Dump Station Observations

[pbeverly]

Typically the wife and I do long weekends and leave the campground on Monday or Tuesday. We love doing this as most people leave on Sunday and we get some campground time with very few others. Provides a great opportunity to explore and pick sites for the future.

We camped for Thanksgiving for the first time ever and got to the site Wed. We had planned to leave Monday but the weather that was coming late Sunday into Monday the decision was made to leave Sunday.

This provided us with a rare opportunity to observe people at the dump station. We were actually lucky. We had three units in front of us and when we pulled out there were 6+ units and they were lined up down the HWY.

1. People would leave a ridiculous amount of space between them and the unit in front of them. Pull up to help get people from waiting in line along the side of major HWY.

2. People wandering around aimlessly around their unit while dumping trying to find things. Hvae your act together before you get there. For instance, my elbow piece I toss in the truck bed so I can quickly get to it. My gloves are put on before I get out of the truck.

3. Learn to use gravity. Couple would hold up drain hose HIGHER than the outlet pipe. Gravity is your friend here.

4. The last guy in front of us I predicted would have his act together, he just had the look. I was so wrong. No gloves, OK, guess he is a real man. No elbow piece either. HMM. So he attempts to hold the drain hose, elbowless, in the pipe and reach over to open his drain valves. It was a LONG reach and he lost control, major environmental spillage now taking place and he had to now grab his hose in this nasty water with out gloves to get it back in the pipe.

Even if it is your first time, plan ahead and have your act together. You can probably get from your campsite without locking your storage bins where your stuff is. You can lock them afterwards. In fact, once dumped, pull up so the next guy can get started. You can lock up and do any last minute stuff then.

[Grit_dog]

dedmiston wrote:
Shall we end this thread with those words of wisdom, or can somebody top that?

Lol, I’m voting that’s the coup de Gras for this one. Stick a fork in her!

[dedmiston]

Shall we end this thread with those words of wisdom, or can somebody top that?

[down_home]

You are entitled to your biases or whatever it is.
We shower each day and we do cook but not all meals.
Laundry not unless we are n sewer.
Gray tank is 60 ga3llons, I think. Fresh water is 100 gallons and black 40 gallons.
Actual number of days with just showers, I'm not certain as we seldom dry camp. Let's say 15 gallons x2 x 2 days. But actually we probably get 3 days and maybe 4 sometimes.Depends if we do dishes I suppose. Sailor showers, do it a few time if dry camping but we don't do that much. We like to enjoy the stay wherever we are and that means showers and washing clothes as needed not taking time out of enjoying things to go to a laundry with rolls of quarters. And with age and bad back pulling up every three days or whatever and the waiting in lien and the routine of draining and FLUSHING taking an hour or two at least the times we did it welll.... I'm not RVing for work and sometimes intolerant me me people or anyone else who don't want to spend time at the dump either. Maybe you have a Prevost with 260 gallon gray/black tank and 260 gallons fresh water. Next coach will have the sewer and electric and water on reels but I'm still going to eschew dump station only parks. Some parks fun by Parks Canada well you wash among the skeeters, and no soap in the lake or run 100 ft of hose and only a dump stations and spaces for small towables. Still we have done it but now I'm not going to/not able to.
You enjoy the dump station life and working or maintenance on a vacation or full timing, more power to you.

[Grit_dog]

down home wrote:
Rude! That's too broad a brush for RVers who want full hookups. Pulling up every two days or so to empty gray tanks is not something I care for. Black tanks may go a week or longer. Honey wagons cost a lot and, i don't know if they are even allowed in Tn State Psrks. We have some great parks, and always tried to get a space with full hookups. parks have rules on lights out etc. I'm t Judgemental but maybe I am, but the people who come in for the week end or holiday with dirt bikes and golf carts and high power ones at that are what ruin t for the rest of us. Such is one county Prk in Southern Michigan to the east of Coldwater, Michigan. I don't many of the parks have full hookups, or only a few for staff etc.
have to choose the Parks you want to stay at. If I sit down for a week or two, i don't want to have to pull up to empty gray water every few days, or black tanks either..and fight to be able to flush the tanks because of an irate weekender, who doesn't care if you open the valve and let her rip so long as you get out of his way so he can get home for own reasons. I have set in line for over an hour at a dump station while it takes some a bit to empty and flush their tanks.
no one likes that. Rude?

You sound like camping gets you pretty triggered some times.
Maybe a new hobby would be less irritating?
Can’t say dumping the chitter has ever been a real thing of concern or angst to me.

[covered_wagon]

jeromep, thank you, I do those things as well when I must use a station.Good information too.

[frankwp]

CavemanCharlie wrote:

down home wrote:
Pulling up every two days or so to empty gray tanks is not something I care for. I have set in line for over an hour at a dump station while it takes some a bit to empty and flush their tanks.
no one likes that.

Why oh why are you filling up your gray tank every two days ?? What are you using all that water for ?? Are you doing laundry in the camper or something?

I admit that I am just a weekend camper but, there are times when I've had my TT in the same spot and have stayed in it for 4 days. I never got close to filling the gray tank.

Maybe you should just learn to practice water conservation. I'm not trying to be snarky and I don't mean to offend. I'm just saying that it is not necessary to dump your gray tank every 2 days if you just use a little bit of thinking about water conservation.

I would not like setting in line for hour while some jerk flushes his tanks either.

With 7 of us in the trailer we have to empty the bathroom grey tank about once a day & the kitchen every 3 days or so.

