Shower Water Backs Up

[JimD]

Problem with my 2017 Greyhawk 29W - water will back up through the drain if the gray tank is full.

Yeah I know, don't over fill the gray tank or it will come up through the low point drain which is the shower. That is pretty much a given and I see no way around it.

As most of my excursions are boondocking I sometimes have to travel home with full tanks. I am lucky to have a sewer tap at home where I can flush my tanks. I am wondering if sloshing water while driving will back up through the drain.

I have had water come up while cleaning my tanks because I fill them up until the sensors read full and then dump. Granted, when I do this I am in my driveway which is sloped which compounds the problem.

What I am looking for is a way to seal the drain when not needed, which is the majority of the time. It has a little grill at the top so no stopper can be used.

I may just put a piece of duct tape across the drain but am looking to see if anyone has come up with a better fix.

[Grumpy]

The grill pops out very easily..

[JimD]

Thanks for the quick reply. My wife said she tried to remove the grill without luck. Guess it will take a manly man to do it. Now if only I could find one.

[kiknads]

my 1 year old got ours out and attempted to eat it

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by kiknads

my 1 year old got ours out and attempted to eat it

Perhaps not a whole lot of help, but I used to carry a 15 gal water tote that I found washed up on the National Seashore. The idea was to use it to "bleed" water from the gray tank when needed, or even drain it completely if I had a place to dispose of the gray water.

We also routinely dispose of gray water in the black tank. I have a bucket that I can use with a hose adapter (so I can control flow) so I can take some of the gray water out of that tank and dump it in the toilet. Since we use MUCH more gray water and fill that tank up A LOT faster, this helps get needed water into the black tank without wasting fresh water, and stretches our time between disposal runs.

I'm just thinking of ways to limit filling your gray tank so you don't have to worry about sloshing out of the drain in the first place...

[billjmck]

Someone posted a picture (I don't know how to) of the Valtera Valve #89-8304. It allows both tanks to be tied together. It's cheap enough I am going to give it a try.

[oldmanAZ]

Originally Posted by billjmck

Someone posted a picture (I don't know how to) of the Valtera Valve #89-8304. It allows both tanks to be tied together. It's cheap enough I am going to give it a try.

I gave this some careful thought and decided the bucket method as Camper_bob described, was better.

Letting the waters waters co-mingle, you're likely to end up with very nasty mix. With strictly gray water, in a pinch you could drain some off into a bucket and and not feel very guilty pouring that in an out-of-the-way spot. I'd NEVER consider doing that if it had black water in it.

[billjmck]

Yeah, I understand and agree. I would use in our state parks which have water and electric but no sewer. It would just make fewer trips to the dump station.

[Camper_bob]

I was reading in Trailer Life last night about a new Airstream "micro" trailer that has a "combined 30 gallon waste tank" meaning both black and gray go into the same tank.

I can see where that MAY be a benefit, but not for me. Gray water is MUCH easier to deal with than black. In a pinch, you could even "water the plants" with gray water (not recommending it, just saying it's a possibility in the right circumstances). Or even fill a bucket with gray water and haul it to the public toilets to dispose of.

It's much more difficult to deal with black water as there's really only one way to get rid of it, and that's an appropriate dump station. If ALL your wastewater becomes "black", you have no options.

[North of 49°]

I saw a mod on another website where the poster added another pump and associated plumping, so whenever they flushed the toilet, it drew water from they grey tank instead of the freshwater tank. Saves your fresh water and cuts down on they grey water by “recycling” it.

[Bullitt6283]

Originally Posted by North of 49°

I saw a mod on another website where the poster added another pump and associated plumping, so whenever they flushed the toilet, it drew water from they grey tank instead of the freshwater tank. Saves your fresh water and cuts down on they grey water by “recycling” it.

Interesting idea....


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[jd99336]

I was reading an article on composting toilets somewhere and they were running through the virtues of these units (i.e. dispose of compost in regular trash and fluids as nitrogen fertilizer in the bushes....etc). One thing of note was they mentioned there is not particular prohibition on dumping gray water other than bad manners. I would think a low tote, drain some gray into it then find a discrete place to dispose might be a solution, but disclaimer....I am not advocating one way or the other.

[RobertLang]

I wish my tank would. I suspect my vent pipe is separated from the tank. But JAYCO has no drawings of the install to help me trace the issue.

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by jd99336

I was reading an article on composting toilets somewhere and they were running through the virtues of these units (i.e. dispose of compost in regular trash and fluids as nitrogen fertilizer in the bushes....etc). One thing of note was they mentioned there is not particular prohibition on dumping gray water other than bad manners. I would think a low tote, drain some gray into it then find a discrete place to dispose might be a solution, but disclaimer....I am not advocating one way or the other.

It's not the "odd every now and again" dispersed disposal of gray water that is the problem, it's that if every camper dumped all their gray water on the ground, we'd have a NASTY problem. Even if every camper just dumped SOME of it on the ground, it would cause a mess. Think about how many campers go through a space in a given month, and how packed in some of these camping areas are. So, as a camping facility, you have to prohibit it completely. It's worse than "bad manners", it can earn you a fine and an eviction in most places here.

I find composting toilets interesting from an academic perspective. For us and how we use our rig, they aren't really necessary, but I find them neat anyway...

[RobertLang]

You have, I ASK, two grey water tanks? You are not trying to mix the grey and the black sewage, right?

[NC Roamer]

Originally Posted by Camper_bob

I'm just thinking of ways to limit filling your gray tank so you don't have to worry about sloshing out of the drain in the first place...

We wash dishes with a hospital basin setting in the sink. When done, the wash water is dumped into the black tank via the toilet. It reduces the load somewhat on the gray tank and the soapy water can only help the black tank.

[North of 49°]

Originally Posted by Bullitt6283

Interesting idea....
.

I found the link:

https://www.modmyrv.com/2009/07/22/rv-grey-water-potty-flush

[DaveT]

My browser freaks out when I try to visit that site.

[RogerR]

My browser warned of information piracy attack from that site. I would not try that link!

[rgolding]

We have an extra gate valve on the sewer system in our Seneca. After we empty the black tank, we close this valve and use the grey water to back flush the black tank by opening the grey tank valve and the black valve being left open. Then open the extra valve to drain both the grey and the black at the same time, after the grey water has equalized in both tanks.
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In places where "boon-docking" has caused us to over fill the grey tank, we have left this extra valve closed and opened the grey and black valves to lower and equalize both tanks at a lower level. Once water is equalized, I close all valves to not allow black water and grey water to slosh around while going down the road. We also thoroughly rinse both tanks once they have been emptied. Have done this more than once over the last 10 years on a couple of different trailers (where I added the extra valve) and then the Seneca, where it came that way, with no ill effects or smells.
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Way back when, we had water back up in the shower from the grey tank on our last night and thought we could leave it until morning, when we would leave and dump. Not a pleasant smell and I would not recommend it.