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09-09-2018, 10:34 PM
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#21
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Rivet Master
2019 25' International
Washington
, Washington, D.C.
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 1,271
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Why get a dish pan when your mixing bowl can do both?
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09-09-2018, 10:36 PM
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#22
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Rivet Master
2019 25' International
Washington
, Washington, D.C.
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 1,271
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Which is why the round mixing bowl works great as both a dishpan and well, a mixing bowl!
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09-09-2018, 11:40 PM
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#23
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Rivet Master
2005 25' Safari
Salem
, Oregon
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 8,376
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Hi, our Safari has the double kitchen sink. Sterilite makes a square plastic tub the fits our sinks almost perfectly. We also dump our dish water into the toilet. Ideally, if you could cut the black tank in half and use half of it for grey water and half for black water it would be perfect. Our black water tank is way too large.
__________________
Bob 2005 Safari 25-B
"Le Petit Chateau Argent" Small Silver Castle
2000 Navigator / 2014 F-150 Eco-Boost / Equal-i-zer / P-3
YAMAHA 2400 / AIR #12144
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09-10-2018, 03:48 PM
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#24
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Half a Rivet Short
2017 30' Classic
2022 Interstate 24X
Carlisle
, Pennsylvania
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 15,735
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Quote:
Originally Posted by smithcreek
Sorry for taking this off track, but if you are going to use an outdoor shower, wash your dishes and toss the water on the ground, wash your hands outside, pee behind a tree outside, etc., why not just dump your grey water outside? I'm asking seriously, not dissing anyone for doing any of the above. I've just been wondering, most people including myself do some or all those things at their campsite and no one bats an eye. Why would dumping grey water be any different, as long as you didn't let it ferment in your tank for a week?
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Hi
The difference is completely about complying with rules. I don't write them and I don't enforce them. Indeed you can find interesting gaps in the rules. As long as I'm in compliance .... not my problem ...
Bob
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09-10-2018, 03:54 PM
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#25
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Rivet Master
2013 20' Flying Cloud
Westerly
, Rhode Island
Join Date: Apr 2018
Posts: 654
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Quote:
Originally Posted by uncle_bob
Hi
The difference is completely about complying with rules. I don't write them and I don't enforce them. Indeed you can find interesting gaps in the rules. As long as I'm in compliance .... not my problem ...
Bob
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Got it. I hadn't actually thought about it until we were camped next to the campground hosts at a state camp in NH. After a few days and a number of friendly chats I happened to mention something about our grey tank being small and one of them said "I shouldn't tell you this, but nothing in the rules says you can't dump your grey water if you have a hose to do it. People wash their dishes and do it all the time."
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09-10-2018, 07:04 PM
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#26
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Rivet Master
2015 28' Flying Cloud
Durango
, Colorado
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 623
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A sensitive topic. Grey water is always our limiting factor. I have a good system for refilling potable water with blue jugs and a repurposed water pump which I installed. The grey tank generally fills after three blue jugs have been added. I didn't buy an Airstream to live as if in a tent, however. Using a blue container for haul-away discharge is a good option. Some CG's prohibit discharge of grey water, others do not. I respect the rules assuming that there was environmental reasoning behind them. In absence of rules, I evaluate the environment and proceed accordingly. If I discharge grey water, I use a hose to discharge it in small volumes into vegetation. A sock on the discharge end is good to capture food particles. We use minimal amounts of bio-friendly soaps. 'Leave no trace' is a good guiding principle.
__________________
Safe Travels,
Joe & Joan Donnaway
Durango, CO
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09-11-2018, 08:17 AM
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#27
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Half a Rivet Short
2017 30' Classic
2022 Interstate 24X
Carlisle
, Pennsylvania
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 15,735
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Hi
Indeed, gray water can have weird things in it. If you do laundry in the RV and use a lot of bleach / super duper detergent, that's different than rinsing a lot of dishes. If you have a water hookup and are running gray water into the bushes .... run the faucet a bit more than you would otherwise. It's *really* a good idea to run the water a bit before unhooking the hose ....
Bob
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09-11-2018, 08:26 PM
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#28
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1 Rivet Member
2008 22' Sport
Bar Harbor
, Maine
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 11
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We have a single axle 22 Sport with small tanks. We are in the group that use the Air Stream plumbing as if we were home. I added a stack of two 42 gallon tanks under the cap in our pickup bed. I remove /install seasonally. Takes about 20 minutes. One grey one fresh. Fresh on top to gravity fill the fresh AS tank. Grey on bottom that I pump the grey from the AS into. The grey gravity dumps at the station. I never connect to city. That way I easily know when to pump off grey. We shower daily. Black lasts 10 days. I pump off grey every other day with no effort and visit the dump station during slow time. Works great for us and good for five days of boondocking. YMMV.
