Amateur Sewer Dump Station Shenanigans.

New England Weekender

Advanced Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2024
Messages
71
Location
New England region
At some dump stations, well... the only dump station I've ever been to as we've gone on exactly 1 trip, I now know those cinderblock style concrete bricks are not sitting next to the sewer port for decoration. Who knew they have a purpose!

Being new to this on my maiden dump, I hooked up my shiny brand new Camco flex hose to the clear elbow, lifted the hinged style top of the sewer and dropped it in, with the sewer port lid resting on the top of the elbow, and then let er rip.

Turns out the bricks are so when you manually lift the hose to help everything reach the hose exit, the elbow doesn't jump out of the port, dumping um... "stuff" all over the place. Ask me how I know.

20 minutes of spraying cleaner and sanitizer on the rig side, my shoes, the outside of the flex hose, the poor garden hose that was in the wrong place wrong time, the sewer port cap and the literal ground, I was confident it was ready for the next guy. At least there was no line at the station to witness that gem!
 
20 minutes of spraying cleaner and sanitizer on the rig side, my shoes, the outside of the flex hose, the poor garden hose that was in the wrong place wrong time, the sewer port cap and the literal ground, I was confident it was ready for the next guy.

Speaking as someone who could be "the next guy", thanks for taking the time to clean up! I have not made that mistake but I have lost track of the ones I have made. :D
 
Speaking as someone who could be "the next guy", thanks for taking the time to clean up! I have not made that mistake but I have lost track of the ones I have made. :D

For sure. This area was quite clean and well maintained, and it had zero smell whatsoever. I could never just leave a mess for the next user or a CG employee. I feel like Karma would strike rather quickly if I did, lol.
 
For sure. This area was quite clean and well maintained, and it had zero smell whatsoever. I could never just leave a mess for the next user or a CG employee. I feel like Karma would strike rather quickly if I did, lol.



I’ll throw in another pro-tip for you. Get one of those Camco or other branded gate valves that twists onto your sewer connection. On a previous trailer, I had an issue with the internal black tank gate valve. I didn’t know this till I went to the dump station and removed the cap to dump my tanks. There’s no stopping that train once it starts. All you can do is get out of the way. It’s was terrible. I cleaned the dump station and myself as best as could but the station was on a hill so the “stuff” traveled.
 
At some dump stations, well... the only dump station I've ever been to as we've gone on exactly 1 trip, I now know those cinderblock style concrete bricks are not sitting next to the sewer port for decoration. Who knew they have a purpose!

Being new to this on my maiden dump, I hooked up my shiny brand new Camco flex hose to the clear elbow, lifted the hinged style top of the sewer and dropped it in, with the sewer port lid resting on the top of the elbow, and then let er rip.

Turns out the bricks are so when you manually lift the hose to help everything reach the hose exit, the elbow doesn't jump out of the port, dumping um... "stuff" all over the place. Ask me how I know.

20 minutes of spraying cleaner and sanitizer on the rig side, my shoes, the outside of the flex hose, the poor garden hose that was in the wrong place wrong time, the sewer port cap and the literal ground, I was confident it was ready for the next guy. At least there was no line at the station to witness that gem!

Well, that was a crappy way to end you first trip
:tape2:
I hope the rest of the trip went well. Also you walked away learning something new so it wasn't for nothing...hope the next one is better..at the dump
 
If you were at the Midwest Rally in September you heard this, so ignore the post.

We were advised to dump a little grey water first, then the black, then rinse the stinky slinky with the rest of the grey. The reason is to wet the hose so that "stuff" will keep moving down the ribbed hose. I mentioned that another good reason to start with some grey is in case the hose isn't firmly attached. A former campground host was visiting the campground and others who knew him came to say hello. He was busy trying to dump and didn't have the hose firmly attached to the trailer. He pulled the black handle and all was fine for 2-3 seconds, then the hose came off.
 


I’ll throw in another pro-tip for you. Get one of those Camco or other branded gate valves that twists onto your sewer connection. On a previous trailer, I had an issue with the internal black tank gate valve. I didn’t know this till I went to the dump station and removed the cap to dump my tanks. There’s no stopping that train once it starts. All you can do is get out of the way. It’s was terrible. I cleaned the dump station and myself as best as could but the station was on a hill so the “stuff” traveled.

