New and need help with tanks! asappp

[Fla904]

So I am looking into a older model RV, (1998 fleetwood pace arrow 35w class A chevy motor) anyone have any experience with these? Also how hard is it to remove the grey and black water tanks? That is really important in determining the purchase as I will be taking them out and replacing with a single tank for both black and grey water. So I need to be able to access them easily. Anyone have experience taking the tanks off their RVs or replacing to a single tank? Is it difficult? It has 48k miles and seems to have no leaks theyre asking 18k for it which I feel is a good deal. anyone wanna weigh in their opinions?

[Bill_Satellite]

Everyone seems to indicate that this is something unique and weird. It's not and some RV manufacturers have been building RV's with only one combined tank for years and years and are still doing so today.
While I also don't believe it's a terribly practical solution, especially when hardware is currently available to combine your existing separate tanks into one tank. Some also seem to indicate that it would be impossible to access the tanks or replace with new tanks. This is also highly dependent upon the coach. I have removed the black and grey tanks in my coach to access the fresh water tank which needed replacement. It wasn't cheap and it took many of my hours but it was done and my tanks are in new condition now To the OP, if your goal is getting nice clean "like new" tanks and you can live with the dual tank setup I would recommend that you do what I did and call All Pro Water Flow http://www.allprowaterflow.com/ . They use high pressure washers to return the inside of your tanks to factory clean condition. The sensors may still not work but the tanks are clean, clean, clean!

[Golden_HVAC]

One HUGE reason for not having combo tanks is if they ever do overfill, no black water will end up in the shower or tub.

I have overfilled the grey tank a couple of times, and it is easy to just cap the outlet, then open the grey valve, let the water flow into the black tank for about 10 seconds, it will move over about 25 gallons, and then you can keep washing dishes, or showers, and then dump later.

Also as noted above, should you be dry camping, you can normally drain the grey tank on the ground (into a hole to not attract insects) and feed the local plants. However you can not drain water into a campground surface, as that area is going to smell for the next visitors, and it is crowded, and might spread germs.

You should also take the RV to a scale. Your water tank is probably 60 gallons and that is about 560 pounds of water, so you can not have 'unlimited' weight of water in the RV anyway.

My RV is shorter, only 14,000 pounds on a 17,000 GVWR chassis. Your RV empty weight might be 15,500 pounds, and perhaps you have a 18,000 pound chassis? You are limited in the number of gallons that you could carry. THis is why I normally dump the grey tank before leaving my dry camping areas. If I had more than 1/2 tank of water, I might lower it to about 25 gallons before leaving, to leave all that weight behind.

Fred.

[westend]

Anyone have experience taking the tanks off their RVs or replacing to a single tank? Is it difficult?

It's not difficult to plumb the tanks to outlets. It is difficult to relocate drains from above. There will also be space issues underneath unless your new tank is only the size of the removed tank.

Overall degree of difficulty---9.5
Overall degree of necessity or efficiency----0.04

[12thgenusa]

Tanks generally mount between frame cross members. Trying to fit a larger tank will likely run into interference (structural) issues plus a replumbing nightmare.

[azrving]

Not picking at what you are asking for and no, I'm not answering your question but like the others just trying to help you. I dont understand why you would want "fresh" tanks. They are just a big chunk of plastic that can be flushed and bleached and be as good as new. Odors can be eliminated in old tanks or brand new tanks can stink like crazy. On a personal hygiene level you can replace the toilet and clean the bathroom well. Ive replaced toilets in both our used rv's and wife likes it that way.

For us, the gray tank fills up first and we can go a couple weeks on the black tank. Depending on your camping style you may have options for getting rid of gray water. Gray water is basically like dish water and I have seen 5 gallons a night dumped on a campfire. Black water is only going to a dump station so everything you will have on board will need to go to a dump station.

At places that have outhouses I will often use them and reduce the use of the black tank and disburse gray water. We have stayed out for 16 days and black still wasn't full.

