Black, gray and fresh water tanks

[Tango]

...or...go with a composting toilet and just toss it in any trash bin. That leaves just gray water which can be disposed of most anywhere.

[Stu & Filo. T]

Originally Posted by Tango

...or...go with a composting toilet and just toss it in any trash bin. That leaves just gray water which can be disposed of most anywhere.

Or Bury it.

[mikeypj]

Originally Posted by Stu & Filo. T

your allowed to stay in one place 14 days on federal land then required to move at least 25 miles before setting up again,, what I'm getting at is you can go a smaller blacktank then dig a hole fairly deep dump then bury. if your camped in what looks like a regularly used area polite thing would be bury it away from camp. Also black tank doesn't fill up near as fast as your grey. I've got around a 33 gal tank. I believe that can last 2 of us 2 weeks easily enough,

That is what i wanted to know, guess i didn't ask the right questions. I dont think i would dump my black tank like that unless it was an emergency. Ok this is what ive gotten. Gray tank needs to be equal to fresh water and black would need to be half of fresh water and gray tank. 100 gallons will be fine for fresh water 100 gray and 50 black for 14 days boondocking .

[AlleyCat67]

Well you don't *have* to make grey and fresh water equal, though there's certainly nothing wrong with doing so. The main rule is grey and black combined have to at least equal fresh water. You can certainly go bigger on your waste tanks if you want, at least that way you know you won't overflow them before running out of fresh water... in that case you'll want to dump the waste tanks when you refill the fresh water.

That's one reason most of us go with composting toilets... takes the black tank out of the equation and we just install equal fresh and grey water tanks.

[mikeypj]

Originally Posted by AlleyCat67

Well you don't *have* to make grey and fresh water equal, though there's certainly nothing wrong with doing so. The main rule is grey and black combined have to at least equal fresh water. You can certainly go bigger on your waste tanks if you want, at least that way you know you won't overflow them before running out of fresh water... in that case you'll want to dump the waste tanks when you refill the fresh water.

That's one reason most of us go with composting toilets... takes the black tank out of the equation and we just install equal fresh and grey water tanks.

So where do you dispose of the composted poo?

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[mikeypj]

Originally Posted by mikeypj

So where do you dispose of the composted poo?

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Ok, just did a little research. I can see the up side of a composting toilet. Emptying the liquid container could get a little sloppy, but a lot less than emptying a black tank.. now i need to decide which way to go...

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[AlleyCat67]

Originally Posted by Tango

...or...go with a composting toilet and just toss it in any trash bin. That leaves just gray water which can be disposed of most anywhere.

That's one example of what you do with the composted poo.

Or bury it, like another person said.

Or if you have storage space, when the container fills you put a lid on it and let it compost for a year or so, then use the compost in a flower garden or on a yard. You wouldn't want to use it on food plants unless the internal temperature of the compost pile gets up high enough to kill any pathogens that are in it, which in this setup is not guaranteed. I myself will probably just bag it and toss it.

[mikeypj]

Originally Posted by AlleyCat67

That's one example of what you do with the composted poo.

Or bury it, like another person said.

Or if you have storage space, when the container fills you put a lid on it and let it compost for a year or so, then use the compost in a flower garden or on a yard. You wouldn't want to use it on food plants unless the internal temperature of the compost pile gets up high enough to kill any pathogens that are in it, which in this setup is not guaranteed. I myself will probably just bag it and toss it.

Living full time in my skoolie will make it kinda tough to maintain a garden..lol. the more i research the more i like the idea of a composting toilet. Thanks for opening my eyes to a new and better idea!

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[AlleyCat67]

Glad to help!

Something else to think about.... you mentioned not being able to maintain a garden since you'll be fulltiming.... so maybe just grow a few plants in pots.... when you get ready to pull up and go somewhere else you bring the pots into the bus, go wherever you're going, and put them back outside. This is what I plan to do.... 3 or 4 pots with tomato plants, one or two with green onions, some smaller ones in a tray for an herb garden. I love to cook, and fresh produce just makes it that much better. Granted, being mobile will kind of limit what you can have (kind of hard to transport corn plants, for example) but other things will work well.

You can use some of your grey water to keep them watered too.

[mikeypj]

Originally Posted by AlleyCat67

Glad to help!

