Bathtub water into Black Tank - Page 2

mfifield01 · 03-01-2016, 06:35 PM

It would just be standalone, not incorporated. I would use it to drain the bath water into the toilet.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

tommy_z · 03-02-2016, 05:59 AM

Were you planning to wait until the grey tank overflows into the tub? Or maybe put the plug in the tub to shower and then pump it out?

hankaye · 03-02-2016, 06:33 AM

mfifield01, Howdy;

Have you considered looking into a filter for your excess Gray water?
They can be as small and simple as a 5 gal. bucket.
http://web.mit.edu/watsan/Docs/Stude...%205-21-09.pdf
Scroll down to page 24, These were intended to filter to drinking water standards
and they work slowly so be careful when using a large amount in a short time.

hankaye

mfifield01 · 03-02-2016, 06:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tommy_z

Were you planning to wait until the grey tank overflows into the tub? Or maybe put the plug in the tub to shower and then pump it out?

My goal is to alleviate some of the gray water. After the kids take a bath (and it's plugged), I would dump that water into the toilet. The shower and kitchen water would just go into the gray tank.

I do have an 11 gallon tote tank. I wish it was bigger, but it's convenient for a few reasons. When full, it's about as big as you can lift and put in the truck bed. It fits in the rear storage area with room for other needed hoses. I can dump it in an outhouse if needed. The negative is that you need to make additional runs to the dump station.

darrylwt · 03-02-2016, 07:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mfifield01

Typically, the black tank is never full when I camp. I usually fill it up with the black flush inlet before going to dump. On the other hand, we can fill the 30 gallon gray tank up quickly. Usually 1.5 days when the kids take a bath and we take showers. My idea is to pump the kid's bath water into the toilet. I could probably get an extra 20 gallons and the black tank needs to get filled anyways. Any thoughts or ideas?

BTW - I do have a small tote tank, just looking for less trips to the dump station.

To me it sounds like a great idea what you have in mind plus it will help flushing out your black tank.
I do a lot of camping on Archery ranges/ private land so we can dump it on the ground but I am from old school and I won't dump it on the ground unless I filter on the way out but I do camp on a friends ranch in the middle of the desert and he lets his friends dump it there but I still save it to clean out my hose after dumping the black water.

tommy_z · 03-02-2016, 03:33 PM

mfifield01, I understand better now. You have little kids, and actually use your bath tub. The bilge pump will work great for pumping straight to the toilet. Just need a 12V outlet in your vanity and you're set.

Great idea, I think you've inspired a bunch of us.

mikell · 03-04-2016, 04:11 AM

I have a 5 gallon bucket with a garden type hose that screws on the outlet cover . Leave the grey water valve open.

I usually have to dig down a bit to put the bucket under the outlet. When we leave I close the valve pull out the bucket and put it in a garbage bag till the next camp spot.

6 1/4" holes in the bottom of bucket keeps it lite to handle and stow.

mfifield01 · 03-07-2016, 07:34 AM

After this weekend, I'm thinking that this may be a bad idea. We scooped bath water and shower water into the toilet. It filled up. I'm not sure how, but on the last day I could see water 6" from the toilet seal. Not a good feeling.

I checked the level indicator, but haven't really believed it in the past. The black shows 1/3 when empty and 2/3 very quickly.

rjsurfer · 03-09-2016, 03:54 AM

If all your dump lines terminate at one point put another slide valve at that point. Then if that valve is closed and you open both the grey and black tanks they will equalize. Of course make sure the grey tank your want lowered is more full than the black.

Sometimes I open both grey valves and the black at the same time to truely equalize the tanks, this usually gives me another few days before dumping.

Ron W

**JRTJH** · 03-09-2016, 05:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rjsurfer

If all your dump lines terminate at one point put another slide valve at that point. Then if that valve is closed and you open both the grey and black tanks they will equalize. Of course make sure the grey tank your want lowered is more full than the black.

Sometimes I open both grey valves and the black at the same time to truely equalize the tanks, this usually gives me another few days before dumping.

Ron W

The only "problem" with equalizing tanks and "including the black tank" is the plumbing. If you look under your trailer, you'll see that the black tank is plumbed with 3" PVC pipe and a 3" valve. Almost all gray tanks and gray plumbing is done with 1.5" PVC pipe and 1.5" valves. You may find that equalizing the black tank allows "things" to flow into the gray tank that won't flow back through the 1.5" plumbing lines as easily. Additionally, there's no "flush line" for the gray tanks and once they're contaminated, not nearly as easy to flush to remove odors and "chunks".... There's a reason why the black tank uses plumbing and valves that are "twice as big" as the gray tanks...

Be very cautious about equalizing the black tank by opening valves, it can cause problems "down the line".....

**JRTJH** · 03-09-2016, 05:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rjsurfer

If all your dump lines terminate at one point put another slide valve at that point. Then if that valve is closed and you open both the grey and black tanks they will equalize. Of course make sure the grey tank your want lowered is more full than the black.

Sometimes I open both grey valves and the black at the same time to truely equalize the tanks, this usually gives me another few days before dumping.

Ron W

The only "problem" with equalizing tanks and "including the black tank" is the plumbing. If you look under your trailer, you'll see that the black tank is plumbed with 3" PVC pipe and a 3" valve. Almost all gray tanks and gray plumbing is done with 1.5" PVC pipe and 1.5" valves. You may find that equalizing the black tank allows "things" to flow into the gray tank that won't flow back through the 1.5" plumbing lines as easily. Additionally, there's no "flush line" for the gray tanks and once they're contaminated, not nearly as easy to flush to remove odors and "chunks".... There's a reason why the black tank uses plumbing and valves that are "twice as big" as the gray tanks...

Be very cautious about equalizing the black tank by opening valves, it can cause problems "down the line".....

mfifield01 · 03-09-2016, 06:58 AM

I thought about equalizing when the black tank almost overflowed. For the reasons listed above, I decided it wasn't a great idea. I didn't really want any contamination of the gray tank. Down the road, I'll probably get a larger tote tank. Just need to figure out where to store it (don't want to put it in the truck bed).

**JRTJH** · 03-09-2016, 07:09 AM

Several members who have installed the BAL underframe spare tire rack. A couple of them have adapted the "empty space" alongside the spare tire on their rack to carry their "tote tank". Do a forum search, and if you can't find their posts, let me know and I'll try to locate them for you. Their posts may give you some ideas...

Here's the BAL underframe spare tire carrier: http://norcoind.com/bal/products/con...-a-spare.shtml

theeyres · 03-09-2016, 08:26 PM

Back to the OP's question...there is nothing wrong in dumping gray water into the black tank. While we never did it with bath water (only had showers) we used to always use a tub in the sink and dump all the sink water into the toilet to make the gray water tank last longer. Dump away!

You may also like: