to have a disaster.
Tony
Yeah. Well good quality hoses and such and fittings is, is helpful.
Peggy
And checklists.
Tony
Oh,
Peggy
Checklists.
Tony
Make sure you don't miss a step. Yeah. We have an article about checklists. Yeah. We, we'll link to that. But one of the questions I still see a lot on social media is, should I leave my gate valves open if I am camping at a full hook, full hookup? No,
Peggy
Do not do that. Especially not the blank blank, not the black. Yeah. So not the gray. I'll just for a moment, I'll say not the gray because, and people will argue about this, there are p traps in the most of the gray tank, but not the shower. Right?
Tony
Well,
Peggy
Yeah, there is in most of the gray tank, Dre. Oh, there is. Okay. But
Tony
You can get sewer flies or some rodents can come up through their Yeah.
Peggy
You,
Tony
You just don't, don't, you
Peggy
Don't, you don't wanna leave even the gray valve open because you don't know what's gonna come up also. Sure. Also, it's fine if you, if it goes down, that's fine.
Tony
You use the gray water to flush the black hose. So
Peggy
The black hose. Yeah.
Tony
Yeah. So it's, there's a lot of reasons not to leave gray open. You can, but it's better to not, to not be, to not to put some liquefied in there and and you'll be a happy camper.
Peggy
Yeah. Leave it, leave it working, doing its magic so it doesn't get smelly. Okay. So I don't think we really made this clear. If you leave the black tank valve open and all the water flows out every time you flush the toilet, it's probably not flushing out the solids. And the solids are just gonna sit in that tank dry. And have you ever seen what happens when stuff like that dries?
Tony
And do you wanna know how big a check you're gonna write a check with that Great check how, how much it's gonna cost you to pay somebody to be able to clean out that dried pyramid of poo in your black tank. Yeah. The pyramid is real. It's a real thing. Thing.
Peggy
That's an awful and very avoidable.
Tony
Yeah. Easily avoidable. Just don't, don't leave your black tank gate valve open. Leave it closed until it's time to dump.
Peggy
And always use plenty of water.
Tony
Plenty of water.
Peggy
And, and I get that when you're boondocking you're like really trying to conserve water. This is not the place to conserve water.
Tony
Yeah. There are better ways.
Peggy
One of the things that we do when we're boondocking is when we wash our dishes in a tobe, in a tobe
Tony
In a to
Peggy
In a tub. A
Tony
Tub tote.
Peggy
A tub in the sink, we use that water then for flushing. So any water that's, you know, a little bit dirty or something, but it can still be used to flush into the black tank. We use it. Yeah. So we're putting more water, but we're not using more fresh water.
Tony
Yep. That's the fact Jack.
Peggy
So
Tony
Toilet
Peggy
Paper,
Tony
As
Peggy
Tony started to say toilet. Yeah. People are definitely afraid of toilet paper in an
Tony
RV. Well I see a lot of people who, who don't flush toilet paper and, and that's okay. Or they're like, oh I gotta buy that RV toilet paper. Not, not unless you hate yourself. You
Peggy
Don't need to buy RV toilet paper and you don't need to put toilet paper in a trash can. What you need to do is use small amounts of paper. It can be really good paper. We use Charmin Ultra Soft. We use, you know, double ply quilted nice toilet paper.
Tony
Our heinies deserve it.
Peggy
Three sheets at a time.
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
Like, you know, small pieces so that when they go into the tank they can be able to start breaking down septic safe is the best. Yes. For the same reason that we talked to Matt about septic safe products.
Tony
So people know if you care about campgrounds, because we all should to keep our costs low. A lot of campgrounds are remote and have septic systems. Yes. And putting harsh chemicals, including formaldehyde into those septic systems can just, can make them not function properly. So your products are also septic system safe.
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
Yes. Septic safe. A hundred percent. Yep.
Tony
And that way you help the campgrounds with their septic systems, which means that it's cheaper for them, which means your rates won't go up. I mean, if you think of just your pocket.
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
Yeah, yeah. No, it's actually pretty interesting. I mean there, there is some treatments out there that have actually been outlawed and then some are still outlawed in like California and everything. And it's like, I'm actually surprised the industry hasn't switched to like an enzyme bacteria based toilet treatment exclusive just because, you know, people are just mixing. I mean, I can only imagine what that septic tank seems like because people are just mixing stuff in left, right.