Great idea. I believe ivd seen them on Amazon when shopping for all our intro purchases.

Also, thanks for the laugh! In all seriousness, that must have been a pretty helpless feeling, especially where it wasn't your fault.
 

Well, that was a crappy way to end you first trip
:tape2:
I hope the rest of the trip went well. Also you walked away learning something new so it wasn't for nothing...hope the next one is better..at the dump

Thanks. It was a fun shakedown. We're looking forward to trips already booked for the summer. And yea, I learned something new, you could say that! Lol
 
If you were at the Midwest Rally in September you heard this, so ignore the post.

We were advised to dump a little grey water first, then the black, then rinse the stinky slinky with the rest of the grey. The reason is to wet the hose so that "stuff" will keep moving down the ribbed hose. I mentioned that another good reason to start with some grey is in case the hose isn't firmly attached. A former campground host was visiting the campground and others who knew him came to say hello. He was busy trying to dump and didn't have the hose firmly attached to the trailer. He pulled the black handle and all was fine for 2-3 seconds, then the hose came off.

Great advice. I'll do this going forward. Thanks for passing it along!
 
Great idea. I believe ivd seen them on Amazon when shopping for all our intro purchases.

We have the Valterra T58 Twist-On Waste Valve and it has been great. About $24 on Amazon. Nice to have a backup valve, and some people use them to equalize the grey tanks. When one of the gray tanks is full and the other empty they close the Valterra then open both gray valves to combine both grey tanks capacities. I have never had to do this but I am sure it would work.
 
We have the Valterra T58 Twist-On Waste Valve and it has been great. About $24 on Amazon. Nice to have a backup valve, and some people use them to equalize the grey tanks. When one of the gray tanks is full and the other empty they close the Valterra then open both gray valves to combine both grey tanks capacities. I have never had to do this but I am sure it would work.

Not to brag.... The local Wally World had the Camco version of the twist on valve... On clearance for..... $7. I bought all 3. Woo hoo. Score 3 for Bob
 
We have the Valterra T58 Twist-On Waste Valve and it has been great. About $24 on Amazon. Nice to have a backup valve, and some people use them to equalize the grey tanks. When one of the gray tanks is full and the other empty they close the Valterra then open both gray valves to combine both grey tanks capacities. I have never had to do this but I am sure it would work.

Does this work to combine the two tanks?
 
I feel your pain.
We bought a new class C in 06. It came with a “campers kit”. It had tp, water hose and sewer hose. The sewer hose was a female connector with a hose pushed over it, no elbow, just stuck the hose in the sewer pipe.
The connection was vertical in a compartment.
Well, opened up the valve and the hose came off. Filled the compartment with “stuff” before I could close it.
Tossed that hose in the dumpster.
Welcome to RVing?
Rich
 
All I can say is....

Screenshot_20221021-182620_Facebook.jpg
 
One more advocate for adding the extra gate valve. In my case I always seem to have a cup or so of residual waste water at the start of my next trip. 8 ounces of clean water is nothing, 8 ounces of black tank water is no fun. The final gate valve takes care of that issue.
 
"One more advocate for adding the extra gate valve. In my case I always seem to have a cup or so of residual waste water at the start of my next trip. 8 ounces of clean water is nothing, 8 ounces of black tank water is no fun. The final gate valve takes care of that issue." That was part of the impetus for me to add one. Of course, since I put it on I haven't had anything waiting when I pull that handle. Maybe that's all it takes to eliminate that problem <grin>
 
"One more advocate for adding the extra gate valve. In my case I always seem to have a cup or so of residual waste water at the start of my next trip. 8 ounces of clean water is nothing, 8 ounces of black tank water is no fun. The final gate valve takes care of that issue." That was part of the impetus for me to add one. Of course, since I put it on I haven't had anything waiting when I pull that handle. Maybe that's all it takes to eliminate that problem <grin>

Kinda like carrying an umbrella to prevent rain. :)
 

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