Why not grey water into black tank?

[John]

At the state park in northern NM where I camphosted this pass summer, they asked the campers not to dump their gray water at their site.

But if a pop-up camper or an older trailer that did not have a gray water tank came into my campground, I'd allow them to either run their gray water into a 5 gallon bucket or run a garden hose over to a tree.

I told the park what I was doing and they were ok with it. But man would they get pissed if, and it happened, someone just dumped right on the ground at the site.

Like anything else in life, you have to have some balance!

[KIMILI]

Thanks Shari!
They're quite expensive for what they are!

Chuck,
thanks for the pic. We have an excursion and use the cargo area for the dogs. Don't really want that on the leather seats...
We'll check under the trailer in the back if we can mount a bracket to hold it. We have the spare tire in the front.

Another winter project...but isn't that what winter is for??!!

[Chuck]

this is what the spare tire bracket looked like before I made some minor modifications to it. just had to lower it a couple of inches. It really is too low to the ground...but it works. The spot where the trailer is parked in this picture..the ground slopes toward the rear of the trailer, so it appears even lower here than it is when its on a paved surface, hooked up to the truck.

I don't think a little grey water on a grassy patch will kill anything

It won't. The alleged problem isn't when 'you' do it...itw when you, me, everyone on this site, and the millions of other rv-ers do it all at the same time. I suspect that any "real" environmental impact is not from the used wash water itself, but from the environmentally hazzardous soaps, etc, that people insist on using. A better solution would be to ban that stuff, imo. But the companies that make those things have lobbyists and lawyers, and would put up a big stink if the gov't went after the source; easier to just tell us campers not to dump anything. Of course, if you're in a tent, and you wash your dishes in a bucket, feel free to dump THAT on the ground

Anyway..you have a new TT with tanks; the only reason you'd need one of these is if you'd like to park in one spot (with no sewer hookup) for a long period of time. In order to go to the dump station, you have to break camp, hook up the truck, etc, etc...or you could transfer the contents of your tanks (black or grey or both) into one of these things, and shuttle it over to the dump station.

I'd kind of like to have mine with me at all times, "just in case". as was posted in another thread recently, alot of campgrounds reserve you a "full hookup site" over the phone, and when you get there, it turns out to be water/electric only. (doh!). If that were to happen to me, with no integral grey storage, I'd be in trouble.

[nellie the elephant]

I spent 6 bills...that's right, 6 large... on having a permanent greywater tank mounted under my '66 Safari trailer. The mental relief of knowing that no matter where I pull over, I can go back and wash my hands, rinse off the kids, or whatever. Especially when on long road trips, and we have to change the little rugrats diapers fo the side of the road, I can go back and wash my hands without having to worry about black and grey water mixing. Why care if they mix? I have gone through the above mentioned scenario of pulling the black water valve, and then using the sinks (so the water goes into the black water tank)...and not only did the tank get full quick, but the dump station wasn't as enjoyable either (having to worry about that water between the valve and the cap.....eeeiiewwww!!!). Now my trip to the dump station are much cleaner. I never see any mess, and cleaning the hoses out by flushing the greywater tank after the black, is great. It's not cheap, but if you can afford the retrofit project...go for it.

[Pick]

In the lastest issue of the Blue Beret, there was a comment made in an editorial, "If they won't let you dump grey water on the ground, ask them if it's OK to dump wash water on the ground. We know that's clean".

Depending on the situation, we carry our 22 gallon blue tank in the bed of the pickup, or set it in the bathtub in the Airstream.

[thenewkid64]

Just a guess.

Since VERY few people would consider dumping the black tank on the ground, making the system be one tank stops all grey/wash water dumping. It is a far cry form the gopher holes that used to be the norm, but I can see how it would curb the DID thinking (Draining In Dark).

[Chuck]

yeah...well, I was chatting with an A/S salesman a while back, and this came up about the single tank, and he said that he thought he'd heard something about some pending federal legislation that would prevent grey water dumping anywhere and everywhere, and that this was the reason that they're going to a single big tank system. since right now, there are SOME situations where you can legally and morally dump grey water, you need the seperate tanks in order to have the flexibility to take advantage of all possible options. If there's only one option in the future for all water disposal, then I guess there's no point of separating the tanks.

[uwe]

Chuck,
Or if you make it your only option already without waiting for legislature........

[thenewkid64]

The thing that boggles my mind is in some state (Texas comes to mind) there are whole home grey water storage systems that retain the gray water form bath and laundry so you have a renewable source of water to SPRINKLE YOUR LAWN. This reduces the need for wells and lowers the demand on the rural water systems. With all of the concerns regarding water, availability, cost, etc I am amazed that gray water is such a hot topic. I agree that there is the bacterial issues and that depending on how long you store it, when you empty it it can have an odor.

Here in FL they take the sewage from the sewage treatment plants and "reclaim" it and pump water back out for yard watering in many cities. We have been under a one day a week watering limit for 2 years now. Even with all the rain.

[garry]

Only time I was allowed to run the grey water onto the ground was a campground in OK on the AR river. Restriction was you could not drain directly onto your campsite. Short hose took care of that. With out a grey tank installed I have always had to use the blue tank. I am thinking of puting larger (rubber) tires on my blue tank, would make it easer to handle and pull behind the truck.

Garry

[Moonshot]

Stephanie said:

I had the unfortunate situation of having to deal with a black tank that had had too much solids and not enough liquids, and so it became, lets say, encrusted over time

If you have a sewer hookup at your campsite, avoid the temptation to open the valves right away. After a day or so of allowing the tanks to fill some then dump the black then dump the gray and close the valves.

If you leave the valves open all the time when you have a sewer hookup the solids can accumulate.

Scott

[trumpwer]

We use a 5 gallon hand held for extra capacity. Its small enough, I can carry it on a walk. And as you can see, it stows easy and out of the way. When we are camping, I just stick it under the outlet, havent had anyone make off with it yet.

[FlynG]

The 04 28' CCD and Safari are listed with a 70 Gal. grey & black water tank. The 28' SO Safari goes back to the split tanks.