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09-11-2018, 09:41 PM
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#29
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Rivet Master
2002 30' Classic S/O
Fleming Island
, Florida
Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 4,672
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mainely Fish
We have a single axle 22 Sport with small tanks. We are in the group that use the Air Stream plumbing as if we were home. I added a stack of two 42 gallon tanks under the cap in our pickup bed. I remove /install seasonally. Takes about 20 minutes. One grey one fresh. Fresh on top to gravity fill the fresh AS tank. Grey on bottom that I pump the grey from the AS into. The grey gravity dumps at the station. I never connect to city. That way I easily know when to pump off grey. We shower daily. Black lasts 10 days. I pump off grey every other day with no effort and visit the dump station during slow time. Works great for us and good for five days of boondocking. YMMV.
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That is an innovative solution. I have a Blueboy but it is smaller than my gray tank so I worry about spills draining into it. If I had a gray tank the same or larger in the back of the truck I could pump into it and drive to the dump station. That's way better than dragging a Blueboy or unhooking everything to take the trailer to the dump station.
What kind of pump did you use?
Al
__________________
“You cannot reason someone out of a position they have not been reasoned into"
Al, K5TAN and Missy, N4RGO WBCCI 1322
2002 Classic 30 Slideout -S/OS #004
2013 Dodge 2500 Laramie 4x4 Megacab Cummins
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09-13-2018, 10:30 AM
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#30
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Rivet Master
2008 22' Safari
Spicewood (W of Austin)
, Texas
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 2,980
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mainely Fish
We have a single axle 22 Sport with small tanks. We are in the group that use the Air Stream plumbing as if we were home. I added a stack of two 42 gallon tanks under the cap in our pickup bed. I remove /install seasonally. Takes about 20 minutes. One grey one fresh. Fresh on top to gravity fill the fresh AS tank. Grey on bottom that I pump the grey from the AS into. The grey gravity dumps at the station. I never connect to city. That way I easily know when to pump off grey. We shower daily. Black lasts 10 days. I pump off grey every other day with no effort and visit the dump station during slow time. Works great for us and good for five days of boondocking. YMMV.
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But, Wow!... that's 750+ lbs of sloshing weight back there! Each to his own, but I'd tell my family to learn to conserve water.
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09-13-2018, 10:54 AM
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#31
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Rivet Master
2002 30' Classic S/O
Fleming Island
, Florida
Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 4,672
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For my application, I would only use the gray tank, and it would only be full for the 10mph drive from my site to the dump station. We often stay at state parks where we have water and electric but no sewer connection. We use reasonable conservation measures, but can't seem to stretch the gray tank beyond three days.
Al
__________________
“You cannot reason someone out of a position they have not been reasoned into"
Al, K5TAN and Missy, N4RGO WBCCI 1322
2002 Classic 30 Slideout -S/OS #004
2013 Dodge 2500 Laramie 4x4 Megacab Cummins
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09-14-2018, 07:26 AM
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#32
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Half a Rivet Short
2017 30' Classic
2022 Interstate 24X
Carlisle
, Pennsylvania
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 15,735
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Al and Missy
For my application, I would only use the gray tank, and it would only be full for the 10mph drive from my site to the dump station. ......
Al
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Hi
What worries me is not so much the speed but the un-noticed pot hole / speed bump along the way. There are a lot of campgrounds that have less than ideal road surfaces ....
=====
Size of family vs size of trailer *does* matter a lot in all this. Packing 5 people into a 16' trailer *can* be done (there are videos on YouTube). They claim to be happy. Managing the tanks ... errr ... ummm ..... somehow I doubt it works very well. How often *does* everybody shower in that crew?
With the two of us in our trailer, a week is not all that crazy. We probably could stretch it a bit more.
Bob
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09-14-2018, 07:39 AM
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#33
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Rivet Master
1967 17' Caravel
Oak Creek
, Colorado
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 1,560
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ray Eklund
Increasing or decreasing Grey and Black Water use.
Some can by planning. Others cannot. This is dependent more on your kind of Camping. Our Airstream is a fancy TENT on wheels.
A private shower enjoying the fresh air.
Often our neighbors do not mind.
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Good looking heeler! [emoji1]
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09-16-2018, 10:40 AM
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#34
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3 Rivet Member
2006 25' Safari FB SE
Santa Fe
, New Mexico
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 118
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Some may not like this...
Like Mikeinca above, I'll just make a suggestion for consideration.
Yes, the blue boy idea makes sense. But I'll tell you what I did for the nine years I owned an Airstream. I sold it a couple years ago and now don't even own a trailer but haven't deleted this site from my computer.
