Lippert "Flow Down" sewer hose support

[porthole]

My product review.

I picked up two kits of Lippert's "Flow Down" sewer hose support. Looking for something that might be easier to what I was currently doing.
The Goshen Rally can be a bit of a challenge for some with all the connections at the very rear of the sites. Long sewer hose runs add to the challenge with getting the correct slope or pitch over the distance, especially at the ground connection. I don't understand why some parks have sewer hookups a foot off the ground.

At a "special" price of $80 a kit, these are pricey, but they are well made and someone has to pay for the engineering and design.

3 things stand out:

1) The half pipes fit the sewer hose fine, but the connector pieces are about 1/8" too small. So, the hose has multiple rise and falls when supported by the Flow Down. This is compounded by the fact that the actual connectors raise the hose some and by the fact that the hose does not fit all the way down on the connector.
At first I thought "hah - this must be a way of getting us to buy that expensive sewer hose". A trip over to the Lippert booth proved me wrong. The Lippert hose sat the same way.

2) The half pipes slip into the connectors and have small bumps that allow for indexing. You twist the half pipe into the connector and at 180 degrees it bumps into a stop. Works good. But, when you slip the next piece in and rotate, the first pipe tend to rotate itself back put of the connector. Can be frustrating, especially as you add multiple sections.

3) The connectors - the kit comes with enough connectors for the 5 included half pipes with single half pipe pieces for the two ends. All well and good until you want to add a 2nd kit. There is no way to join all the pieces together when you have 2 or more kits.

And even with the easy height adjustment on the Flow Down, I still needed to use my "lego blocks" for the first 10 feet while at Goshen.

http://lci1.com/flow-down

 

[rxbristol]

Thanks for the write-up. I learned something.

 

[JohnDar]

At the 2011 Rally, I borrowed a hacksaw and cut the sewer pipe down from 12" to about 3" off the ground. It was still an uphill run and required massaging the extended stinky slinky to get it to flow. At the 2013 Rally, same site, I had the Sewer Solution with an extension section and it worked like a charm without having to play masseuse.

 

[pegmikef]

Duane, I also bought the flow down and ran into basically the same thing you described. . . but, I have to say now that I am at a site that has the more traditional sewer setup, it really works nicely. One thing I like is that i can stretch out the slinky, hook up both ends, then just slide the channel under it. It is then simple to set the appropriate elevation and grade with the stakes. I think it was worth the price.

 

[porthole]

Duane, I also bought the flow down and ran into basically the same thing you described. . . but, I have to say now that I am at a site that has the more traditional sewer setup, it really works nicely. One thing I like is that i can stretch out the slinky, hook up both ends, then just slide the channel under it. It is then simple to set the appropriate elevation and grade with the stakes. I think it was worth the price.

I've only used it once so far, and that was after i had my normal hookup in place.
As i get my system in order, I'm sure it will be ok. But, I will keep my current setup until I prove to my self otherwise.

No matter how you slice it though, the connectors should be about 1/4" wider and they should lock together as you piece it together, not separate. And one of the included connectors could be swapped for a double connector so that multiple kits can all be locked into one continuos run.

having to play masseuse.

With the long runs at Goshen, the slope really needs to be correct - all the way to the ground terminal. Even the traditional 1/4" per foot will work as long as you have the entire length sloped, including the elbow. I saw a lot of hookups that had that "dip" at the pipe. That makes for a heavy, awkward slinky to start massaging.

The 1/4" slope may not work with the "Flow Down" though. Visually, 1/4" per foot is hard to see without some length to it. The Flow Down 'bumps" are quite easy to see. A 3.5" hose should have roughly 1/2 gallon of liquid per foot, rounding to 9 pounds per gallon, several feet of can quickly add up to some weight, especially adding in the "free surface effect".

 

[pegmikef]

". . . the slope really needs to be correct . . ."

Yeah, and that is the problem I run into a lot, because the BH3010 is a smaller fiver and has a ten inch frame instead of twelve effectively lowering the sewer connector two inches. I just try to be smart about sites I choose . . of course at Goshen, that was not an option down in the southwest area.

 

[porthole]

". . . the slope really needs to be correct . . ."

Yeah, and that is the problem I run into a lot, because the BH3010 is a smaller fiver and has a ten inch frame instead of twelve effectively lowering the sewer connector two inches. I just try to be smart about sites I choose . . of course at Goshen, that was not an option down in the southwest area.

Our Cyclone is also a 10" frame.
When I redid the plumbing to get the connection out from under the slide i raised the dump connection as far as possible.
And having level up, I will at times use the jacks for elevation as needed when doing the final dump.

 

[JohnDar]

Yeah, massaging that hose in 2011 was no fun. I think I finally gave up and returned to our CG with a lot still in the tank. The young couple next to us had a tougher time since their run was a little longer and he had a flimsier hose. At least I had the RhinoFlex, which is relatively stiff walled.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[rxbristol]

A while back I bought a couple of sets for a spot where I thought they might be needed but never used them. I decided to try them today and I really like 'em. Easy to use and set up.

 

[NWILSON]

The sewer hookup on arrival at our site in Goshen was over 10" above ground level. One of the groundskeepers was nice enough to stop by and remove about 5 or 6 inches but we still needed something to keep the hose at a workable level. I bought the Camco Sidewinder (accordian type) 40' hose support from Amazon for about $40 and had it delivered to me at the fairgrounds. It functioned well though a bit bulky for storage. At the time we just needed something to eliminate the "uphill" battle!