We have not had to use a holding tank pump out service and wonder what advice others with pump out experience can share with us.
Have read about pump out truck suction issues, but wonder if current methods have eliminated problems.
We have used pump out service a few times over the years- no problems because I was right there " supervising" the pumpers.
One example- the guy pulled 2 handles, pumped, pushed in 2 handles and was disconnecting and I asked him why he only pumped 1 tank. I have a third valve so he didn't realize, or look, just going on autopilot. Granted it was a festival we were working and he had a lot of rigs to pump at 6AM , but....................
Good supervision even with good people never hurts ^.^d
Might consider holding the flush door open .
We've had to use the services of a "Poo-man" three times. The first two times he came, hooked up, pumped out, and moved on. The third guy insisted that someone be inside the rig holding the toilet valve open. His reasoning was that he didn't want to be responsible for damaging the seal.
A couple of years ago we replaced our toilet, and all was fine with the new one. In the past year, though, we've noticed that sometimes we don't have a good seal on the ball, and the water in the bowl drains out. Is there a connection between using Poo-man and the seal problem? I don't know. Might be. Should we ever need Poo-man again I'll make sure that Jo Ann is inside holding the pedal down while I'm outside supervising.
It seems as though new seals require some time and use before they seal completly. I replaced the one in our toilet and it leaked off and on for a while until it sealed totaly. All is well at this time. It would seem prudent to keep the flush valve open if suction is applied to the tank as there is no vent on my tank that I am aware of. Have a great day ---- Fritz
In an Ohio Amusement Park (Nameless) years ago in our SOB, I paid the park to pump out and things went bad fast. We signed up and went to work. Came home at 6:00pm to...well, Chernobyl of sewer bays! Big mess. Bay door closed to hide mess and open valves. Yikes.
The new guy on the Wagon hooked up and went to town. I suspect the straight vacuum was on when he pulled the valves open. Never got to talk to the "technician" who caused even bigger problems for us.
We went about a month before our black tank started to leak, two thousand miles away from home. What a headache to replace an obsolete tank.
"Get involved with the proces,"he said understatedly.
Good idea to keep toilet valve open during pump out, but what about gray tank that does not have anything to keep open?
The pump guys I've seen pumping rvs have a catch box on thier hose. Don't believe I'm going to attach a 300 Horse power vacuum cleaner directly to my coach. Just saying.
Unsee... holy crap.
Grey tank has open air flow shower drain and 2-3 sink drains. If enough suction it will pull air in.
One would think the 2 inch vent pipe to the roof would allow enough air into tank when vacuuming out tank, guess it depends on how big the vacuum pump on the truck is. Have seen some trucks that have a kind of reverse pressure relief valve that opens when vacuum exceeds a set negative pressure.