Standard or custom dump station fittings?

[TygerCub]

Hi all... I am about to install the black tank, but it will only be grey water. No need for the HUGE hose outlet that comes with the tank. I want to reduce it down to a 2" collapsable hose to ease packing, but am not sure about the dump station requirements. Since I am only dumping grey water, do I have to use that monster attachment that is typically on a black tank? The one that came with the craigslist special was so old it was dry rotted and cracked beyond salvaging. The guy at the RV store said I could just buy a regular valve from Lowes or Home Depot, but those don't hook up to regular hoses without a LOT of reducers.

For the folks who are using the 50 gallon food drums or custom grey tanks... how did you deal with the dump station valves? What did you use and how well did it work for you at the dump station?

[SeanF]

Hi again TC

I started out using the collapsible 2" hose like you describe, and being able to flatten & roll it up was pretty much the only advantage it had. It is susceptible to kinking unless it is a straight shot to where you are dumping. And I had a heck of a time getting a good seal between it and the outlet pipe on my graywater tank, no matter how I torqued the hose clamp. After a while I up-sized the outlet pipe and switched to the standard RV stuff, with the rubberized (but it's probably PVC?) "slinky" hose and fittings. I have a 5' section for the "drive-up & dump" scenarios, and a 20' section for when the dump station is "further afield".

The hose is bulky stuff but the fittings are available pretty much anywhere and it seems to last. I think some RVers use a length of PVC pipe to store it.

One campground I've been to required the use of a rubber "doughnut" to ensure a seal between their dump and your hose. They probably won't care if it's only graywater.

I had a separate pair of gloves that were used for dealing with graywater. Even though it's decidedly less foul than blackwater, if I got any graywater on my hands the smell would linger all day, regardless of soap & scrubbing efforts. Not cool, esp at mealtime.

HTH
Sean

[chev49]

You can also store it in 4 in sq tubing used for a bumper.. older rv's had them that way...

[chev49]

Originally Posted by richlindquist

I recommend using the standard RV sewer hose and fittings. I used something like this one http://www.walmart.com/ip/Camco-Revo...ndingMethod=rr that allowed me to adjust the length as needed. It also came with air-tight end caps. After use, I would rinse the hoses, spray everything with a 50/50 bleach/water solution, and then compress the hoses (think slinky) and cap them. A 10 foot hose became less than 18 inches.

Don't go cheap - you REALLY don't want a hose coming loose in mid dump.

A couple of good pairs of chemical gloves that reach mid-arm and won't tear will make things much nicer. Just give them a quick rinse and bleach spray and let them air-dry until next time.

Rich

i do the same as this post, as well as having an aluminum expanding sewer hose rest, so that the line can taper down to the drain. as far as gloves, i just use the disposable ones from the hospital..

[Stuff]

id go with conventional just cause you can find parts when you need them. And sometimes that is like walmart at 3 am lol

[lornaschinske]

Originally Posted by SeanF

... One campground I've been to required the use of a rubber "doughnut" to ensure a seal between their dump and your hose. They probably won't care if it's only graywater...

MANY campgrounds require either a grey or black "sewer donut"


or the two piece "elbow" set up



either way it's to prevent the smells from the open sewer drain from smelling up the campground. (currently running the two piece one shown in the pic... Class C is using the red one shown above)

Many campgrounds do not allow a sewer hose to sit on the ground for various reasons. Some places, it's against the law. Other places it's aesthetics or to prevent the hose from being damaged by grounds crews. Either way, you want a good slope from your waste valve to the campground's sewer pipe. We use a PVC rain gutter (the type you put on houses). Currently we are running a standard 3" RV sewer hose (attached to our PVC elbow with a hose clamp.... we put a PVC ball valve in, not an RV blade type gate valve and no bayonet termination fittings for sewer hoses). It fits nicely into a rain gutter. DO NOT BUY THE PLASTIC STINKY SLINKY! I dislike both the metal & plastic ones but the plastic one is garbage. Too cheap to buy the metal one? Then go buy a $6 length of PVC rain gutter, cut it down (one section will slide into another) and suspend the bus end with a chain or bungie cords from the bottom of your bus. Bungie cord the other end tight to the sewer elbow. You do was to slope your sewer hose for good drainage. The less you move your sewer hose, the less likely you will put a crack in the vinyl.

TIP: EU6000 (available in the craft section or glues section at WalMart) is a good glue for glue a crack or pin hole in a sewer hose. Apply a liberal "glop" over the "hole" Do not dump until the glue has dried... either all day or over night. A patch of this type had held on the Class C's heavy duty sewer hose for two years now (not been moved and well supported with a rain gutter support). This is a two piece run and both sections will be trashed when Stacey leaves. The fittings will be saved to be used on another hose.

TIp: if using the 3" hose.... Get the "heavy duty" hose KIT first from walmart. Save the fittings. I like the red ones. Upgrade the hose later if you want. The heavy duty ones last about 1 year even with moving a lot. Birds & other critters like to poke holes in them so you may want to keep an extra one (rotate out every year). Sun rots them all. Don't go lighter than "heavy duty". DO NOT get "standard duty" hoses as they are a waste of $$. Very handy if you also keep a straight coupler on hand to attach the two hoses together (had to do that twice in recent years... Class C is sitting with 15 ft sewer run right now using two 10 ft sewer hoses). 10 ft sections should be what you need. You will most likely find that 10 ft is more than enough.

I like the disposable nitrile gloves I buy from Sam's Club. I use them also for packaging up food. When I need to dump, I pull a few out of the package I keep in the kitchen. Lots of uses for disposable gloves. They are cheap, go bad ("rot") in a few months, so use lots.

That said... we are going to be hooking a macerater directly to our black tank. We will pump thru a 2" flexible "spa" type hose from bus to sewer drain pipe. It is a ribbed, heavy duty hose that is semi-smooth on the inside. We will build a slip in connection, similar to the stepped elbow fitting, out of PVC pipe/fittings to allow us to slip the 2" hose into the campground sewer pipe and seal against smells. Before you decide to follow similar suite, I suggest you visit several campgrounds and measure their sewer pipes. NORMALLY we have found 3" PVC pipe is typical. Have only run into one that was larger.... I darn near lost my grey sewer donut into the pipe... had to use both the sewer donut on the "stepped" sewer fitting to seal the fitting to the pipe. We have limited space to store a sewer hose & fittings. I dislike the 3" RV sewer hoses. I invariably put one up with no holes and take it out with holes.

I suggest you read...
How To Dump your Tanks

[TygerCub]

Thanks again guys. The brackets holding the tank in place were finished today, so now all I have to do is finish plumbing from the tub to the tank and I'll be done for this trip.

It looks like going with the normal 3" hose set-up and regular dump end fittings may be what I end up doing. Probably only buy 10' of hose, though. I should only have to dump every 3 to 4 days, and I'd rather have the "standard" kit than something a campground won't allow.

Pictures later on the build thread - now I'm off to bed.

[lornaschinske]

Those little pink nice smelling diaper bags that DollarTree carries not only makes good dog poo baggies ( and nice mini trash bags for the bathroom... ladies will know what I mean) but also good to put the nasty gloves in after dumping. Then drop the into the RVs trash can or stop by the campground trash bin before leaving. We toss them in the RV trash then toss that into the campground trash bin on our way out.

[thrash]

I highly recommend this setup for dumping:

http://www.drainmaster.com/WasteMaster.html

The Cam-Loc system is awesome, and the polychute hose is really good also. No drops, no spills, no nothing. The hose has a pretty amazing stretch to it, and bounces right back when you're done.