How often do you dump your tanks?

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How often do you dump your tanks?

December 31, 2019, 11:21:59 am

So with thoughts of leaving next summer to be on the road for 5 months or more, the thoughts of grey and black water tank emptying comes to mind. First time out went not so well. Have thought a lot about it since then, from composting toilets to a better grey/black system. Hence my recent post on the wastemaster hose. Wonder what you guys and girls are currently doing when it comes to that dreaded chore of dumping your poo.
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Bob
btw.. pics are from the web... not me.. I swear!!

Re: How often do you dump your tanks?

Reply #1 – December 31, 2019, 12:06:36 pm

We live off of the tanks and the pump even if we are at a camp ground. The purpose of this is to be able to hear the pump. If the pump is pulsating, then we know we have a leak somewhere. We always try to keep the fresh water tank full.

As far as the tanks we don't connect the hose until we are ready to dump. Usually the gray tank fills faster than the black so we keep pushing the grey water into the black. When they both are at 3/4 to full then we dump.

When at home we dump and and flush our tanks out and then fill them up to the 1/4 level to keep water in them so they don't dry up and we add some tank sanitizer.

John M.

Re: How often do you dump your tanks?

Reply #2 – December 31, 2019, 12:30:20 pm

Quote from: John Morales – December 31, 2019, 12:06:36 pm

We live off of the tanks and the pump even if we are at a camp ground. The purpose of this is to be able to hear the pump. If the pump is pulsating, then we know we have a leak somewhere. We always try to keep the fresh water tank full.

As far as the tanks we don't connect the hose until we are ready to dump. Usually the gray tank fills faster than the black so we keep pushing the grey water into the black. When they both are at 3/4 to full then we dump.

When at home we dump and and flush our tanks our and then fill them up to the 1/4 level to keep water in them so they don't dry up and we add some tank sanitizer.

John M.

We do exactly the same-- live off tank water. When time to refill, also time to dump.

Re: How often do you dump your tanks?

Reply #3 – December 31, 2019, 12:36:28 pm

About every 5 days. When the bathtub burps or the kitchen sink slows down. Sometimes after I wash my feet. We leave all the hoses connected and use the local water.

So far I haven't allowed the toilet tank to fill. That's a bridge I'm not ready to test.

Re: How often do you dump your tanks?

Reply #4 – December 31, 2019, 12:44:06 pm

We dump about every four days, when we fill the fresh water tank. If I ever get roundtuit and install my SeeLevel system, my guess it will be about every five days.

Trent

Re: How often do you dump your tanks?

Reply #5 – December 31, 2019, 12:51:33 pm

Same as Brett and John. We live of the tanks, if we need water it's also time to dump. Since we shower most days the water only last about 5 days and if we're in a park we use even more water,,off the tanks always.

Re: How often do you dump your tanks?

Reply #6 – December 31, 2019, 01:01:59 pm

We use our fresh water tank all the time. Only hook up sewer hose to dump and flush tanks.

Re: How often do you dump your tanks?

Reply #7 – December 31, 2019, 01:05:30 pm

About leaving the hoses hooked up. After two different times of collecting "sewer flies," I do not leave my sewer hose hooked to my system. I do leave it hooked up to the dump station, but put the cap on the top end. When I want to dump, I just remove the cap from the end of the hose and plug it in. Afterwards, I replace the cap and use the end to prop my sewer door at and angle so it is not pointing straight down; I have already broken one.

I have discovered that leaving the water connected is a no brainer, especially with quarter-turn faucets. When I want to fill, I just turn the pump switch off, turn on the faucet, turn on the fill switch, and watch the level on the side of the tank. Then, turn off the faucet, turn off the fill switch, and turn on the water pump switch. The filling takes a while, which lets me dump the black and gray tanks, while the water is filling.

Not having to get the hoses brought out and connected for each fill/dump cycle is really a time saver (only works for extended stays).

Trent

Re: How often do you dump your tanks?

Reply #8 – December 31, 2019, 01:39:47 pm

I empty at 50 to 80% full, love the SeeLevel gauge by wet bay and in bathroom, and refill to 50%, empty and refill several times till water runs clear using a clear section and Flush King. Enjoy no odors using Happy Camper in both tanks.

