Why not grey water into black tank?

[Foureagles]

This thread got me thinking (imagine that!). My '71 Overlander has no grey tank, and I'm guilty of using the dribble method. In places where this isn't acceptable (ie: can't get away with it) I back it up into the black and cringe at dump time. I'm likely to add a small grey tank just to avoid this.

I often need more liquid to adequately purge the black tank. Since I'm new here and don't know y'all anyway, I'll go ahead and lay-out the scatalogical scenario. For solitary males it works like this: #2 in the black tank, #1 in the great outside -- does wonders for dump intervals.

I grew up in the Southwest US where water is precious, and I can't make myself waste it by just dumping fresh stuff down the toilet. It occurs that, if I add a Y aft of my new grey tank, I could select whether to dump it alone when it fills first, or send it's contents through the black tank, thus eking the last possible value from my old soapy water.

Thoughts?

[Pick]

It is possible to do simple things that do not require a lot of water, such as washing hands, or rinsing out cups, without a grey tank. The plumbing itself will hold several gallons. Just have a 5 gallon bucket handy, when you take the cap off. Or, get one of those caps with a garden hose type connection. Leave the cap "a little loose", and it will slowly drain out in transit.

[Stefrobrts]

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, until my 12 gallon tank only held about 6 gallons. Ewww. A couple long soaks (two or more weeks at a time) with generous helpings of RID-X seems to have cleaned it out well. From now on we will be more generous with the water! We add a gallon after dumping so there is always some water in there to help keep things moving, and use water generously when we flush. Better than the alternative.

Kimili, The blue tank is a flat blue sealed container with wheels. Ours will slide under the coach. It's easy to disconnect and take to the dump station without having to move the whole trailer. If you had one big enough you could even empty the black tank into it and haul it to the dump station. Some of them hook onto the ball of your tow vehicle for easier moving.

Eric, when we were at the astronomy party the Forest Service had made it quite clear there would be NO dumping of wastewater on the ground. We ended up going without showers. I wouldn't want to be the one who got caught and got the whole group banned from the location! Definitly have to be careful where you dump.

[Chuck]

here's a pic from a recent rally. there was another truck ahead of us, but he took off too quickly, and the wife couldn't get him into the picture. pretty funny sight..a parade to the dump station from vintage (i.e. "no grey tanks") row!

Anyway, I now carry mine on my spare tire carrier, and ran plumbing to it from the poop-chute in the back....so I have the best (or worst?) of both worlds; for short stays, I have an on-board tank; if I'm staying longer, I can remove it from the spare tire rack and use it as it was intended. (we seem to be able to go pretty far with the black tank; the grey, we seem to fill up quickly for some reason. )

[InsideOut]

I love it!!! Great picture...

Shari

[KIMILI]

Cool pic!
When boondocking and until we become better RV ers "We need one of those blue tanks!"
...don't know where to store it though...

To Stephanie,
We never dump the black tank in the open! Only in proper dump stations.
Our grey water is only soap and water (we use natural soaps/biodegradeble), no food or other sort of scraps, we have filters on every drain: kitchen, bathroom and shower. We're very careful and clean them regularly.

I don't think a little grey water on a grassy patch will kill anything, but we'll avoid it as much as possible and won't do it where it's absolutely forbidden. Thanks for the advice

[InsideOut]

They are great and available in different sizes, just keep in mind that the larger it is, the heavier it is when full thus harder to manipulate. We only take ours with us when we know we won't have full hook-ups and just put it in either the truck or trailer. BTW, we only it for grey water, although I know some folks also use it for emptying black.

Here's a link to them on the Camping World site.

Shari

[Chuck]

well, mine is 11" high with the wheels (9" without), 24 inches wide, and 38" long. its a biggie, though...rides on 4 wheels. (mine is the blue dodge in the pic; you can see how it rides flat on the 4 wheels...good thing, too, cuz you'd never be able to lift it when its full). The guy in front of me has a smaller one, light enough so that the front end can be lifted up onto his hitch. mine has a tow-bar type arrangement.

It takes up alot of room in the back of the pickup truck, though, which is part of the reason that I figured out a way to carry it on the trailer's spare tire carrier. (I don't have a spare tire..so I'm not missing out on anything there).

I didn't think there was enough room at first, because I had never actually stuck my head under the front of the trailer to look. when I did, I saw that they had actually removed the belly skin in that area to make room for a tire to stick up in the resulting cavity. So I took some measurements, brought them to my boss, who made this nifty 3-d model, to see if the bulky blue boy would actually fit in this oddly shaped space created by the front framework of the trailer.

[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.