Tank Questions Gray & Black...

[Silverado333]

Hello to all!!

We are new to RV'ing. We are gaining a lot of new experiences almost everyday! We have been on a nearly two month journey traveling in our 2670MK from Everett, WA. to Central Florida (moving back home).

Most of those nights we stayed at full facility RV Parks, primarily KOA's, or on a few occasions in Privately owned, but still full service parks. We are nearing our final destination within the week - At a beautiful state park in North GA., right on a lake - it truly what the RV life is all about and makes us happy we're doing this trip!!!

My questions are...

As we've travelled, we gain more experience and confidence. We really haven't boondocked, mainly due to reluctance in experience. But we are now getting our feet wet. We decided on a beautiful state park in N. GA.

At our last site in NC, I drained the black tank, then I hooked up my "purge" hose to flush the black tank further, knowing we were headed to a state park without sewer at the sites. There is a dump station near the entrance. Per the GD spec's, my black tank is 45 gal. We are into day two of our stay here and we have two more days here.

I know the idiot lights aren't dependable - but being newbies, both DW & I have our concerns. We are already showing 3 lights out of four on the control panel idiot lights.

We dont want to have to hook up to go to dump, then return to this site. We have been pretty diligent with our flushing. Typically, we go #1 a couple times before flushing and any #2's we of course flush immediately (Sorry for the grossness).

Are we being too concerned?? Should two people be able to last without dumping for 3 or 4 days, when being cautious, with the flushing?? BTW, if it matters, we do use happy camper regularly. I also use the calgon, and borax treatment about every 2 or 3 stops at parks. What are the precautionary signs we should observe to alleviate any "bad accidents" of an over full black tank??

Finally, our rig, according to GD has one Gray 82 Gal. tank. If thats the case, why do I have two Gray tank T-handles???

Thanks for all your experience!!

Steve

[Calbar]

Hello to all!!

We are new to RV'ing. We are gaining a lot of new experiences almost everyday! We have been on a nearly two month journey traveling in our 2670MK from Everett, WA. to Central Florida (moving back home).

Most of those nights we stayed at full facility RV Parks, primarily KOA's, or on a few occasions in Privately owned, but still full service parks. We are nearing our final destination within the week - At a beautiful state park in North GA., right on a lake - it truly what the RV life is all about and makes us happy we're doing this trip!!!

My questions are...

As we've travelled, we gain more experience and confidence. We really haven't boondocked, mainly due to reluctance in experience. But we are now getting our feet wet. We decided on a beautiful state park in N. GA.

At our last site in NC, I drained the black tank, then I hooked up my "purge" hose to flush the black tank further, knowing we were headed to a state park without sewer at the sites. There is a dump station near the entrance. Per the GD spec's, my black tank is 45 gal. We are into day two of our stay here and we have two more days here.

I know the idiot lights aren't dependable - but being newbies, both DW & I have our concerns. We are already showing 3 lights out of four on the control panel idiot lights.

We dont want to have to hook up to go to dump, then return to this site. We have been pretty diligent with our flushing. Typically, we go #1 a couple times before flushing and any #2's we of course flush immediately (Sorry for the grossness).

Are we being too concerned?? Should two people be able to last without dumping for 3 or 4 days, when being cautious, with the flushing?? BTW, if it matters, we do use happy camper regularly. I also use the calgon, and borax treatment about every 2 or 3 stops at parks. What are the precautionary signs we should observe to alleviate any "bad accidents" of an over full black tank??

Finally, our rig, according to GD has one Gray 82 Gal. tank. If thats the case, why do I have two Gray tank T-handles???

Thanks for all your experience!!

Steve

My wife and I can go about 10 days without needing to empty the black tank and we don't take all of the precautions that you are taking. That said though it depends on the size of your black tank as well. I also suspect that your trailer has 2 41 gallon tanks due to the 2 gray tank handles.

Rob

[LV Naturist]

I'll throw this out there for the halibut... Your tank is 45 gallons, almost 55. Visualize a 55 gallon drum and think about how much you put in it per flush. Me thinks you're over-thinking it... One other hint, WRT the black tanks, water volume is your best friend.

