The way I do it

ldiaz791 · 06-10-2019, 03:40 PM

Just want to ask to see if I’m doing it right, with my previous ClassA I use to arrive at camp and leave open my only one gray water tank, with the new 5th Wheel I have thee gray water tanks and I plan to leave all three open while leaving the two black tanks close and opening them as needed base on the wall panel monitor. Is this right way with the 5th Wheels?

**chuckster57** · 06-10-2019, 03:49 PM

Do not leave ANY tanks open while at the campground. If the campground sewer system “burps” you risk all that nasty odor in your rig.

bobbecky · 06-10-2019, 04:25 PM

Leaving any valves open makes your rig a vent for the RV park sewer system. When walking around any park, you can usually get a sewage odor from the rigs with open valves.

NH_Bulldog · 06-10-2019, 04:45 PM

We always keep our valves closed. When packing up camp, we dump the black tank, flush the line with the gray tank and then run the black tank flush so it’s all nice and clean

**sourdough** · 06-10-2019, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NH_Bulldog

We always keep our valves closed. When packing up camp, we dump the black tank, flush the line with the gray tank and then run the black tank flush so it’s all nice and clean

^^^^x2. Leaving them open sure leads to unwanted issues.

**JRTJH** · 06-10-2019, 05:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NH_Bulldog

We always keep our valves closed. When packing up camp, we dump the black tank, flush the line with the gray tank and then run the black tank flush so it’s all nice and clean

We do "almost the same" as you, except in a slightly different order. We dump the black tank, use the black tank flush, then dump the galley tank (it often smells worse than the black tank) then, as a "last effort" dump the gray tank (shower and vanity waste water) to flush the sewer hoses of all the "other more smelly tank residue.

Doing it "your way" would flush the black tank contents from the sewer hose, then reintroduce it with the black tank flush residue.

travelin texans · 06-10-2019, 07:46 PM

I had 2 greys & 1 black. One grey was the galley with the dishwasher & would last a couple weeks before dumping. The other grey was the lavatory, shower & washing machine & I left it open when connected or I would have been draining almost daily, I closed it a day or 2 prior to dumping the black for rinsing out the hose. I did however always leave a sag in the drain hose which acted as a P trap to prevent park from venting back into my rv, worked great. Ten plus years of fulltiming doing it this way & never had an odor issue.
You have 3 greys so I'd suggest to only open the one that fills the fastest, probably the shower & put a sag in the drain hose.

mohead1 · 06-10-2019, 07:59 PM

I do monthly, sometimes several months at a time for work using my 5th for my lodging. I have always left the gray open, except when black is ready to dump, i will close the gray to build up flush water. With the sink and shower having traps, there has never been an issue in the last 25 yrs or so. Dump routine: close gray, fill to approx 1/2. Open black till complete, open gray to start flush while closing black valve (helps clear valve). Open galley gray, and when all gray is complete, close galley gray, leave other gray open till next time.

Ken / Claudia · 06-11-2019, 08:57 AM

I leave the the valves closed until time to dump. The exception is of the few times while hooked up we use the shower. I will open that valve at that time just to prevent an over fill.

mohead1 · 06-11-2019, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ken / Claudia

I leave the the valves closed until time to dump. The exception is of the few times while hooked up we use the shower. I will open that valve at that time just to prevent an over fill.

Theres the prob.....unless you want to be dumping the gray from the shower/bath/sink every other day or less to prevent overflow; you leave it open on long term stays. Its no different than your house. You have functioning traps to prevent gases from coming back and all tanks are vented to the outside anyway
You dont turn your house/apt sewer on and off do you???

**chuckster57** · 06-11-2019, 12:15 PM

I dump the gray each evening before I am dressed for bed. Start each day with an empty gray tank.

travelin texans · 06-11-2019, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mohead1

Theres the prob.....unless you want to be dumping the gray from the shower/bath/sink every other day or less to prevent overflow; you leave it open on long term stays. Its no different than your house. You have functioning traps to prevent gases from coming back and all tanks are vented to the outside anyway
You dont turn your house/apt sewer on and off do you???

