rjl
Newbie RV’er
Posts: 27 
|
Post by rjl on Jun 16, 2016 18:40:33 GMT -5
Hey all,
We are getting ready to take our new to us Sportsmen out camping next week...... Coming from a pop up Im not used to working with black and gray water tanks. This rv doesnt come with any gages, is there an easy way to tell how full the tanks are getting??
Thanks for the tips! :-)
Robert
|
|
|
|
Post by larryg on Jun 17, 2016 7:10:26 GMT -5
many have a control panel with LED indicators however they are pretty much worthless anyway. if the toilet is a straight drop a flashlight can be used to check but the black takes a long time to fill.
the 1st sign the grey tank is full is water backing up in the tub/shower
|
|
rjl
Newbie RV’er
Posts: 27
|
Post by rjl on Jun 17, 2016 12:43:20 GMT -5
Thank you Larry! I will take a look with a flashlight and see if it is.
|
|
|
|
Post by bluegrass2 on Jun 17, 2016 19:37:37 GMT -5
Just as what was previously said....the gauges are worthless. If someone tells you how to clean them, it might work for the first trip and you will be back to inaccurate readings the next time. Don't waste your time cleaning. You will learn from experience how long...how many showers/loads of dishes washed before you have to dump. As they said it will back up in the shower and the toilet is a look and see. As he said the black water is quite awhile for backup. We (2 adults) have gone at least 4-5 days before even thinking about dumping the black water....I am sure we could go longer; we just dump, if available, to be on the safe side.
Happy Trails!
|
|
|
|
Post by sandymelody on Jun 18, 2016 18:10:41 GMT -5
Hi Robert,
My wife and I also graduated from a pop up. We have a Sportsman 16RBT. How did I know the gray water was full? My wife yelled for me to come in from grilling because the plastic storage bin she was using for storage in the tub was floating. Welcome to camping, if we learn from our mistakes then I've learned a lot lol.
Now I never go more than 24 hours without dumping.
|
|
|
|
Post by sandymelody on Jun 18, 2016 18:13:21 GMT -5
Oops I meant to say I never go more than 48 hours.
|
|
larryo
Weekender RV’er
Posts: 82
|
Post by larryo on Jun 18, 2016 22:00:19 GMT -5
With two adults, we usually can go 3 - 4 days without dumping either tank and then they are not near being completely full.
The Black tank is less of a problem because it is only filled by the toilet. If you learn to do quick flushes using minimal water, I believe you could go almost a week.
The gray tank filling really depends how often you use the shower and how much water you use doing dishes.
We try to use campground bathrooms during the day to help reduce the filling of the black tank.
|
|
|
|
Post by larryg on Jun 20, 2016 10:01:00 GMT -5
unless you have an extremely small black tank I can't recommend conserving water here, you need plenty of water to have it dump properly.
|
|
|
|
Post by bluegrass2 on Jun 20, 2016 16:02:38 GMT -5
Because I know that we have a decent size black water tank, and it has never filled; to conserve our fresh water we use minimal flushing, then we put the water from the dish washing down the toilet. I just wash in dishpans and carry it to the toilet for disposal....double and triple check that all your small dishware items are removed from the dishpans. It saves on the galley gray water tank and adds to the black water for decomposing and dumping. Also saves some on fresh water when you aren't connected to water if you do a minimal flush.
|
|
|
|
Post by johnr on Jun 21, 2016 6:57:10 GMT -5
There is one place we go in late summer that requires us to go 10 days without dumping the black tank. That's with 2 to 3 adults. There is a service that will come out, but they don't pull the drain all the way, they just crack it and take the liquids out. No thank you.
So, after putting a layer of water down, we are very conservative with our flushing. It's really full after 10 days. We did overfill a Jayco once during that time. Not pleasant. The Durango has been really good.
|
|
|
|
Easy way?
Jun 22, 2016 13:41:40 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by rontanker on Jun 22, 2016 13:41:40 GMT -5
Make sure you use the proper toilet paper. The tanks have sensors inside of them and the wrong paper will wrap around the sensors and cause improper readings on gauges. I leave the grey valve open all the time as long as your hooked to the sewer
|
|
|
|
Post by bluegrass2 on Jun 22, 2016 15:20:28 GMT -5
Yes, definitely use the proper RV/Marine toilet paper. It is more expensive but it is costly to have it hang up in the drainage line shut offs too. Also, the flushable wipes are not RV flushable. Unfortunately we let company use our RV while they stayed in the area, it will not happen again. They used their flushable wipes, they hung up in the dump valve drain shut offs....many $$$s later we now have it working and not leaking from the valve.
|
|
rjl
Newbie RV’er
Posts: 27
|
Post by rjl on Jun 28, 2016 10:52:21 GMT -5
Ok, so we had a great time! Our 18RBT was an awesome step up from our 88 Coleman Pop-up! :-) The 4 of us camped for 5 nights..... we ended up filling up the gray tank on day 4, but the black was fine. I saw another camper with a portable gray tank that he wheeled over a couple of times and dumped. Im thinking that could be a good way of extending the gray storage! Thanks to everyone for the feedback and suggestions!
|
|
|
|
Easy way?
Jun 28, 2016 13:30:26 GMT -5
via mobile
rjl likes this
Post by cooperrobt on Jun 28, 2016 13:30:26 GMT -5
We can go a week or so with the black tank but only a few days with the grey. I carry a portable blue tank in the bed of the pickup that we had leftover from our popup days and it works well for the grey tank if it gets too full.
|
|
rjl
Newbie RV’er
Posts: 27
|
Post by rjl on Jun 28, 2016 13:41:49 GMT -5
We can go a week or so with the black tank but only a few days with the grey. I carry a portable blue tank in the bed of the pickup that we had leftover from our popup days and it works well for the grey tank if it gets too full. Is there a special adapter that I would need to get the gray water from the rv tank to the portable tank? Thanks! |
|
|
|
Easy way?
Jun 28, 2016 14:14:16 GMT -5
via mobile
rjl likes this
Post by cooperrobt on Jun 28, 2016 14:14:16 GMT -5
No special adaptor. Same drain hose as regular.
|
|
|
|
Post by johnr on Jun 29, 2016 6:51:30 GMT -5
I use a sewer cap with hose connection. I then have a 3 foot (1 meter) length of garden hose that I run into the tote. That allows me to have better control over the flow and not flood the area. www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/termination-cap-with-hose-connector/6383When you use this cap that way, be careful the next time you take the whole cap off. Some gray water can be left in the pipe. Don't stand right in front of it. |
|