Something else to think about.... you mentioned not being able to maintain a garden since you'll be fulltiming.... so maybe just grow a few plants in pots.... when you get ready to pull up and go somewhere else you bring the pots into the bus, go wherever you're going, and put them back outside. This is what I plan to do.... 3 or 4 pots with tomato plants, one or two with green onions, some smaller ones in a tray for an herb garden. I love to cook, and fresh produce just makes it that much better. Granted, being mobile will kind of limit what you can have (kind of hard to transport corn plants, for example) but other things will work well.

You can use some of your grey water to keep them watered too.

We are planning on herbs, but hadnt thought about growing in planters

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[prof.fate]

Not an issue in my experience. Pulled TT all over the place and they have plastic tanks.

A consideratin is the weight of a full tank (55gal at 8lb/gal need mounted well).
Next is balance - you put 150gal of water on one side you put extra stress on taht side of the vehcles - i've seen camper trailer blow tires from overloading and overheating. Btu then run a lot closer to the weight limits than a bus will.

Most FW tanks I've seen have a vent line that comes out as part of the fill fitting, so when you have the tank full you'll know.

Gray and black need vents to the roof like any plumbing system.

you'll also want to consider dumping them - left rear or left side is common for dump sites, and you'll need a hose - so go with standard RV valves and fittings to make your life easier. If you want to get fancy you could have the gray dump THROUGH the black - flush it out as it were. You don't want the black to back flow though! High end RVs have flush systems build into the tanks, and all RVs have level indicators, though my experience is they're nto particulalry accurate.

When camping with 4 people, and no showering in the camper, if we're careful we use 10/gal a day of water, if not so careful 20. Toilet and dishes/cooking.

Originally Posted by mikeypj

I would be concerned about the barrel being punctured. You would have to make custom guards to keep them un-punctured

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[PNW_Steve]

Good discussion!

I spent about 6 years full time on the road in my last conversion. I had equipped it with:

200 gallon fresh

120 gallon gray

86 gallon black

What we found is that if you stay in RV parks regularly then tank capacity becomes much less of a concern as you can dump frequently. If you dry camp it is another story.

When dry camping I found that good opportunities to dump the gray tank came along much more frequently than opportunities to dump the black tank. So, having an over sized black tank did serve us well.

As far as consumption goes, we have a shower head with an on/off button on the handheld shower head. I can take a nice shower using 3 gallons of water or less if I don't shave. Water on and get wet, water off and lather & scrub, shave, water on and rinse quickly. We never let the water run unless it was "working".

We have spent 20 days boondocking in Southern Nevada before running out of water.

Laundry can be a HUGE water consumer. We currently live full time in a 5er and the clothes washer accounts for 50% of our water usage.

Regarding the poster that recommended the composting toilet. We are about three weeks into the switch from RV toilet to composter (home built) and I LOVE it. Maintenance labor is a fraction of dealing with the black tank. No more chemicals. It smells better. There have been some rough spots getting the DIY design right.

My next conversion will NOT have a black tank.

[Geo Jeff]

Originally Posted by prof.fate

Not an issue in my experience. Pulled TT all over the place and they have plastic tanks.

A consideratin is the weight of a full tank (55gal at 8lb/gal need mounted well).
Next is balance - you put 150gal of water on one side you put extra stress on taht side of the vehcles - i've seen camper trailer blow tires from overloading and overheating. Btu then run a lot closer to the weight limits than a bus will.

Most FW tanks I've seen have a vent line that comes out as part of the fill fitting, so when you have the tank full you'll know.

Gray and black need vents to the roof like any plumbing system.

you'll also want to consider dumping them - left rear or left side is common for dump sites, and you'll need a hose - so go with standard RV valves and fittings to make your life easier. If you want to get fancy you could have the gray dump THROUGH the black - flush it out as it were. You don't want the black to back flow though! High end RVs have flush systems build into the tanks, and all RVs have level indicators, though my experience is they're nto particulalry accurate.

When camping with 4 people, and no showering in the camper, if we're careful we use 10/gal a day of water, if not so careful 20. Toilet and dishes/cooking.

I just cant imagine how you would puncture a tank. As far as weight goes we could use skoolie bus to build our Rvs they have suspensions that can carry several tons and barely notice it.

[Geo Jeff]

I wonder if its worth running the air conditioning drip hose into the fresh water tank. it is distilled. I think i read the one i am buying will remove up to 92 pints a day from the air.

Your bus size will tell you the tank sizes there is just only so much room. There is now reason to go days with out showering. If you cant live normal your either camping in the wrong place and not taking advantage of local area water like streams lakes. In my boat we run the shower and sink water on salt water from the bay. Then drinking water is there but we usually have a ton ob bottled water cases on trips. plus who drinks water? I run it in the ice machine but beer and vodka fro bloody marrys is not only refreshing but good for you. Lets think and be healthy and pour another drink.

