Saw this earlier today...thoughts/comments?

[goodoz]

Still scratching my head...I don't think I'm a subscriber...change my mind!

 

[Cannon07]

I don't want any part of my fresh water tied in with my tank flush. If your backflow sticks on the black tank flush you contaminate the whole trailer.

 

[Redapple63]

I don't want any part of my fresh water tied in with my tank flush. If your backflow sticks on the black tank flush you contaminate the whole trailer.

Agree, don’t think whomever did that understood the ramifications of that setup.


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[jkwilson]

Not to mention using up filter life filtering your black tank flush water.

 

[huntindog]

Still scratching my head...I don't think I'm a subscriber...change my mind!

Where did you see this?
It appears that he is sending filtered water to the black tank flusher? There are a couple of other items that I cannot determine what they do?

 

[huntindog]

I don't want any part of my fresh water tied in with my tank flush. If your backflow sticks on the black tank flush you contaminate the whole trailer.

The ones I have seen use an air gap design.....Pretty safe...... But still, I wouldn't do it.

 

[goodoz]

Where did you see this?
It appears that he is sending filtered water to the black tank flusher? There are a couple of other items that I cannot determine what they do?

It was on a FB RV group...I refrained from comment. The guy was proud of the clean install (I'll give him that) but indignant toward the onslaught naysayers...

 

[FT4NOW]

I don't want any part of my fresh water tied in with my tank flush. If your backflow sticks on the black tank flush you contaminate the whole trailer.

This isnt even the concern. Without having a path for the "clean" water part of the black flush to drain back out, the vacuum breaker wont ever do its job and it might as well not be installed. It would be a concern when the tank is full or at least fuller than where the flush line enters the tank and then bacteria can slowly work it's way up the line. Probably wont hurt anyone, but certainly not the most sanitary type of installation.

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[boyscout]

Still scratching my head...I don't think I'm a subscriber...change my mind!

+1 what [MENTION=5834]FT4NOW[/MENTION] said above.

I use the same hose for fresh water and black flush water, but the main reason I'm comfortable doing that is that when I disconnect from black flush I can see the clean fresh water flowing back out from the vacuum break valve high up in the trailer's interior. If ever I didn't see that, and had reason to think that water would be trapped in the line as a welcoming resort for pathogens, I'd make sure it was fixed before using the fresh water hose to supply it.

As for running the black flush water through an expensive filter... that's a little nutty.

If you know the guy who put that together be a friend and warn him against it.

 

[goodoz]

As for running the black flush water through an expensive filter... that's a little nutty.

If you know the guy who put that together be a friend and warn him against it.

I saw about 10-15 folks make that suggestion under his post...he wasn't having any of it...to each their own.

 

[Jay Pat]

Unless a rv park has a separate black tank flusher hose connection (and everyone follows instructions), one is sharing a connection with the fresh hoses and the black tank hoses.
Basically doing the same thing in the image, just farther away.

 

[huntindog]

Unless a rv park has a separate black tank flusher hose connection (and everyone follows instructions), one is sharing a connection with the fresh hoses and the black tank hoses.
Basically doing the same thing in the image, just farther away.

Another reason I do not use campgrounds.

 

[huntindog]

+1 what [MENTION=5834]FT4NOW[/MENTION] said above.

I use the same hose for fresh water and black flush water, but the main reason I'm comfortable doing that is that when I disconnect from black flush I can see the clean fresh water flowing back out from the vacuum break valve high up in the trailer's interior. If ever I didn't see that, and had reason to think that water would be trapped in the line as a welcoming resort for pathogens, I'd make sure it was fixed before using the fresh water hose to supply it.

As for running the black flush water through an expensive filter... that's a little nutty.

If you know the guy who put that together be a friend and warn him against it.

I have a background in the food industry. Nobody gets sick anymore from the obvious causes, rather it is the not so obvious. A term "cross contaimination" was coined for these events. When you use your fresh water hose on the flusher.... What were you just doing? Handling the sewer hose!. I suppose with being VERY careful and washing your hands at the right time, it can be done safely... But it is too easy to have a brain fart and touch the wrong thing at the wrong time.
Avoid the possibility and keep the fresh hose out of the dumping process.

