Looking for tips, shower water to BLK Tank

[Bluto]

After a few days of boondocking my gray tank starts to get pretty full while the black tank remains empty. So I am thinking of taking gray water from the shower pan and dumping it down the toilet to extend my stay when boondocking.

I'd put the stopper in the drain and let the drain pan fill when taking a shower. When done use some hose and a 12v pump to transfer the gray water from the shower pan to the toilet.

Any of you doing that, and how did it work out?

If you use the pump and hose method, where did you buy the parts needed? Does anyone sell a kit?

[wkerfoot]

Bluto,

When washing dishes I put a dish pan in the kitchen sink and then dump it into the toilet. This helps quite a bit. I have a 10 gallon gray tank in the Safari.

Bill

Originally Posted by Bluto

After a few days of boondocking my gray tank starts to get pretty full while the black tank remains empty. So I am thinking of taking gray water from the shower pan and dumping it down the toilet to extend my stay when boondocking.

I'd put the stopper in the drain and let the drain pan fill when taking a shower. When done use some hose and a 12v pump to transfer the gray water from the shower pan to the toilet.

Any of you doing that, and how did it work out?

If you use the pump and hose method, where did you buy the parts needed? Does anyone sell a kit?

[Beecavetx]

We do the same thing ....I was told during a class on "toilet care" that adding water to the black water tank will keep the odor down and help to keep your system working correctly. I seems to work , as we have not had a smell from our system after six days of boondocking in July. Bob

[Silver Otter]

We use a portable submersible pump (local Lowes) and a short length of garden hose (cut from a damaged old one) attached with a brass quick connect pair (from Lee Valley tools).

[mojo]

Originally Posted by Bluto

I'd put the stopper in the drain and let the drain pan fill when taking a shower. When done use some hose and a 12v pump to transfer the gray water from the shower pan to the toilet.

Jeez, that sounds like an awful messy daily routine, especially if something leaks. You could let it drain into a 10 or 15 gal. blue boy and then pump it into the black tank via the flush valve just once.

[overlander63]

Why don't you simply get one of these, open both factory valves, and have a double-sized combined grey and black system?
Amazon.com: Valterra T58 Twist-On Waste Valve: Automotive

[dayner]

Forget the fancy pumps, piping, manual catch pans. With dump cap still securely on the dump connection, just open GW valve first, leave open, then open BW valve and let GW flow into BW tank till it stops, then close both valves. Later, when both tanks are full, dump. It's that simple. Reason for opening GW first instead of just leaving both valves open all the time is simply to minimize solids/paper migrating into smaller GW piping. Use a cap with a drain so you can drain the section of plumbing between the GW and BW valves into a small pan before removing the cap to dump, makes for a cleaner process.

[DKB_SATX]

Originally Posted by dayner

Forget the fancy pumps, piping, manual catch pans. With dump cap still securely on the dump connection, just open GW valve first, leave open, then open BW valve and let GW flow into BW tank till it stops, then close both valves. Later, when both tanks are full, dump. It's that simple. Reason for opening GW first instead of just leaving both valves open all the time is simply to minimize solids/paper migrating into smaller GW piping. Use a cap with a drain so you can drain the section of plumbing between the GW and BW valves into a small pan before removing the cap to dump, makes for a cleaner process.

Overlander63's recommendation of the twist-on dump valve is a VASTLY tidier way to accomplish more or less the same thing. That way you don't have to deal with sewage except through the regular drain tube. One could add your gray-then-black technique to move water from gray to black, *IF* one doesn't have an Argosy with black tank above the floor and gray below... in my trailer your technique wouldn't help much, because the tanks aren't on the same level.

[Bluto]

Thanks everyone for the helpful tips on how to move the water around.
I'll have to try some these ideas out next time I'm boondocking.