When to Dump??

We dump and flush (Built in or Flush King) each time we move our trailer.

Depending on the RV park I can make that black tank on my rig (36 gallons) full in as little as around 7-10 mintues, (or as long as half an hour)

HOW:

HOSE
TOILET
STAND ON VALVE

1. When uncomfortably close to full, and I'm still going to be there, and the time is convenient (e.g. not busy cooking or doing something else in the RV and the dump station is not busy).

2. When leaving the campground to go into storage for an extended time.

3. When traveling day to day, and tanks less than half full, I'll usually dump on the way in, so that I'm starting camp with empty tanks. If more than half full, I'll dump on the way out, add several gallons of water to the black, so motion can help clean the tank, then I dump that on the way in at the next stop.

I treat full hookups as a conveniently located dump station, and pretty much follow this same schedule.

We usually dump on our way home, regardless of how long we have been out. I usually fill it with water before dumping if its a small load.

Ask yourself the following question:

Gee, I need to dump but there's not enough water in the black tank. What should I do?

ADD WATER!!!!!

happybooker1 wrote:
This has been beat to death, but here I go anyway....

I know it's recommended to dump ONLY when the Black Tank is full. However, we do so little camping during the school year and it's only me or me/son a weekend here and there, it might literally be 4 MONTHS before the tank gets full.

I do be sure we use plenty of water.

Turtle n Peeps wrote:
I have been camping in TT'ers for over 45 years.

I have dumped when full, dumped when used 1 day and everything in between. I have NEVER had any problems; EVER. 95% of the time we just use the trailer for 1 day and when I pull into a campground with full hookups I dump.

I don't know where this odd idea came from that you can only dump when full. It's just bull pucky.

I mean really, think about it. It's just a container; nothing more, nothing less. I may run 5 or 10 gallons of water in the tank and then I pull the handle.

The way some people on here make it sound it's like your trailer is going to explode if you dump without your tank being full. :R

It doesn't neccessarily have to be full. 1/2 full will typically do the trick. You just want enough water to help the solids flow out. If you have a 40 gal tank and make a couple solids deposits with only a gallon or two of water to wash it down along with TP, you will have a situation very similar to leaving the valve open on a FHU site.

If you do a mix of long and short camping trips where most of the time, you get 20-40gallons in the tank, that will typically rinse the solids out even if you have the occasional short trip where only a few gallons makes it into the tank.

If you only do weekend camping and don't get a lot of water in the tank before draining, eventually (and it could be several years), you can get the same issue as leaving the drain open on a FHU site.

Turtle n Peeps wrote:
I have been camping in TT'ers for over 45 years.

I have dumped when full, dumped when used 1 day and everything in between. I have NEVER had any problems; EVER. 95% of the time we just use the trailer for 1 day and when I pull into a campground with full hookups I dump.

I don't know where this odd idea came from that you can only dump when full. It's just bull pucky.

I mean really, think about it. It's just a container; nothing more, nothing less. I may run 5 or 10 gallons of water in the tank and then I pull the handle.

The way some people on here make it sound it's like your trailer is going to explode if you dump without your tank being full. :R

+1 on all this.

It is just consistantly leaving the valve open that creates a possibility of issues piling up.

Weekend warrior here.

I dump both gray and black tanks at the end of a weekend trip. I usually add a couple of gallons of water to each of my tanks (small tanks c.24g grey, c.10g black)after dumping to keep them from drying out, as well as to get a head start on 'water to solids ratio' in the black tank for my next trip.

I'm not afraid the black tank will explode should there not be enough water in the black tank before dumping. I just don't like the possibility of the inconvenience semi-moist clumps of toilet tissue might pose when dumping; i.e. clogging the black line or the stink slinky; clinging to the walls of the tank / sensors, et al.

The addition of opening the grey valve after the black just helps rinse /pre-rinse the slinky.

To each, their own.

I have been camping in TT'ers for over 45 years.

I have dumped when full, dumped when used 1 day and everything in between. I have NEVER had any problems; EVER. 95% of the time we just use the trailer for 1 day and when I pull into a campground with full hookups I dump.

I don't know where this odd idea came from that you can only dump when full. It's just bull pucky.

I mean really, think about it. It's just a container; nothing more, nothing less. I may run 5 or 10 gallons of water in the tank and then I pull the handle.

The way some people on here make it sound it's like your trailer is going to explode if you dump without your tank being full. :R

Before I bring it back home, if the tanks aren't full, I'll fill them both and dump them.