Cleaning & storage of septic hose
We have a 28' keystone bullet travel trailer and are leaving on our cross country trip soon. After dumping the gray and black water tanks, how do you sanitize the hose, and where do you store it? I d...
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Yea, I still get a great big laugh when I see people at dump stations dawning their hazmat gear and then toss their "stincky slinky" in a compartment in their RV so it can contaminate everything it touches - just does not make any sense to me!
To answer the OP's questions. You do not need to "sanatize" the "stinky-slinky". But if you do bleach water will do the trick. I suggest taking a rubber made tub, fill it with water and bleach combination, then squish the "slinky" together compact and soak in the bleach water. That's probably the easiest way if you really want to "sanatize". The stronger the bleach, the quicker it works. But beware also. Bleach will deteriorate anything it touches over a prolonged period. So, rinse with clean water as quickly as possible. But sanatizing the "stinky" is not necessary if it has it's own container.
I agree with you. The bumper is not the place to store those vinyl hoses. The inside of the bumpers rust up and will put pin-holes in hose when you pull it in and out. I quit doing the bumper store more than 10 years ago.
Here's a solution that will take care of all your problems, including sanatizing. Build yourself a separate compartment for the hose to be stored in, underneath the camper. That way, the "stinky" is not contaminating any thing else except this one container, that is actually outside the camper. Here's some photos of how I built mine. It's 10 feet long, so I put it (not sideways), but long-ways under the camper. It has the shower drain vents on both ends to air will pass through and dry it out when traveling (or standing still too). Here's the photos. I did this 8 years ago and it's still on my camper and I've been using the same hose (in the photo) for those 8 years also!
The only thing I did different after these photos were taken, was, I added metal straps in addition to the zip ties holding the tube on.
To answer the OP's questions. You do not need to "sanatize" the "stinky-slinky". But if you do bleach water will do the trick. I suggest taking a rubber made tub, fill it with water and bleach combination, then squish the "slinky" together compact and soak in the bleach water. That's probably the easiest way if you really want to "sanatize". The stronger the bleach, the quicker it works. But beware also. Bleach will deteriorate anything it touches over a prolonged period. So, rinse with clean water as quickly as possible. But sanatizing the "stinky" is not necessary if it has it's own container.
I agree with you. The bumper is not the place to store those vinyl hoses. The inside of the bumpers rust up and will put pin-holes in hose when you pull it in and out. I quit doing the bumper store more than 10 years ago.
Here's a solution that will take care of all your problems, including sanatizing. Build yourself a separate compartment for the hose to be stored in, underneath the camper. That way, the "stinky" is not contaminating any thing else except this one container, that is actually outside the camper. Here's some photos of how I built mine. It's 10 feet long, so I put it (not sideways), but long-ways under the camper. It has the shower drain vents on both ends to air will pass through and dry it out when traveling (or standing still too). Here's the photos. I did this 8 years ago and it's still on my camper and I've been using the same hose (in the photo) for those 8 years also!
The only thing I did different after these photos were taken, was, I added metal straps in addition to the zip ties holding the tube on.
