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Old 01-02-2014, 08:57 PM   #1
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Black & Gray Tanks

What would advantages & disadvantages be to having one 90 to 100 gal waste tank?

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Old 01-02-2014, 09:08 PM   #2
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Re: Black & Gray Tanks

Are you talking just one tank for back and grey water?
People do it , you will have more grey water and if your not carefull and the tank fills up and over flows in side it can be yucky if you have the black tank spilling out as well with 2 tanks if you had too you can empty the grey water into a pail and dump it.
it would be less work to install just on tank, I think its up to how you would want it, for me I like 2 tanks
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Old 01-02-2014, 09:38 PM   #3
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Re: Black & Gray Tanks

Quote:
Originally Posted by gbstewart
Are you talking just one tank for back and grey water?
People do it , you will have more grey water and if your not carefull and the tank fills up and over flows in side it can be yucky if you have the black tank spilling out as well with 2 tanks if you had too you can empty the grey water into a pail and dump it.
it would be less work to install just on tank, I think its up to how you would want it, for me I like 2 tanks
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Yes I'm thinking of just one tank around 100 gal, I'm putting in a 100 gal freshwater tank, I already have a mercerating toilet for pumping into the tank & I'm planning on using another pump on the waste tank discharge because the perfect place for the tank is on the right side of the bus but I have a storage bay on the left where I'm wanting to put my discharge controls
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Old 01-03-2014, 06:50 PM   #4
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Re: Black & Gray (& "Brown") Tanks

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. . . I already have a mercerating toilet for pumping into the tank . . .
I think we need to come up with a fourth tank description - a "brown" tank! A "brown" tank would hold macerated waste products with no solids. If the macerator was not built into the toilet, one could put a small black tank right under the "drop" where it needs to be so that gravity does its job, and then chop/pump the contents into a large "brown" tank that could be located anywhere that is convenient!
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Old 01-03-2014, 08:46 PM   #5
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Re: Black & Gray Tanks

I long for the olden days when the only sound you heard upon flushing the toilet on board a train was the "klickty Klack" from the railroad track. KISS---well, not any more I guess
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Old 01-04-2014, 05:19 PM   #6
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Re: Black & Gray Tanks

the only draw back to a big tank is it needs room. most of the underbelly of my bus was taken up by other items... ie generator, batteries, spare tire carrier, stairwells and fuel tanks. i could only fit a small 40 gallon tank. i have 2 more fresh water tanks to work into my system, but dropped them out of the build for the space they consume.

it depends on your platform.... if you got the space.. bigger is better
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Old 06-18-2014, 11:15 AM   #7
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Re: Black & Gray Tanks

Decided to go with one of these fuel tanks off another Crown that was crushed, capacity is 112 gallons, mounted upside down with a macerating pump off the filler neck , question is can I use the sending unit as level sender to a fuel gage or will the waste just corrode it real quick ?
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Old 06-22-2014, 11:16 AM   #8
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Re: Black & Gray Tanks

Have you considered a home made macerator? a common garbage disposal unit.
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Old 06-22-2014, 03:21 PM   #9
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Re: Black & Gray Tanks

Alternative is to buy one...
Three low cost macerators courtesy of Amazon.com
12V Macerator Water Waste Pump 45 LPM 12GPM Toilet RV Trailer Camper Marine Boat by AC AUTO $59.99 & FREE Shipping


Aidi 12v Macerator Waste Water Transfer Pump 45 lpm / 12 gpm RV Boat Marine DC $90.05 + $5.49 shipping


Johnson 12V Macerator Pump by Johnson Pumps $105.55 + $8.99 shipping


I have found that sometimes it is better to buy something new rather than build one from scrap/scratch. Of course that does NOT take into account if you need a customized item due to special circumstances. And sometimes you really just need to look up prices for what you are considering making just to see what the prices really are. It is surprising just how cheap you can buy a macerator for. On the other hand, it's amazing how expensive it would be if we were to buy power jacks for the bus rather than make our own (like over $1K per jack! I'm just way to cheap for that!). Do your homework! I had thought of going the garbage disposal route until I plugged a search into amazon.com just to see what I could save. Once I factored in having to buy either a used, possibly non-working garbage disposal or the cheapest/smallest new one at the store I work at ($84.96 and then modifying it to work, buying a macerator made for the job looked more attractive. So use the internet and research prices.
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Old 06-22-2014, 03:40 PM   #10
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Re: Black & Gray Tanks

