Dumped slinky recovery

[Harvey51]

The very first time I dumped, the slippery slinky slipped off its fitting attached to the RV and ran into the hole at amazing speed. It happened again this week, 4 years later. What an embarrassing newbie moment! Luckily I was not in a busy dump site either time. There was great temptation to slink away and leave the darn thing in the hole but responsibility won out.

The first time, I went looking for a long piece of wire to fish the slinky out of the hole. Meanwhile DW found a tree branch with a hook-like broken off branch on the bottom and used it to hook the slinky and pull it out before I got back with the wire. Yet another reason to get married.

This time I did try fishing with a light wire and had poor luck so I used the branch trick again and had no trouble. The stiffness of the branch ensures success. I am interested in how others do it, if any of you have been as careless as me about maintaining the clamp on the slinky end. I intend to carry five feet of heavy wire from now on in case there are no tree branches handy next time.

[drsteve]

Some places have a metal rod crossways, maybe a foot down in the dump hole, to prevent large objects like the slinky from going down into the tank.

[stickdog]

OP, Thank you for retrieving your slinky, if left in they wind up creating a mess for the campground maintenance crew.

[SultanGris]

I just took mine off and flushed it with clean water.

[Doug_and_Cassi_]

Why shake the hose up and down? All that does is rub holes in it on the concrete. When flushing tank close the valve for about 60 seconds then pen. Repeat two or three times. Saves hose and face.

[wbwood]

mlts22 wrote:
What are you using for a storage tube? The bumper is always tempting, but what happens over time is that water on the hose causes rust inside, which causes sharp rust spots, which causes the hose to abrade over time and get pinhole leaks. Valterra sells clamp-on PVC tubes which attach to the bumper, and allow better storage of a modern hose which is larger in diameter. The 90 degree elbow can be tossed in a bucket and that placed in an outside compartment.

I would think it would take a lot of rust to cause enough abrasion for a plastic hose to get pinholes in it. I'm using the same hose that I've had for the last 3 years and store it in the bumper it's out issue. Yes there are some rust spots on it. But no pinholes. A sewer hose is something I don't plan on hanging on for a long time. 3-5 years seems long enough to me. And then just replace it. Same as a water hose.

[daglenn1960]

Still can't fathom why anyone uses the old style slinky. Get a modern rhino flex or valterra, minimizes the fuss and stress of dumping. Rhino flex isn't slinky at all, has the ends very secured, goes just where you want it, and stays where you put it (no more valve-pull surprises when your slinky triples in length, and maybe pulls itself out of the dump hole, etc.). It's like 10-15 more bucks ($29 at amazon), but well worth it. Sewer dumping should be a no-stress affair IMHO.

[wny_pat1]

Harvey51 wrote:
Okay, so the outlet elbow end is somehow easily removed from the slinky? No hose clanp to unscrew?

My Rhino Flex doesn't have any clamps to unscrew. But if properly maintained, I see not way for it to slip off the hose.

[Harvey51]

Okay, so the outlet elbow end is somehow easily removed from the slinky? No hose clanp to unscrew?

Our RV has an aluminum tube for the slinky. I do stow the slinky wet but usually take it out to dry, leaving the storage tube open, so everything dries.

Every dump site I have seen has a pipe large enough for the slinky to fit in, once free of its larger plastic end.

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

I'm another one who believes an awning rod is the handiest thing ever!!!

[2012Coleman]

What kind of dump station / sewer hookup has a "hole" big enough to swallow a stinky slinky?

[mlts22]

What are you using for a storage tube? The bumper is always tempting, but what happens over time is that water on the hose causes rust inside, which causes sharp rust spots, which causes the hose to abrade over time and get pinhole leaks. Valterra sells clamp-on PVC tubes which attach to the bumper, and allow better storage of a modern hose which is larger in diameter. The 90 degree elbow can be tossed in a bucket and that placed in an outside compartment.

[Harvey51]

do you not have a fitting on your rv that it clips on? Im new to this and only dumped mine once but you put it on and turn it and it locks on tight, I dont see how it would ever fall off accidentally, lol!

Yep - that part worked well and stayed in place. The slinky escaped from under the big hose clamp, whose screw was quite tight even after the escape. No chance to chase it - I couldn't even follow it with my eye. It happened after the dump when I was spraying fresh water in to wash the tank out (through a built in tank cleaning feature). I was repeatedly moving the slinky up off the ground to make it flow better and probably shook it loose when there was a gallon of water in it.

The hole was way too deep to reach with arm and hand. About 5 feet down to the missing slinky.

Thanks very much for the idea of putting an elbow on the outlet end of the slinky. That will eliminate the escaping slinky problem all right. I guess it will have to be removed to get the slinky into its storage tube. How about a large elbow that the slinky could be pushed through for each use, tight enough to hold the slinky from running down?

[wbwood]

I think he might of been disconnecting it from the rv and it slipped from him and he just had the end hanging over into the dump drain (at dump site, not campside). The weight of it with it hanging over into the hole probably had enough gravity force to slide it down.

[john_bet]

The hose needs to be clamped onto the fitting.