Dumping at Campgrounds and Flushing Black Water Tank Too

Amusing thing happened behind me at the dump station at Zion NP this spring. I was done dumping tanks and then moved forward to the fresh water fill to load some water. I had my toad attached so I was taking up a bit of room and there was still not quite enough room to get in and dump. The guy behind me was in such a hurry he couldn't wait to get on with doing his business at the dump but couldn't quite reach. Well, he finally managed to connect his dookie hose so it was tight as a banjo string between his RV and the dump. You can guess what happened when he opened the black tank valve. I had to hold back my laughter (I was watching this out of the corner of my eye)

Fortunately he then found the time to clean up the mess he made.

I was only loading about 10 gallons of water too to get us to our next destination. He was still cleaning up when we pulled out.

I have never let myself be rushed when dumping tanks and I saw a great reason not to ever be.

westernrvparkowner wrote:
"If those people in line are in such a hurry, they should have gotten up and driven to the dump site earlier." sincerely, Prevailing Attitude

People used to do that at our State Parks. It became a problem when people were packing before quiet time was over, and it still was a traffic jam. Imagine 130 campsites, all without sewer, and only 1 dump station, the reason why I would dump the night before. They finally put in a 2nd station which made a big difference, but at times, over an hours wait.

IND_navyvet wrote:
Question about dumping. Sunday morning you see a line at the dump station forming while you are packing. There are a couple of empty pull thru sites near the dump station would you use the pull thru site to dump?

Get permission first. It is not up to you to decide. We closed all of our dump stations, they were too much a pain in the arse, but when we had public dumps, that was the ONLY place we allowed dumping. The RV sites were for the guests that paid to stay in the park. One of the big reasons was increased traffic. People pay good money to be in full hookup sites and it isn't right to subject them to people constantly dumping rigs in the sites around them. Using a site to dump just makes that another dump station, and most guests would frown upon being put in a site next to the dump station. In my opinion, if you want to use a full hookup site, rent one.

I always feel bad cause if my tanks are full it takes a good 10 minutes to get them all drained. This rarely happens. I am fortunate enough that there is a built in flusher for my black tank so I can hook up the rinse hose at the dump (when the threaded end is there) and flush the black while the grey tanks are draining. 140 gallon capacity over 3 tanks isn't a quick proposition. I generally plan for not being in a rush to get out. If we are far from home and have to keep time on our return trip we plan for FHU so we don't have to worry about a line. Mostly to be considerate of those behind us.

JohnnyE! wrote:
I've been reading some of the posts about flushing your black water tank. Has anyone taken the time to dump the black water (with a line of other RVers behind them) and then refill their black water tank and flush it? The dump site doesn't have a hose nozzle so you'd have to fill the black water tank by flushing the toilet.

I would never use my toilet to fill the black tank up at the dump station unless there was no one else there at all.

If there are others waiting and no hose to use to refill the black tank partially in a quick manner, then dump the black and then the gray and move on. If there is no one there, then by all means do it to the best you can.

I too, like to refill the black and do it over a couple times. But having a line of people waiting is not the time to do it.

IND_navyvet wrote:
Question about dumping. Sunday morning you see a line at the dump station forming while you are packing. There are a couple of empty pull thru sites near the dump station would you use the pull thru site to dump?

Yep , I've done this twice this year and no one said anything.

IND_navyvet wrote:
Question about dumping. Sunday morning you see a line at the dump station forming while you are packing. There are a couple of empty pull thru sites near the dump station would you use the pull thru site to dump?

Now that sounds like a plan.

I've never used a dump station - I've only dumped at full hookup sites. But, with 5 tanks - it's gonna take me some time, no matter what I do. :)

Question about dumping. Sunday morning you see a line at the dump station forming while you are packing. There are a couple of empty pull thru sites near the dump station would you use the pull thru site to dump?

If there's a line, I'll get out the tote with the hose, etc and have my kids put it near the dump station while I'm waiting in line, and start getting all the stuff out. I get out, hook up the hose, flush black and grey while the kids are filling up a bucket. As soon as the hose is disconnected, I pull forward while my kids put the hose back in the tote and catch up to me with the bucket and the tote.. I then put stuff away and dump the bucket in the toilet with the chemicals at my leisure so that I only spend time dumping at the dump station.

Even without a pit crew, there is some pre-work and post-work that can be done away from the dump station so that you don't spend time doing it all while people are waiting.