How/where to empty my black tank

[jantheman]

My RV is parked on my land in a rural area. I don’t own a truck to tow it or a septic tank with a cap to dump into. What are my options?

1. A waste service comes, empties it, and hauls it away. Is this a thing?
2. I drive a portable tank on a flatbed to a campground dump station.
3. I dump a portable tank into a makeshift barrel septic tank somewhere on our land.
4. ???

Thanks & happy camping!

 

[Alaskansnowbirds]

If this is more than a once or twice situation, I would put a dump into your septic system. It's not hard and depending on how far the RV is from the septic tank, it shouldn't be that expensive. Just make sure you connect to the pipe that comes from the house so you're sure you're connected to the input of the septic tank.

 

[OldWEB]

Your land, but still county rules, right? Best I think would be to drive to the county office and ask, dumping waste on private property could be illegal and costly... Then you can also ask about honey wagon rates or where you could dump a tankful....
If you go the honey wagon route, DO NOT let them connect up and suction the tank full speed, open the toilet and do it slowly or you will collapse the tanks.

 

[LMHS]

Contact a local septic tank outfit. The kind that rents portable toilets to construction sites and for events. Also ask them to come pump your rig and how much to put in a HOLDING TANK and for them to come an pump it out as often as needed (depends on the tank size). While it would cost you every so often to empty the tank, it's liable to be cheaper and faster than installing a septic system on your land (providing that your land can pass a perc test or "percolation" test).

 

[Kirk]

The first thing to consider is how much land do you have and where is it located? No matter where you are, there are laws that apply to disposal of both gray water and black water (human waste). Since you say that you don't own a truck to tow it with, I'll assume that you are or plan to live in it as a fixed home?

No matter what you don't want to dump either on the surface near your RV because it will create a stinking mess for you very quickly. If you are remote enough and have a large property you might be able to get away with digging a hole to dump into but that will soon smell awful and if anything drains on to neighboring property, even when raining you will soon have legal issues. If you contact a septic service they can give you a price to come pump out your tanks but that will probably cost somewhere between $70 and $200 per trip, depending on where you are located. To haul the waste yourself you will need to install a macerator pump on the RV that will pump it up and into the tank that you use and you will probably have to pay someone to allow you to empty the portable tank. If you are considering putting in a septic system, the cost ranges from $3,600 to $10,000 with an average cost for septic tank installation is about $6,500. That too will depend on where you are but you should be able to get some quotes pretty easily. In the long term it would be the best answer.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

1. There may be an RV tank service like that in your area. Or not. A septic tank cleaner may be able/willing to come and do it, but don't expect it to be inexpensive. Check around and get prices, cause you will need the service every 1-2 weeks
2. The portable tank is the most practical solution if you have the truck and the time. A small 12v macerator pump will help transfer waste from your RV tank to a transport tank on the truck. And check to see if you can dump it at a local sewage treatment plant rather than a campground where you would pay a fee.
3. Yes you can build a modest size septic system (tank & drain field), but you may run afoul of county health codes. A septic that meets local codes probably requires a professional install and thousands of $$. Prices vary dramatically by region, size, soil conditions, and local codes.

 

[Babe2201]

I know some portable toilet businesses will pump it out for a fee.

 

[LarsMac]

If this is more than a once or twice situation, I would put a dump into your septic system. It's not hard and depending on how far the RV is from the septic tank, it shouldn't be that expensive. Just make sure you connect to the pipe that comes from the house so you're sure you're connected to the input of the septic tank.

Talk to a couple of plumbers in your area. Find out where your septic line runs and a plumber can tap in to it. The cost will depend on how far your rig is parked from the line septic/sewer line.

 

[phil-t]

First - is there any septic system on your property. If there is, I have never seen one that does not have a cover.access; maybe buried shallow. If you do ave a septic system, get a plumber to make an access port and get your self a macerator pump to empty your tanks. That's what I use when parked at home. My parking is about 30 ft below and 100 ft away from home septic tank. The macerator pump works flawlessly.

 

[jymbee]

If you are remote enough and have a large property you might be able to get away with digging a hole to dump into but that will soon smell awful and if anything drains on to neighboring property, even when raining you will soon have legal issues.

As I expect you know, when you say "digging a hole to dump into" you're pretty much describing a cesspool, assuming it's covered and below ground level.

We live in a very rural area and cesspools "back in the day" were pretty much the standard way of dealing with waste. Properly done they don't smell at all and their impact to surrounding areas is nil. One of the cabins on our property until recently used a cesspool for decades built with [GASP] creosote planks, rocks, and Orangeburg piping! Not at all uncommon back when it was built. Given the age it was grandfathered having been constructed long before all the regs since then.