Shared album - John Lewis - Google Photos

Shared album - John Lewis - Google Photos

Re: How often do you dump your tanks?

Reply #9 – December 31, 2019, 04:06:47 pm

When we started our full time adventure in 2000, we always waited until the tanks were nearly full. You will find that by doing it this way, the tanks seem to come cleaner with less issues with the gauges. Normally leave the sewer hoses in the box we store them in until ready. The reason for this is the sun is brutal on these hoses and the less you leave them out, the longer they last. We buy the Rhino brand and have never had an issue with them. We also have the Sewer Solution that works off water pressure and use it to pump approximately 60 feet to our son's septic tank clean-out when we are moochdocking at his place!
I wear rubber gloves and spray everything down with my bottle of 50/50 bleach/water. This includes the water faucet before we hook up to it and after we are down, packed up and ready to leave. This way the next guy has no issues with germs, etc. Believe me when I say this; I have seen people stick their sewer hose under the faucet to wash it out, no gloves on their hands and even place the hoses up on the picnic table that is on their site. UGH!

Re: How often do you dump your tanks?

Reply #10 – December 31, 2019, 04:28:14 pm

I'm single and probably the greenest person on the planet. 99% of the electrical power I use comes from my solar panels. I dry camp 99% of the time and spent 10 years out in the boonies prospecting for gold. I used to have to dump and take on fresh water about once a month. Now I am mostly camped at casinos, and I use the toilets in the casinos or a local store. I take sponge baths using about a half gallon of water that I heat on the stove if I can't take a shower elsewhere. Casinos with hotels will comp rooms to good customers. I never use my hot water heater. Why heat 6 gallons of water when you need less than one gallon? I need to dump, fill my fresh water tank and fill the propane tank about once every 3 months.

Re: How often do you dump your tanks?

Reply #11 – December 31, 2019, 07:02:52 pm

Same here, when the fresh needs filling we at least dump the grey water and usually the dark. About four days with showers and dishes daily.

Always dump and treat tanks when we get back home.

Re: How often do you dump your tanks?

Reply #12 – December 31, 2019, 08:14:41 pm

The DW and I only dry camp and 10 to 14 days and we are out of the fresh water and we have to fill up and dump at that time. The black water would last longer but we have to pay to dump at the .Gov campgrounds so dump both at that time. Do a more extensive flushing when we get back home.

Re: How often do you dump your tanks?

Reply #13 – December 31, 2019, 09:15:40 pm

The only time we'll leave the water on is when catching up on laundry and running the washer all day. Even then we'll use the gray water to flush the black tank really well.
Dumping depends on whether we're dry camping (up to 10 days) or staying at campgrounds (anywhere from 2-4 days).

Re: How often do you dump your tanks?

Reply #14 – January 01, 2020, 12:40:46 am

When boon-docking I often use my porta potti and camp toilets. I've been known to extend gray tank with black tank and fill fresh from 7 gallon container using a spare water pump. A cassette toilet can be dumped easily into a pit toilet in a "primitive campground," or regular toilet with care. We use a mix and match approach. We rarely have full hookups. One of my favorite campsites is 16 miles down a dirt road and 35 miles from the dump station. I always use the onboard water tank with 12 V pump even if there is a hose bib 2 foot from the coach. Also travel with full water, or nearly full water since the Foretravel will empty a completely full tank to nearly full status at the first corner. I've contemplated a composting toilet, but I have chosen to stay with my dual throne strategy. The Porta potty has the larger capacity tank - 5 gallons.

Re: How often do you dump your tanks?

Reply #15 – January 01, 2020, 08:09:17 am

Since we have the newer combined grey black tank, we have gone for nine days once, but we showered at the camp facilities and I did wash at local laundry. Otherwise I dump (DH and I trade off) when 3/4 full unless we were heading into the mountains, then I will dump and flush at lesser amounts to lessen the weight.

Re: How often do you dump your tanks?

