Grey tank -- open or closed -- what do you do and why?

[ScoobyDoo]

Years back Dad had me install a small drain near the 3/4 full point on his grey tank. 2 valves; if 1 was open the top 1/4 of tank would drain thru a hose apron. The other open, let it drain back to stinky slinky. Where allowed, he would run the small hose into bushes. On a FU site, the small hose would go to sewer, or just drain like the grey valve was open. But, when black was full, he had grey to chase it...

[harrierncd]

I keep the grey tank closed until I dump the tanks. The reasons have been well covered already, so I will not repeat tgem. If you do keep your gray tank open, you may do well to flush it every so often.

[Kennedy5]

Open except the day before leaving. Then close to have some to flush the stinky slinky hose.

[Forkyfork]

Originally Posted by SarahW

Those photos look more like mice droppings. Ewww.

They aren’t mice droppings. Mice droppings are like grains of rice. Round and hard. Roach poop is a splat if they have a lot of liquid in their diet. Smaller German roaches are more like grains of pepper but they are sticky.

[Wundertaker]

Originally Posted by Robindeeter

I've had sewer gnats. Thousands would fly out of toilet when I flushed. So nasty and disgusting! I was in Daytona Beach, Florida. All the neighbors had them. I never leave tanks open now. I was newby and It was my first campground. I called Tiffin customer service for help getting rid of them. I flushed and flushed and flushed tank. Still had some sewer gnats. Opened toilet flap and sprayed some wasp and hornet sprap down toilet. It killed the ones above water line. Horrible, Gross experience. I keep tanks closed!

In my business they're known as "Crypt Gnats"!!! That's all I'll say about that!!! Many different species, same family !!!

My TANKS STAY CLOSED!!!

[BBelanger]

You guys who leave your grey tank valves open is why the rest of us have to smell the sewer gasses. No problem for you, the wind blows it over to your neighbors.

[Piros1]

Originally Posted by grindstone01

Both valves open 11 months of year when FHU's are available, no issues in 6+ years full timing. Tips - No paper products down toilet and add soapy water to slosh around black tank on travel days.

Not to tell you what to do but it is a bad idea per everything I have read and shared by those that didn’t, you should keep the Black tank closed at all times except when dumping. I guess you have been fortunate to not have an accumulation of mess in your black tank.

[DGundy]

Many forums have all different opinions of this. Some keep the tanks open, some close them and dump as needed. Like opinions, everyone has one. Do as you please and what you are comfortable with. I monitor the levels and dump as needed. When the odors get too much, I drop a laundry tab in the Black Tank and it helps improve the stank.

[Jas415-1942]

Originally Posted by Dutch Star Don

42 years of Rving and always leave the grey tank open. Never had an issue with bugs or gas. I think that is more of a regurgitated story.

We have both a dishwasher and washer and dryer, I don't want to worry about water management and the grey tank level. I see too many people making camping more of a chore than it needs to be. Most wet bays are under slides, so that means you have to crawl under a slide to drain grey tank.

We've also been using the SaniCon system for 14 years. No need to rinse the drain hose. It also has a grey water bypass that is only 1/2" in diameter, so no bug issues.

Thanks You! Common sense, otherwise we would all be putting valves on our house sewers to keep them closed!

[Papaslick]

We generally leave the grey open while at FHU sites. We have a good flushing system on the black tank which I dump each day or two. I turn the flushing system on and let it fill a bit then out it goes. Plenty of water and flushing power. I do put a “P” trap in the stinky slinky hose to block gases. We used to close the grey, but flooded the coach a time of two and decided open was the best for us. RVing for 30 years, now on the road about 6 months out of the year. This is, of course, my humble opinion.

[Mark N.]

Everything stays closed until full

[Ret.LEO]

It would have to be closed to keep "critters from the darkside" crawling into our domain.
Don't want no critters from the netherworld!

[PeterFTH]

When I began this adventure in 2014 whenever hooked to a sewer I kept both grey and black valves open. Eventually I came to feel it was best to close the black valve rather than let that sit in the line (not all sewer connections are air tight!). My washer/drier will back up if the grey valve is closed and I don't want to add that extra step when I feel like running a load in the Splendide. The one lesson learned in terms of the black tank is not to put wet wipes down the toilet. For years I thought the 5 gallons of water I poured down the toilet at the dump station would wash anything out proved wrong and I ended up having to run a snake up the black side of the dump valve and extracted a LOT of wipes. Possibly the grossest job I have had to tackle on the RV walking 5 gallon pails of effluent to the dump station as I finally cleared the problem. Not a believer that paper (regular) TP is a problem, but those cloth wipes sure were. So again for me grey stays open, black closed until I'm ready to de-camp.

[Wundertaker]

Highly entertaining thread....some good laughs.

Personally I don't see the big deal about this. Valves stay closed until full or clise to. Use lots of water in black tank. Use any kind of TP. This is not a big deal folks. Been rving with tanks since 1980 and have "never" had a tank draining issue. Again, I'm a firm believer in lots of water in the black tank. We full time and i dump the black about every 6 days and the greys about every 3-4 days.

Cannot believe that "anyone" would actually leave a black tank open.

From now on I'll just be observing this thread...I've said my piece. Do what you want on this topic...your tanks will let you know if you're on the right track.

Need to warm up my coffee.