Grey water tank question?

[Brddog]

Thanks SilverCabin,
I don't have a plug for the shower, is this a Home Depot sort of item?

[azflycaster]

The only time I have water back into my shower when traveling is when my Grey tank is full. Maybe your trailer is bouncing too much going down the road. This could be caused by an out of balance tire or maybe your setup is too stiff. Other signs of this condition would be popped rivets, open draws and items falling off the bed.

[n2916s]

We use the "open valve until the last evening" routine with a minor twist. We drop a couple of ounces of Pure Power (a bacteria/enzyme black water tank treatment) into the gray tank right after we shut the valve. It seems to do a pretty good job of breaking down the surprising amount of "stuff" that gets into the gray tank (food particles, hair, grease...)

We both take normal showers to get the tank at least half full. In the morning we do any remaining dishes, rinse all the sinks and the shower and that pretty much fills the gray tank.

Last thing before shoving off is dump the black, dump the gray. Stow the hoses and be happy.

mike

[TBRich]

We leave our grey water drain closed till it's nearly full, even with full hook-ups...we just keep an eye on the level monitor... I don't like the idea of having an open line to the sewer all the time.

We usually dump the black water holding tank when it's about 3/4 - 7/8 full or so...and follow that with a grey water dump to "clean out" the hose (relatively speaking)...then we close the grey water and use the flushing system to refill/flush the black tank and dump again.

We also allow ourselves longer showers when we have full hookups, too...no point in foregoing that luxury with full hookups!

[Minnie's Mate]

Wow, to see this thread resurrected after nearly two years. I now have enough experience to respond to my own question!

We generally continue the open gray valve 'till the night before breaking camp when we have full hook-ups. I close the gray valve the night before after the dishes have been done and all the major water has been used for the night. On the morning of breaking camp my wife and I each take a navy shower and that pretty much fills the gray tank. I then empty the black tank and use the gray to flush the hose. I close the gray valve and use the on-board flush system for several minutes and empty. I repeat a couple of times and then run long enough to ad 3-5 gallons of water in the black tank and disconnect the water and sewer hose. I add a orange pack of tank chemicals to the black tank and off we go. BTW, I have a "special" hose for use with the flush system and a separate white hose for drinking water. Even though the manual says there is no back-flow from the flush system, I have observe water run out when I disconnect the hose.

I always top off our fresh water holding tank so we have plenty of water for last minute pottie use and washing our hands after finishing hooking up to the tow vehicle and for on-the-road emergency pottie stops. It also helps lower the center of gravity which helps stabilize the Airstream (so I'm told) but the trailer tows smoothly even when the tank is empty.

I have also found that the latex gloves break down quickly if stored in the bumper storage but the nylon ones last a lot longer in the storage compartment.