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
And center. So
Peggy
Yeah. You know, if you're at a campground that has a septic system, it's just nice to be nice to them and not cause their septic system to get all the chemicals or all the Yeah. You know, non, non compostable things. Never, never, never, never, never, never ever not ever put flushable in quotation marks wipes into your tank. Yeah. 'cause those do not disintegrate. They will still be a flushable wipe when you try to dump them out the black tank and then they will clog.
Tony
Yeah. And I've, I know people who have macerator toilets, which is sort of like a food processor and it has damaged the macerator. Those flushable wipes have damaged the macerator system. It's, there's, there's no reason to ever flush those down the toilet.
Peggy
No,
Tony
Those, those are just bad.
Peggy
So I have done an experiment where I took some RV toilet paper and I took some Charmin ultra soft and I put 'em in a jar of water and I shook them up and there's not that much difference. The RV toilet paper, I think even lasted a little bit longer than the Sherman did before. It was really, really nothing Fibrous, whatever. Yeah. Nothing left. So it's not, I import it's not necessary. And it's, it's not comfortable, I guess you'd say to use RV toilet paper.
Peggy
Oh gosh, no. It's just not nice paper. No. And it's not necessary.
Tony
If you have a black tank flush, use it. It's, those are really, really good. There's a sticker on a lot RVs that say, do not use the black tank flush with the full way termination valve open. That means your gate valve
Peggy
With it closed, you mean?
Tony
Oh, I'm sorry, yes. Closed. Yeah. Oh geez.
Peggy
So if you don't know what a black tank flush is, and I think a lot of newer RVs have them, but not all do it is I, I describe it as like a shower head that shoots into the black
Tony
Tank. It's like a really terrible sprinkler inside
Peggy
The black tank. Yeah. Like a sprinkler system inside the black tank. What it's supposed to do is after you empty the tank, then you turn on this flush and it's supposed to wash down all the sides and you know, wash down your sensors and stuff. It's not great. No, it's not a pressure washer, it's just a sprinkler head. So it's not that great. And what some people will do, and what those stickers are warning you not to do is to close the valve, turn on the tank, flush and fill your black tank.
Tony
When I was working at the dealership, there was a guy bought a brand new fifth wheel. He was using the black tank flush with the valve closed. And a little girl fell on her bike and of course was screaming for good reason. She hurt herself and he went over to help her. Well, when he heard his wife scream, he realized that that black tank had now overflowed and had become a sprinkler on the top of his RV through the vent pipe. And he asked me, how do I get that smell out of the bathroom of my $80,000 fifth wheel match in a can of gasoline buddy?
Tony
No, I'm just kidding. I'm
Peggy
So, the official of recommendation is don't close that valve right now. Don't tell anybody we told you this, we do close the valve. What we do to make sure that distracting children don't make us overflow. It is have a timer on our wrist on our watch that doesn't leave our bodies. So we can't forget. We say set a timer for three minutes and then we can turn that valve on. And then if we attracted, if we, if there's an emergency, if we just forget what we were doing, whatever reason, we know in three minutes when our arm starts vibrating, I'm
Tony
Gonna say that we left
Peggy
That thing running.
Tony
Don't do as we do do as we say. How's that? Right. I don't want anyone to go, dude, I forgot. And my black tank overflowed
Peggy
Stuff. Yeah. This is not a recommendation.
Tony
No. It's just, we're
Peggy
Just telling
Tony
Stories. Two dumb more beers. What we're doing. Another thing I really like is I got a clear plastic fitting that goes on the gate valve. And as it's, as the contents are coming out, I can see what's happening and see when it's done. I also have a clear plastic elbow at the end of my stinky slinky. So I have it at both ends. Anyway, I really like those two, the combination of those two things to help me see what's, what's going on.
Peggy
So one more thing about the black tank. You don't wanna go to all this trouble and use the water and use the sensor cleaner and flush out your black tank and then put chemicals in your toilet to clean your toilet. They're, they're gonna all that good enzyme working stuff. Right. So please don't, please don't use harsh chemicals. I was gonna say, please don't use bleach. Yes. Please don't use bleach. But that's my own personal thing.
Peggy
Really, really, really consider what it is that you're, what you're cleaning the toilet with is gonna go in your black tank. Right.
Peggy
As Matt, just as Matt explained, you're got enzymes and bacterias. If you're gonna put some kind of harsh chemical bleach type chemical in there that's going to kill all those enzymes, then you're doing all that other stuff for not Well
Tony
Yeah. Liquefied does have a toilet bowl cleaner. And we've been very pleased with how well it that works. Works. Absolutely.
