The old dump question

[Belbein]

I'm sure this has been asked a million times before, but I'm new at this, and don't want to be afraid to get my hands dirty. So to speak.

So, we did our second cruise this weekend, and our first black & gray water dump. There's one step that I don't understand. So I'm going to list the steps below, and bold the one that I don't get how to do, exactly, and would appreciate either pointers on that or advice on better ways to do this.

1. Attach the sewer hose to the trailer's dump valves
2. Attach the sewer hose to the dump station's drain
3. Attach the blackwater hose to the dump station faucet
4. Dump the blackwater.
5. Close the blackwater valve.
6. RUN THE BLACKWATER HOSE INTO THE BLACKWATER TANK FOR ? MINUTES SO THE AUTOMATIC SPRITZER THINGIE CAN DO ITS WORK???7. Dump the blackwater again.
8. FILL THE BLACKWATER TANK WITH A FEW GALLONS OF WATER????
9. Close the blackwater valve. Open the graywater valve.
10. Close the graywater valve, rinse out the hose. Put everything away.

As you can see, I'm confused about running the blackwater hose into the blackwater tank for the rinse, and also refilling the blackwater tank. Any advice much appreciated.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by Belbein

6. RUN THE BLACKWATER HOSE INTO THE BLACKWATER TANK FOR ? MINUTES SO THE AUTOMATIC SPRITZER THINGIE CAN DO ITS WORK???7. Dump the blackwater again.

They're referring to the hose provided at the dump station, attatching it to the black tank flush fitting, which should be somewhere near the drain valve outlet. This presumes that the provided hose actually has the male hose fitting on it. Some dump stations cut off the end of the hose so no one can accidentally hook it up to fill a freshwater tank. In that case, you have to provide your own hose; an ordinary green or black garden hose is fine, to distinguish it from your blue-and-white freshwater hose.

8. FILL THE BLACKWATER TANK WITH A FEW GALLONS OF WATER????

Using the aforementioned flush fitting, put some water in the tank. The worst thing for your valve seals is for them to dry out. In addition, if you've got a gallon or so of water sloshing around in the tank, you can add enzymes (dump them down the toilet) to eat any residual solids that didn't get dumped.

[Wayne&Sam]

Originally Posted by Protagonist

attatching it to the black tank flush fitting, which should be somewhere near the drain valve outlet.

It's probably right above the city water connection. An odd place, I've always thought.

[idroba]

Originally Posted by Wayne&Sam

It's probably right above the city water connection. An odd place, I've always thought.

Even better, on my FC 20, both the city water inlet and the black water flush inlet are nicely located right above the 30 amp Electrical inlet. Really nice if either of them leak, runs right down onto the electrical system. Does anyone at Airstream ever actually camp in the products they design?

Yea, I still love 'em, but sure wonder at times.

[TinShack]

Originally Posted by Belbein

1. Attach the sewer hose to the trailer's dump valves
2. Attach the sewer hose to the dump station's drain
3. Attach the blackwater hose to the dump station faucet
4. Dump the blackwater.
5. Close the blackwater valve.
6. RUN THE BLACKWATER HOSE INTO THE BLACKWATER TANK FOR ? MINUTES SO THE AUTOMATIC SPRITZER THINGIE CAN DO ITS WORK???7. Dump the blackwater again.
8. FILL THE BLACKWATER TANK WITH A FEW GALLONS OF WATER????
9. Close the blackwater valve. Open the graywater valve.
10. Close the graywater valve, rinse out the hose. Put everything away.

As you can see, I'm confused about running the blackwater hose into the blackwater tank for the rinse, and also refilling the blackwater tank. Any advice much appreciated.

On my 2005, I connect the garden hose to the exterior flush valve and start flushing before I open the black drain valve. This is what my manual recommends. Even so, this is contradicted by a sticker above my flush inlet that says not to use the flush adapter with the black water drain closed. I open the black drain and continue flushing and draining until the draining water runs clear. When this happens, I close the black drain valve and run the flusher for a minute or two to add a bit of water.

I open the grey water drain and then go inside to add more water to the the black tank by running the toilet while the grey water is draining. You have to have fresh water in your fresh tank to do this. I add a couple ounces of enzymes to the black tank at this time too. I try and keep at least 5-10 gallons of water in my black tank at all times to keep everything working. I also keep a couple cups of water in the toilet bowl to keep the seal on the toilet bowl gate from drying out.

Been doing it this way for years and it works well. If there is a line behind me at the dump station, I speed the process up so I don't keep people waiting.

[daveswenson]

Way more than you ever wanted to know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6sv...9dRPGIh5Aoi4BH