gray water

[AFTER TAXES]

is adding bleach to the gray water tank a good idea ?
smells like rotten eggs !

[Lily&Me]

There are lots of threads here on sanitizing your tanks, if you use the blue search box at the top of the page.

Some add a small mount of bleach to each tank, others sanitize just at the beginning of each season....and there are all manner of habits in between.

Maggie

[Adventure.AS]

Originally Posted by AFTER TAXES

is adding bleach to the gray water tank a good idea ?
smells like rotten eggs !

I use some of the same enzyme treatment that I add to the black tank.

[brick1]

I add the orange tank treatment, same as I do for the black water tank. You might also consider flushing the grey tank.
brick

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Like it or not, waste water can "grow stuff" in it. The idea of the enzyme tablets is to encourage less stinky processes to occur. If your gray water system is smelling, the first thing to do is a really good flush. It may take a couple of fill and dump cycles to get things under control. Bleach may help, just don't go crazy with it. The same is true of normal pipe cleaning solutions. A little is ok, dumping 5 gallons in .... probably not a good idea.

Once things are a bit more tolerable water management is worth thinking about. Water / crud sitting in the tank for a long time is bad. Even if the tank isn't full, dumping on a regular basis is a good idea. How often is regular? I would not stretch it past twice a month. A good flush when dumping is part of the process.

With gray water, consider what goes down the drain in the kitchen. If you *can* put it in the trash, do so. The less organic matter goes into the tank, the less stink. Yes, this makes cleaning that grubby pot a bit more labor / paper towel intensive .... sorry about that

Lots of fun !!

Bob

[Silver Otter]

As bob said:
"With gray water, consider what goes down the drain in the kitchen. If you *can* put it in the trash, do so. The less organic matter goes into the tank, the less stink. Yes, this makes cleaning that grubby pot a bit more labor / paper towel intensive .... sorry about that "

Our dishes are "almost" clean when we wash/sanitize them.

I also drop the same tablet we use in the black tank in the shower drain, followed by about two gal. water, if we are off the road for a month or more (which doesn't happen often <grin>).

[Castaway]

I "cleaned" my tanks today, I poured about 1/2 gallon of bleach and a couple squirts of Dawn into both black and grey tank then put about 10 gallon water in each. After letting the solution soak on the bottom of the tank I drove the trailer around some back country roads while making several quick stops to get some washing action in the tanks. When I dumped the tanks I watched to see what the water looked like. The black tank was clear and clean while the grey water was cloudy.



Gary

[CRH]

1/2 gallon of bleach in ten gallons of water sounds pretty potent.

[TheGreatleys]

Serious question. Call me crazy. Why is it a problem that the gray water smells bad?

[aftermath]

I just use the same chemicals I use for my black tank. I only sanitize my fresh water tank. Don't see the point in doing the others. Rinse them, yes. Treat them, yes. Haven't sanitized them yet.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Originally Posted by TheGreatleys

Serious question. Call me crazy. Why is it a problem that the gray water smells bad?

Hi, and the answer is: We camped in a friends driveway and our friend and her neighbor said it was alright to drain our gray tank on the grass. Well is smelled pretty bad. Other than this type situation, you would never smell it. I found, and now use, a tablet made for de-odorizing gray tanks and it works great.

[Castaway]

Originally Posted by CRH

1/2 gallon of bleach in ten gallons of water sounds pretty potent.

Typo 1/4 gallon



Gary