Peggy
Yes.
Tony
So, and now without any further ado, we have a great, no, you know what we're gonna do? I'm gonna save the Black Tank story for the end of the podcast.
Peggy
Oh, okay.
Tony
How's that?
Peggy
Okay. But let's hear the one more thing from Matt about the trailer giveaway.
Tony
Oh yeah. Tell us about another incentive as to why you might wanna buy the best RV holding tank treatment.
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
Well, literally yesterday we just launched our free RV giveaway. We as Liquify from now until January or until July 6th, we are giving away a 2026 Alliance Delta ML 1 66. Best part about it, Tony, no purchase necessary. And this year we have the most amount of free entries possible. So first the paid, well one, if you just go on our website, type in your name, phone number, email, you get 500 free entries.
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
Right. <affirmative>, <inaudible> two, if you buy Liquify from our website, especially by clicking Tony's promo code down below every dollar you spent, you get 10 entries. Okay. And that's unlimited. The more you buy, the more entries you get. But the fun part is we are working on something behind the scenes. And so we have a survey. So if you are an RVer, we are giving you 1000 entries to fill out the survey.
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
Okay. Huh. Well one, even if you're not an RVer, fill out the survey. But we, we really, really need RVers to fill out this survey because it's gonna help us with our next evolution of business. And that's all I can say here. Okay. Okay. Exciting. You follow us on social media. If you share Liquify with your friends, if you do a whole bunch of other amazing stuff, you get more entries as well.
Peggy
Fantastic.
Tony
Yeah, that, that's awesome. I mean it, it's truly free. So, but then you have been kind enough to give our listeners, our followers a 20% discount. So we have the coupon code stress less when you buy liquified or Liquid Shine.
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
And here's the best part. Tones. So one, everybody should be doing that because it helps support Stressless camping by using their promo code. But if you're only in a place for a day and you need it, you can go to Meyers, you can go to Wal-Mart nationwide, you can go to Camping World nationwide, you can go to General RV Blue Compass. We are in dealerships all over the country and if you upload your receipt to the sweepstakes, you get bonus entries as well.
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
Oh cool. But the best thing to do is always go on liquified rv.com and use Peggy and Tony's promo code to get the biggest discount.
Tony
Well enough about Tank Talk now. For now, what I wanna talk about a little bit is towing. And we have had the good fortune of trying a number of different trailer hitches we had, we are now on our fourth one, I think.
Peggy
I think so something
Tony
Like that. And the one that we're using now is a way safe hitch. And what I like about it was, some of you may know I am not the most screwdriver-y guy on the planet. I was able to properly install the way safe hitch myself.
Peggy
No. Cutting into the frame of the
Tony
Trailer. No, I didn't have to cut into the frame of the trailer. The weight distribution aspect and the sway control on this have worked very, very well in my opinion.
Peggy
So we did talk to Way Safe that was in episode 3 27. If you wanna look that up and and hear that episode and hear from way about the advantages also that will remind you that there is a discount code stress less on our way safe page. That's true. And if this is an of interest to you and you wanna go with way safe, we highly encourage it. Of course. And you can get a discount from them.
Tony
Sounds good. All right. This week's gadget is gonna brighten up your day. Hey, well actually it's gonna brighten up your night.
Peggy
Probably your night. Yeah,
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
When we were in Quartzite, we wanted to buy a new power station, which we did
Tony
'cause I'm nuts. And
Peggy
So while we were in the lion booth buying a power station, we also picked up a couple of other fun things.
Tony
I've seen lion advertising these three LED bulb, light string for some time. And what they're telling us is that it's three like regular looks like a light bulb and it a switch on it and it's just powered by usb. Right. And I'm like, how good can this be? But when we bought the power station, they gave us this.
Peggy
So we thought, well gosh, it's gonna, we're gonna have to use this big old power station, blah, blah, blah. It's not gonna be that convenient.
Tony
I didn't think it was gonna be all that bright. But we also have several of these for like on the road charging Lion Prowler.
Peggy
And for those of you listening, it's just a little bit like a fat cell phone.
Tony
Yeah. Or maybe a a like a small book
Peggy
Kind of on the scale of a phone or Yeah, a
Tony
Small book. And it's a portable power. It's a little power station and it has USB two Usbas is C and another usb. It's got a flashlight on the end and also a big light. And it'll do, if you have like a induction charging phone, like a MagSafe, it'll charge your phone that way.