[GDS-3950BH]

down home wrote:
Rude! That's too broad a brush for RVers who want full hookups. Pulling up every two days or so to empty gray tanks is not something I care for. Black tanks may go a week or longer. Honey wagons cost a lot and, i don't know if they are even allowed in Tn State Psrks. We have some great parks, and always tried to get a space with full hookups. parks have rules on lights out etc. I'm t Judgemental but maybe I am, but the people who come in for the week end or holiday with dirt bikes and golf carts and high power ones at that are what ruin t for the rest of us. Such is one county Prk in Southern Michigan to the east of Coldwater, Michigan. I don't many of the parks have full hookups, or only a few for staff etc.
have to choose the Parks you want to stay at. If I sit down for a week or two, i don't want to have to pull up to empty gray water every few days, or black tanks either..and fight to be able to flush the tanks because of an irate weekender, who doesn't care if you open the valve and let her rip so long as you get out of his way so he can get home for own reasons. I have set in line for over an hour at a dump station while it takes some a bit to empty and flush their tanks.
no one likes that. Rude?

Yes rude. "most who were rude" is not a broad brush.

[CavemanCharlie]

down home wrote:
Pulling up every two days or so to empty gray tanks is not something I care for. I have set in line for over an hour at a dump station while it takes some a bit to empty and flush their tanks.
no one likes that.

Why oh why are you filling up your gray tank every two days ?? What are you using all that water for ?? Are you doing laundry in the camper or something?

I admit that I am just a weekend camper but, there are times when I've had my TT in the same spot and have stayed in it for 4 days. I never got close to filling the gray tank.

Maybe you should just learn to practice water conservation. I'm not trying to be snarky and I don't mean to offend. I'm just saying that it is not necessary to dump your gray tank every 2 days if you just use a little bit of thinking about water conservation.

I would not like setting in line for hour while some jerk flushes his tanks either.

[CavemanCharlie]

I never camp at sites that have full hookup. They charge more money for that and I am just a weekend camper. Dump stations work just fine for me.

[jeromep]

covered wagon wrote:
Dump stations give me nightmares. The further away, as in hundreds of miles, the better I sleep.

In times like these, aren't they considered centers for spreading virus as well as the usual harmful bacteria?

No more or less than the average public restroom, or even your own bathroom. And don't get me started on people's kitchens. Kitchens harbor tremendous quantities of bacteria, even when people think they are cleaning up a kitchen properly or cleaning up after they cook.

Bacteria and viruses are around us all the time and we are continually exposed to untold legions of bacteria and viruses no matter where we physically reside or visit, and no matter the precautions.

With that said, good hygiene and good dumpsite practice are essential to protecting yourself from unnecessary exposure. Wear rubber gloves when handling any of your dump equipment, so hoses, elbows, flush accessories, even your valve pulls and outlet caps. Keep your sewer equipment physically isolated at all times from your fresh water handling gear and even your electrical handling gear. Stay aware of potential for cross contamination between your sewer gear and any other RV service gear you may have on board.

After dumping I will leave my used rubber gloves in the trash bin near the dump station and upon reentering my rig will wash with soap and water prior to driving off, thus doing my best to prevent bringing back any bad stuff into the living environment of our rig.

I'm fortunate in that my RV storage facility has on site dump for space renters. This makes it much easier to be careful, take your time, and cleanly dump tanks and even flush tanks without keeping others waiting or feeling like somebody is staring holes through you.

[covered_wagon]

Dump stations give me nightmares. The further away, as in hundreds of miles, the better I sleep.

In times like these, aren't they considered centers for spreading virus as well as the usual harmful bacteria?

[Tvov]

It is interesting to read different experiences people have from different parts of the country.

We are used to state parks with only dump stations.

Until recently, here in Connecticut no state park had "full hookups". Actually, I'm not sure if any do even now, but more CT parks have been installing water and electric the last few years. A lot have dump stations, usually just one lane. A couple big state parks have a large dump site area with multiple dump lanes. A lot of the CT state parks have shared water spigots between sites, not to "hookup" to, but to just fill your camper's fresh water tank and then you disconnect from the water faucet.

Having said that, my favorite CT state park, Macedonia Brook, has no hookups, no dump station, no paved pads, no running water - the available water supply is literally a couple of hand pump wells. Park "bathrooms" are outhouses. Camp sites are huge, and every time we've been there it was very quiet at night. I think the lack of amenities keeps the partiers away - which I prefer, now that it is just wife and I camping.

Some private campgrounds are very much "party" campgrounds - we go to those if we are camping with a group. When our kids were young we often went to resort-style family campgrounds that were busy and noisy - kids enjoyed all the activity.

Find campgrounds, state or private, with whatever facilities that you want, that you enjoy and go camping!

[covered_wagon]

rlw999 wrote:

covered wagon wrote:
Just put in your own at home even if you have to hire labor to get it dug underground. It may take time getting it done, but in the long run will save you a lot of time and be much more sanitary.

I was quoted $1500 (not including permits) to install a dump station at home, I don't have a convenient sewer cleanout (would have to drive to the back yard to reach it) that I could dump into.

It would take a *lot* of dumps to be worth $1500 to me.

We have run sewer line some almost a hundred feet. If you go to a 4''diameter pipe you can run at an 1/8th of an inch per foot of slope. 3 inch line requires a 1/4'' slope. Not hard.

In your case you might opt for a macerator. I think they offer a larger degree of sanitation when handling.

[04fxsts]

My BIL lives in rural northern MN about fifteen miles from the nearest small town. Ten miles of this is unpaved sand based road that is really nasty when wet. He and many of his neighbors want to keep it that way to keep out traffic. Jim.