We are getting a new 35' Class A motor home. 1. How do we know what length hose to get for our sewer line? 2. How well do macerator/tranfer systems work on an RV? (we had one on a boat and it was great)3. Which way do you like best?4. Which is the best BRAND for toilet treatment, holding tank treatment, and drinking water treatment?5. Do we use a dolly or 4 down for a car? The cost of getting a car ready to tow is costly, a dolly seems cheaper and can use a small car with good MPG. Thanks to anyone who will send us info :)

Sewer Hose..... Go with Rhino, best sewer hose I've used and very easy to add on. I keep like 40 feet with me and I've had to use that much a few times. I also keep an extra power cord ( that came in handy this past weekend ) came about 3 feet short.

The lengtyh of sewer hose depends on RV park and where your vales are located. I have been in RV parks where the sewer connection is in the very rear & I have had to pull all the way forward for slide clearance. I have a 15' section I normally use all the time. Recently I had to run over to a local Walmart to buy more hose. I like several short lengths of hose. Only use what I need.I tow 4 down. A trailer or tow dolly adds more weight. Not sure what they cost. Setting up for towing 4 down cost me about $2200.

kingsransom wrote:We are getting a new 35' Class A motor home. 1. How do we know what length hose to get for our sewer line? We use a standard 10' hose and have a new one in a box with joiners if we need more2. How well do macerator/tranfer systems work on an RV? (we had one on a boat and it was great) Works well, but seldom needed unless you gotta dump uphill (very rare) in my experience.3. Which way do you like best? Just use the campground dump facilities with the sewer hose works fine for me.4. Which is the best BRAND for toilet treatment, holding tank treatment, and drinking water treatment? None of them. Water, and lots of it, are all you need. Some use GEO method, I used to, but find that if I use lots of water I have no need for anything else.5. Do we use a dolly or 4 down for a car? The cost of getting a car ready to tow is costly, a dolly seems cheaper and can use a small car with good MPG. Unless you have (or want to buy) a car that can be towed 4 down, you will be best with a dolly.Thanks to anyone who will send us info :)

We have whatever hose came with the RV. We typically use the holding tank and empty when it nears full. If the hose does not reach to the camp space pipe, we drive to another site to empty.I recently purchased a macerator - it got hot and shut off five times during the dump process - not a big issue for us since we will use it mostly at home after we return. Might be an issue if you have a line waiting behind you at the dump station. I am actually pretty indifferent about the big hose vs. macerator - at home we have a 75-foot run and a 1.5 foot rise to the dump fixture, so the macerator is necessary.We use a formaldehyde-free black water treatment so we can dump into our septic system at home. We do not treat the "drinking" water, but we don't drink it either. Next round, I will likely dump the grey water on our trees.Many cars cannot be towed 4-down without modification. We have a 2001 Toyota Echo manual transmission which can. We have towed it about 60K miles in addition to its 120K driven miles. It is the best car I have ever owned. NO engine repairs, no transmission repairs, all original accessories, belts and hoses. Some guy on youtube has over 400K on his.Good luck!Matt B

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22 Replies

JFC
Explorer
Jul 17, 2013
Congrats on the new motor home. I installed a macerator in our last coach and our current coach came with one when new. I carry a 10' sewer hose but have never used it on either coach, the macerator has never been a problem on either coach and works like a charm. We also don't use a tank treatment as a routine. Dump when 3/4 full, plenty of flush. Occationaly, I'll drop in a treatment in with water when storing coach. We've always towed four down. We had ours set up by CW, but now it looks like you can save by buying the components on the Internet.
Bumpyroad
Explorer
Jul 17, 2013
Executive wrote:
Get the macerator and you won't need the stinky slinky at all. I wouldn't own another coach without one. I do carry a short one with me in case of emergency but in five yrs of using the macerator, I haven't had to use it. We full time.

Towing four down is IMHO the easiest way to take a toad. We tow a Chev HHR, weight wet 3200 lbs. Put it in neutral and go. Gets 30+ mpg hwy. Seats fold down for lots of extra junk to carry.

As far as sewer treatment, we simply use lots of water to flush it out when we empty. Every so often, I'll throw the ice in the toilet when we are moving so it breaks up whatever solids might have adhered to the sides of the holding tank. Rinse and flush when we arrive at our destination.

Fresh water treatment..same thing. If you need to freshen it up, a capful of bleach in 100 gal tank won't hurt you. We have a triple filter on our coach so the tap water is like bottled water.

Welcome to the forum......Dennis

x2
bumpy
Executive45
Explorer III
Jul 17, 2013
Get the macerator and you won't need the stinky slinky at all. I wouldn't own another coach without one. I do carry a short one with me in case of emergency but in five yrs of using the macerator, I haven't had to use it. We full time.

Towing four down is IMHO the easiest way to take a toad. We tow a Chev HHR, weight wet 3200 lbs. Put it in neutral and go. Gets 30+ mpg hwy. Seats fold down for lots of extra junk to carry.

