4012, only a 45gal grey tank.....

Country

Well-known member
We really like the floor plan of the 4012, but are a little put off at the single 45gal grey tank. This will be our 1st RV, so we have no experience to judge, so is this not as big of an issue as we think? What do you all with 4012s think? Is it a big deal? If you had it to do over would you choose another floor plan because of this?
Thanks
 
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Uncle Rog

Well-known member
Howdy, typically you would want the grey tank(s) to be about double the black capacity. My first couple of rigs had three 40 gal tanks. When the fresh was empty I had to find a dump sitye as the gray was full. Check with the factory, all the other units have two 45's.........
 

Country

Well-known member
Yeah, 2 times more grey than black was my thoughts too. At first I thought it must have been a misprint on the website, but I saw a post on here that confirmed only 45gal. A fellow from the factory said that they could only put one grey tank in because of the triple slide configuration.

We really like the floor plan, but will be boon-docking most of the time (only for a few days at a time though). I don't know if only having half the grey capacity is worth giving up on this floor plan. How bad would it be to just let the grey water drain on the ground by leaving the valve open (if we're not close to anyone else)? What about leaving the cap on the sewer drain and when the grey gets full, flush it into a less than 25% full black tank? I'm trying to figure some way to make this work.... Thanks for any input.
 

Jimmyt5

Well-known member
I have done the flushing into the black tank.
You can get a FlushKing from CW and you put it on your outlet then open both tanks and they will equalize. Put you drain hose on and open the Flushking when ready..

Jim
 
C

Chulinw

Guest
Some times the gray tank can have very bad smell. When food is in the gray tank and it goes on the ground it can attrack ants and many other unwanted animals. When the food gets rotten it sure can smell bad. If it is only shower water then putting it on the ground is ok. Many places do not allow any type of gray water on the ground. The only place I found I could put gray water on the ground was out west in the desert areas.
 

HappyKayakers

Well-known member
Country said:
A fellow from the factory said that they could only put one grey tank in because of the triple slide configuration.
Sounds strange to me. Our BH has 4 slides, 2 gray tanks, 1 black, 1 fresh. All tanks are below slide level. Maybe there's a typo somewhere. I just checked the website and the 3912 is also a triple slide and shows 2 grey tanks.
 

russell

Member
This sounds familiar. I posted this question months ago. I was told there was no room for two grey tanks because of the third slideout. My solution was to purchase a twenty five gallon "honey wagon" in case the grey tank fills up. Figured it would be alot easier to tow that to the dump station.
In review the company sales literature could stand to be organized a bit better, and a dedicated owners manual would be a significant improvement.

Russ
 

akers123

Member
Oh no, We have a 4012 on the way and this past weekend in our ForestRiver Wildwood out gray tank was full after 5 showers. We always dry camp. I thought for sure the problem would be solved after the Cyclone came in.
 

Loco

Well-known member
Gray tanks not holding enough?

Just to let some of you know how we do the gray tank thing and it works great. I have one of the main drain cap with a garden hose fittings. I make sure the Black water valve is closed good and leave my gray tank valve open. We have a 3/4 hose that is about 10ft long and i run it out under my genset up front. The hot air blowing out from the genset drys up all water that drains out on to the ground. You have to remember that the only thing coming out of your gray tanks is soapy water. It will not hurt anything to put it on the ground. We some times will run a 25 ft hose out of the camping area into the woods that works good also. But I have found that if you let it run out under the genset it is dry within a hour or two from the hot air blowing down on the ground. I have always let my gray water out on the ground if not in a RV park or some place others will come in after us. I have never had any troubles doing this way.
 

nhunter

Well-known member
Most if not all places frown on dumping fluids on the ground. Soap can be bad for the enviroment as well (stepping off my soapbox now). You can also use a tote and take it home with you or take it to a dump station.
 

jpmorgan37

Well-known member
Collapsable 5 gallon jugs from Walmart at about $5 each will give you an inexpensive "blue boy". Works very well for gray water. As to Loco's solution, we usually ask if draining gray water is acceptable and some parks say yes.
 

nhunter

Well-known member
If you want to be really smart you could plumb your grey tank into toilet and use that as flush water.
 

Loco

Well-known member
I do not get me wrong here folks.I do not put gray water out in parks or near a stream. This is the toyhauler area and we use our rigs out it the middle of no where most of the time. We are not like most RV users. We are out in a cow pasture,field or dessert,ect. when we are dry camping. And soap from a shower or dish washing will not hurt anything. You put it in the ground every day at home if you are on septic and not sewer. Now I am off my soap box.
 

Country

Well-known member
Loco, you have any problems with your grey or black tanks draining completely? I remember reading (in the BH section, I think) where the tanks were not draining all the way cuz the drain pipe was plumbed to the side of the tank and not to the bottem.... I know you've been in the under-belly a lot and wondered if you've noticed and/or corrected this? Or should I not worry about it.

Thanks Brother!
 

Loco

Well-known member
Country,
I have no troubles with my Gray water or black water tanks at all. Other than the cables going to the control valves being to long. But I removed them and cut them to the right length. There is only one place to put the drain pipe coming out of these tanks. And that is at the lowest point in the tank.
 

Country

Well-known member
Thanks.
That's one less thing to worry about.
Good tip on the cables. I'll be sure to look for that.
 
Hi everyone, new to the forum and new to Heartland,
The wife and I just ordered the 4012. The factory rep specifically told us that it will be coming with two gray tanks of about 45 gallons each, as well as, one black tank of about 45 gallons. This was a sticking point for us as we will be traveling with 3-4 kids.

Rock On...
 

Country

Well-known member
That's great news grandseahawk!

After reading your post I talked to our awesome east cost Facrtory Rep David Porter. We too have a 4012 on order, in fact David told me it was scheduled to start being built next week. He said you were 100% right. The 4012 will now come with dual 45 gal grays and that they made the switch 5-6 weeks ago. That's one of the great things about Heartland, they don't wait until the next model year to incorporate changes. They get feed back on what needs to be improved and implement the change immediately. That's awesome!

I can't say enough about our experience's so far with David and Heartland! We couldn't be happier!
 

Renshi

Member
Our Cyclone 4012 only came with one 45 gallon grey tank. Does anyone know if there is a retro fit kit available so we could add the additional 45 gallon grey tank?
 
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