I have a 2013 Bighorn 3010 RE. I am from Canada, and winter in south Texas. The last two dumps ( once a week) have me wondering what is going on with my Grey water tanks. We put a lot of water down our galley tank( washing lots of dishes) and not so much down the bathroom grey water tank. I always dump the black water tank first and rinse with the two grey water tanks. The last two dumps there is very little water coming out of them( grey), in the past the galley tank always expels with a huge gush. Is it possible that the galley tank can overflow into the black tank somehow if it gets full? Any ideas. Gauges haven't worked since 1st month so they aren't telling me anything.
Grey tank questions
- Thread starter DonHelenL
- Start date
mlpeloquin
Well-known member
Don't bother with the sensors. Is your rig hooked up to the sewer full time with the valves closed? If so, they may be leaking past the gate valves. Another possibility is that there is a leak and the water in on top of the coroplast and insulation. Look underneath your rig and check to see if the coroplast (corrugated plastic) is bulging. The water is going down the drain or not where you want it. Several of us use an external gate valve (http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/twist-on-valve/27868) to protect against leaking gate valves. It is not if they will leak, but when. Extra fun with brown trout and wrapping paper if the black valve leaks and you pull off the sealed cover to put your drain hose on. If you had one, you could close it to see if a gray water tank valve is leaking past the gate valve and down the drain. Mine did leak, but into the coroplast. I dumped a tank full all over a RV park when I left. In fact a friend was behind me and said I dumped sewer water for a quarter mile and it only stopped just before I got onto the freeway. He said it stunk so bad he thought is was the black tank, but it was the gray water tank. I wondered why he was falling so far behind me. Gray water can smell worse than the black. My valve fasteners loosened up and well you now know the rest of the story. All valve fasteners now have loctite. You may have to remove several screws that hold the coroplast on to carefully take a peak/sniff.
One more thing. If it is on top of the coroplast, get two buckets. By hand use a drill bit in locking pliers to make a small hole in the lowest point. Oh do put gloves on. This is a "OH GOODY GOODY" momet, but somebody has to do it. Have someone work with you so as one bucket fills they will empty the other. Clean up the coroplast and seal with a piece of Gorilla tape.
One more thing. If it is on top of the coroplast, get two buckets. By hand use a drill bit in locking pliers to make a small hole in the lowest point. Oh do put gloves on. This is a "OH GOODY GOODY" momet, but somebody has to do it. Have someone work with you so as one bucket fills they will empty the other. Clean up the coroplast and seal with a piece of Gorilla tape.
JohnDar
Prolifically Gabby Member
Unless the black tank valve is left open, there is no way for the gray tank to backflow into it. If you have a clear sewer pipe adapter, put it on and then run water into the kitchen sink with the tank valve closed. Look for any water flow in the clear adapter, indicating a problem with the valve not seating completely and allowing the tank to drain.
StarryNight
Retired Colorado Chapter Leaders
No, the black tank is not somehow connected to the grey tanks.
Why are you dumping once a week? Are there two of you or more?
There are only two of us. We typically are not hanging out in the RV all day, every day so we aren't using the "facilities" all day long day after day...we usually can go as long as two weeks before we need to dump our black tank when we are staying in one place.
Washing dishes isn't done every meal...to conserve amount of water use...are you doing this as well? That would explain the low volume of grey waste from kitchen.
Our gauges don't work well either
Why are you dumping once a week? Are there two of you or more?
There are only two of us. We typically are not hanging out in the RV all day, every day so we aren't using the "facilities" all day long day after day...we usually can go as long as two weeks before we need to dump our black tank when we are staying in one place.
Washing dishes isn't done every meal...to conserve amount of water use...are you doing this as well? That would explain the low volume of grey waste from kitchen.
Our gauges don't work well either
JohnD
Moved on to the next thing...
I don't like to leave anything open as I don't want any of those sewer gases coming back into the trailer.
Plus, when I empty the black tank I use the grey water to back flush the black tank.
I find that when one tank needs to be dumped, the other is probably close to needing to be dumped as well.
I also have one of those extra gate valves from Camping World . . .
All it takes is one close call on your sandled feet . . . and you'll never leave home without it!
If you have the cable operated valve, I will bet you have them leaking. After some time, it is just about impossible to get them to close fully. I fought our bath grey valve for several years, until last year, it had a 6' cable to operate it. I changed both greys out to Barker electric operated, they were $30 more than replacing the cables. Have not had any issues for almost a year, so far. I was never able to complete any trip without having an issue with the cables.
TxCowboy
Well-known member
John, you shouldn't have to worry about sewer gases coming back into the RV if your plumbing has P traps. P Traps are supposed to prevent that which is why they are also installed in home plumbing as well.
As for using the grey water to flush your black tank, how do you do that? I'm not sure how that would work.
mlpeloquin
Well-known member
There is a way for sewer gas to get into the living space. Under the bathroom and kitchen sinks there are air admittance valves. If they go bad you will know. Not if, but eventually when you have to replace them, get the good one. My Big Horn was built with the cheep six dollar ones. (http://www.lowes.com/Search=air+adm...&N=0&newSearch=true&Ntt=air+admittance+valve#!) They were replaced with the $26.00 one. The more expensive one is approved for use in residential construction. It took us four days to discover where the smell was coming from. The smell was off and on until the fourth day and then it was easy to find the source. It does not matter if the drain valves are open or not when they fail. When we toured the factory last year, I noticed that Heartland was installing the good ones. You should check just to make sure.
TxCowboy
Well-known member
True statement. But the thread is discussing the holding tanks so my comment and question were directed from that perspective.
JohnD
Moved on to the next thing...
I figure it is better to be safe than sorry . . . No sense in leaving the dump valves open unless you are dumping!
As for using the gray water to flush the black tank, I drain the black tank first, the close it and start the grey water drain, then close the gate and open the black drain so that the grey water flows into the black tank.
This flushes the black line and and unlodges any stubborn solids that want to stay put.
I close the grey drain and let the black tank drain again.
I'll do this a couple more times, then run the black tank flusher to finish out the black tank, then I'll finish draining the grey tank until empty.
JohnDar
Prolifically Gabby Member
Even though we sit on the same site all summer, I do not leave any tank valve open unless it's time to dump. I use the gray tank contents to flush out the sewer line after the black tank is done. The backflush adapter on my clear sewer adapter is used to backflush the black tank. It's just the two of us, but I dump the black tank about every 5 days. One way to keep the valve from getting clogged and a poop pyramid building in the tank is to not skimp on water when flushing the toilet. We take showers and do laundry in the rig, as well as wash the dishes each day, so my tanks get used...like they should.
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