Oh Crap! Down the RV Toilet Holding Tank It Goes

The other day, our reader Beverly accidentally dropped a cleaning brush down the RV toilet holding tank. Now that’s an “OOPS!” 

drop it down the RV toilet
Don’t let go of that RV toilet brush!

What a blast from the past when Beverly found her way to our August 2007 post about how to remove an item from RV toilet holding tank.

how to remove item from holding tank
Down the black tank it went!

Oh the memories! Barely two months into our full-timing lifestyle, we were green as grass when it came to RVing.

black tank item retrieval
Ever see anyone that happy while dumping?

The short backstory: When we hit the road I used to think it was smart to use a five gallon collapsible water jug to fill our toilet holding tank at dump stations without pressurized water. The day I accidentally dropped the jug spout down the RV toilet holding tank was probably the last day I ever used that method.

Talk about overthinking things. Now we just use the fresh water from our holding tank when adding chemicals to the black water tank. Duh. 

how to remove item from black tank
You hope you don’t have to drop the black tank.

Twelve years later, poor Beverly was just trying to be a good RV housekeeper when she dropped her toilet cleaner down into the icky black tank. Jim gave her some pointers about trying to get it out. So we hope she comes back to let us know how that worked.

How NOT to Drop it Down the RV Toilet Holding Tank

Meanwhile, we pondered her shitty predicament (you knew that was coming!). And we asked ourselves “Why the heck haven’t we ever thought of a way to avoid the same fate?”

So here’s what we did.

best RV toilet cleaning tip
Use a ball chain to avoid dropping the RV toilet brush.

We just added a ball chain to the top of the toilet brush. And all we have to do is make sure it’s wrapped around our wrist when cleaning the toilet.

don't drop it down the RV toilet holding tank
A ball chain on the brush is all it takes.

Or rather, all Jim has to do is make sure he hangs onto the chain. 

And that’s my second pointer: always make sure the other person cleans the bowl. That way if something gets dropped, you’re not the one who did it.

6 thoughts on “Oh Crap! Down the RV Toilet Holding Tank It Goes”

    • Bummer! Well…it will be “ok” until it causes a problem. Maybe never, but that will likely block the drain or valve at the most inconvenient time. I personally wouldn’t want to deal with that surprise when I was not prepared to.

      Reply
  1. My wife just dropped her RX glasses in our RV toilet and into the black tank. Is there any way to retrieve them other than dropping their black tank.
    Thanks,
    Paul C

    Reply
    • Good luck with that! Fill and flush the tank a few times watching carefully with a grate of some sort to catch them IF they make it through the plumbing. Maybe you’ll get as lucky as we were when this happened our first year on the road.

      Reply
  2. Greetings from an RV located somewhere in the desert southwest USA:
    After losing a new RV to a black water tank defect one could say I’m into the B-Tank subjects. Thanks for posting this one. Would love to hear how this one turned out.
    Take care all you RV’ers out there.
    RoadScribe

    Reply

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