Dump Station Etiquette???

[akcorr]

Picking up our first trailer next month and doing the rounds on youtube on how to empty you black tank. Question for you guys: Are you allowed to rinse the tank after emptying when you are at the station or is that frowned upon?

[ford_truck_guy]

profdant139 wrote:
36guy, what do you do with the leather gloves when you are all done? I use disposable gloves from Harbor Freight and toss them after dumping.

X2

[profdant139]

36guy, what do you do with the leather gloves when you are all done? I use disposable gloves from Harbor Freight and toss them after dumping.

[36guy]

I own a diesel pickup, I always have a pair of leather gloves to fuel up with, so.....I pull up, put on my leather gloves, haul the slinky out of the back bumper, pull the black, wait, close the black, pull the two greys, wait, shut the valves, pull the slinky, into the bumper, climb into the truck and get out of the next guys way. Drag my five gallon pail back to potable water, fill it, dump it down the toilet and vacate.
Nobody around? I'll rinse till the black runs clean, hose down what needs hosing, all with leather gloves. It's not nuclear waste, and I don't get it all over me, sometimes though, it can be very entertaining being in line.

[Kavoom]

bpounds wrote:

Grit dog wrote:

bpounds wrote:
I avoid dump station lines whenever possible. But sometimes on longer trips it has to happen. I often use my gray water to flush my black tank. All it takes is a twist on valve at the end of the plumbing.

Open twist-on, open black tank and drain. Close twist-on, leave black valve open, then open gray valve. Gray water will back flow into the black tank. You'll hear it, and when the whoosh stops, close the gray valve. Open the twist-on and let the black drain again. Finally close the black valve, open the gray and/or galley and finish the job.

While all that is going on, no one in line will know anything about a flush going on. And you'll be there watching and working the valves the whole time.

I'm no RV expert and this certainly will do a bit of a black tank flush, but I like the thought of the gray flushing all the poo out of the stinky slinky after the black tank drains, considering it's the drippy, gotta unhook it and store it somewhere part of the equation.
Not sure I want corn and TP sitting in the slinky until next time.

It still does clean the slinky. Assuming you had a good amount of gray to dump. Gravity being gravity, not all that much flows over to the black tank. It just finds its own level. In my case I have gray and galley, so plenty of non-black to do both jobs. Once you've got the twist-on valve. Its maybe 3 minutes extra time.

Great advice from guy was to flush a bit of fresh water into the black tank after emptying, not much and then put a couple of bags of ice in there down the poop chute before a day run. You will have just a couple of gallons and the ice will slosh around cleaning things up. After about a year, I did this and got some lights back on my black tank status checker thingy. I do this now a few times a year...

[Kavoom]

Good etiquette recommendation. Don't cuss, might be kids in the vehicle behind you.

[bpounds]

Grit dog wrote:

bpounds wrote:
I avoid dump station lines whenever possible. But sometimes on longer trips it has to happen. I often use my gray water to flush my black tank. All it takes is a twist on valve at the end of the plumbing.

Open twist-on, open black tank and drain. Close twist-on, leave black valve open, then open gray valve. Gray water will back flow into the black tank. You'll hear it, and when the whoosh stops, close the gray valve. Open the twist-on and let the black drain again. Finally close the black valve, open the gray and/or galley and finish the job.

While all that is going on, no one in line will know anything about a flush going on. And you'll be there watching and working the valves the whole time.

I'm no RV expert and this certainly will do a bit of a black tank flush, but I like the thought of the gray flushing all the poo out of the stinky slinky after the black tank drains, considering it's the drippy, gotta unhook it and store it somewhere part of the equation.
Not sure I want corn and TP sitting in the slinky until next time.

It still does clean the slinky. Assuming you had a good amount of gray to dump. Gravity being gravity, not all that much flows over to the black tank. It just finds its own level. In my case I have gray and galley, so plenty of non-black to do both jobs. Once you've got the twist-on valve. Its maybe 3 minutes extra time.

[Cummins12V98]

"Your self installed contraption may have everything on the exterior, but factory installs almost always have a cheap plastic vacuum breaker installed in a dead space in the interior, typically buried inside a vanity cabinet. They are notorious for sticking or not seating and flooding campers."

So true! I ditched mine that were leaking with a few pcs of PVC.

[GDS-3950BH]

dodge guy wrote:

GDS-3950BH wrote:
Prior to @ 2010 or so, the vast majority of RVs left the factories without tank flushing contraptions. If you wanted such a gizmo, you added it yourself. Most never bothered to do so. I wonder how everyone survived without them? They work really great ( not sure at what as many are mounted to spray against the gravity flow of the tank outlet) until the cheap plastic anti siphon valve, typically buried in a cabinet somewhere does not seat, and you're mopping up the puddle on the floor. Then not so much.

