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Old 07-17-2012, 04:17 PM   #1
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Water tank guesstimate and plumbing question

Hi,

I am starting to think about water and waste tanks for my bus and I was curious what common capacities are for water and greywater tanks?

The local Tractor Supply Company store has 100 gallon steel tanks (rectangular, perfect for fitting underneath one side) for about $279. Is that a good deal? Not only does it have brackets on the bottom (for simpler mounting), but it also is 5 minutes from my house so I don't need to pay for freight charges.

Is there a big difference between a steel tank and plastic (polypropylene?) tank? Is 100 a good size to be when off any water line, and what are common usages per person (gallons per day, etc)? I'm wondering how long it'll last.

I'm imagining I'd have a composting toilet so I'm not wasting valuable water, and probably only shower when it's hooked up to a water line.

Also, in general, what are the regulations for wastewater (greywater)? I'd imagine smaller campers/trailers would not have storage tanks to keep the greywater until disposal at specific places. Assuming it's just greywater and not blackwater (ie no toilet). Is it (generally) legal to just have an 'outlet' line that goes to a hose that drains ~20-30 feet from the motorhome? New Jersey says I need a 'sink' in the bus but said NOTHING about a toilet or a greywater tank. Or a potable water tank for that matter.

I'm hoping, for the first phase, at least to get the vehicle registered and on the road, I can have spigots that go directly from a water line to the sink via a hose (and hard plumbing line on the interior), and then adapt the waste line from the sink to another spigot that goes to a hose 30 feet away. I'm not sure if this is legal. It's just greywater and all the soaps, etc I use are natural anyway.

Are there general design/sanitary regulations for RV's?

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Old 07-17-2012, 04:32 PM   #2
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Re: Water tank guesstimate and plumbing question

Yes there are. Please don't stay next to me and run your stinky grey water out . ICK! Don't think grey water smells? Set a 5 gallon buck 1/2 full of used dish water in your living quarters and after a week tell me how it smells?

BTW, in some states you can be kicked off public lands for dumping grey water indiscriminately.
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Old 07-17-2012, 04:42 PM   #3
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Re: Water tank guesstimate and plumbing question

Well there is a HUGE difference between a 5 gallon bucket of stagnant dirty water and a small constant trickle that comes out of a hose, especially SOAPY water, that rapidly seeps into the ground. For some reason people don't seem to comprehend the difference. Stagnant water IS a problem, and I can understand that dumping a greywater tank would stink to high hell, but then again it's been sitting around stagnant with any soap, etc separated by then. What I'm referring to is using a hose as a drain line, direct from the shower/sink, not from a greywater tank.

Either way I know it's controversial, and am more thinking about regulations. More specifically about getting the vehicle registered, since the motor vehicles only asked for a sink, nothing about a wastewater tank or disposal system.

I would eventually get a graywater system installed, but initially I am wanting to register the vehicle ASAP...
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Old 07-17-2012, 04:45 PM   #4
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Re: Water tank guesstimate and plumbing question

You don't understand . So I'll yell...

DUMPING WASTE WATER ON THE GROUND IS ILLEGAL IN MOST EASTERN STATES!


NFPA 1192 Standard on Recreational Vehicles. http://www.nfpa.org is where you can buy a copy.

Regulations regarding waste water disposal (both black & grey) are tougher in the East than in the West. In the West, in many places you can dig a hole and bury it. In the East you will be fined and/or locked up for the same thing. Who want's to camp in a cesspool?

Go to any of the RV discussion sites and check out the boondocking forums. Ask there about tank capacities/water usage and then tell them your idea for dumping grey water. DON"T FORGET TO TELL THEM YOU LIVE IN NJ!!!

You've been told it's unacceptable and illegal. I'm done.
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Old 07-17-2012, 04:48 PM   #5
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Re: Water tank guesstimate and plumbing question

Lorne,

I'm new to all this and I'm just asking questions. I'm not going out and doing all this yet. I don't appreciate your hostility and find it entirely unwarranted. All I wanted was some link to the regulations. Not people yelling at me.

I read that at least in some states the regulations involve the disposal of GRAYWATER tanks. if it comes directly from a shower drain or sink drain, it bypasses the graywater tank entirely and may (or may not) be the same thing.