John

[bertschb]

...Are we being too concerned?? Should two people be able to last without dumping for 3 or 4 days, when being cautious, with the flushing??

We have a 53 gallon tank and intentionally use a lot of water with each use of our toilet. With two of us, we can go about 10 days without dumping the black tank. If we were careful about water usage, we could go two weeks easy.

[Houndbb]

@Silverado333
Hi Steve and Pat,
Your adventure sounds like fun and I’m glad you’re having a good time (been following along). Anyway, to extend our use of our trailer (before Covid-19), we used to park it for 5 weeks at a local CG (5 weekend spring and fall “specials” was how the owners advertised it). Of course, we’d turn off the water during the week, but for a minimal fee, we could leave it plugged in for the fridge. With no conservation, our black tank lasted for 3 of the 5 weekends. I’m sure you can stop letting your “yellow mellow”! and breathe easier. In our case, we filled our kitchen grey the fastest, no matter what we did to conserve there.

The lights really aren’t helpful, more like nagging, whiny kids. You will hear a difference in the sound the flush makes when it’s getting full. After a while, you’ll know how long it takes you to fill your black tank. Also, you can inquire at the office, or check online, but there might be a pump out service available nearby. They roll up with a portable/towed tank and pump your tanks out for a fee. Lots of privately owned campgrounds offer the service, especially if they have a few sections of sites that have W/E, but no sewer hookup. Our local with the specials charged $10. A business, having to drive into a State Park would probably charge a little more.

Lastly, you really don’t want to conserve water too much where the black tank is concerned, lest you arrive at a situation where you’ve opened the valve at the dump station, but the contents refuse to FLOW!

[Silverado333]

My wife and I can go about 10 days without needing to empty the black tank and we don't take all of the precautions that you are taking. That said though it depends on the size of your black tank as well. I also suspect that your trailer has 2 41 gallon tanks due to the 2 gray tank handles.

Rob

I tend to agree about the two gray tanks, since we have two t-handles. With that said, GD sites spec says one 82 Gal. This is odd to me as the front is for kitchen sink only. The rear is for shower and bath sink, Which obviously gets more use? So it would be strange to have two tanks of the same size?

[Calbar]

I tend to agree about the two gray tanks, since we have two t-handles. With that said, GD sites spec says one 82 Gal. This is odd to me as the front is for kitchen sink only. The rear is for shower and bath sink, Which obviously gets more use? So it would be strange to have two tanks of the same size?

Mine are split as well with Kitchen sink in one, Shower, bathroom sink and washer into the other. We find that the kitchen sink is the one that fills up the fastest so not sure but maybe ours are not an even split since the washer drain goes into the front tank. Maybe GD made that one larger.

Rob

[WhittleBurner]

I tend to agree about the two gray tanks, since we have two t-handles. With that said, GD sites spec says one 82 Gal. This is odd to me as the front is for kitchen sink only. The rear is for shower and bath sink, Which obviously gets more use? So it would be strange to have two tanks of the same size?

Did GD state specifically 1 tank or just that there is 82 gal gray capacity ?
As for the black tank you should be able to go (no pun intended ) for at least a week to 10 days with a good flush of water.
The black tank is not the place to start conserving water, it is not fun trying to break up a plugged tank.

[geotex1]

Like others, we can go 9-10 days with no special black tank conservation. You will know when the tank is getting full, outside of the never-correct level sensors, because it will burp when flushing. Get familiar with this as a camper owner! Splitting of grey tanks into galley and bath is quite common in the industry. Some are set up to cascade, some not. The best thing you can do is invest in a tote. Get a Barker model with four air-filled tires. Skip the gimmicky one with built in storage compartments and such. You want function over form, and a rubber-tired Barker will last an RVing lifetime!

[Fl2GaScotts]

First off, you should be able to make it. We will book a CoE park or state park that puts me closer to work (incidentally in north Ga) and stay for 10-14 days depending on schedule. I know we can make it happen but you also have the bathhouses that you can utilize if you run into issues. Second on the tote, we have one that we purchased just for that type of stay. It only gets used for gray however, as that's typically our limiting factor between dishes, showers, etc. But again, if you find it close, there's the fallback of the bathhouses to get you to end of stay.