Gray water tank quickly filling

pga33 · 09-12-2015, 03:39 AM

We have a Bullet 243BHS we purchased last November, and we've camped six times previously. We went camping at the beach over Labor Day weekend. We had our fresh water tank (43g) 2/3 full, while our gray and black water tanks (30g each) were empty. We went out, came back, showered and went out again and came back. The next morning, our fresh water tank was nearly empty and our gray water tank was 2/3 full. There's no way we used that much water. Midday, the gray tank had filled completely and had to be dumped. Either my wife is using a lot of water and I haven't noticed (unlikely) or there's some way our fresh water is just filling the gray tank. This hadn't happened before, even when we went camping on a site w/o utilities. Has anyone else experienced what seems to be sudden gray water tanks filling up?

jtludwig · 09-12-2015, 03:42 AM

I don't see how the fresh water tank could just be filling up the gray water. There is no connection between the tanks other than from the faucet to the drain. You need to take quicker showers or get a low flow shower head.

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**chuckster57** · 09-12-2015, 04:40 AM

/\ /\ what he said.

The only way the fresh water tank is going to fill either the gray or black tank is by using a sink/shower and flushing the toilet with the water pump turned on.

It's possible if you only have a single gray tank that food particles or some other foreign material is causing false readings in the gray tank.

**hankpage** · 09-12-2015, 05:02 AM

Turn off your pump when you are not using water .... this way you will know that you have no drips and one of you is the culprit. Tank sensors are not very reliable so full gray (unless it's backing up the shower drain) and 2/3 fresh don't really mean much. At best they just give you a guesstimate of what is in the tanks.

hankaye · 09-12-2015, 06:13 AM

pga33, Howdy;

Had a similar problem once. I had pushed the off/on button on the shower
head and didn't have the knobs turned completely off. Well, ... dribble,
dribble, dribble

OOPS!!! caught it before to much carpet got wet.

As you didn't mention hearing the pump start and stop, I take that to mean
you had a water connection?
Anything else you can add to help us to help you???

hank

Desert185 · 09-12-2015, 08:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hankaye

pga33, Howdy;

Had a similar problem once. I had pushed the off/on button on the shower
head and didn't have the knobs turned completely off. Well, ... dribble,
dribble, dribble

OOPS!!! caught it before to much carpet got wet.

As you didn't mention hearing the pump start and stop, I take that to mean
you had a water connection?
Anything else you can add to help us to help you???

hank

I have to keep telling myself to turn off the water source when shore water is being used and we plan to be gone for more than a short while. The

is in the details...

Ken / Claudia · 09-12-2015, 10:49 AM

RVing with just the fresh water tank or no shorepower, we need to remind our selfs we are not at home. Turn it off if not needed at that moment. My mom never got that. She would wash dishes and leave the water running as putting away dishes or stepping away from the sink for a minute. The shower was running the whole time she was in it. Lights always left on. Than she was mad because the water ran out, or the genny was running most of the night to keep the batteries working. Showers, run water, get wet, turn off, soap up, turn on rinse off, get out. Just a few showers and you used up alot of water. When in the woods I use the outside shower easier to add water into the tank than go somewhere to dump it.

x96mnn · 09-12-2015, 11:02 AM

My bet is on your shower, do a quick test at home. Find a 5 gallon mop bucket, gallon bucket it will do, place the shower head In the bucket and turn it on. Now time it and see how long it takes to fill and it will surprise you! 5 minute shower could be 10 gallons easy.

Bowhunter · 09-12-2015, 05:31 PM

Another thing to keep in mind. Women have more hair, which takes longer to wash plus they often use conditioner as well. Add a quick shave of the legs and the shower time quickly adds up for the ladies. Turning off the shower between soaping greatly reduces water consumption. This is just another possible cause of your water consumption if you are newer to campers.

**hankpage** · 09-12-2015, 08:28 PM

Wow! pga35, If you like this camping thing so far ...

... take the blame for the wasted water and explain how YOU did not shut off water between soaping and rinsing. Mama will realize that MAYBE she contributed to the wasted water and thank you for being so understanding.

If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.

All kidding aside ...... as others have said ..... I think you will find that the shower is your culprit. We found that changing the showerhead to an Oxygenics head gives the impression of full flow and pressure which seems to save water. JM2¢, Hank

Desert185 · 09-12-2015, 09:58 PM

Ditto on the Oxygenics shower head.

jje1960 · 09-13-2015, 09:51 AM

Just by chance.... Are you happening to hear you pump running even when you don't have any faucets open? This year at Bristol, we solved a similar issue with a brand new Carbon, they had a valve that was in the wrong position. Just a thought.

audio1der · 09-15-2015, 02:34 PM

You may want to look into a blue boy to dump the grey tank part-way thru your trips. Ours pad for itself on numerous occasions now.

pga33 · 10-09-2015, 04:48 PM

Thanks for all the great replies. I do think I have an answer from the original post:

"Either my wife is using a lot of water and I haven't noticed (unlikely)"
Actually, I've found it's far more likely this IS the case

. I'm glad I posted though, because you all have great ideas on saving water and taking care of my trailer.

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