Water Systems

[deber]

Hi Everybody,

About the water systems:
The shower and sinks put out fresh water (so far so good)...and that water drains in the gray water tank. 

Does the toilet use fresh or gray water before it becomes black water?
How else is gray water utilized besides flushing the black water tank?  (Are there any creative suggestions here?)
Do most RV's have an outside connection for a hose to use gray water for cleaning tasks, for example? 
How many ways are there to access the gray water?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Tom]

Once water goes down the sink or the shower, it enters the gray water tank and is not used for anything else. Wtaer used to flush the toilet usually comes from the fresh water tank and ends up in the black water tank.

Most RVs have some kind of outside connection to be able to use fresh water from the fresh water tank.

 

[deber]

Thanks, Tom. 

 

[Tom]

I should clarify that some RVs use a single tank for both black and gray water. I didn't realize that manufacturers were still doing this until I was told last week.

 

[Carl L]

Do most RV's have an outside connection for a hose to use gray water for cleaning tasks, for example? 
How many ways are there to access the gray water?

Nope.  The only way that you can 'access' the gray water is the dump valve.  Most regulatory agencies and parks would get a bit stuffy about dumping gray water on the ground.  This is an issue they face with careless or ignorant users of tent trailers, van conversions, and tent campers -- units without self-contained waste tanks.

There is one good use you can put the gray water to.  After dumping your black water tank, dump your gray water tank to clean out the sewer hose.  Adding a bit of dish detergent to the tank before dumping helps the cleaning action.    The day before time to dump the black, I close off the gray tank to let it fill to about 1/3 for this purpose.

 

[John From Detroit]

My "Vintage" Scamp has no black/gray water storage... I purchased a wheeled tank for gray water and modified the hitch kit so I can pull it to the dump station (The hitch kit only fits either 15 or 20 gallons and up, I have a 10 so I had to modify it a bit, easier to do than it sounds)

Of course.... My new ride don't bother with that. it's got tanks already

 

[deber]

Interesting.  Well, any small amount of gray water we think we may want to use later (like rinse water from the clean dishes to wash the dog's feet)...we will just catch before it goes down the drain.

Rest assured we won't be dumping anything anywhere that would give RV-ers a bad name.  Thanks.

 

[Steve CDN]

Deber,

It sounds like you may be bookdocking and are looking for ways to stretch your water supply.  Of course I would not recoomend using the grey water from the holding tank for any additional purpose than flushing the sewer hose after dumping the black tank because grey water can hold some water borne organisms that could be dangerous.

However there are creative ways to stretch water, such as washing hands in a bowl and using the water in the bowl to flush the toilet instead of using additional fresh water for that task.  Another source of water for the toilet would be water retrieved from the shower before you get it to your comfortable temperature.

Some coaches design the drain from the lavy sink to drain into the black water tank to increase the water percentage in the black tank.  This is a good idea, except I believe that increased persentage should be controlled by the RV user and not the manufacturer.  If you are boondocking for extended periods, you want to conserve your black tank...even though under normal circumstances you would want the water percentage to be high in the black tank to prevent clogging.

 

[deber]

Thanks for the tips, Steve.  Yes, you are correct that we were looking for creative/hygenic methods of water conservation.  I'm pretty persnickity about hygiene.  Ask my husband.

Deb's persnickity face:  :-X