62 bambi - kitchen and shower waste

[kamo]

Hello,

Restoring plumbing on a '62 Bambi. Unfortunatelly one previous owner took much of the plumbing out. However, it seems that the kitchen and shower waste water was not routed to a tank, but straight out.

Is that true?

What do campsites have to say about dumping kitchen and shower water to the ground?

Thanks,
kamo

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by kamo

Hello,

Restoring plumbing on a '62 Bambi. Unfortunatelly one previous owner took much of the plumbing out. However, it seems that the kitchen and shower waste water was not routed to a tank, but straight out.

Is that true?

What do campsites have to say about dumping kitchen and shower water to the ground?

Thanks,
kamo

Toilet (black) water was the only thing that was put in a tank back in 1962, all the way up until the mid 1970's. Shower/lavatory water, and kitchen sink water went onto the ground. If you want to be a little more "green", while not installing another holding tank, you can route your kitchen sink water into the black tank without much trouble. Kitchen sinnk water contains nearly as much bacteria as black water, because of the slowly rotting food particles you have washed off your dishes.
I would not want to dump kitchen water on the ground, although shower and bathroom sink water may be allowed.

[InsideOut]

Yes, that's true. But don't blame it on a previous owner...no Airstreams had "gray water tanks" until '73/74. At THAT time it was no problem to dump wash water on the ground...now-a-days, it is frowned upon most everywhere. If you are at a full hook-up campground, no problem...the wash water just goes down the drain. If there is no sewer hook-up were you are parked, most vintage owners use a "blue tote" to capture their gray water and dispose of it at an approved dump station. Sometimes, you will run across a campground that lets you water the bushes with wash water...but don't count on it.

Black water, the "throne's" waste is never allowed to be dumped on the ground...although, "back in the day" they did dig golpher holes to dump into then cover them when they left. I guess that's still done by some if they are remotely boondocking and don't get caught ~

Gray tanks can be added to a vintage trailer, many have done so using various methods. Do a search on "adding a gray tank" to read all about it.

Shari

[kamo]

Thanks for the info.

I can route the kitchen sink to the black tank no problem, but the showeris a bit tricky, because there's no much space for a u-trap. So I'll just let the shower water straight out, and buy a portable container for it.

[InsideOut]

The disadvantage to routing the grey water into the black tank is it will fill MUCH faster and have to be emptied more often. In a '62 Bambi, your black tank is most likely less than 10 gallons. Gray water is much easier to dsipose of than black...

Shari

[kamo]

I actually don't have the original tank. I'm putting in a brand new 10 gallon tank.

[InsideOut]

Originally Posted by kamo

I actually don't have the original tank. I'm putting in a brand new 10 gallon tank.

Okay, well if it's only going to be 10 gallons, that's still pretty small for both black & gray.

For reference, the current 16' Bambi CCD comes wiith a combined tank that is 21 gallons. All the other current model Bambi's have 18 gallon black & 21 gallons gray.

Shari

[overlander63]

Is your black tank above the floor, or below the floor? If it is above the floor, and you route your shower into it, gravity will have your black tank draining into the floor of the shower, with highly unpleasant consequences .
And if you are going to replace the tank, is there any way you could put a bigger tank in? Even 15 gallons would be a 50% increase over the original.

[kamo]

The 10 gallon tank will be a black tank only. I'm mounting it so that the top of the tank will be flush with the floor.

The subfloor is unfortunatelly in a fair condition in the bathroom areas. I can't replace that now, maybe next year, then I'll upgrade to a larger tank.