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Old 11-11-2007, 06:24 PM   #1
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Dump Station procedures and tips

As someone still relatively new to camping with a travel trailer, I would like to ask a question to those seasoned travelers. What is your procedure/process at the dump station?

So far, I have been fortunate to not be in a position where I had other trailers waiting behind me. My wife has also grown very fond of locations with full hookups. However, I still dread the day that I am at the dump station and look back to see several other 'happy campers' waiting for me to dump and run.

I am sure some of you have this process down to a well rehersed activity. I would love to learn from your experiences!

Thanks in advance!

David
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Old 11-12-2007, 06:09 PM   #2
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Dave,

Here's what I do to (pardon the pun) take a dump. Pull up to the dump station with your sewage discharge close to the septic hole. Put on some gloves. With your valves still closed, remove your cap from the discharge port and attach your sewage hose, making sure that it is aligned proper and twist locked in place. (Some campgrounds have a hose prehooked to the septic tank) Place about 6 inches of the hose down the hole and rest something on top of it so it will not slip out of the hole. I use a piece of wood that I place under my tongue jack.
Open the black water (toilet, larger) valve all the way. When that stops flowing, open the grey water (Sink & shower, smaller) valve. When they both stop flowing, I have DW dump a pail of water down the toilet to help rinse out any remaining goodies. Then close both valves.
Twist to unlock the hose from the coach, keeping the hose under the discharge port to catch any drippage. Hold up the hose, keeping the other end in the septic hole and rinse the sewage hose with a garden hose that you will find at the dump site. Place your hose back where you store it and cap your discharge port.
Remember to air out the sewer hose when you get home. ALSO, don"t ever drink the water at the dump site.

Hope this helps you out,

Bobo
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Old 11-12-2007, 06:34 PM   #3
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That is close to what I have done the few times we did not have full hookup. I had not thought about dumping a bucket of water for a final rinse. I also had not thought about the gloves on my first trip until I realized just what I was messing with!

I tease my wife about wanting full hook-ups, but I certainly enjoy the convenience when it comes time to hit the road!

Thanks for the input.
David
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Old 11-12-2007, 07:51 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by partimcmpr
That is close to what I have done the few times we did not have full hookup. I had not thought about dumping a bucket of water for a final rinse. I also had not thought about the gloves on my first trip until I realized just what I was messing with!
We carry a box of latex medical gloves in the trailer. Not only are they necessary for the dump station duties, but they are also valuable for many tasks in the kitchen like handling eggs or meats,especially chicken, etc. Kinda handy for cleaning that messy grille, too.

There is always a box in the kitchen at home as well.

These days, all the drug stores carry them in packages of varying quantities. They are very inexpensive.
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Old 11-12-2007, 08:45 PM   #5
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I do pretty much everything mentioned here, but I NEVER leave more than one valve open at a time. I completely drain the black, including pouring buckets of water down the toilet, and then I drain the gray(s). Then I wash out the hose and store it away.

There is an advantage of full hookups, and that's that you can use a wand down the toilet instead of buckets. Also, I find that filling the toilet all the way to the top and dumping it really helps. I think the swirling motion of having to go down the drain helps clean things out better than dumping a bucket of water straight down.

Jon
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Old 11-12-2007, 09:20 PM   #6
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I pretty much do as the others have stated. I do use the disposable gloves. But, what I do with the pair that I've had on is to use them over the ends of that "red elbow" in the sewer outlet. When I'm removing the glove, I have ahold of the red fitting, and just peel the glove off inside out, this lets the glove slip over the flange, I repeat this process on the other end flange. This keeps any "drips" contained. When I'm ready to use the elbow, thats when I remove and toss the used gloves because then I've got new gloves on my hands.
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Old 11-14-2007, 04:31 PM   #7
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I installed a tornado tank rinser and it is one of the best modifications I made. You can be in and out of the dump station in 10 minutes and have very clean tanks.
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Old 11-14-2007, 08:44 PM   #8
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I do the dump as others have mentioned but I have a few more features.

I have tank sprayers in both the black and gray tank. And I have a clear fitting in the dump line so I can see when the paper stops coming out and things run clear and clean. It happens to also be a RV hydroflush but they also make just plain clear fittings. So I can flush the hose and the entire area up in the camper downstream of the gate valves. Between the tank sprayers and the RV hydro flush, I can clean up the tanks and hose no problem.

I have wand and hose to haul inside, but have not had to use it since installing the tank sprayers.

Here are the pic of the setup.






The tank sprayers do take time though. When there is a line of happy campers behind me, I do not use the tank sprayers. To be a courteous camper, I dump and run….

I do however have at the house a way to dump into my septic system. So when I dump and run, I then follow it up at home with the full tank spray clean out. Key I have found to clean tanks, is clean them well each time. I use the bacteria and enzymes formulation and by flushing and staying ahead on the cleanings, my tanks are always clean and no tank level sensor issues.

There is one other tip I want to pass along. On my T2499 when I bought it new, I was the one who only used it and I always did the silicone spray treatment on the O rings of the slider valves. That keeps them working nice and easy and they shut off.

With my new to me camper, the prior owner was not as frugal at these types of things. On my second trip out, sure enough the black tank slider valve was weeping and would not shut off 100%. The end cap however was positive shutoff.

And since I do not yet have all my upgrades on the new camper, it got me. Yup, 5 feet of yummy 3” liquid filled pipe. While I always untwist the end cap slow and have the hose ready to go on, I had to bleed it until I could take the cap off to put the hose on. If I was not cautious to look for a leak and untwist slow, I would have a few gallons of “stuff” on my hands, hose, pants etc. I caught it in time and bled it down to make only a slight mess.

