Grey tank rant.....

[Missslucrew]

I have no one to vent my frustrations to right now, husband is asleep, so I turn to you all. I decided to get spunky and give the 'ol Freedom Lite m-299 a good scrub down. It was pretty hot here in California today, 103 to be exact, so I washed at night. So I'm dragging the hose around to the other side and I start smelling an odor. A fowl, musty smell. I rinse the side and walk back around. What are the freaking odds that my hose would get caught on the Grey tank pull lever? Only my luck, seriously! So God knows how much icky smelly grey water went all over the driveway. Ew. Yeah, I had to walk through it to push the lever shut too. I can still smell it! My fault I guess....used it once and didn't want to have issues dumping the black.....guess I will empty after each trip now.

Rant over.

[busterbrown]

Think of it this way: at least it wasn't the valve to a "half full" black tank! Feel better now, don't ya! Your welcome!

[CaptnJohn]

I have an additional valve at the end of the discharge pipe. It is only opened after the hose is attached and before tank valves are opened. I'll know if a coach valve leaks if anything is there before hand. $25 at CW.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ctbruce]

I almost always use campgrounds with full hook ups and take advantage of that to do a thorough flush and dump. When we don't have sewer, we dump, add about 5 gallons to both tanks and a little bit of deodorizer. It sloshes around on the pull home and when it sits, no stink.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

[PARAPTOR]

You can look back and say whow it could have been the darker Gray tank (Black). Can only imagine the odor from dumping the black tank on a steaming hot driveway

[Missslucrew]

[QUOTE=ctbruce;243656]I almost always use campgrounds with full hook ups and take advantage of that to do a thorough flush and dump. When we don't have sewer, we dump, add about 5 gallons to both tanks and a little bit of deodorizer. It sloshes around on the pull home and when it sits, no stink.

So just after posting this I went on Amazon and ordered deodorizer. We only camp places with no hookups so I usually wait until 2 trips to dump. But I will take your advice and do this from now on!

[Missslucrew]

You're right! I probably would have yacked! What made it worse is that I wad trying to clean a thick spider Web from around the drain nozzle, so I had actually removed the twist cap! So yes, thank God the black tank lever is located a little ways behind the Grey one and tucked up a little more!

[bsmith0404]

I once had someone pull the black tank valve while my 5er was sitting in the storage yard. Got to the RV park and noticed it when I was hooking up. I camp with full hookups, but also put about 5 gallons of water in the tank with some dawn while traveling. I knew what was waiting for me behind that cap! I got a bucket and did my best to catch what I could. What I missed, we could smell for two days. I washed it down with a lot of water, but it still lingered. And that was just the residue left over that got washed while driving. I'm very thankful our current 5er has the valves internal so nobody can mess with it.

[JRTJH]

If someone (or something) pulls the handle on a tank valve and it leaks into the manifold, it's "GOT TO FLOW" as soon as you remove that 3" cap.... It's between "impossible and not me" as to how to try to put a hand over a 3" opening to control the flow. No matter how you approach it, it becomes a "POO SHOWER" before it hits that 5 gallon bucket.

After one (even for bull headed, hard learners) such incident, everyone starts looking for a way to not be exposed "next time"... Yes, Dorothy, even in Oz, it's gonna happen again.....

So, the terminal valve is part of the solution. Now, what happens when your terminal valve leaks? Good question. The answer: replace your 3" cap with another type of cap. Use a 3" cap with the 3/4" garden hose fitting molded into it. That way, even if the terminal slide valve is completely broken, you still only have a "little bit of poo" that can flow through the 3/4" opening. Even Dorothy's thumb (hopefully in a glove) can prevent the 3" gush of poo....

Available at any RV parts store for less than $5... Oh, make sure you install it with the garden hose outlet at the bottom

[Desert185]

I have one of those with the hose fitting on the laundry dump (no tank, direct drain). Think I'll swap it with black/grey dump cap. The kitchen grey tank t-handle is exposed, but the black tank and shower grey tank t-handles are locked away inside a compartment.

As far as odor goes, nothing will completely eliminate it, but we have found some success in giving a good squirt of Dawn Platinum into the drains for each tank (to include the black tank). We boondock and drain a bit off the grey tank to keep from showering in our own soup should the tank become full. The Dawn makes a definite difference and the high desert Pinyon trees appreciate the contribution.

[Tom N OH]

Originally Posted by Desert185

I have one of those with the hose fitting on the laundry dump (no tank, direct drain). Think I'll swap it with black/grey dump cap. The kitchen grey tank t-handle is exposed, but the black tank and shower grey tank t-handles are locked away inside a compartment.

As far as odor goes, nothing will completely eliminate it, but we have found some success in giving a good squirt of Dawn Platinum into the drains for each tank (to include the black tank). We boondock and drain a bit off the grey tank to keep from showering in our own soup should the tank become full. The Dawn makes a definite difference and the high desert Pinyon trees appreciate the contribution.

Oh my God, you can't do that! How dare you dump soapy water on the ground! You know it's coming. Somebody has to say it. I wonder how many of those people catch the wash water from washing their car/truck/camper so it doesn't go on top of the ground.

[cpaulsen]

Buy the extra gate valve which goes on where your cap goes on.....then you regular cap on that valve....no more surprises.

[kjohn]

Good idea!