Either way, I'm just _asking_ and trying to learn. Not trigger hostile behavior with anybody.
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Old 07-17-2012, 05:26 PM   #6
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Re: Water tank guesstimate and plumbing question

It sounds like it's a concern of the health department rather than the motor vehicles and so the motor vehicles may not worry so much about the disposal tank. I really only intend on using it in the very temporary mean time (until I have the time/money to get a graywater tank), and even then, only on private land (friends') who are okay with the graywater and where it's contained properly. It's very temporary, maybe a month or two, just to get it on the road, visit some family/friends.
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Old 07-17-2012, 07:26 PM   #7
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Re: Water tank guesstimate and plumbing question

not to mention that many campgrounds consider that while dry camping in a bus, with a proper container, the regulations for grey water disposal are the same as for tent camping...
and valves, etc in grey system have to be placed to accomodate this..
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Old 07-17-2012, 08:21 PM   #8
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Re: Water tank guesstimate and plumbing question

i used plastic tanks, black water 56 gal , gray water 30 gal and i have a 30 gal f/w tanks but we use bottle water for drinking ,no steal tanks to much wt and they rust
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Old 07-17-2012, 09:27 PM   #9
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Re: Water tank guesstimate and plumbing question

The battles on this forum are sometimes entertaining.
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Old 07-17-2012, 09:38 PM   #10
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Re: Water tank guesstimate and plumbing question

Yea, but we are just pikers compared th the professional Quens and Kings on the other bus forum
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Old 07-17-2012, 09:55 PM   #11
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Re: Water tank guesstimate and plumbing question

To get registered just put a 5gallon bucket under the sink and run the hose into the spout,if it gets near full...put the cap on it and dispose simple and should pass just fine as long as nj doesn't have capacities required
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Old 07-17-2012, 10:36 PM   #12
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Re: Water tank guesstimate and plumbing question

Quote:
Originally Posted by ol trunt
Yea, but we are just pikers compared th the professional Quens and Kings on the other bus forum
WHAT other bus forum?
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Old 07-18-2012, 06:51 PM   #13
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Re: Water tank guesstimate and plumbing question

Quote:
Originally Posted by Accordion
WHAT other bus forum?
That would probably be BNO (bus nuts online) & Bus Conversions -- Go Busing (used to be BCM). They're mostly highway coach type buses, though some skoolies are there. Things are kind of slow there now compared to here. The bigger the bus the bigger wad of cash needed to convert, and I think quite a few have been priced out. School buses are more affordable, and I don't envy someone whose bus has a 4-speed Spicer, an 8-71, and Armstrong steering.
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Old 07-18-2012, 07:04 PM   #14
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Re: Water tank guesstimate and plumbing question

I thought it was the yahoo group. Scary people.
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Old 07-19-2012, 03:37 AM   #15
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Re: Water tank guesstimate and plumbing question

You could make your own "holding" tanks out of thick walled large diameter PVC pipe.
Cap them; drill-cut a hole and use the cement to install threaded bungs..
I any size you want.
For dump valve installation is also easy.
You tank breaks just only have to stop at a large Hardware sore like Home Depot, Lowes to get new piping and parts.
Also allot cheaper than prefab tanks; I know I spent allot of money on them.
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Old 07-19-2012, 10:52 AM   #16
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Re: Water tank guesstimate and plumbing question

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bullwhacker007
You could make your own "holding" tanks out of thick walled large diameter PVC pipe...
Save this tank calculator to your desktop. It will work even when not online. ("Save Page As"). Pretty nifty. You can input in any combination of measurements.

IE Say you have a 10" PVC pipe and you want to use it to make a tank that holds about 30 gallons...

Tank Type: Flat Bottom

Diameter in Inches: 10

Height:

Width in Inches:

Volume in Gallons: 30

Click on "HEIGHT" and it will fill in the length you need to get about 30 gallons.

In this case 88". So you would need a 10" dia PVC pipe that is 88 inches long to hold 30 gallons.
I found it very fun and enlightening to just punch numbers it. It was surprising how long a pipe had to be in order to hold XX number of gallons of liquid.We shelved our ideas of using a PVC pipe for the Eagle. Never considered it for the BlueBird. We already had some tankage.
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Old 08-03-2012, 05:18 PM   #17
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Re: Water tank guesstimate and plumbing question

My Two Cents,, for whats its worth.... I understand the Money not going as far as we would like. My suggestion would be planning for the future... and what I mean by that is the tank size between a steel and a PVC tank would be the same give r take a fraction of an inch. You could do a couple things buy/make as Bullwacker007 suggested, a smaller PVC tank to get you through the Motor Vechicle process and save up for a larger one later. Just plan in advance so you don't have to replumb the bus as that will cost more in the long run. Or get the steel tank and at the first sign of problems replace it with the better PVC.

