Why do RVs need separate grey and black water tanks ? Does your coach ?

[sledhead]

I have worked in some bazillion $$  island cottages that were 200 years old and on one of them the old cast iron ?  3" pipe was still in the water that went out 50 ' so when they flushed the crapper it was far enough as to not wash back up on the beach . ya right !

how things have changed

dave

[richard5933]

I think you misunderstand me Richard. All I'm saying is to use some common sense...

Jim

I get it, there are times when dumping gray to ground sounds perfectly reasonable.

But being perfectly reasonable assumes that people will have common sense to use. After watching people contaminate the fresh water spigot at numerous campsite flushing out their black tank hose, I seriously doubt that there was enough common sense to go around this generation.

We try to keep things simple on our bus. We have a 90-gallon fresh water tank. We have a 90-gallon waste tank. If our waste tank is full, it means we are out of fresh water and a trip to town is necessary either way. True, we can get by toting extra water from town, but we don't do that. Our tanks will take us at least a week. If we were going to be dry camping somewhere more than that, we'd have to make arrangements for getting our tank dumped and our fresh water filled. Wouldn't help a bit to be able to dump gray to the ground, as we'll pretty much be out of water when our tank is filled.

Some will have the ability to carry extra fresh water, in excess of their waste tank(s). Then they will have to figure out a way to deal with the situation when the tank(s) gets filled.

[Lin]

I once set up a gray water system at home.  The water from the dish washer and the washing machine only went into a 55 gallon plastic drum.  There was a hose attached to the bottom that then drained the water into a cactus garden.  It worked well without any smells or mess for maybe 5 years or so.  One day I decided to check out the drum itself.  Well, the noxious sludge at the bottom was, to say the least, formidably disgusting.

I disconnected the system with a plan to re-engineer it to be easier to clean but have not gotten around to it yet in the past year.  I probably won't.  Anyway, the point is that it was the tank that was the problem.  Whatever went to ground disappeared without any consequences other than some grateful cacti.

[Fred Mc]

The problem with "common sense" is that its not very common.

[DoubleEagle]

Grey water/Black Water: When I was stationed in Korea in a harbor, we were told that if we slipped and fell in the water that we would automatically be given shots like Gama Globulin because of the severe contamination from the sewage that was dumped in the bay, and incidental things like unwanted babies and animals. Some of the things that get into the water are used by various organisms, and other ingredients are broken down by sunlight and wave action. Over time, everything gets recycled. The water cycle brings us rain that is cleaner than the foul water it came from when it evaporated. The Earth continually cleanses itself, the main problem is too many people that don't. So, one tank, two tanks, just make sure they don't leak, and dump them appropriately.

[Jim Blackwood]

Yes that's very true. Somehow we seem to survive anyway, sometime I wonder how. Maybe we are like the bacteria, we've exceeded critical mass so we survive in spite of Darwin.

That story does make a good reason to be able to flush out the gray tank somehow. Hadn't really given that much thought.

I haven't built my waste tanks yet and may commission them instead but the plan is to make them about 65 gal. each. The black water tank should be good for a couple weeks or more and I consider that the limiting factor. I've completed the fresh water tank and it is 275 gallons but of course just because the water is there does not mean we have to use it all up. I would expect that in the course of filling the black tank, however long that takes, the gray tank would have to be drained, maybe as much as 3 times. I do not think we could go 2 weeks without draining it at least once, but if it was overflowed into the black tank that could be possible. Clearly I shifted the compromise in the direction of fresh water. There were a number of reasons for this and usage was only one. I will also consider options for enlarging the waste tanks, I think it is possible to do that, but by how much I can't say at present. Still they aren't likely to reach the volume of the fresh water. (actually I was somewhat disappointed in the final volume figures).

But as we know it is all a compromise and we do the best we can. It's not my intention to dump any more gray water than I have to, but I'm not overly concerned about it if I do. BTW, I always just assumed that the water hose at the dump station was about as sanitary as the outlets of the various waste tanks that had been there, I don't know how to look at it any other way.

Jim

[dtcerrato]

Some years back I remember a fancy 40' fifth wheel camper with a matching HD truck. The truck was equipped with factory molded tanks for potable water & waste where you could pump what was in the fifth wheel camper into the truck for making the waste portable & visa versa for the fresh water back to the camper. I think the name of the rig was the "Dreamer". I thought that was a pretty good design. We enjoy "portability" in our conversion. We carry 25 gallons of portable potable water & sometimes a 20 gallon waste tote so the toad can do portable runs in a day of running anyway. Our LP is also portable @ four 30 LB tanks. Redundancy & portability should be considered for those converting for boon-docking. IMO

[richard5933]

...BTW, I always just assumed that the water hose at the dump station was about as sanitary as the outlets of the various waste tanks that had been there, I don't know how to look at it any other way.

Jim

True - the water at a designated black tank dump site is usually marked "Non-potable" and is not intended for consumption.

Earlier I was talking about the habit some are in of using the freshwater spigot at an individual site with full hookups to rinse out their black tank discharge hose. Not a problem is you have 10-25 of hose between so the splashing is not going to hit the spigot, but often you'll see people hold the end of their discharge hose directly under the spigot and rinse away.

Those spigots are intended to be used to fill freshwater tanks or for running directly to rigs that have city water connection points. They are not intended for directly rinsing black water hoses.

[Jim Blackwood]

Right about that. Probably is a good idea to give the spigot a good wash and rinse before hooking up. Make it a part of the routine.

In practical terms there is only a very small area of the spigot that could retain anything harmful and the concentration would be low so there isn't much risk, but the thought is enough to turn your stomach isn't it?

Jim

[dtcerrato]

Clorox cleaner with bleach in a spray bottle is excellent to keep right there at the dump valves...