Obviously anyone building a house these days in that area needs to jump through all the regulatory hoops-- which are numerous-- and pay many thousands of dollars for construction. But to this day if you have something like a seasonal hunting shack, trailer in the woods, you might well use some kind of cesspool, and get away with it. Could be a covered pit with rock walls, or a 55 gallon drum or old oil tank with holes punched in it embedded in crushed stone

Fortunately when I built my house I was able to install my own compliant septic system for just the cost of materials.

 

[Tulecreeper]

Methinks the OP has left the building. Four days and no response - another drive-by query.

 

[jackiemac]

Methinks the OP has left the building. Four days and no response - another drive-by query.

When I first joined I didn't check back immediately. Some new members probably ask the questions in more than one forum and maybe stick in the one that has quickest/most/best answers. Who knows

Note that the OP was on forum today. MY not be responding but maybe reading......

 

[tlmgcamp]

I see the OP is hailing from NY. I am licensed as a Professional Engineer in NY but, to be honest, I have not practiced there in a while.

That said, I offer the following:

1. Four days off the forum is not reason for disqualification from further responses. Not everyone lives on social media.

2. Septic systems are designed to handle normal periodic flows from a house. If you dump 40 gallons of sewage into the septic tank in a matter of a minute, it will stir the tank, potentially defeat the purpose of the baffling in the septic tank and send solids to the disposal field. Doing it once or twice probably won't do much harm, but over time you can clog the disposal field with those solids which means replacing the disposal system and $$$$$$.

3. Septic regs in NY can be pretty restrictive, particularly in the environmentally sensitive areas like the Catskills. While it is easier to ask for forgiveness rather than permission, it might not be cheaper.

I would very strongly recommend a call to the local authorities to discuss the issue.

 

[jymbee]

3. Septic regs in NY can be pretty restrictive, particularly in the environmentally sensitive areas like the Catskills. While it is easier to ask for forgiveness rather than permission, it might not be cheaper.

I would very strongly recommend a call to the local authorities to discuss the issue.

As a resident of the Catskills who built my house in an "environmentally sensitive" area, I can vouch for what you're saying.

I would however offer a slightly different approach to dealing with the powers that be, at least initially. That is to first find and contact a contractor who is very experienced in dealing with the multiple agencies and issues involved. Having worked through a wide variety of these types of scenarios multiple times, their insights and advice can be invaluable. They know the process, who to call and what needs to be done.

This assumes of course that you would be hiring them to do work or at least paying for their services as a consultant.

I go a similar route when dealing with electrical issues. Had a truck rip out overhead wires along our drive, another dug into a prime buried cable, and another time strange power surges that kept blowing circuits in the RV (a situation I posted about here way back when). In all these cases my electrical contractor knew who to call and they knew him as he had worked on major jobs in the area for decades.

Same strategy in dealing with building inspectors, but you get the idea...

 

[TheBar]

Home waste water treatment plants are just miniature versions of city sewage plants. Because of the high yearly rainfall and clay soil lateral leech lines are not very effective in this area. Plus the cost of a treatment plant is much lower, require much less pumping, and ones with concrete tanks last forever unless the soil shifts.

Mine uses a $300 air pump that is the same one used in koi ponds to promote aerobic bacteria growth. That is the only tiny electrical draw and the pump lasts about 10 years, but only requires 3 parts to easily rebuild it in 30 minutes. Conversely there are jet systems that spray water out across your lawn which are very expensive and very high maintenance.

The only drawback vs a standard septic tank is you have to use bleach substitutes instead of chlorinated bleach to keep from killing the beneficial bacteria in the first two tanks. The whole concept sounds very unsanitary but supposedly the discharge that runs out on top of the ground is safe to drink. The third discharge tank is chlorinated with swimming pool tablets once a month.

When it needs to be pumped raw sewage does not come out the overflow. There is never any smell even when it needs to be pumped out. By design the first solids tank blocks all solids from the next two processing chambers.

In 24 years mine has needed to be pumped twice. Versus standard septic tanks I've had in the past averaged 5 years and the lateral lines needed to be replaced after 20 years. The difference is the aerobic bacteria eat 80+% of the solid waste. Yummy

 

[Kirk]

jantheman, since you have been back to read the replies, could you please take a few minutes to share your thoughts? We are trying to help but it also helps us to know if we are going in the right direction.