 

[boyscout]

Unless a rv park has a separate black tank flusher hose connection (and everyone follows instructions), one is sharing a connection with the fresh hoses and the black tank hoses.
Basically doing the same thing in the image, just farther away.

I understand your point but it doesn't hold water (so to speak).

Whether the owner uses the same hose or two hoses for black flush and fresh water, yes, the hose(s) connect back to a park water supply that is shared by others. For this reason some parks require use of a backflow preventer to ensure that nothing can get from the trailer's supply hose back into the park water system.

However proper use of the black tank flush requires that the hose supplying it be DISCONNECTED immediately after flushing the tank. Clean water - quite a bit of it - should run back out of half of the black tank flush system through its supply connector. At the same time a similar amount of mostly-clean water should be running down from the other side of the vacuum break valve and into the black tank. All pathogens should end up in the black tank and nothing should flow anywhere else in the trailer, let alone all the way back to the park water supply.

The system brought to our attention by the OP and being discussed here (to which you seem to be giving tacit approval by making your argument) retards or prevents that critical backflow of clean water from half of the black tank flush system. That system's owner has installed a valve at the supply connector which when used to stop flow into the black flush system will also prevent that critical backflow out of the black flush system.

The effect of that is to leave a column of water all the way from the black flush sprayer to the black flush supply connector, a highway for pathogens. Leave it for a few days in warm weather and there's a chance of a party of germs from end to end. When the owner-added valve is opened some of that germ soup could end up back in the water filter or the diverter to the fresh water supply. Could ruin a weekend, or worse.

That owner's "clever" re-work of the system circumvents an important safety mechanism in the black flush system, something that's usually a much-more-immediate risk than sharing a well-maintained park water supply with others.

 

[boyscout]

I have a background in the food industry. Nobody gets sick anymore from the obvious causes, rather it is the not so obvious. A term "cross contaimination" was coined for these events. When you use your fresh water hose on the flusher.... What were you just doing? Handling the sewer hose!. I suppose with being VERY careful and washing your hands at the right time, it can be done safely... But it is too easy to have a brain fart and touch the wrong thing at the wrong time.
Avoid the possibility and keep the fresh hose out of the dumping process.

I have a background in sterile labs and manufacturing processes for the pharmaceutical, natural health products, and cosmetics industries, and designing SOPs for them. Do I win?!

When I use the same hose for black flush and fresh water I haven't touched the sewer hose for days. I'm at a camp site where I hooked up when we arrived (including the sewer) and now I'm dumping the tanks we've filled. If we're departing after dumping then the sewer hose gets put away after the water hoses are put away. I have sanitizer and wipes to clean hands after handling the hose. If for some reason I do fiddle with the sewer hose and then need to touch the fresh water hose then yes, I would clean my hands.

When dumping at a dump station I would NEVER use my fresh water hose for flush; I have a separate slinky hose for that.

So I think I pass, right?

 

[huntindog]

I have a background in sterile labs and manufacturing processes for the pharmaceutical, natural health products, and cosmetics industries, and designing SOPs for them. Do I win?!

When I use the same hose for black flush and fresh water I haven't touched the sewer hose for days. I'm at a camp site where I hooked up when we arrived (including the sewer) and now I'm dumping the tanks we've filled. If we're departing after dumping then the sewer hose gets put away after the water hoses are put away. I have sanitizer and wipes to clean hands after handling the hose. If for some reason I do fiddle with the sewer hose and then need to touch the fresh water hose then yes, I would clean my hands.

When dumping at a dump station I would NEVER use my fresh water hose for flush; I have a separate slinky hose for that.

So I think I pass, right?

If you do it like that, then yes..... Gotta be clear on this though, many others may read you OP on this and think it is OK.

But I still think it is a poor practice. You are just a brain fart away from a mistake... And yes we all make them.... Too many ways something can go wrong.

We would never be OK with this practice in the food service industry. You cannot count on people to do it right every time. We even have color coded knives for opening up cheese, raw red meat, and raw chicken. Do not be caught opening up a package with the wrong colored knife... Doesn't matter if it was washed or not. It is considered a "Best Practice"

 

[WvMountaineer 24]

Another thing to consider. I always open the city water spigot and let the water run for a few seconds and then spray it all over with a bleach solution before hook up. Have a look at how many people rinse their sewer hose at the spigot when they are finished before leaving. Sickening.