lornaschinske, you are spot on with your comments. A home made macerator is only inexpensive if one has a used one from say a known kitchen remodel, so they know it's good, and they have the skills and tools needed to build their own. for anyone else, the one's you showed would be the way to go. I guess I should have been a little clearer about that.
On that thought, another option is to check with boat salvage yards.(if you have one nearby) a lot of boats were equipped with macerators and many times they can be had reasonable.
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Old 07-03-2015, 09:20 PM   #11
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I'm looking a possibly getting a killer deal on 150 ft of industrial grade collapsable hose problem is all the macerating pumps I can find have a outlet of 1 in & the hose is 1 1/2 in, what would be negative effect of stepping up to 1 1/2 in from 1 in off the outlet of a macerating pump.
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Old 07-04-2015, 09:35 AM   #12
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Another option is to go with one gray tank and a composting toilet. More flexibility that way. My plan os for one 110gl gray tank and forgo the black tank altogethor. Saves a lot of plumbing.

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Old 07-04-2015, 09:55 AM   #13
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Another option is to go with one gray tank and a composting toilet. More flexibility that way. My plan os for one 110gl gray tank and forgo the black tank altogethor. Saves a lot of plumbing.

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I've already have the tanks & the toilet
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Old 07-04-2015, 10:05 AM   #14
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Old 07-05-2015, 07:49 PM   #15
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Turns out it didn't matter anyways when my brother got to the auction it turned out to be 2 1/2 in hose
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Old 07-05-2015, 09:34 PM   #16
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You're talking about discharge hose that lays flat when not in use, right? You should have bought it!

I have 20 feet of 1" flat discharge host for my macerator and it isn't big enough (diameter). It fits the discharge port, which is nice, but the trouble starts there. The pump wants to discharge so much that it makes the hose stand out straight. Because the hose doesn't have any form on its own it doesn't bend very well; the walls tend to collapse or pinch. The macerator is so eager to move a lot of volume that when it hits that slight restriction, the upstream hose inflates like a balloon and turns the pinch into a kink, making the problem even worse. It takes some doing once the pump is running to straighten the kinks enough to get some flow.

I like the flat discharge hose concept, but I haven't put enough thought into figuring out how to make it work. I'd like to use a short section, maybe 5-7 feet, for most dump needs and have a coupler so that it can be extended to 20-30 feet for special occasions. Maybe a chicago-style coupler like those used on large compressed air lines..? I'd love to hear your ideas about it.
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Old 07-05-2015, 09:43 PM   #17
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You're talking about discharge hose that lays flat when not in use, right? You should have bought it!

I have 20 feet of 1" flat discharge host for my macerator and it isn't big enough (diameter). It fits the discharge port, which is nice, but the trouble starts there. The pump wants to discharge so much that it makes the hose stand out straight. Because the hose doesn't have any form on its own it doesn't bend very well; the walls tend to collapse or pinch. The macerator is so eager to move a lot of volume that when it hits that slight restriction, the upstream hose inflates like a balloon and turns the pinch into a kink, making the problem even worse. It takes some doing once the pump is running to straighten the kinks enough to get some flow.

I like the flat discharge hose concept, but I haven't put enough thought into figuring out how to make it work. I'd like to use a short section, maybe 5-7 feet, for most dump needs and have a coupler so that it can be extended to 20-30 feet for special occasions. Maybe a chicago-style coupler like those used on large compressed air lines..? I'd love to hear your ideas about it.
Wish you had told me this yesterday, the auction was today,, damn
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Old 07-05-2015, 10:20 PM   #18
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Old 07-06-2015, 05:52 PM   #19
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Haven't gotten our waste tanks yet. Original plan was to have black/grey combo (1 tank). But I like what I've been reading.

If I was to go with 2 what would be the recommendation for sizes for black & for grey. Our water tank is 28 gal and all I know is that I want my waste to be slightly more so that I run out of water before I run out of room for waste.

We have a Jabsco crapper (marine crapper) and can limit the amount of water we use there. I've had thoughts of putting a mascerator in line and what I'm reading I can flip a switch and add grey water when I need or want to.

With our equipment would 5-10 gal for black waste be too small and maybe 20 gal for grey water? Or should we be staying with the black/grey combo

Hubby is installing crapper over drivers side wheel well and to put a tank right there in ront of the tires would be a little tricky cause I think the muffler is coming out right there.

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Old 07-06-2015, 06:31 PM   #20
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I would really try to put your toilet right above the black tank, nice straight drop, no bends or twists to have a clog. also easier to install.
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