Peggy
But it's
Tony
Not
Peggy
A huge, that thing ran those lights for hours. Oh my gosh. Hours. And they're
Tony
Bright
Peggy
And the, the lights are remarkably bright. They're two watt bulbs, you know, LED bulbs. And each of them is on a 15 foot cable from the main cable that plugs into the power source. And we were able to string them like all over our screen porch at home. We haven't, you know, really figured out where to stretch them out in a campground, but We'll, but we will. Oh yeah. You know, but I was thinking it's gonna be cumbersome because we're gonna have to have one of the big power ports.
Peggy
Not at all. That little thing, that little power station will go anywhere. I guess even if you wanted to be the source of light, one of our power stations, I think Tony had, it has a lanyard, so you could put it around your neck and power it yourself. But then you'd have to stay right there by the light.
Tony
You could be a uncle Fester. Yeah,
Peggy
There you go.
Tony
But I, yeah, I was just really impressed with how good this was. And my expectation was not that high, but like it's great for lighting up a campground. 'cause our campsite, like, you know, you put one over the picnic table maybe and one by a door or something like that. And, and
Peggy
Like I said, I really didn't expect the brightness. I thought it would be like putting out a set of twinkle lights. Yeah. You know, there's a little bit. So you don't trip. No. I mean we could read our beer. Can labels using that one <laugh>. Yeah. It was a light.
Tony
Yeah. So nifty little gadget. Yeah. We'll have a link in the show notes.
Peggy
Okay. So last week's question of the week since we were talking about toilets. We asked what RV toilet do you have? Thank you all for your answers.
Tony
Yeah. You're just bowl us
Peggy
Over. I'm glad that most of you are pleased with your toilets This week I'm going to ask you, do you drink water from your RV water tank?
Tony
Man, that's gonna be polarizing. I
Peggy
Know. I think it will.
Tony
And you can answer that question at a fun and friendly Stressless campers Facebook group. Also linked in the show notes or wherever you get your Facebook. Alright. And now the Pièce de Resistance, your story of your first RV trip.
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
Yep. So my big black tank story is I, back in 2015, I took a motor home down to Disney World and we clogged up the black tank and the poopy water filled up to the toilet past the tank, up to the toilet, all the way to the brim. I did not, I just, I didn't need to clear the black tank.
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
I just needed to clear the toilet. Right. And so I take a bucket and some cups, and I'm dipping my hands to try to get this because if we start driving, it's just gonna just start everywhere. Oh yeah. Everywhere.
Tony
Oh yeah.
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
So I'm dunking my hands in the toilet and pouring it in a bucket and it is not working. And so I had the genius idea of taking my fresh water hose, sticking it in the toilet, running it through the rv, getting down on the ground and siphoning the black tank.
Peggy
Oh my goodness.
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
And I'd never siphoned anything in my life, my life. And I'm pretty confident I'm gonna get poopy water in my mouth.
Tony
Oh yeah. Oh.
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
And I look up at that a hundred thousand dollars motor home and I'm like, dude, I couldn't afford the first monthly payment on that thing. So I start sucking,
Tony
Oh dear.
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
And I feel the water and I go like this. Nothing got in my mouth. Hey, good. And I successfully siphoned the whole Black Tank. True story, mark my
Peggy
Words. Oh my goodness.
Tony
That is the greatest Black tank story I think of all time, because we've all done the black water dance. That's the next level.
Matt Foxcroft - Liquified & Liquishine
Yeah. Yeah. It was awesome.
Peggy
Don't forget to like, share and subscribe to our podcast and our channel.
Tony
Yeah. And thank you for being here for episode 3 56 of the Stressless Camping RV podcast. Wow. That's like a old Porsche
Peggy
Oh 3 56 <laugh>. Also, remember that you can sign up for our once a week newsletter, which delivers deals, discounts, and links, and reminds you that the podcast is coming out. And that comes every Thursday morning, once a week.
Tony
That's it.
Peggy
That's it. We aim to make your RV Adventures Stressless camping.
Mark Ferrell
We hope you learned a lot and had some fun and got some tips for your next Stress less camping adventure. We're honored by your reviews on Apple Podcasts, which helps others find us too. Don't forget to subscribe so you won't miss out on the adventure. And we look forward to your joining us next week. Until then, happy camping.
