first trip less than 24hrs in and grey tank 2/3 full

[jlhinkle]

we did dishes twice for 4 people and a 5 min shower. is that normal?

[chuckster57]

Depends on how much water you used to do that. If you let the water run while taking a shower or doing dishes, it can fill a gray tank rather quickly.

If you can empty the tank, then measure how much water it takes to light the indicator lights. It is possible that the sensor wires were hooked up wrong.

[Camp CA]

Normal, depending on the size of your holding tank. With 40 psig water supply you can pass plenty of water so we take short showers and use the sink water sparingly. If you know the supply pressure, diameter and length of your water line you can estimate the flow rate from an on-line calculator in the link below. You can test this by connecting a $20 P2 turbine flow meter to a hose, fill your gray tank from the sink from the hose and time it. You might be surprised how fast your tank fills.

http://irrigation.wsu.edu/Content/Calculators/Residential/Garden-Hose-Flow.php

[sourdough]

Depending on how you rationed water completely understandable. Realize you have ONE 30 gal. gray water tank on the trailer. That will fill VERY quickly if you have 4 people trying to fill it. Also remember your sink is draining into it as well - quick dish washes...

With that small a tank and multiple folks you need to be doing the "navy shower" thing and minimizing water usage at every opportunity. As was mentioned, the water pressure you use can also have a big effect on how much water comes out the faucets and down into the gray tank.

If you're looking at a "gauge", don't trust it. On every trailer I get I go through the same process; use it like I want to and note when my shower pan begins holding water - I either need to cut back on water usage or dump tanks in a shorter time frame; but I know what to expect. Our galley tank rarely, if ever fills up and I know what a black tank sounds like when it needs to be dumped.

[JRTJH]

As for washing dishes, it's "summertime". Wash them outside and throw the dishwater into the bushes... Showers, for many people, (also during the summer) can be done with the outside shower, a "modesty panel" and a piece of plywood to stand on... Most people don't need to completely undress to "get the grime off", so consider "innovative ways to avoid putting water into the gray tank.....

If you "just must shower and wash dishes inside" plan on a 1 day camping trip or find a "blue tank" to carry your gray water to an approved dump station. You're going to fill it "every 24 hours" if not sooner.....

[Campermike]

We have a 30 gallon grey tank and the sensors will say it's 2/3 full pretty quickly... But it isn't. Our family of 4 can go 3- 4 days dumping our dish water in the grey tank and some shower usage before it's full.. with just me and my two kids we made it 5 nights... But we also are active and weren't at the site the whole time. And we honestly didn't use the shower a lot since we were swimming every day in nice clear rivers.. by the way the grey tank said it was full on the 2nd day. It lies :)

Some things I do you help it last:
Navy showers when you take one. If you have someone in the family unwilling to do that send them to the shower house (my DD is one).

Low flow shower head... Got a nice one from Amazon that both has good pressure and reduces usage.

We wash dishes outside with a couple bins I've had since tent camping days. One gets soapy water and one rinse. I use as little water as I can get away with to clean the dishes. Dump the water down the sink when done, but it really isn't much water at that point.

[flybouy]

Typical rv water pump is rated at 3 gallons per minute. Simple math, take gray water tank capacity and divide by 3 and that's how many minutes it takes to fill.

Washing dishes or brushing your teeth with the water flowing full force the whole time uses a lot of water. So does washing your hands like you're "scrubbing kn for surgery" and kids playing in the water washing their hands. A 5 min shower equals 15 gallons of water. It adds up quickly.

[Campermike]

Typical rv water pump is rated at 3 gallons per minute. Simple math, take gray water tank capacity and divide by 3 and that's how many minutes it takes to fill.

Washing dishes or brushing your teeth with the water flowing full force the whole time uses a lot of water. So does washing your hands like you're "scrubbing kn for surgery" and kids playing in the water washing their hands. A 5 min shower equals 15 gallons of water. It adds up quickly.

Although that is somewhat accurate, most shower heads I've seen in a camper max out at 2.5 GPM. And you can replace them with lower flow ones... mine is either 1.6 or 1.8 (I don't recall which) and still puts out good pressure. Also, not sure what type of faucet/aerator is in our bathroom sink, but it is no where near 3GPM; our kitchen sink probably can dump close to that though.