No need to twist a story into a horror movie! LOL

they are easy to install as I have installed them on 2 different new TT`s. everything is exterior. On my class A its also separate of the living area. no messes and no smells from the black tank either!

No need to get your panties twisted into a knot LOL.

Your self installed contraption may have everything on the exterior, but factory installs almost always have a cheap plastic vacuum breaker / anti siphon valve installed in a dead space in the interior, typically buried inside a vanity cabinet. They are notorious for sticking or not seating and flooding campers.

Those cheap valves are also capable of holding just enough water that if not winterized / blown out they crack, which is not found until spring when the tank flush is used.

[Grit_dog]

bpounds wrote:
I avoid dump station lines whenever possible. But sometimes on longer trips it has to happen. I often use my gray water to flush my black tank. All it takes is a twist on valve at the end of the plumbing.

Open twist-on, open black tank and drain. Close twist-on, leave black valve open, then open gray valve. Gray water will back flow into the black tank. You'll hear it, and when the whoosh stops, close the gray valve. Open the twist-on and let the black drain again. Finally close the black valve, open the gray and/or galley and finish the job.

While all that is going on, no one in line will know anything about a flush going on. And you'll be there watching and working the valves the whole time.

I'm no RV expert and this certainly will do a bit of a black tank flush, but I like the thought of the gray flushing all the poo out of the stinky slinky after the black tank drains, considering it's the drippy, gotta unhook it and store it somewhere part of the equation.
Not sure I want corn and TP sitting in the slinky until next time.

[dodge_guy]

GDS-3950BH wrote:
Prior to @ 2010 or so, the vast majority of RVs left the factories without tank flushing contraptions. If you wanted such a gizmo, you added it yourself. Most never bothered to do so. I wonder how everyone survived without them? They work really great ( not sure at what as many are mounted to spray against the gravity flow of the tank outlet) until the cheap plastic anti siphon valve, typically buried in a cabinet somewhere does not seat, and you're mopping up the puddle on the floor. Then not so much.

No need to twist a story into a horror movie! LOL

they are easy to install as I have installed them on 2 different new TT`s. everything is exterior. On my class A its also separate of the living area. no messes and no smells from the black tank either!

[bpounds]

I avoid dump station lines whenever possible. But sometimes on longer trips it has to happen. I often use my gray water to flush my black tank. All it takes is a twist on valve at the end of the plumbing.

Open twist-on, open black tank and drain. Close twist-on, leave black valve open, then open gray valve. Gray water will back flow into the black tank. You'll hear it, and when the whoosh stops, close the gray valve. Open the twist-on and let the black drain again. Finally close the black valve, open the gray and/or galley and finish the job.

While all that is going on, no one in line will know anything about a flush going on. And you'll be there watching and working the valves the whole time.

[profdant139]

Someone mentioned putting a Water Thief onto the non-potable water hose (which usually has no fitting at all on the end of the hose -- it's just bare rubber). One end of the Water Thief is a slip fitting, which goes over the bare rubber end, and the other end is threaded (and can thus be screwed into your black water rinse port).

A Water Thief is a great idea. But be careful when turning on the faucet for the rinse water. If you turn it on too fast and too hard, the back-pressure will blow the Water Thief off of the bare rubber end of the rinse hose, which will whip around like a wounded rattlesnake and will spray everyone with refreshing non-potable water.

Please do not ask how I learned this valuable lesson.

[gkainz]

Maybe it's already been said up above, but if so, I'll repeat ... if sitting in a line waiting to dump, with others behind me, I'll take that time to prep - get the hose out, fittings, gloves, etc and stage either on the tailgate or on the ground near the dump pad. That way others aren't waiting on me to get ready ... I'm ready to hook up and dump when it's my turn. After dumping and rinsing, I'll pull ahead for the next guy, and put my stuff away while out of the way.

[GDS-3950BH]

Prior to @ 2010 or so, the vast majority of RVs left the factories without tank flushing contraptions. If you wanted such a gizmo, you added it yourself. Most never bothered to do so. I wonder how everyone survived without them? They work really great ( not sure at what as many are mounted to spray against the gravity flow of the tank outlet) until the cheap plastic anti siphon valve, typically buried in a cabinet somewhere does not seat, and you're mopping up the puddle on the floor. Then not so much.

[Vintage465]

akcorr wrote:
Picking up our first trailer next month and doing the rounds on youtube on how to empty you black tank. Question for you guys: Are you allowed to rinse the tank after emptying when you are at the station or is that frowned upon?

If they have a non potable water hose with a hose fitting on the end that's not been run over........I hook that up to the sani-flush while the black tank is draining. I turn it on soon as it hooked up so it gets a start on the rinse. Then when the black appears to be draining just flush water, I close the black valve, I open the gray water. When the gray is done, I close it and open the black tank to dump the flush water. This usually doesn't hold anyone up. But usually the non potable water hose either has no end or it's been run over.