Do you leave black and grey water valves open or closed with full hookups

[Viet_Vet]

I know.... it sounds so obvious.



It's our first time full timing in our 5er. We've been staying at CoE campgrounds for last couple of months, none of which had sewer hookups.


We're now on Florida at a private campground with full hookups. Which goes back to my topic:



My line of thinking is that if I leave the black waste tank open, there is no liquid in the tank. Solid waste would be sitting on the bottom of the tank drying out. Wouldn't it make cleaning the tank more difficult?


I was going to leave the valve closed and empty it every other day or so. Am I just a noob over thinking this?



Thanks

[Tbos]

Black closed. Grey closed most of the time. Grey open with a dip in it if you are using a washer. The dip acts like a p trap keep gasses down. However you need to have grey water available in the tanks to rinse the black when you do dump. Never leave black open.

[chuckster57]

Leave ALL waste tanks CLOSED until you need to dump them. Yeah black tank will let “stuff” stick and make a mountain. Gray tank will allow food particles and other stuff stick and start rotting.

I just worked on a class C that was the customers full time house. He left the gray open and showed up one morning with the gray showing full, water backing up in the shower and nothing coming out when the valve was open.

Since the valve was right at the end of the pipe, I was able to bend a coat hanger and get a trickle. Ended up taking the valve apart and then spent an hour cleaning junk out of the tank. Needless to say it was nastier than the black tank- food, soap scum, hair and other unidentifiable contents.

Gross? VERY, so those that say it’s ok to leave the gray open, I hope you never have to do what I did.

[sourdough]

You're line of thinking is correct. Watch your black tank level; monitor if it works (very questionable) or watch/listen to it. It would be impossible for anyone to guess how long it would be before you dump it but unless you have a crowd or have some reason to use the potty a lot, every other day is probably too frequent. Again, size of tank and use will predicate that time line.

Leaving the black tank open will just lead to a lot of issues that you don't want. Leave it closed and dump when needed. If you have a black tank rinser run it afterward. Make sure you keep a lot of water in your gray tank(s) to flush the residual "stuff" from the sewer hose.

[rhagfo]

Well we full time and keep black and grey closed, and galley open. This gives us plenty of clean almost clear water to flush the hose when draining the black tank.

[travelin texans]

NEVER EVER leave the black valve open!!!!!
I had 2 grey tanks, bath & galley, the bath collected the lavatory, shower & the washing machine so I left it open til a couple days before dumping black so had plenty of rinse for the hose.
Also be sure to run plenty of water per flush.

[Old Mustanger]

leave all valves closed and dump when needed.

[notanlines]

Wallace, I looked but couldn't determine if your Hideout has a black tank flush. If it does be sure to use this regularly, every three dumps for us. Others opinions will vary, but all the info above was on the money. Anyone who does tell you that leaving the black tank open is an acceptable move is sorely mistaken.

[Roscommon48]

YOU KEEP THE BLACK WATER CLOSED UNTIL IT IS NEARLY FULL--you'll figure it out. One way is the toilet starts burping. ( If it is just your or 2 people that should be about 2 weeks or longer)


A day or two before shut off you grey water so that you can 1. dump black 2. then open grey water to sort of flush the waste out of the hose.


p.s. your gauges don't work, generally so figure it out as you live in it.

[socoinc1984]

Closed until 75% full

[Viet_Vet]

Thank you everyone for your replies.

Guess I'm not so dumb after all!

[travelin texans]

Originally Posted by socoinc1984

Closed until 75% full

The problem with this is the sensors are ABSOLUTELY worthless, plus every rv I've owned the gauge was in thirds, so not sure how you'll ever know it's 75% full.
My sensors on my last 5er read 1/3 on the black & 2/3 on both greys the day I took delivery, the day I sold it the black read 1/3 & both greys read 2/3, they never changed in 6 years of full-timing, never bothered to look at them after the 1st couple months.
As mentioned you'll learn the sound when using the toilet letting you "it's time" & if the grey gets full you'll notice it backing up into the shower.
One bit of advice, don't spend a lot of time, $$ or sleepless nights trying make sensors more accurate, ain't gonna happen, learn the sounds. Others say theirs work great, but after 40+ years & 6 different RVs have never had one that I'd count on as being anywhere near accurate.

[bobbecky]

All valves should remain closed. If any are open, your rig will just be another vent for the park’s sewer system, and that’s why, when walking around RV parks, you occasionally smell the sewer from the rigs that have open valves.

[larryflew]

We have separate kitchen gray. My wife is a clean freak so it would fill in 2 days. I now make a trap with the hose and leave that one open except for occasional fill and flush. With 2 of us the main grey is good for 4 showers (cleanfreak uses a LOT of water so 6 showers for normal people) so i dump whenever we hit that shower number. Since trailers do have different size tanks your mileage may vary.

[dutchmensport]

Regardless of where we are camped, full hook-up or not, all my tank valves are closed until I get ready to dump.

Considering my black and grey tank both flow to the same outlet, if using a Flush King style adaptor on my sewer line, I can close off the flush king valve and back-flush the grey water into the black tank and then flush out the back tank. It pulls SO much more "stuff" out of the black tank, it's amazing. The Flush King style adaptor has a clear section so I can actually see what's coming out. I've been doing this for 20 years now and my black tank never has build-up.

Steps are simple: Call the black tank valve, valve #1. Call the grey tank Valve #2. Call the Flush King valve #3. Here's how it works. Tanks are full.

Step 1:
Empty black tank. Open 1 and 3 till it stops running.

Step 2:
Close flush king #3.

Step 3:
Open grey tank #2 for about 10 seconds, then shut it.
This allows the grey water to back flush into the black tank. Because the black tank is empty, the pressure from the grey tank will not permit anything to flow out of the black, only in.

Step 4.
After closing #2 (grey), open the Flush King again #3 and let the back tank drain again until it stops. You'll see a LOT more stuff come out.

Now, you still have grey water left. You should have at least half of what you started with. Repeat the steps again. The second back flush will pull out even more. And if the tank was full when you started, the 3rd back flush will "seal the deal." At the end, you'll still have a bit left in the gray tank to flush out the hose.

If you do this every time, your black tank will always be clean and never have build up, and will not smell ever.

[flybouy]

I have done Duthmansports method several times. I've even filled the gray from the tub to do a "second" rinse. The volume of water flowing in from that gray water drain line far exceeds what any tank rinser thru a garden hose can.

[Snoking]

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

[Slapshoot]

Looks like you got lots of advice but will add my two cents....all tanks closed until you need to empty.

[66joej]

I leave the galley valve open because where we are parked it is ALMOST impossible to reach the pull valve (under the slide and way in there). At the end of every day (I do dishes) I fill the sink with hot water only along with a shot of Dawn. Then uncork the sink. This seems to keep the tank and hose relatively clean. Also make a P trap of the sewer hose before the sewer dump. JMO YMMV

[fjr vfr]

I leave the gray tank open till a few days before. The reason being the gray tank fills about 5 times quicker than the black tank. Otherwise the rule of thumb is all closed.
I also replaced my sensors with "Horst Miracle Probes" https://www.etrailer.com/s.aspx?qry=horst+probes
They aren't perfect, but work much better than the button probes that come as standard equipment.