We camped at our sons property and all the black went in a blue tote and into his septic. The gray went around the trees. Why put it through the septic and why not give it to the trees? So again, not answering your question but just giving some thoughts.

One find on BLM and gray water

[4X4Dodger]

Ever hear: Let Sleeping Dogs Lie?

Well if you wake up this particular dog you will gain nothing but grief. There is NO logical reason to replace the two tanks with one. You gain nothing.

Second, for a tank to hold that much weight it would surely have to be steel or aluminum...both will be expensive as they will be custom fabricated.

Leave this alone and worry about the stuff that matters...like that old Chev engine and transmission.

[Bobbo]

How much experience do you have with RV's? If little or none, I would suggest leaving the tanks as they are while you gain experience. I suspect that if you put in a single tank from inexperience, it won't be long until you regret it, and you will not be able to sell the RV because no one else will want it with a single tank.

[azrving]

Dutch_12078 wrote:

rockhillmanor wrote:
They make a pump for that. Do a search on this forum there have been several members that have done it.

AND as mention above your shower drain does NOT have a p-trap.

All the sewage fumes WILL come up thru the shower drain. AND if your tanks are near full or over fills that will also come up thru the shower drain.

Every RV I've owned with a shower/tub has had a trap on the drain. Some had a standard 'P' trap, while others had one of the many low profile style traps. With no trap, you would quickly find out just how stinky the gray water can be. Sometimes worse than the black side...

X2 How could they NOT have a trap? Even gray water stinks bad.

[Dutch_12078]

rockhillmanor wrote:
They make a pump for that. Do a search on this forum there have been several members that have done it.

AND as mention above your shower drain does NOT have a p-trap.

All the sewage fumes WILL come up thru the shower drain. AND if your tanks are near full or over fills that will also come up thru the shower drain.

Every RV I've owned with a shower/tub has had a trap on the drain. Some had a standard 'P' trap, while others had one of the many low profile style traps. With no trap, you would quickly find out just how stinky the gray water can be. Sometimes worse than the black side...

[Dutch_12078]

I modified our coach to add a third waste valve and an easier waste hose hookup. The gray and third valve are open in the photo, but simply closing the third valve and opening the gray and black valves allows the tanks to equalize, increasing the capacity as needed. The third valve also works well for using the gray tank contents to give the black tank a quick rinse after dumping it.

[rockhillmanor]

They make a pump for that. Do a search on this forum there have been several members that have done it.

AND as mention above your shower drain does NOT have a p-trap.

All the sewage fumes WILL come up thru the shower drain. AND if your tanks are near full or over fills that will also come up thru the shower drain.

[Chuck_thehammer]

Golden_HVAC wrote:
CLIP...

you could cap the outlet, then open both grey and black tanks, letting the weight of the water leave one tank and head towards the emptier one. In most cases, it is the large black tank that would only be about 1/4 full, while the grey tank might be backing up into the bathtub or shower (I had that happen).

CLIP

Fred.

Thank you for the information...

We rarely use the black tank. (night time water).. but wife does fill up the gray tank quickly..
trying to get her to use more paper plates... 🙂

30 days at a camp ground without Full Service... just electric and water.

[dave17352]

But of course this is America and if you want to do it. Go for it! Maybe just a hobby thing.

[dave17352]

If you really want capacity, why don't you pull a enclosed trailer. Then you could keep extra fresh water and haul you black and grey in a separate combined tank and keep other household items in the trailer also. As others have said and I agree way to expensive and hassle to have a custom tank built and installed and re plumbed, when you have the exact same thing by capping your drain line and combining both. I do this now and then myself as needed.

[Son_of_Norway]

You could retain the two tank arrangement, replacing the tanks If needed. Then connect the tanks with plumbing, in effect making them one tank. I think this would be easier and still accomplish your purpose.

Miles