Leaving Black Tanks Open

[CWSWine]

Before we start I’m old fashion and wait till my Black and Gray tank are 2/3+ full then dump the black and then gray but I’m open to new ways of doing things. While sitting around talking one gentleman ask how to clear sensors and several people had suggestions. One person says when he full hookups he leaves both his black and gray tank open. Of course every gasp and thought of leaving the black tank open but as he explains how he does it makes sense. He has a Dutch Star with two macerating toilets and this would not work with the drop-style toilet.

1. He pulls in campgrounds and hooks up his sewer hose and he divided his slinky holder into two pieces in the center he makes a p-trap like under your sinks and that stops flys and critters from coming out of the sewer connections.

2. He opens both his gray and blank tanks and hooks a hose to his blank tank flush that has a home sprinkler system timer that is set to come for an hour each night.

3. He always uses a high water level and flushes twice to help the flow.

4. When leaving the park he puts a few gallons of water in his tanks and chemicals and drives to the next campground and then dumps.

He said that he has been using this method for 3 years and haven’t had a problem. What do you think of this and what problems do you think it could cause?

[Dennis C.]

It seems easier to just do it the old fashioned way.

[shootist]

Waste of time money and water. There are reasons that things are considered normal and abnormal.

[mickeybitsko]

It's his crap he can do what he wants.

[Jon_C]

I do mine the old fashion way and never have a problem…

[Mr Ted]

Flushing his tanks for an Hr each night is Totally unnecessary and Tremendous waste of water. Just raises the future price that has to be passed along to the more conscientious and respectful ..

[96 Wideglide]

Running water in an RV while you sleep. What could go wrong !

[Sweetbriar]

I suspect with the macerator toilets he won't ever get a pyramid but the nightly one hour flush is very excessive when 5 minutes is probably to much. Personally I would rather keep an air gap between a potable water source and the waste holding tanks when I'm not actually flushing the tanks. For each his own but I just don't see the benefit over dump and flush when full or at departure.

[wildtoad]

What a waste of water.

[Old-Biscuit]

Bet he doesn't waste that much water at HOME!!

[CWSWine]

Originally Posted by Old-Biscuit

Bet he doesn't waste that much water at HOME!!

That was brought up and he said he 8 zones for watering his lawn and run each zone for 30 minutes for a total of 4 hours at night so now that he is full time he uses waste less water.

[Dutch Star Don]

First off, with the macerator toilets, the black tank is just a slurry, especially when the toilets are set to the high-water level.

For eight years now, we do the following.......when we arrive and before putting out the slides, I connect the power, water hose and SaniCon sewer hose. On both my Dutch Stars, I removed the rubber that Newmar used in the wet bay door frame notch. I replaced it with some thin rubber tubing just to protect the metal edging. Rather than open that door in the bay floor, I can fit the water hose and sewer hose in that notch, saving time and bending over in the bay.

I open the grey tank valve and leave it open. I have no concerns that an alligator is going to climb up the sewer hose! The best thing I did was add an electric 3" valve to the black tank drain. It has a switch in the wet bay and one in the half bath circuit breaker closet.

For us, when we use the toilets on high water, our black tank needs to be dumped every 2.5 days. Now, I just open the black tank valve, from inside the coach, and the black tank drains in about five minutes. Obviously, this doesn't work well with a non-macerator toilet.

The best part, on departure day, I dump the black tank in the morning, from inside the coach, and then take a shower. The shower water clears the black tank sewage from the hose be it a SaniCon hose or a 3" drain hose. Once the slides are in, I just close the grey tank valve, cap the SaniCon hose and stuff it in the wet bay. The water hose is rolled up, (power reel) and the power cord is rolled in. It takes less than 3-4 minutes.

Many say it's not a big deal to dump their tanks when they reach 2/3rds full. That's great, but a lot depends on what RV you have. A travel trailer with no slide is not a big deal. However, on many of the coaches on this Newmar Forum, they have a FWS over the wet bay. As you get older, climbing under that slide to access the wet bay can be tough to do. It just doesn't make sense to me. You'll NEVER convince me it's easier than how I'm doing it.

Lastly, many of us have Newmars with a washer/dryer, dishwasher and hydronic heating. All of which use a lot of water and lets us take longer showers. Why would I want to run outside and drain tanks because I decided to wash clothes or use the dishwasher. Why not just make the setup easy to use and leave the grey open and the black that can be dumped electrically?

[Country Road]

Originally Posted by Dutch Star Don

First off, with the macerator toilets, the black tank is just a slurry, especially when the toilets are set to the high-water level.

For eight years now, we do the following.......when we arrive and before putting out the slides, I connect the power, water hose and SaniCon sewer hose. On both my Dutch Stars, I removed the rubber that Newmar used in the wet bay door frame notch. I replaced it with some thin rubber tubing just to protect the metal edging. Rather than open that door in the bay floor, I can fit the water hose and sewer hose in that notch, saving time and bending over in the bay.

I open the grey tank valve and leave it open. I have no concerns that an alligator is going to climb up the sewer hose! The best thing I did was add an electric 3" valve to the black tank drain. It has a switch in the wet bay and one in the half bath circuit breaker closet.

For us, when we use the toilets on high water, our black tank needs to be dumped every 2.5 days. Now, I just open the black tank valve, from inside the coach, and the black tank drains in about five minutes. Obviously, this doesn't work well with a non-macerator toilet.

The best part, on departure day, I dump the black tank in the morning, from inside the coach, and then take a shower. The shower water clears the black tank sewage from the hose be it a SaniCon hose or a 3" drain hose. Once the slides are in, I just close the grey tank valve, cap the SaniCon hose and stuff it in the wet bay. The water hose is rolled up, (power reel) and the power cord is rolled in. It takes less than 3-4 minutes.

Many say it's not a big deal to dump their tanks when they reach 2/3rds full. That's great, but a lot depends on what RV you have. A travel trailer with no slide is not a big deal. However, on many of the coaches on this Newmar Forum, they have a FWS over the wet bay. As you get older, climbing under that slide to access the wet bay can be tough to do. It just doesn't make sense to me. You'll NEVER convince me it's easier than how I'm doing it.

Lastly, many of us have Newmars with a washer/dryer, dishwasher and hydronic heating. All of which use a lot of water and lets us take longer showers. Why would I want to run outside and drain tanks because I decided to wash clothes or use the dishwasher. Why not just make the setup easy to use and leave the grey open and the black that can be dumped electrically?

Wow! Thanks for writing all that. That’s almost exactly how I would have worded it!

[CWSWine]

Originally Posted by Dutch Star Don

I open the grey tank valve and leave it open. I have no concerns that an alligator is going to climb up the sewer hose! The best thing I did was add an electric 3" valve to the black tank drain. It has a switch in the wet bay and one in the half bath circuit breaker closet.

Yes, after a hip replacement and a couple of back surgeries, I don't look forward to getting under the full wall slide. I'm never too old to learn new ways of doing things that make it easier to get the job done.

Which valve did you use? I found a Valterra EZ Valve Electric Waste Valve for RV Black Water Tank - 3" Diameter on Etrailer that seems like it would be a good choice.

https://www.etrailer.com/RV-Waste-Va...a/E1003VP.html