Installing a Grey tank on a PUP, asking advice

[Kb2yht]

So I have been planning on adding a grey tank as part of doing a full heat trace and insulation job on my palomino PUP for late fall and winter use.

The fit and mounting fur the tank is fairly open, and as far as mods go should not be too challenging.
However I'm a little worried that I have never seen anyone else with a refit gray system, so I'm here asking:

What am I missing ?

Is the low venting a big issue?

Thanks for any insight.
-- Bill

[SoundGuy]

Kb2yht wrote:
So I have been planning on adding a grey tank as part of doing a full heat trace and insulation job on my palomino PUP for late fall and winter use.

What am I missing ?

JMO, but I'd say you're missing is the fact that folding tent trailers are designed as fair weather campers and of any type of camper are certainly the least suitable for really cold weather camping. Sure, some folks do it but the reality is there are a host of issues you'd be forced to address once outside ambient temperatures are consistently below freezing, not the least of which is how to stay warm and how to protect the tenting, particularly the vinyl windows which will lose any pliability as the temps drop well below freezing. That said, if you insist on proceeding I'd suggest the easiest method of dealing with fresh and grey water in freezing temps is to simply avoid the issue by locating your potable fresh water source and grey water collection inside the camper rather than outside. 7 gal Aquatainers are ideal for this application as their footprint is only 12" x 12" ... draw from one for fresh water and run the drain from your galley sink to a second - simple.

Here in Ontario we have several campgrounds open for winter camping and although I have friends who do take advantage of it I'm not one of them. A couple do use their entire systems but it is a process and not entirely foolproof, with freeze ups sometimes occurring no matter how well they've prepared. Personally, if were to winter camp I'd avoid the trailer's entire water system completely and simply use a porta potti for a toilet, the campground bath house for showering, a couple of Aquatainers sitting inside the camper from which I could draw fresh water with the pump, and another one temporarily plumbed to accept water from the kitchen galley sink. Obviously the interior temperature of the camper is going to be well above freezing anytime we'd actually be camping so the issue of having to deal with freezing water of any kind simply goes away. Sorry, I just don't see any advantage in going to all this effort to install a grey water tank on a trailer that wasn't designed for it and then have to concern yourself about freezing if used during the winter. :h

[Kb2yht]

The linked 7.5gal system is nice. I'm currently using a 15gal rolly tank, though I own some 7s so may explore going back to that.

As to the utility if having a built in tank, I have been finding that for weekends, 20 gal is about all the gray I make, and am thinking that being able to just run a hose to a dump station at the same time as I dump the cassette would be handy.

For longer stays or more people, the utility of having it in board is much lower, or non existent.

[SoundGuy]

RoyB wrote:
SOUNDGUY - Thanks for the tip on filling both aqua-tainers. I ran across this photo yesterday looking for my POPUP photo on google. ALmost looks like your trailer setup...



How did you connect the small interconnect hose. That area is the air port to keep pressure from building up inside the aqua-tainer container...

I've been on a variety of forums over the years so I have little doubt that's where the owner of that trailer got the idea, in fact I suspect I know who it is. 😉

To interconnect the two tanks I first carefully opened up the size of the tank vents with a drill for maximum flow then to use simply press fit a 5/8" I.D. clear hose over the threaded vent ports for each tank. Since Fleetwood popups had a threaded 1.5" grey water outlet on the side of the camper I started with a stock Home Depot plumbing adapter, connecting it to a length of 1.25" sump pump hose, which because of it's I.D. is self venting and eliminates the need for a vent stack. Here's a pic of that adapter ...



As for links to pics, I've got thousands related to all the various campers we've owned over the years but most are in private albums but any I currently want public on the web can be found by clicking on the link at the bottom of any of my posts. 🙂

[RoyB]

SOUNDGUY - Thanks for the tip on filling both aqua-tainers. I ran across this photo yesterday looking for my POPUP photo on google. ALmost looks like your trailer setup...



How did you connect the small interconnect hose. That area is the air port to keep pressure from building up inside the aqua-tainer container...

I modified the main drain cap to fit the hose I have coming from the sink drain port on mine.

I don't mind a bit carrying my gray water off when camping with no hookups - thats a good time to bring fresh water back if I remember to carry a water jeri can with me on the short trip.

Maybe you can use this tip... As you know everything we type here on RV NET gets put on the internet. I have a couple of unique words in my signature file being k9pht and 14RT so this allows me to search google using those two search words and when it loads up I select 'IMAGES' about 99% of the images I see here are all of my RV NET posts from those two words used together.. Sometimes I add IMGUR to the search phrase and it finds even more of my photos online somewhere. I have a whole bunch of my working photo stored on IMGUR freeware... Makes for a quick way to grab a photo that has all of the HTTP address info already on it... Almost click click to post the photos... You can type in 'k9pht 14RT' and immediately see all of my RV NET images I have posted over the years.

Roy Ken

[SoundGuy]

RoyB wrote:
My GRAY tanks on my POPUP is two 7.5 gal aqua-tainers totes. When one fills up I swap the drain hose to the other other one...

There's no need to swap out a full 7 gal Aquatainer with an empty one ... just interconnect them as I used to do with our Santa Fe, when the first fills to capacity grey water will automatically begin filling the second - guaranteed. :B



As for adding a grey water holding tank to a popup I can't think of a more pointless exercise as that grey water is going to have to be offloaded anyway when the tank fills to capacity, which it will in no time at all ... heck, I use the same grey water Aquatainers I used years ago with our Santa Fe to off load grey water from our travel trailer's 30 gal GW holding tank.



Regardless of what approach you take It's the same process - eventually that grey water is going to have to be off loaded into some sort of portable tank for disposal, be it a wheeled tote tank or a portable container like an Aquatainer which holds the advantage that it can still be picked up when full by the average person.

[RoyB]

My GRAY tanks on my POPUP is two 7.5 gal aqua-tainers totes. When one fills up I swap the drain hose to the other other one...


It's amazing how much water one uses just washing up things in the sink...

I have a two wheeled folding cart I use to take these full containers to a dump area. Usually most campground areas have dump areas in each roll...


Roy Ken

[Kb2yht]

Thanks, I will make sure to have the riser go all the way up.

[Bobbo]

You will want the roof vent above the top of the PUP when it is extended. Otherwise, the smell from the gray tank will be in your living area. And, yes, the gray tank smells as bad as the black tank.