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lizzieb13's avatar
lizzieb13
Explorer
Jul 14, 2013

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 do NOT want the hose in the RV. Inside the rear bumper is not an option as the hose ends are too large. Come on people! Help me come up with a solution. Presently we have the hose in a Rubbermaid tote sitting outside on the ground. Our Toyota Tundra is capped with generator and gas cans, etc. what are you all doing? HELP!!!!

20 Replies

  • bukhrn's avatar
    bukhrn
    Explorer III
    Like the rest, I don't sanitize a sewer hose, after dumping black, then grey, I rinse it & store it in the rear bumper.
    I don't know what you have that won't fit into the rear bumper, but all hoses are a standard size, I do have to turn mine in a certain direction to make the locking lugs go in. Never heard of a hose that won't fit.
  • Never heard of anyone sanitizing the sewer hose. We dump black first then grey, then we're finished. Even using clear water after the grey isn't going to do any more to it. Definitely - at a full hookup site, don't hold your sewer hose under the fresh water faucet to try and clean it. How would you like to using that faucet for your drinking water?
  • the only thing I do is sanitize my hands even tho I wear rubber/vinyl gloves when handling the hose. I buy the gloves at harbor freight and just throw them away each time I use them,
  • We had a 2011 250RKS Bullet and stored our Rhinoflex hose and fittings in the bumper. Doughnut and septic wrench went into a small plastic container with snap lock handles (Walmart, $6). You really don't need to sanitize the hose (if all the yuck stays on the inside) - simply putting gray after black runs soapy water through the hose.

    If your hose won't fit, the fencepost solution seems like a great idea.

    Elizabeth
  • 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.

















  • This is where I keep ours. 5x5 PVC fence post from Home Depot with end caps, attached to frame near dump valve. It's big enough for all the fittings also.

    I don't drink out of or store my food in the sewer hose and our dogs don't sleep in it so I don't "sanitize" it.

  • X2 on not sanitizing. I do wash my hands when I am done though. I tie wrapped a 6" black corrugated sewer pipe to the rear bumper with a screw on cap on one end and a permanent cap on the other. I do like the fence post idea too. I didn't want to put mine in the bumper to get all rusty.

    The ends should twist off. I usually tossed them into their own plastic carry bin separate from everything else.
  • Like Scott, I just flush it with the gray water....and store ours in a plastic container in one of the basement storage bays.

    Works for me. I may eventually put in a "fence post" as mentioned, but for now, it's working fine.
  • Just rinse it out and throw it in the back seat of your truck and it will be much easier to get to on your next stop.
  • Sanitize it? Why would I do that. I'm just going to run nasty stuff through it again. :)
    Seriously I just run all the soapy grey water through it after dumping the black and I'm done. I don't even rinse it with water because that's when I seem to get splashed and it doesn't make any difference anyway. Either way, it's as clean as it needs to be, doesn't stink and is ready for the next use.
    As for storage, I store mine in an ABS pipe under the TT but if I had it to do over again I would use a plastic fence post like many others have. I also keep a box of disposable latex gloves just for this chore.