Black water into gray water

Good find, I didn't think to check the newer models. I know there is a lot of room around the gray tank, so I may be able to replace it with a bigger tank and plumb the shower to it. The black is hidden so I have to figure out how to get to it.

Kafn8td wrote:
It is a 2011 Cruiser Fun Finder XT276 TH. I was told it was manufactured that way to help with the water to solids ratio.

edit - I didn't consider the different size pipes. I'll have to take a better look at it this weekend.

I was looking at the specs of the current model year XT276 and see that it has a 38 gallon black tank and 63 gallon grey tank.

http://www.cruiserrv.com/products/fun-finder-xtra/floorplans/item/xt-276

I can only wonder if they increased the grey tank size, and now have the shower drain into the grey tank?

I would rather recommend installing a new tank for the shower water, and avoid letting the shower water connect to the black tank, just in case it might overflow.

Tank-Depot.com is one place that sells new tanks. You would also need to figure out a way to support the tank, and relocate the plumbing lines. Then connect the new and factory grey tanks together, so they will drain at the same time.

I think that one of the main health reasons for keeping the black water out of the grey tank is that bacteria can crawl up the piping and end up in the kitchen sink. Much more difficult when the tanks are separated by a valve.

We had a recent E-Coli bacteria scare here in Portland OR recently and had to boil water for about 3 days - just a week ago. They say it could have been a bird that died in the 14,000,000 gallon open water reservoir, where the water 'should' is treated before entering the Portland water piping system.

E-Coli can move around through moist areas, such as the tubing in your water system.

Fred.

Thanks for letting me know you will never buy a Cruiser Fred. Good thing there's choices.

Hi,

Really nothing to do with the valve size, however the larger valve is handy to let through the clumps of toilet paper.

I personally would not want the shower connected to the black tank, as when the tank is 90% full and you are driving down a mountain road, you might get waste water out of the tank. Bad enough if the grey water ends up in the shower plan - but a real problem if it is some black water mixed in with it.

Back in the 60's most RV's had a combined tank of around 20 - 25 gallons, mostly due to the truck chassis limited to about 8,000 GVWR and the limited HP gas engines at the time - perhaps 90 HP was common. Some might have a 10 gallon black tank and no grey tank at all, or it might have a drain right onto the ground.

RIVA started requiring 2 tanks so that if you did overflow one tank into the shower pan, it would not be black water. I can not understand why this company would take a step so far backwards into allowing black water into the shower pan. Personally it would be a reason to never buy that brand RV.

Kinda like when I looked under one brand of RV back in 1994 and found the shower drain line went from the passenger side to a black pipe, under the driveshaft to the side of the grey water tank on the drivers side. At first I was thinking "I am being to critical" of this situation, however later I was thinking that "How stupid is this design?" When taking a left turn on a mountain road, water can come gushing out of the shower drain line if the tank was full, and water rushed to that side of the tank! And the black water tube under the driveshaft - that was silly enough too. . .

Anyway it is reason enough for me to not buy that brand. They should have designed the RV with a larger grey tank, and drain the shower into that. So no backups can end up getting black water into the shower pan, that is REALLY bad.

Fred.

I would not do it just because of the size difference of the outlet pipes of the gray tank, the gray tank pipe being much smaller then the black pipe. makes no semse to be plumbed that way.

When boondocking, my grey fills a lot faster than the black. I use this to equalize the grey and black. Then when I get to a FHU site, I try to flush the grey.

It is a 2011 Cruiser Fun Finder XT276 TH. I was told it was manufactured that way to help with the water to solids ratio.

edit - I didn't consider the different size pipes. I'll have to take a better look at it this weekend.

Really thats odd.. What make/model camper is it? I would like to reseach that..

But IMO I see no issue with what you propose other then the fact that the grey water discharge pipe is smaller diameter. So if waste moves to the gray side you may be more prone to clog issues...