As far as sewer treatment, we simply use lots of water to flush it out when we empty. Every so often, I'll throw the ice in the toilet when we are moving so it breaks up whatever solids might have adhered to the sides of the holding tank. Rinse and flush when we arrive at our destination.

Fresh water treatment..same thing. If you need to freshen it up, a capful of bleach in 100 gal tank won't hurt you. We have a triple filter on our coach so the tap water is like bottled water.

Welcome to the forum......Dennis
kjburns
Explorer
Jul 17, 2013
1. We just have the stock Rhino. If it's too short (which happened on the last trip), I just move closer when leaving the park.

3. I find the a macerator to be unnecessary. In five or six years with motorhomes, I've never wished I had one. Put that cost into item 5 and you'll be fine.

5. I prefer four down towing since there's not a dolly to mess with when I back into a site. My primary vehicle is a Grand Cherokee that's silly simple to tow. I originally bought a 2001 Cherokee as a dedicated toad, but decided to get rid of it and get the Grand Cherokee that I can use all the time.
Passin_Thru
Explorer
Jul 17, 2013
What is a foreign car? My Chevy pickup was made in Mexico, my wifes Toyota in TN, my Ford in Canada, is it foreign? HMMM! Let's declare war on the Canadians. They keep coming down here and drinking up the good wine and beere and going back and then sending more Canadians down. If they say Aye we should shoot them or something.LOL
bsinmich
Explorer
Jul 17, 2013
We used a dolly for about 8 years and the last 11 have been 4 down. When our daughter went along the dolly worked OK. With just my DW & I it would take quite a while to get loaded and we may not talk to each other for the rest of the morning. We can hitch up in about 4-5 minutes, rain or shine. With the dolly it was always in the rain and you have to stop and tighten up the straps after they have stretched. Many of the small GM cars are towable 4 down, Ford has a few and Jeep also. I grew up in Detroit and refuse to ride in a foreign car. My '08 Saturn is great as a toad. The Chev Equinox is very similar. I have not traded cars as much since towing but that saves me money also. We are married 54 years and have had 47 new cars.
Mr_Mark1
Explorer
Jul 17, 2013
1. Get the longest collapsible hose that you can find. It's amazing where some RV park will put their connections.
2. We have a macerator and it works well, especially, when the sewer connection is really far away and I have to connect my gray hose to extend it.
3. Both sewer systems have their advantages (slinky or macerator). The macerator is slower but cleaner.
4. For the sewer tank treatment, I use the 'blue' liquid and found that I don't really need it as often as I was using it. The only time now that I use it is if I have the coach in storage and I will put it in both the gray and black tanks. For drinking water, we use bottled water. Our coach has two filters for incoming water and our fridge has a filter for the door water and icemaker.
5. If you set a car up with new towing equipment, it will cost about $3,000 for the Blue Ox base plate and connections. Personally, I wouldn't want to use a dolly but everybody has their threshold on what they want to deal with.

Good luck.
MM.
1492
Moderator
Jul 17, 2013
Moved from Forum Technical Support
oldmattb
Explorer
Jul 17, 2013
We have whatever hose came with the RV. We typically use the holding tank and empty when it nears full. If the hose does not reach to the camp space pipe, we drive to another site to empty.

I recently purchased a macerator - it got hot and shut off five times during the dump process - not a big issue for us since we will use it mostly at home after we return. Might be an issue if you have a line waiting behind you at the dump station. I am actually pretty indifferent about the big hose vs. macerator - at home we have a 75-foot run and a 1.5 foot rise to the dump fixture, so the macerator is necessary.

We use a formaldehyde-free black water treatment so we can dump into our septic system at home. We do not treat the "drinking" water, but we don't drink it either. Next round, I will likely dump the grey water on our trees.

Many cars cannot be towed 4-down without modification. We have a 2001 Toyota Echo manual transmission which can. We have towed it about 60K miles in addition to its 120K driven miles. It is the best car I have ever owned. NO engine repairs, no transmission repairs, all original accessories, belts and hoses. Some guy on youtube has over 400K on his.

Good luck!

Matt B
robsouth
Explorer II
Jul 17, 2013
kingsransom wrote:
We are getting a new 35' Class A motor home.
1. How do we know what length hose to get for our sewer line? We use a standard 10' hose and have a new one in a box with joiners if we need more
2. How well do macerator/tranfer systems work on an RV? (we had one on a boat and it was great) Works well, but seldom needed unless you gotta dump uphill (very rare) in my experience.
3. Which way do you like best? Just use the campground dump facilities with the sewer hose works fine for me.
4. Which is the best BRAND for toilet treatment, holding tank treatment, and drinking water treatment? None of them. Water, and lots of it, are all you need. Some use GEO method, I used to, but find that if I use lots of water I have no need for anything else.
5. Do we use a dolly or 4 down for a car? The cost of getting a car ready to tow is costly, a dolly seems cheaper and can use a small car with good MPG. Unless you have (or want to buy) a car that can be towed 4 down, you will be best with a dolly.
Thanks to anyone who will send us info :)

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