I plan on saving and spending the money up front on the plactic tanks and protecting them with skid/rock plates because once they are in, I don't ever want to remove/repair those nasty things once I have used them. Yes I know someday I may have to but denial and ingnorance is the key to a happy marrage. (sorry different subject)

Don't just drain you grey water on the ground its bad all the way around for everyone.... Friends won't be friends for long once they have you around (so to speak) long after your gone.
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Old 08-03-2012, 10:47 PM   #18
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Re: Water tank guesstimate and plumbing question

I can understand both sides of the grey water dumping controversy. Far as I'm concerned, it's like swearing - there are situations where it's fine and others where it's forbidden. I'm fine with both.

At our family camp we've been washing dishes and ourselves over by the water pump and dumping the water on the ground for decades without noticing any smells so I personally have no problem with someone out in the boonies dumping dish and shower water on the ground. If I was in a campground parked next to someone doing the same thing I'd likely be less enthusiastic. It's all a matter of where you happen to be and, probably more to the point, who happens to be watching at the time.

I always try to be a good neighbor wherever I am so if my grey tank stinks I'll use an approved dump station or dump in an unapproved spot that's off the beaten path and not going to gross out the next guy, but come on, folks, calling grey water hazardous waste is just effing insane.
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Old 08-04-2012, 11:38 AM   #19
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Re: Water tank guesstimate and plumbing question

Quote:
Originally Posted by roach711
... At our family camp we've been washing dishes and ourselves over by the water pump and dumping the water on the ground for decades without noticing any smells so I personally have no problem with someone out in the boonies dumping dish and shower water on the ground. If I was in a campground parked next to someone doing the same thing I'd likely be less enthusiastic. It's all a matter of where you happen to be and, probably more to the point, who happens to be watching at the time...
Bear in mind... any cooked egg combined with grey water will stink to high heaven. We had to pull the food carts tanks out and completely dump them, flush out remaining water until the eggs were completely gone. YUK! I still had to make early morning German Breakfast "Burritos" about once a month for a while (never again). And there are places where it is illegal to "dribble" grey water. Many of the illegal places will look the other way or even request that you dribble your grey water on their plants during the drought...others won't. I know that a vintage Class C (slightly smaller than our Class C) was parked in the far edge of the parking lot at work for over a week with out moving (yes, the manager knew). Unless they had put mega holding tanks (likely the original size... about 18 gallons), I would guess they were dribbling grey water at night. Since the drip irrigation system turned on around 4 AM, no one would know unless the grey water was stinky (some folks wipe there dishes with paper into the trash before washing... others only grill and use paper plates). As a responsible RVer, you need to know when you can and can't dribble. Simplest thing is to ask the person in charge... just like parking overnight in a parking lot... you always ask management not the guy chasing the shopping carts around the parking lot. Remember..."LEAVE NO TRACE" applies everywhere. If you aren't sure... pack it out.

WHAT WORKS FOR US IN OUR SITUATION:
On the bus we have two (1 free & 1 super cheap) RV polyethylene (translucent "oily" plastic) tanks - plumbed together - for grey waste (about 75 gallons total) & one (from JC Whitney) ABS Valterra Rocket tank for fresh water (36 gallons... need to add second 36 gallon tank because we filter ALL our water and store it for roughly 70 gallons filtered fresh) with a float valve to turn off the water fill when full. Our black tank (RV) is 25 gallons. It lasts about 4 or 5 days with LOTS of water added (mostly single person use... David tends to schlep up to the bathhouse... I'm not doing that at 3:30 in the morning, I'm doing good to get fully dressed.... I'm NOT a morning person ). The vanity sink is plumbed into the black tank to keep the water input up high. We stay full time in campgrounds and when traveling, pull off the road, after 2 to 3 days, into a (free/cheap) campground to dump waste and refill fresh water. My filters knock the water pressure down so much that I don't want to waste a lot of time filling my fresh tank while sitting at a rest stop fill/dump station blocking others.

When the other NON-ABS tanks fail, they will be replaced with ABS tanks that we can easily repair with glues/solvents/fittings that are readily available. As it is, I have to order a special poly glue from the internet (to glue in new larger drain fittings since these poly tanks were originally fresh tanks)... in couple of weeks when it cools down to the high 80's. We are finally hooking up the grey tanks! Can't wait to get the shower stall plumbed! Soon, soon. Before it turns freezing at night in Nov. Got a pretty natural oak toilet seat for the toilet from work (display) marked down to $10 the other day... looks good on the toilet... much better than the old original worn seat. Need a shower setup now.

I WILL post a review on skoolie.net about the new poly glue. I hope this stuff works.
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Old 09-04-2012, 09:26 AM   #20
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Re: Water tank guesstimate and plumbing question

Ok I have scrape and save up the money for Tanks. What size should the inlet and outlet be for the black water? Grey water?
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