Maintenance Question - Draining Holding Tank - New RV Owner

Welcome to the forum. As you can see, many here are willing to share their knowledge and experience with all who ask. There are no stupid questions here. The only way to learn is to ask so don't hesitate any time you need info. I generally don't leave my sewer hoses attached. I attach, dump, then disconnect and rinse and put them away until the next dump. Too many times I have heard stories about damage occurring to hoses by critters, kids cutting thru your site, being stolen or other B.S. I don't find it that much trouble.

No damage will occur if you close the valve while your rinsing, just don't walk away and forget it. That's when the bad things happen. As stated before, use a dedicated hose for your rinse and a drinking water approved hose for your city water hook up. I use a "y" on the spigot with an anti siphon breaker on my utility (rinser and general out side water use) hose. Anti siphon breakers are important and most campgrounds have them on their spigots. If you do a Y on your water hook up like I do, be sure use a breaker on the side of the Y you use to rinse too. Here's the sequence, CG spigot with Anti siphon breaker, Y, one side hose to city water connection on trailer, other side of the Y, breaker and hose to rinser (which you don't need to leave connected, use only when you rinse) I put a spray nozzle on that hose when not used for the rinser.

Wife & I checked out two Rockwoods yesterday. A 3008W Windjammer and a 8310SS Ultra Lite. Both had two separate dump valves about 15 feet apart????
We have noticed the last couple of years that some campgrounds required the drain hoses be elevated off the ground. That was easy when there was one dump valve. Now I have to contend with two.
Plus it looks like they connected the bathroom (shower/sink toilet) to a single holding tank which means I'll be dumping that quite often.
Who the he$$ designs these things???
Yuck.....

Thank you all for the very informative replies. I now understand what I'm supposed to do. :)

"fullway termination valve"?? who comes up with this stuff? I like to think of myself as just a little ol' redneck, I call it the "black tank valve".

I need to use that term on camping friends next time we're sitting around the campfire, should be good for a hoot!

Don't forget to use a dedicated hose, NOT the normal white fresh water hose, to flush out the waste tanks.

I like the trick of opening the gray water first for a second to make sure everything is hooked up good, a little spilled soapy water is way better than the black tank...

:E I used my black tank flush with the valve closed today :E

When the inside indicator finally said full I casually walked out and pulled the valve open.

So far I have not been distracted.... but it does happen.

Mike,

I believe the biggest reason that sticker is there is because if the termination valve is closed and one uses the tank flush inlet, and walks away to do something else and forgets he has water going in the flush inlet, then a real problem arises inside the RV when the black tank fills up. I have seen several cases where this has happened.....all due to forgetfulness.
I always close my dump valve about a minute before shutting off the tank flush valve because I like to have a couple gallons of fresh water swishing around the freshly dumped black tank to ensure it is clean....plus water down in the dump valve area ensures your rubber valve seals don't dry out.

Hey Mike, welcome to the forums! You will get a ton of useful information here.
Another thing that most of us do (well I do anyway) is leave the gray tank valve closed for a few days before I dump the black tank. Once you pull the handle on the Black tank and it all runs out, you can close it and open the gray tank valve. This will rinse out the sewer hose for you. Its much better to deal with a little soapy water from the gray tank than dealing with what comes out of the black :)
So the procedure is this, once you are connected with a hose from the camper to the sewer, pull the black tank valve and let it drain. Leave the valve open and connect your water hose to the inlet marked tank flush. Turn on the water and let it flush the tank out for a few minutes. Turn the water off, let it finish draining out of the black tank then close the black tank valve. Then open the gray tank valve and let the soapy water flush the hose clean. Close the gray tank valve, and starting at the camper, pick up the hose and "walk" it all the way to the sewer connection. This will make the water in the hose go into the tank. Double check that both tank valves are closed, then disconnect from the RV then the sewer connection. Put the hose away, and wash your hands.
Good luck!
SK

It means make sure the large dump valve from the black tank is open before you use the black tank flush. Otherwise, you can easily overfill the black tank because you are putting a lot of water in there really fast. Then the overflow will go out the roof vent, or leak out around the vent pipe connection into the black tank. Either one is very very messy and definitely unsanitary.

Sometimes people without a flush system will stick a hose down the toilet to achieve the same type of flush. In that case, if the dump valve is closed, the overflow backs up through the toilet and goes all over the RV. Now THAT is a MESS.

Also... if you are hooked up to sewer...keep your black tank dump valve CLOSED. This allows the tank to fill and you get a more effective drain when you dump. It also gives you some protection in case of a sewer backup from the RV park system, which is rare but has happened.