Grey water pump into portable waste tank

[dbischops]

We are going camping in a few weeks in a state park in Colorado. We have been there many times and there are no full hook ups, only electric and we take a portable waste tank that we pull to the dump station. It is actually quite a drive, hilly and has speed bumps to get to the dump station, but it works if you're really carefull.

This year I dont know if the showers will be open when we go or if they are, if we feel comfortable using them. I was thinking about putting the waste tank in the back of the truck and then pump the grey water into it.

The macerator pumps seem to need a water connection and would only generate more waste. Any recommendations for a similar pump that could pump it perhaps 4 feet up into the back of a truck and 25-30 ft distance wise?

[Bobbo]

beemerphile1 wrote:

dbischops wrote:
...both the pump and the valve cap had a male connection, which I could not connect the supplied water hose to. I only had a walmart close and I found a quick disconnect set that worked....

For future reference, a washing machine hose has two female ends. I always keep one in my gear.

You can also get a 6' hose reel leader hose with two female ends.

[beemerphile1]

dbischops wrote:
...both the pump and the valve cap had a male connection, which I could not connect the supplied water hose to. I only had a walmart close and I found a quick disconnect set that worked....

For future reference, a washing machine hose has two female ends. I always keep one in my gear.

[dbischops]

Just wanted to post a follow up message.

I ended up buying a ryobi cordless pump, since I already had batteries.

The only challenge I ran into is that both the pump and the valve cap had a male connection, which I could not connect the supplied water hose to. I only had a walmart close and I found a quick disconnect set that worked, but it had a strainer in it.

The pump worked great, but when dumping the galley, the strainer would get clogged up with food particles. But that was easy to clean out.

I appreciate all the feedback.

[cougar28]

Matt_Colie wrote:

cougar28 wrote:
Get one of these. With my Dewalt 18v drill it will pump 5 1/2 gpm and will work pumping gray water. I use one to transfer fresh water from a tank in my truck bed into my RV holding tank. Works really well and cheap.Drill pump

Can you tell me why you want to put water INTO your holding tank?

Matt

Guess I should have said fresh water tank. The talk was about holding tanks and had that stuck in the old noggin.

[Matt_Colie]

cougar28 wrote:
Get one of these. With my Dewalt 18v drill it will pump 5 1/2 gpm and will work pumping gray water. I use one to transfer fresh water from a tank in my truck bed into my RV holding tank. Works really well and cheap.Drill pump

Can you tell me why you want to put water INTO your holding tank?

Matt

[mbopp]

My "tote" is a 30 gallon barrel ($10) strapped in my truck bed. I fill it with a Flojet macerator pump and it has a 1-1/2" gate valve and hose to empty it. I started with a Harbor Freight 12V marine pump but the macerator is faster and I can empty the black tank with it.

[dbischops]

Everyone, I appreciate all the feedback. I initially looked at a video of the macerator and they hooked up the water hose, but since then looked at the manual and it is indeed for cleanout only.

Altough I like the idea of the macerator, I dont think I would use it a lot and it is just something else to carry and break down so I am going to look at the regular pumps.

[Brettmm92]

I also have the FloJet macerator. As others said, you do the black water, then the grey water. And then rinsing afterwards is easy if you have the option of another, clean water hose. It comes with instructions, a case and the customer support is good.

If you can afford it and plan to use it, it's a solid and reliable tool. Before I knew how to use it, I thought there was more solids in my black water because everything came out so quickly and I ran it dry for 15 minutes not knowing my black water tank was empty (recommended to only use for 15 minutes at a time on instructions). I honestly couldn't believe that it emptied a full tank in such a short time. My ignorant abuse of the tool shows how well it can work as it still works just fine. You do need to connect it to a battery, I would always use my trucks battery since I didn't have one on my trailer.

flojet link

[cougar28]

Get one of these. With my Dewalt 18v drill it will pump 5 1/2 gpm and will work pumping gray water. I use one to transfer fresh water from a tank in my truck bed into my RV holding tank. Works really well and cheap.Drill pump

[mobeewan]

Harbor freight has this 12V pump for about $50.

If you have any Ryobi 18V tools, Ryobi makes a transfer pump that uses their 18V batteries or you can plug in the female end of an extension where you insert the battery to use it with 120vAC.

[Bill_Satellite]

There is a macerator pump that does not use electricity but only a hose connection to pump and chop the discharge. I suspect this is what the OP is using. To the OP, look into the FloJet 12V macerator which works more like a garbage disposal and uses no water.

[dmck413]

I use the pump jdc1 suggested to pump my grey water into a 35 gallon tank in the back of my truck. Have been doing this for many years at state parks.

[Dutch_12078]

Most macerator pumps only use a water connection for flushing the pump after emptying the black tank. And for longer stays you could also use the pump for the black tank of course. If the black tank is emptied first and then the grey tank, a rinse usually isn't needed.

[cavie]

dbischops wrote:
We are going camping in a few weeks in a state park in Colorado. We have been there many times and there are no full hook ups, only electric and we take a portable waste tank that we pull to the dump station. It is actually quite a drive, hilly and has speed bumps to get to the dump station, but it works if you're really carefull.

This year I dont know if the showers will be open when we go or if they are, if we feel comfortable using them. I was thinking about putting the waste tank in the back of the truck and then pump the grey water into it.

The macerator pumps seem to need a water connection and would only generate more waste. Any recommendations for a similar pump that could pump it perhaps 4 feet up into the back of a truck and 25-30 ft distance wise?

Macerator pump does not need a water supply and does not create any create any more waste. It is built to do exactly what you want it do do. It does have a hose connection for washout but I do not think anyone uses it. I just bought one to hook up this year that will pump 50' horizonal distance and 5' vertical distance to dump my black tank. I can run gray on the ground where I stay. Google is your friend' $219.00. Mine pump thru a standard Garden hose.