Grey water

[camp104]

When camping in full hookups I always keep my grey tank closed until full. When dumping the grey tank it smells worst than the black? Would it be better to keep the tank open or closed?

[creeper]

We used to leave the gray tank open, but we were down hill at a very large campground, a couple of hundred RVs up the hill and the septic system started to back up. I noticed a horrible smell being pushed up through the sink. Turns out it was septic being pumped into my grey tank. We were lucky others were not. Never leave it open anymore. Drain when full.

[Mr_Mark1]

holstein13 wrote:

Executive wrote:
I leave the grey open and the black closed. Moving day, I close the grey just before our showers. I then empty the black and flush with the shower water. After three flushes, I allow some shower water to fill the black then close it. I then finish draining the grey tank and I'm ready to travel.

My opinion is as you shower, do dishes etc. that water is hot to warm and anything from the shower and/or kitchen sink is still suspended in that water. By allowing it to drain immediately, you're moving those suspended particles into the sewer with the hot water. Same with soap scum. That's hot water being sent thru the sewer hose. By allowing water to sit in your grey tank for days, those suspended particles settle to the bottom of your tank where they mix with any food particles, grease or whatever from your kitchen sink. The water cools and all that mess now gels. When it's time to empty the tank, any clear water must pass over and/or thru that gooey mess before emptying into the sewer. Also, you're now sending cold water thru your hose. Hot water will keep things a lot cleaner than cold water.....Dennis

X2. This is exactly what I do and I feel Dennis has the correct theory as well.

X3, I feel that Holstein and Executive have the correct theory too!! LOL!

Once we are connected to the sewer line, I can just hit a button inside to open the grey/black tank air valve to dump (we have one combo tank, 189 gallon)...... I'm afraid if I have to go outside in the evening, I'll spill my martini.

MM.

[holstein13]

Executive wrote:
I leave the grey open and the black closed. Moving day, I close the grey just before our showers. I then empty the black and flush with the shower water. After three flushes, I allow some shower water to fill the black then close it. I then finish draining the grey tank and I'm ready to travel.

My opinion is as you shower, do dishes etc. that water is hot to warm and anything from the shower and/or kitchen sink is still suspended in that water. By allowing it to drain immediately, you're moving those suspended particles into the sewer with the hot water. Same with soap scum. That's hot water being sent thru the sewer hose. By allowing water to sit in your grey tank for days, those suspended particles settle to the bottom of your tank where they mix with any food particles, grease or whatever from your kitchen sink. The water cools and all that mess now gels. When it's time to empty the tank, any clear water must pass over and/or thru that gooey mess before emptying into the sewer. Also, you're now sending cold water thru your hose. Hot water will keep things a lot cleaner than cold water.....Dennis

X2. This is exactly what I do and I feel Dennis has the correct theory as well.

[sdianel_-acct_c]

we put 1 cup of Dawn Platinum dish detergent and one cup of Borax dissolved in 2 cups of hot water into our gray tank after we dump. No odors. Leave it closed.

[dave17352]

Black closed grey open when on full hookups. Never had a problem. As others said I close the grey before departure to clean stinky slinky.

[fivejackie]

I keep both black and gray closed. When one gets full, we dump the black and then the gray. This gives both tanks a good flush.

[3oaks]

Vet Man wrote:
The first time you take a shower and the gray tank is shut and the water starts overflowing, you have to get dressed and go open the gray. You will leave it open, until the day before you dump the black tank. As was mentioned here.

We always keep both the black tank and the grey water tank closed and never had that problem.

I know our tank gages are not always accurate, so we estimate usage and dump accordingly. Never had a problem.

That's why I always say "To each their own, what ever works for YOU." 😉

[racecarfan]

camp104 wrote:
When camping in full hookups I always keep my grey tank closed until full. When dumping the grey tank it smells worst than the black? Would it be better to keep the tank open or closed?

when parked for length of time and full hook ups I always leave grey open and black closed.that has worked very well for me the last 8 years.I have never noticed any so called scum or grease to any extent
that was worth worrying about

[Old-Biscuit]

Vet Man wrote:
The first time you take a shower and the gray tank is shut and the water starts overflowing, you have to get dressed and go open the gray. You will leave it open, until the day before you dump the black tank. As was mentioned here.

Should know when tank is ready to back up...that's what them level indicators are for :B





Seriously........you should know when any waste tank is getting near full based on type of use/days etc.

Toilet 'burps'......time to dump
Sink/shower draining slower....time to dump

[2gypsies1]

dougrainer wrote:
Leaving both Gray and Black valves OPEN, will cause buildup in the tanks. Worse in Black tank, but you will still get buildup in the gray tank because the heavier debris cannot flow out that small slope in the tank. Also, IF you want Tank valve problems, leave the valves OPEN. The cavity between the plastic valve slider and between the 2 seals will slowly fill with slime and debris that will not flush out and then you get valves that will NOT close completely. It is better for gray to fill to full then dump, that gets all the oils and such to flow out. Doug

In 16 years of full-timing we always kept the gray valve closed. Naturally, the black is always closed, too.

If you leave it open the scum, grease does not drain out. Take a look at your sewer hose when leaving the gray open all the time. You'll see scum just laying in there.

Yes, gray can smell as it's entering the sewer. You shouldn't be smelling anything indoors.

[BudFoster37]

To each his own. A little back-up into the tub is not a significant problem. I'm a closed-tank guy and don't try to confuse me with facts. 🙂

[jplante4]

If you leave your grey valve open, be sure to leave a loop in the stinky slinky to act as a p-trap. This prevents sewer gasses from coming up through the pipe.

[Vet_Man]

The first time you take a shower and the gray tank is shut and the water starts overflowing, you have to get dressed and go open the gray. You will leave it open, until the day before you dump the black tank. As was mentioned here.

[BudFoster37]

I had the same odor problem with my gray water. I filled it completely and dumped it, twice. Then I added a cup of dishwashing detergent and ran hot water until it started cooling. Then I drove to my next stop and drained it immediately. I added another cup of detergent and added hot water again. The next time I drained, I added a cup of bleach and an estimated three gallons of water, then resumed the usual routine. I do the bleach treatment after every third or fourth dump, but I make sure that the bleach gets diluted a lot within a few hours. I wait until the tank is near full before I dump. I am very careful to minimize the oils , greases and food particles that go down the drain.