Reply #16 – January 01, 2020, 09:29:10 am

Interesting and different perspectives from the group. The four travelers are really good traveling vehicle but we are limited in our tank capacities. It would have been nicer to have larger tanks but the space and weight trade-offs might not justify it. There is much more room for larger fresh water tank in my coach, but again the weight may be an issue. Although the way is down below which can help stability I would think. I thought about putting in a composting toilet, which really isn't a composting toilet. nothing really composts in there it just dries it out makes it a little easier to dispose of. And no black sludge to get rid of. Doing that I could increase my gray water capacity by combining both tanks. That is a urine diverting composting toilet where the urine goes into the gray tank, while the salads go into basically trash bags. Every 3 weeks or so you'd have to empty it which would involve tying off the trash bag and tossing them in the trash somewhere. It is an option, but for now I'm going to stick with the flush toilet and the gray water system / black water system that it was originally designed for. The composting toilets are expensive around $1,000, but when you factor in the cost of toilet hose and the cost for dumping it might be a wash over time.

Re: How often do you dump your tanks?

Reply #17 – January 01, 2020, 11:30:45 am

Quote from: Bob and Julie – January 01, 2020, 09:29:10 am

Interesting and different perspectives from the group. The four travelers are really good traveling vehicle but we are limited in our tank capacities. It would have been nicer to have larger tanks but the space and weight trade-offs might not justify it. There is much more room for larger fresh water tank in my coach, but again the weight may be an issue. Although the way is down below which can help stability I would think. I thought about putting in a composting toilet, which really isn't a composting toilet. nothing really composts in there it just dries it out makes it a little easier to dispose of. And no black sludge to get rid of. Doing that I could increase my gray water capacity by combining both tanks. That is a urine diverting composting toilet where the urine goes into the gray tank, while the salads go into basically trash bags. Every 3 weeks or so you'd have to empty it which would involve tying off the trash bag and tossing them in the trash somewhere. It is an option, but for now I'm going to stick with the flush toilet and the gray water system / black water system that it was originally designed for. The composting toilets are expensive around $1,000, but when you factor in the cost of toilet hose and the cost for dumping it might be a wash over time.

Bob
I had a nature head composting toilet in my coach when I got it, after about a year or more I changed it out for a dometic toilet and have never looked back. If you boondock a lot it might be the way to go, just not for me.

Re: How often do you dump your tanks?

Reply #18 – January 01, 2020, 11:44:44 am

If you boondock you will run out of fresh water before filling up the holding tanks.

Re: How often do you dump your tanks?

Reply #19 – January 01, 2020, 12:14:22 pm

Quote from: craneman – January 01, 2020, 11:44:44 am

If you boondock you will run out of fresh water before filling up the holding tanks.

Yup, tank capacity designed that way!

Re: How often do you dump your tanks?

Reply #20 – January 01, 2020, 12:39:44 pm

And in an emergency, an isolated tree in the woods at night works if you get there in time.

Just don't forget the TP.

Re: How often do you dump your tanks?

Reply #21 – January 01, 2020, 02:56:10 pm

Hawk , your not suggesting 🙀 Raw sewage in the forest. Almost like our forefathers.

Re: How often do you dump your tanks?

Reply #22 – January 01, 2020, 03:35:27 pm

I did say EMERGENCY, didn't I?
Biodegradeable fertilizing a tree that is competing with all the other trees in the forest without using harmful detergents is frowned upon?
How far we have regressed from our ancestors!!

Re: How often do you dump your tanks?

Reply #23 – January 01, 2020, 03:58:50 pm

I think we're getting too much information here. In my younger days there were a couple occasions when I was deer hunting in the deep woods when nature called. With no other suitable wiping material handy, I unsheathed my Bowie knife and cut off my underwear. Needless to say, it never made it back to camp.

Re: How often do you dump your tanks?

Reply #24 – January 01, 2020, 04:41:14 pm

I backpacked for many years. Can't bring a toilet with you, but you sure can bring a little trowel. But my old age I don't really want to do it in the woods anymore. Especially in the winter! Yeah I don't know what's better or worse emptying a composting toilet tank or emptying a black tank. Think in my mind a porta potty or cassette toilet would be worse than either.
Yeah I imagine 105 gallons of water doesn't go very far when boondocking, but there are different ways to extend that of course. As long as I can go 14 days or so that's more than sufficient.

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