It is different from your home. Your drains at home go directly into the sewer not a holding tank first.
Just FYI for newbies, or anyone for that matter, that may be reading, you can leave grey tanks open if you wish, but NEVER EVER under any circumstances leave the black tank open, it's nothing like your house & you will have issues that are not pleasant to resolve.
If you don't put the sag in the drain hose it is possible for gases/fumes to enter the holding tanks & escape through the tank roof vents. As long as the P traps & Hepvo traps on all drains inside are working you should not get odors back inside the rv from the park system.

**JRTJH** · 06-11-2019, 06:16 PM

To add to TT's last sentence: "As long as the P traps & Hepvo traps on all drains inside are working you should not get odors back inside the rv from the park system."

But you will have those sewer gasses "floating around on your roof" as they escape from the vent stacks. If you have a roof vent open, a roof vent fan pulling air out of the trailer or a leaking HEPVO or dry P trap, you will get the "sewer smell" in your trailer from the open vents on the roof as the campground sewer gasses flow up through your tanks and out the roof vents on those tanks.

Old Mustanger · 06-11-2019, 07:39 PM

I don't see why some of us feel that dumping the gray tank every day or 2 is such a big pain. Takes less than 5 minutes and I'm sure I have enough room in the tank to take a shower and leave the water the running. YMMV

travelin texans · 06-11-2019, 10:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old Mustanger

I don't see why some of us feel that dumping the gray tank every day or 2 is such a big pain. Takes less than 5 minutes and I'm sure I have enough room in the tank to take a shower and leave the water the running. YMMV

Murphy's Law!!
Every time I didn't dump it as needed DW would be in ankle deep dirty shower water.
To the OP, if you want to leave the greys open, DO IT! If it starts to smell close them.....
But DO NOT leave the black open!!!!

Mikendebbie · 06-12-2019, 02:50 AM

X2 what Traveling Texan said about the sag in the sewer hose to form a p-trap. Also my unit has a front bathtub (lots of gray water!) so I leave both grays open.

Ken / Claudia · 06-12-2019, 04:54 PM

Mohead1, I don't think there is a right or wrong way on the gray tanks. I certainly do not care how you or others do it. I like opening them when there is many gallons and it rushes out. For me opening and closing them on a trip with hook ups is normally once when their full. But, to open and close them is like others mentioned, 5 minutes. I have time and energy to do it. I also dry camp a lot and so the route is about the same, except shower is outside when dry camping.
I will say for the years I had a extra RV parked at our extra beach lot for use of guests. I had to leave the gray valve open into the septic since they all used the RV like a home build house and ran water as much as at home. Many forgot to dump the black before they left and we knew right away a week or 2 later. We had a park model 40 ft for 10 years, no holding tanks in that. The sewer line was open into the septic full time.

CaptnJohn · 06-12-2019, 07:48 PM

Still trying to understand why with 2 gray and 2 black tanks Montana thought it a good idea to have water from the washer go into the 1/2 bath black tank instead of the gray..

LHaven · 06-12-2019, 07:58 PM

Diaper issues, perhaps?

Snoking · 06-12-2019, 08:30 PM

Here is the routine I have developed over many snowbird winters.

1. Get a clear sight adapter and put it between the trailer and the sewer hose.
2. I leave the black tank closed for a week at a time. Grey tanks open.
3. I form a pee trap in the sewer hose with a couple boards, one 2x and a 4x4.
4. To dump and flush, I remove the pee trap boards.
5. Close the grey water tanks.
6. Open the black water tank and turn on the hose to the built in flush system.
7. Watch the sight tube until I am down to just hose water coming out.
8. Go inside and do two full bowl super flushes. "Bomb the Pile!" Note: Full bowl means filling the bowl to the bottom of the upper rim.
9. Go back outside and view discharge.
10. Close the black water tank and run the flush water in for four(4) minutes. Do not let anyone distract you at this point.
11. Open and drain and repeat 10 again.
12. Flush a bit and verify that you have nice clear water coming out of the tank. If not go back to step 8 and start again.
13. When you have nice clear discharge, put the pee trap boards back the sewer line and fill the pee trap.
14. Close the black water tank and add about a minute worth of water to the tank with the flush hose.
15. Secure the flush hose. I have a little inline valve adapter at the side of the trailer and the other end gets turned off.
16. Open the grey water tanks and go add your chemical to the tank.

I have had the burping a couple of times, however the super flushes seem to have fixed that issue.

Having piles in not good!!

Chris

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