This camper did not yet have my little upgrade to it that helps reduce the “effect” of when your slider valve leaks. I take off the normal solid 3” end cap and install one like this with a small garden hose cap in it.

I also have installed a little shut off valve in the garden hose cap. That way I can test the waters before unscrewing the big cap. The first little garden hose shut off I installed froze up over time. So I went back to just the garden hose cap. Will find a better valve yet.

And trust me after the “episode” with the new camper, when I came home, I went right to the T2499 and took my upgraded sewer cap off of it with the garden hose cap and put it on the T310SR. Get me once, but won’t get me twice… And I silicone’ed the slider valves.

Hope this helps and happy dumping.

John
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Old 11-14-2007, 09:51 PM   #9
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Good tip on using the silicone.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of... well you know...
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Old 11-15-2007, 07:07 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnB
I always did the silicone spray treatment on the O rings of the slider valves.
Hi John,

What's your method for silicone'g the slider valves?

I've heard of people drilling a small hole in the slide valve (i.e., in the part that the valve fills when opened & with the valve close) and then using a small screw to cap it. This allowed them to open the valve and spray silicone (or some other lubricant) directly on the valve. Their theory was just spraying the arm wouldn't get much lubricant to the valve itself. This sounds interesting, but I’ve been hesitant to try it myself.

Curious to see what method you use to keep your sewer valves lubricated and moving freely.

Thanks
Hutch
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Old 11-15-2007, 08:43 AM   #11
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Speaking from experience, it is always a good idea to lube the valves. When I got my 1550, the first time dumping was interesting because one valve wouldn't open at all. Of course, I just happened to not have any tools with me at the time. I finally got it open, but it sure wasn't easy.

Jon
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Old 11-15-2007, 07:46 PM   #12
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Hutch

I’ll pop some pic’s here maybe this weekend of the T310SR as it is different the then T2499 in how I do this.

This is what I do. I have a spray can of Heavy duty silicone spray. The brand I have is Liquid Wrench, but most any brand will do.

On the T2499 the black and gray tank valve is real close to the end of the dump outlet. Looks like this.


Here I stick one of those little red tubes on the spray can valve and squirt it up onto the slider valves while working the valves in and out. This gets the silicone in the O rings. Works good.

Now on the T310SR, don’t have pics of that setup yet, but the tanks are enclosed under a plastic corrugated board with the tanks stuffed up in the frame. And heat ducts run in this area as well to get to the bath room and bed room. I “might” have the heated area tank setup offer on some brands. I did not know Sunline offered this. When the weather breaks in the spring, that plastic sheath will come down, I’ll fix the fresh tank drain to be high volume and see the actual tanks, paint the frame and maybe even add some foam board insulation. This will help our cold weather camping habit. Been meaning to ask you how yours was setup.

Point is, the black tank slide valve is 6 feet up the 3” dump pipe and then into a 90 degree elbow… So I had to figure how to get the silicone way up there…. So this is what I did.

Had a piece of 3/8” OD semi rigid plastic tubing about 7 feet long. Shoved it all the way up, around the turn and into the valve. I knew I was in the valve as it would not close. So I pulled it back slow until I could close it. Then I sprayed the silicone in the tube out in the open and created a good puddle of liquid in the tube. Used a compressed air blow gun on the end of the hose and blew it up in there. Works great. Did it a few times and the black tank valve now works like new.

The gray tank, that one is more complex as it tees into the main 3” and about 5 feet of longitudinal run before it tees in. It is 1 ½” pipe making it even worse to fish up in there. I have not solved this one yet. This weekend I will try ¼” OD semi rigid tube I have to see if I can fish it up in there and do the squirt and blow trick. The valves are buried up under the plastic under cover so I cannot even see them. I will come up with a solution and it may present itself better when I drop the plastic sheath down in the future.

So try the squirt and blow treatment if you have a small air compressor and can get a tube up there.

John
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Old 11-15-2007, 08:04 PM   #13
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Hi John,

Thanks for the suggestion and ideas, I'll have to try that.

This is what my sewer valves look like:


I think I'll need to try your hose method on both gray tank valves. The valve in the back is for the bathroom shower & sink and is the one that's hardest to move. That will also be the toughest one to get to probably. Though it won't be as hard as your's sound like. Another task to add to my Spring To Do list

I’m surprised you have enclosed and heated tanks. I didn't know Sunline did that. I had talked to LaRue on a few occasions about 4 season trailer options and was always informed that they didn't have that option.

It would be really nice to see your set up (hint hint). Any thoughts of you and Cindy coming to the 2008 Eastern M&G

Thanks again for the ideas.
Hutch
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Old 11-15-2007, 08:12 PM   #14
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Here's my preferred cap:



We've upgraded every coach with it. I haven't put it on my 270, but if I decide to use it, it'll go on.

With the handle, I don't need to touch any part of the drain pipe. It also includes the gray tank drain port for those very rare occasions that you'd need it. I'm on my 11th year of RVing and only had the need for this port once, but if you need it, it's nice to have.

Jon
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Old 11-15-2007, 10:06 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PTHutch
I’m surprised you have enclosed and heated tanks. I didn't know Sunline did that. I had talked to LaRue on a few occasions about 4 season trailer options and was always informed that they didn't have that option.

It would be really nice to see your set up (hint hint). Any thoughts of you and Cindy coming to the 2008 Eastern M&G

Thanks again for the ideas.
Hutch
Hutch

I'll pop pic this weekend.

The tanks are enclosed. The slider valves are all buried up under this plastic cover not exposed out in the open like yours or my T2499. It is like they did it that way intentional to keep them warm. The windows are the normal ones. No thermo pane. Wish they where. But we are happy with this camper

The M & G. It may be an option. Working it.

John
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