Gray water flush

[Bob_Vaughn]

One question I have had in my 50+ years of rving I have often wondered why the mfg's do not install gray water tank flush connections. I know they don't clean that well but something is better than nothing....Cost would be one reason but with what rv's cost now days that would be miniscule....

[camperdave]

Bob Vaughn wrote:
so are flush connections good or bad

Yes.

[Bob_Vaughn]

so are flush connections good or bad

[myredracer]

We've had odors from our galley tank. But only because the AAV failed. Twice... Both within months... :M Then I installed a commercial grade Oatey AAV and has been good for years now. Because the galley tank can get more "stuff" in it that can stick to the tank walls, I use a chemical cleaner once a year. Can't see the need for an in-tank flusher in the galley or bathroom tanks.

I like the tank flusher in our black tank. First thing I do when breaking camp is dump the black tank (after filling it to full as needed) and then let the flusher run for about 20 minutes. Does a pretty good job of cleaning the tank bottom. But the factory, in their wisdom, put the tank sensors on the same tank wall as the flusher so spray doesn't hit the sensors and clean them off. :M We even have Horst Miracle probes that don't help simply because they don't get sprayed with water. A back flush elbow doesn't clean the sensors because the sensors are beside the outlet pipe. Same issue with both gray tanks.

Our owners manual says to use Liquid Drano (won't hurt metal or plastic). We use it once or twice a season in the galley and black tanks. Unfortunately, false readings return pdq (sigh).

[Cummins12V98]

Durb wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:

Durb wrote:
We also wipe down our dishes for left over food and grease with paper towels before washing. Before dumping the gray tank I squirt some dish soap into the sink and wash it down with all the hot water sitting in the water heater, around ten gallons. Never any gray tank smell.

Yes another option but seems like a lot of $$$ on paper towels and electricity or propane.

Water is going to cool down on the trip home anyhow. Not full time.

Got it!!!

[Bobbo]

The only time I have ever had odors from either tank, it took me a while to track it down. What had happened was the roof vent for the black tank got stopped up. When dumping the black tank, the HUGE vacuum that resulted from it not being vented caused the AAV under the bathroom sink to fail. (The bathroom sink emptied into the black tank. I wish my current TT did that.)

I could fix the odor problem by replacing that AAV, and it would all be good until I dumped again, then the problem would recur. After about 3 or 4 AAV's I finally tracked down the REAL problem and fixed that. Then, when I replaced the AAV, the odor stayed gone.

[CincyGus]

downtheroad wrote:
Haven't had odors from our gray tank....seems that a combination of the traps and careful scraping of scraps from the dishes has done the trick.

Thats been my experience also. Never had a smell problem from either tank. If I'm hooked where I have sewer, I fill the black tank a second time about half full after the first flush and dump again and call it good. Gray, I just dump and don't flush or re-dump. I believe food particles are what stinks it up so use using paper plates when we can and scraping pots, pans and dishes clean outside in the garbage can when we can't, wiping then with a paper towel and then washing has never caused a smell issue.

[Durb]

Cummins12V98 wrote:

Durb wrote:
We also wipe down our dishes for left over food and grease with paper towels before washing. Before dumping the gray tank I squirt some dish soap into the sink and wash it down with all the hot water sitting in the water heater, around ten gallons. Never any gray tank smell.

Yes another option but seems like a lot of $$$ on paper towels and electricity or propane.

Water is going to cool down on the trip home anyhow. Not full time.

[Bobbo]

Durb wrote:
We also wipe down our dishes for left over food and grease with paper towels before washing. Before dumping the gray tank I squirt some dish soap into the sink and wash it down with all the hot water sitting in the water heater, around ten gallons. Never any gray tank smell.

If I were going to squirt some dish soap into the sink and wash it down, I would do it after dumping rather than before. That way, it is in the tank doing its job the whole time the tank is in use, rather than the 15 minutes it takes to dump.

That being said, since almost all the water going into the grey tank is from the shower (with soap and shampoo) or from the sinks (with dish soap or hand soap) I think there is enough emulsifier in there already.

[Cummins12V98]

Durb wrote:
We also wipe down our dishes for left over food and grease with paper towels before washing. Before dumping the gray tank I squirt some dish soap into the sink and wash it down with all the hot water sitting in the water heater, around ten gallons. Never any gray tank smell.

Yes another option but seems like a lot of $$$ on paper towels and electricity or propane.

[Durb]

We also wipe down our dishes for left over food and grease with paper towels before washing. Before dumping the gray tank I squirt some dish soap into the sink and wash it down with all the hot water sitting in the water heater, around ten gallons. Never any gray tank smell.

[wrktfsh]

My grey water flush is 5 gals water with a cup of simple green. Add that to empty tank when leaving, let it slosh on the drive, dump when I get to where I’m going.

[Cummins12V98]

If i am on full hookups the hose is always connected and grey valve open. It's not much fun to hop in the shower and realize the tank is full with standing water at your feet.

But hey it's nice to have choices.

[Bobbo]

Cummins12V98 wrote:

Bobbo wrote:
Since we wipe all of the solid particles into a paper towel and throw them into the trash before washing the dishes, no I don't. (Or, was that sarcasm? Sometimes I can't tell the difference.)

I am sure it's not a big deal but i have the flush and I use it. If you let your tank fill then dump nothing to worry about. If you leave grey open as I do it's a good idea to do a 10 minute flush with valve closed then dump.

I never leave the stinky slinky hooked up, much less with a valve open, and always have at least 3/4 tank before dumping. If one of the tanks is not that full, I fill it.

[Big_Katuna]

Adding a 1/2 C of bleach down the sink will keep your gray tank smelling better.