Home dumping station

Mellow Yellow · 11-26-2012, 08:51 AM

Has anyone here tapped into their own (private, not public sewer) septic tank for dumping purposes? Ours is lightly used, with just the two of us. Our washing machine dumps in a separate one. When we had the septic pumped, the fellow said many people do that for their RV's. Just curious!

DianeScraps · 11-26-2012, 08:58 AM

When my MIL spent a year living in her class A in our driveway we used our private sewar, it's not at a easy access point from our driveway though, so it isn't something we do regularly.

Poppy & Nana · 11-26-2012, 09:40 AM

Hi Tom & Debbie, yes we can tap into our septic.....we just haven't gotten around to bringing in the contractor to do so.....given the fact that we are only minutes away from a dump station, it is not tops on our to do list...........

PanamaRvers · 11-26-2012, 10:23 AM

This is good to know. I had been thinking about it. My biggest problem is, I park the trailer off to the side and slightly down hill from our tank.

pwb01 · 11-26-2012, 03:42 PM

I had to put a new septic tank in 5 years ago. Before they burried the cover I installed a 4" PVC pipe with a cap to ground level.

Serves two purposes: Every couple of years I have the tank pumped out and they pump through the vent instead of digging up the cover and I use it to dump the portable tank for the camper. Especially handy flushing the campers holding tank where I can do it at home and not have to find a hose and time at a dumping station.

**JohnB** · 11-26-2012, 08:32 PM

We have an aerator tank verses a traditional septic tank. Has an air pump that pumps air down to the bottom, keeps it stirred up and then there are living filters to filter the effluent. The only thing that flows out of the unit is clear effluent. it is an Ohio health dept thing.

With this setup we lift the lid and put the RV dump hose in the tank and dump. I have to back onto the lawn to get to the tank, but it works well.

As a side note, I only do this for flushing the tanks, not a full dump. Meaning at the camp ground when there is a long line at the dump, we dump and run.... I have internal tank sprayers for cleaning the tanks that we do after every campout. If there is no line at the dump station, we clean up there. If a line, then we are curtious to our fellow camper and spend the extra 5 minutes at home rinsing.

While we do haul fresh water in the camper fresh tank, it has a heavy cage under it to help support it for road travel. Our black or gray tank I would not trust hauling a full tank down the highway as speed and bumps. Our black and gray tank tanks are pretty flat and large front to back and left to right, not very deep. All that exposed surface is just hanging there ready to break at the next large bump.

I do not know if I have ever heard if some one got an official answer from Sunline when they were open if you can tow at high way speeds with a full gray or black tank. Anyone ever been told they can or can not by Sunline?

John

cuffer101 · 11-27-2012, 05:11 AM

When we had the motorcycle camper, we used to pack up in the morning, drive past the dump stations at campground and there would be quite a line waiting to dump. I said not me. After buying the Sunny, I put in a dump station at home. My sewer tank is right beside the driveway, I have enough room to back right up to the garage, dump, and wash the tanks out. Lots easier and quicker.

Steve Collins · 11-27-2012, 05:40 AM

I built a house in 1988 and installed a line for dumping the trailer from the parking area to the pipe from the house feeding the septic tank. Because of slope and distance, I could not bury the pipe deep enough to include a P-trap. If I had done so, it would have frozen in the winter. But that aside, it worked great and was very, very convenient.

I was later advised by a code enforcement officer that this type of hookup is probably not legal under current residential building codes. I've never been in a position to be able to have something like this again so I never verified this. If anyone is planning to do this, it might be worth a check beforehand.

WASA 1500 · 11-27-2012, 06:23 AM

I , like John dump before hitting the road,
We also have a clean out plug in the side yard for cleaning - city sewer
If it were a septic tank I would still use it BUT use the enzyme type chemical
so not to upset the tank.
They have a 12v sewer pump ( san-i-flush ) for the up hill runs!

Mellow Yellow · 11-27-2012, 06:28 AM

Thanks for the responses. Good ideas! Would be curious about John B's mention of not hauling the full grey and black tanks. We've done it a number of times, going from a campground with no hook-ups to one with hook-ups. For instance, Nick's Lake had a line, so we proceeded to our Lake George overnight stop and dumped there. Not a good idea? (obviously we know the truck will use more fuel with the extra weight). It really never crossed our minds it was a safely issue !

mainah · 11-27-2012, 06:45 AM

I used a hammer drill to bore a hole in the clean out cover then hydrulic cement around the 3" plastic pipe and used a screw on cap on the top. The other option is a mercicator pump and the clean out on the existing pipe.

jim44646 · 11-28-2012, 03:27 PM

At the Ohio state parks I go to I've been told if there is a line at the dump station find an empty pull through full hook up site and dump and flush there.

Poppy & Nana · 11-28-2012, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jim44646

At the Ohio state parks I go to I've been told if there is a line at the dump station find an empty pull through full hook up site and dump and flush there.

That's nice....too bad NYS dos not have full hook up sites!!!!!!!!!!!

jim44646 · 11-28-2012, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poppy & Nana

That's nice....too bad NYS dos not have full hook up sites!!!!!!!!!!!

Move to Ohio LOL

PanamaRvers · 11-28-2012, 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poppy & Nana

That's nice....too bad NYS dos not have full hook up sites!!!!!!!!!!!

I second that.

Mellow Yellow · 11-29-2012, 07:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jim44646

Move to Ohio LOL

Vermont State Parks do not have them, either !! But, they are lovely so we intend to camp at them a lot next summer. Thanks for the hint, will use it if the situation is right in our travels !

tedontario · 11-29-2012, 08:25 PM

When the city I used to live in, until this past summer, put in sanitary sewers in the 80's the contractor said I will bury your clean out near the bushes at the front. I said "How will I find it if I need to clean out". So he left it above grade a few inches. Jump to 2006 I buy the TT and there is a dump site for the TT. Now we have moved to a city where I know there will be a clean out but I am going to have to do some digging to find it. Not real happy about that! Some houses near me they are right in the driveway I can only wish!
Ted

Mellow Yellow · 11-30-2012, 07:44 AM

Well, I am still researching this. Several online sources say never do this. The sudden rush of so much water can force the undigested waste in the tank into the leach field and thus plug it up. Not sure if we want to mess (no pun intended) up our working septic system when we can dump elsewhere with a bit of a wait in line.

Editing to say I called our septic company and got their opinion, which is same as I found online. Adding the entire tanks to the system is going to overload it and potentially push waste into the field, clogging it up. Small amounts are OK and the occasional partial dump if you use the camper in your yard will be OK, but not dumping all tanks at once (unless you have a filter on your tank and we do not).

Jim-Bev-2363 · 11-30-2012, 03:43 PM

I was told not to use a macerator for dumping into a septic tank since grinding the poop so small meant it would take longer for smaller particles to separate from the water. If the longer time is not allowed the smaller particles of poop will go on into the drain fields and ruin the bottom of the drain fields.

Poppy & Nana · 11-30-2012, 04:57 PM

Well you all just saved me a bunch of money!!!!!