How to keep gray water from coming up into tub?

[StarkNaked]

What do you do to keep gray water from coming up into the bathtub when you have to drive to the next dump station?

I tried buying a tapered rubber plug, but it's designed to keep water from going down the drain, not water coming up. With the shape of the taper, it just gets pushed up and out of the drain.

Have any of you come up with a good solution to keep water from coming up into the tub when you're driving on a curvy road?

[dedmiston]

willald wrote:
I suspect there are a lot of people that would agree with this and probably do this, but would never state such publicly, and most especially not on a public internet RV forum.

I also agree with a previous post, that plugging the shower is a very bad idea and should be avoided, because you could pressurize plumbing that was not meant to be pressurized, leading to all kinds of problems later on. There must be a better way than that..

It's kinda like going online and talking about cheating on your taxes. It happens, but...

[willald]

Grit dog wrote:
Well, I was gonna suggest, if you’re camped in an appropriate spot, dump the gray out. In the woods, in a ditch, in a field, etc. Not thru the neighbors campsite and their outdoor carpet.
If one can have a little common sense, it is easy to dispose of gray water responsibly and unnoticed. Just need enough garden hose to get it where you need it.
Heck we spend 1-2 weeks in the same popular (relatively crowded) private park every year. I’ve disposed of well over 500gallons of gray, unnoticed by anyone. How do I know? Because the next morning I can’t tell, myself.
Sorry if that gets anyone’s feelers all wadded up. But if one has enough IQ to function normally, one also has the ability to lose some gray water without making a mess, harming anything or upsetting anyone.
If not, then drive to the dump station I suppose.

I suspect there are a lot of people that would agree with this and probably do this, but would never state such publicly, and most especially not on a public internet RV forum.

I also agree with a previous post, that plugging the shower is a very bad idea and should be avoided, because you could pressurize plumbing that was not meant to be pressurized, leading to all kinds of problems later on. There must be a better way than that..

[dedmiston]

"Use less water" and "dump more frequently" seem like glib responses, but I agree with them.

The biggest change you can make is using less water when you do dishes. It took me a while to learn this in our first RV, but it was a next-level lesson for me. Turn your faucet on to a trickle to do your dishes. If this doesn't work for you, get a dishpan and use it for the dishes and then dump the dishpan outside someplace.

Also start by wiping the plates with a paper towel into the trash to get most of the grime off the plates. Or better yet, do like Wilma Flintstone did and use a dinosaur (or your family dog) as your garbage disposal to get the chunks off the plate before you head to the sink. This will also eliminate most of the food waste going into your gray tank, which will keep the smell down.

And if all else fails, go with the tote.

[RLS7201]

Our MH has 2 50 gallon waste tanks, which don't make much design sense.
I installed a pump to transfer gray water into the black tank. That way we can store all the water we use from our 100 gallon fresh water tank.

Richard

[Grit_dog]

Well, I was gonna suggest, if you’re camped in an appropriate spot, dump the gray out. In the woods, in a ditch, in a field, etc. Not thru the neighbors campsite and their outdoor carpet.
If one can have a little common sense, it is easy to dispose of gray water responsibly and unnoticed. Just need enough garden hose to get it where you need it.
Heck we spend 1-2 weeks in the same popular (relatively crowded) private park every year. I’ve disposed of well over 500gallons of gray, unnoticed by anyone. How do I know? Because the next morning I can’t tell, myself.
Sorry if that gets anyone’s feelers all wadded up. But if one has enough IQ to function normally, one also has the ability to lose some gray water without making a mess, harming anything or upsetting anyone.
If not, then drive to the dump station I suppose.

[enblethen]

How full is black tank? You could "transfer" some grey into your black tank.

[JRscooby]

1 of the Mods Dad had me do to his 5th was put another drain in gray tank about 3/4 up. Line to 2 valves. Open 1, GW would tie back in to leave thru stinky-slinky. Open other, water can go out thru hose bib, directed into bucket, or where allowed, into bushes.
If tank is near full, the first water out when value opened will be fairly clean, if you need to flush something, or make sure your campfire is out.
As for the reduce water use; Wash dishes in pan, catch rinse water in another. The wash pan, dump down toilet to black tank. (Allow reduction in clean water needed to move the poop) The rinse water, should only have some soap in it. Next time do dishes, add hot water, use to wash.
As a side benefit, if that dish water, with any food particles, is stored in black tank, water that backs into shower floor will be lighter shade of grey.

[valhalla360]

agwill wrote:
Use less water!

This. Putting 10lb in a 5lb bag never works well.

Keep in mind, the waste plumbing isn't designed to be pressurized. If you manage to plug it, good chance at some point, there will be a failure with waste water leaking into the underbelly. As you are bouncing down the road with your nicely sealed tank, the plumbing is experiencing stress and pressure from being filled.

[TCBear]

As KTMRFS mentioned, draining gray water into a large household bucket and manually dumping down a campground toilet is a decent option as well, discretely if you have to such as early or late in the day. I routinely run my faucets with the smallest trickle of water I can get, no thicker than wet spaghetti, and have fully adapted to that for everything -- hand washing, dishes, teeth brushing, etc. I could boondock parked for a month if I needed to with my three 40 gal fresh/gray/black trailer tanks, and have done so during Covid.

[TCBear]

As others have mentioned, generating less gray water can solve the "plug problem." Random thoughts: Similar to what OpnspaAs mentioned, an adjustable rubber engine block freeze plug; placing a heavy weight over the drain plug; taping the plug down with Gorilla Tape; make a suction cup or velcro bracket to hold the plug in place; line the top of the drain with stair/bathtub traction tape to better grip the plug; run a bead of silicone seal along the top of the drain and push the plug just below the bead; prop a long wooden dowel from the plug all the way to the ceiling; letting the gray water come up and just accept that; running faucets with just a tiny trickle of water and adapting to that; bathing with Walgreens no-rinse soap sponge baths and no-rinse shampoo (very little water); bathing less frequently; bathing outside the camper rather than inside; not washing dishes when feasible and doing so later at home; using plastic/paper utensils and dinnerware; rinsing dishes in a shallow tub rather than under a faucet (less water); diverting cleaning/bathing wastewater from gray drains to down the toilet.

[hotjag1]

The small motorhome in my signature has small holding tanks so we ran into the same issues that the op has. We bought a cargo rack that fits into the trailer hitch receiver. Then bought a 21 gallon portable waste tank and carry it on the cargo rack. Even when it is fairly full, we are still able to lift up one end onto the rack and then slide it all the way up and into the rack. We can extend our stay for a few days longer using the portable tank.

[ktmrfs]

if the campground has vault or pit toilets or a place to dump dishwater, take along a 5 gallon bucket, fill it with grey water and dump it.

PLEASE DO NOT DRAIN IT ON THE GROUND1!1

and work on using less water. DW and I can camp for two weeks before our 32 gallon black or two 32 gallon grey are full. And that include showers every 2-3 days. Wash dishes once/day at the most. paper plates make great fire starters.

[BB_TX]

If yours is like mine a plug like those above would not work. But you could use the flat rubber type with a weight on top if it. A simple gallon zip lock bag of sand would work for the weight.

https://www.amazon.com/V-TOP-Stopper-Silicone-Bathtub-Bathroom/dp/B076JD153W/ref=asc_df_B076JD153W/?...

[AllegroD]

Don't. Unless it is coming out of the tub, I don't see the problem.

[enblethen]

You could try one like this.
Plug
Does facility allow for grey water to released onto ground? Most do not but you never know for sure without asking.