After seeing the cost of preformed tanks even in a small skoolie I would be thinking of roof mounted barrels that you fill as close to the camp park your headed into.

[mikeypj]

Originally Posted by PNW_Steve

Good discussion!

I spent about 6 years full time on the road in my last conversion. I had equipped it with:

200 gallon fresh

120 gallon gray

86 gallon black

What we found is that if you stay in RV parks regularly then tank capacity becomes much less of a concern as you can dump frequently. If you dry camp it is another story.

When dry camping I found that good opportunities to dump the gray tank came along much more frequently than opportunities to dump the black tank. So, having an over sized black tank did serve us well.

As far as consumption goes, we have a shower head with an on/off button on the handheld shower head. I can take a nice shower using 3 gallons of water or less if I don't shave. Water on and get wet, water off and lather & scrub, shave, water on and rinse quickly. We never let the water run unless it was "working".

We have spent 20 days boondocking in Southern Nevada before running out of water.

Laundry can be a HUGE water consumer. We currently live full time in a 5er and the clothes washer accounts for 50% of our water usage.

Regarding the poster that recommended the composting toilet. We are about three weeks into the switch from RV toilet to composter (home built) and I LOVE it. Maintenance labor is a fraction of dealing with the black tank. No more chemicals. It smells better. There have been some rough spots getting the DIY design right.

My next conversion will NOT have a black tank.

After some research, i am sold on composting toilets. Years ago my dad wanted to show me how to dump the tanks on the 30 footer. That day and smell is forever etched in my memory. Poo water went everywhere, i literally showered in it. Anyway i digress, im sold on composting toilets.

[Tango]

I totally agree. Having owned and dealt with a couple pf poop tanks...I will never have another. It's compost...or hold it all in for a couple of weeks.

[mikeypj]

Originally Posted by Geo Jeff

I wonder if its worth running the air conditioning drip hose into the fresh water tank. it is distilled. I think i read the one i am buying will remove up to 92 pints a day from the air.

Your bus size will tell you the tank sizes there is just only so much room. There is now reason to go days with out showering. If you cant live normal your either camping in the wrong place and not taking advantage of local area water like streams lakes. In my boat we run the shower and sink water on salt water from the bay. Then drinking water is there but we usually have a ton ob bottled water cases on trips. plus who drinks water? I run it in the ice machine but beer and vodka fro bloody marrys is not only refreshing but good for you. Lets think and be healthy and pour another drink.

After seeing the cost of preformed tanks even in a small skoolie I would be thinking of roof mounted barrels that you fill as close to the camp park your headed into.

I learned man cannot live on booze alone and let me tell you i tried. Boondockin is all about lectric and water conservation.

[Geo Jeff]

That's funny!

[PNW_Steve]

Originally Posted by mikeypj

I learned man cannot live on booze alone and let me tell you i tried. Boondockin is all about lectric and water conservation.

Water conservation = Scotch without water?

[milkmania]

Originally Posted by PNW_Steve

Good discussion!

I spent about 6 years full time on the road in my last conversion. I had equipped it with:

200 gallon fresh

120 gallon gray

86 gallon black

What we found is that if you stay in RV parks regularly then tank capacity becomes much less of a concern as you can dump frequently. If you dry camp it is another story.

When dry camping I found that good opportunities to dump the gray tank came along much more frequently than opportunities to dump the black tank. So, having an over sized black tank did serve us well.

As far as consumption goes, we have a shower head with an on/off button on the handheld shower head. I can take a nice shower using 3 gallons of water or less if I don't shave. Water on and get wet, water off and lather & scrub, shave, water on and rinse quickly. We never let the water run unless it was "working".

We have spent 20 days boondocking in Southern Nevada before running out of water.

Laundry can be a HUGE water consumer. We currently live full time in a 5er and the clothes washer accounts for 50% of our water usage.

Regarding the poster that recommended the composting toilet. We are about three weeks into the switch from RV toilet to composter (home built) and I LOVE it. Maintenance labor is a fraction of dealing with the black tank. No more chemicals. It smells better. There have been some rough spots getting the DIY design right.

My next conversion will NOT have a black tank.

Care to share your diy plans? I'm at a crossroads right now as to how I want to proceed... Black water tank or composing.