Anyway, I quickly learned that the limiting factor on dry camping is the gray tank. It is a huge amount of work to move the whole rig every 2-3 days just to dump the gray. And in many of the national forests my wife and I camped in, there may not a dump station within a mile.
So here is what I did: empty the gray tank DAILY into a bucket and carry it into a spot away from the camping area and dump it. If you do it DAILY, there will be NO smell. You'll be doing essentially what tent campers do after they wash their dishes. Ever see a tent camper take a wash bucket 1/2 mile to a dump station? Yes, I never saw it either!
In some places, I hooked up two 10' water hoses (used only for this!) and drained the gray to a spot where the water ran away from the camping area. Again, if you do it daily, the water is still essentially unpolluted.
Now, people can get mad at me for saying this! LOL, but I've seen and talked to others who did the say thing. That's how I learned this.
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09-17-2018, 07:52 AM
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#35
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New Member
Tampa
, Florida
Join Date: May 2018
Posts: 1
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mainely Fish
We have a single axle 22 Sport with small tanks. We are in the group that use the Air Stream plumbing as if we were home. I added a stack of two 42 gallon tanks under the cap in our pickup bed. I remove /install seasonally. Takes about 20 minutes. One grey one fresh. Fresh on top to gravity fill the fresh AS tank. Grey on bottom that I pump the grey from the AS into. The grey gravity dumps at the station. I never connect to city. That way I easily know when to pump off grey. We shower daily. Black lasts 10 days. I pump off grey every other day with no effort and visit the dump station during slow time. Works great for us and good for five days of boondocking. YMMV.
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How do you pump the gray water from the AS to the pickup tank? I thought they were all just gravity drain setups. Or do you drain it into something and then pump it from there to the truck? Obviously I'm new to all this and I don't have an AS yet. Thanks! I'm learning 😁
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09-17-2018, 08:50 AM
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#36
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Rivet Master
1974 Argosy 26
Morrill
, Nebraska
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 6,014
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I use a pump just like the one used in the coach for fresh water. I have an inline filter ahead of the pump to prevent food and other particles from plugging things up.
Since my Argosy has a 12 gallon tank it takes less than 5 minutes to transfer the contents.
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09-17-2018, 09:00 AM
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#37
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Half a Rivet Short
2017 30' Classic
2022 Interstate 24X
Carlisle
, Pennsylvania
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 15,735
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TG Twinkie
I use a pump just like the one used in the coach for fresh water. I have an inline filter ahead of the pump to prevent food and other particles from plugging things up.
Since my Argosy has a 12 gallon tank it takes less than 5 minutes to transfer the contents.
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Hi
You can get some pretty fancy pumps that are "designed for the task". They are not cheap, but they will handle black water. Often they come with oversized hoses that also are a bit more "stuff" friendly.
Bob
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09-17-2018, 09:20 AM
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#38
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.-. -...
2017 25' International
Niagara-on-the-Lake
, ON Canada
Join Date: May 2016
Posts: 1,837
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Quote:
Originally Posted by diehlhaus20
How do you pump the gray water from the AS to the pickup tank? I thought they were all just gravity drain setups. Or do you drain it into something and then pump it from there to the truck? Obviously I'm new to all this and I don't have an AS yet. Thanks! I'm learning ��
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You can replace your waste cap with a Valterra T1020-1 Clear that has a 3/4" outlet for a garden hose. You then attach a hose from the cap to the pump and then open the grey waste valve and turn on the 12 volt pump.
A transfer pump designed to work with your electric drill would be slow (about 6-7 minutes for a 22 US gal tank), but adequate for the job.
__________________
Ray B.
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09-17-2018, 11:05 AM
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#39
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Rivet Master
1974 Argosy 26
Morrill
, Nebraska
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 6,014
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Don't need a black water pump to handle grey water. Just something to pump the water. The filter keeps the food particles etc from jamming things up.
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09-17-2018, 11:59 AM
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#40
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Rivet Master
1987 32' Excella
Nepean
, Ontario
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,414
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Al and Missy
I realize I could replace the toilet with a composting toilet and re-work the drain plumbing to allow the use of the black tank for gray water, but I'm not sure I'm fully on board with the composting toilet idea.
Has anyone tried to do this?
Al
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Actually, I've ordered a Nature's Head composting toilet and arranged to have it installed. The black & gray tanks will be joined, the urine (which is sterile) piped into the combined tank which will have a single valve for emptying. Work is scheduled to be done early October. I look forward to not have to wonder where I'll be finding a dump station.
__________________
VE3JDZ
AIR 12148
1987 Excella 32-foot
1999 Dodge Ram 2500HD Diesel
WBCCI 8080
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