Best bet for water and sewer when dry camping?

rtiedeken · 02-14-2016, 01:33 PM

Good afternoon all....!

I will be extending my stay at the Indy 500 this year by 1 additional day. Last year, I ran out of water and had to empty sewer before leaving. I didn't take notice to water and sewer trucks last year. Any tips for prolonging the usage, mainly of the fresh water.

I am thinking of putting 4 - 5, 7 gallon water jugs full in the truck from Walmart so I can refill when empty.

There will be 3 of us this year, only 2 of us last year.

Paintinfool3 · 02-14-2016, 01:40 PM

blue sewer tote or use their facilities more? I agree on the portables of fresh water

oldmanAZ · 02-14-2016, 02:36 PM

Taking extra potable water is good choice. Do you drink your fresh water as well as using it for dishes showers etc?

Last year, did you fill black/grey/both? It would help to know. Did you try any strategies to minimize use of either black or grey water? Did you have to empty sewer before leaving because of weight or they were full or ???

canadiankid · 02-14-2016, 02:49 PM

We always bring a couple 5 gallon water jugs and have a pump for the top. That's what we drink and cook with. Saves some water and I'm sure there's a place near by that you could fill them up.

Bassdogs · 02-14-2016, 03:36 PM

Don't need more than a couple 5 gal water jugs, just refill whenever you can and keep topping off the fresh tank. As for the waste tanks, a tote is really the only option but you can prolong the timetable by using other facilities available in most CG's even the makeshift ones. If showering use the outside shower so you won't be putting the water in the grey tank. Otherwise, just use good water saving techniques. If it goes down the drain, it will fill the tanks. Lay down the law to your friends because all it takes is one to screw it up.

tdekeyser1 · 02-14-2016, 04:14 PM

Yes, running out of water is very common with these things. I would say in addition to carrying more with you, try conserving your usage. It dramatically helped for me. I have tested several methods of saving water because I was having the same problem.

The shower was my biggest water-hog. So I tested several different shower heads to find out which one has the best utilization of water. I would empty my grey tank, leave a bucket under it, take a shower and then check the water level in the bucket. I have found the best water saver all RV owners should have: 1.5GPM nozzle that has a on/off button. I can now take a 10min, very comfortable hot shower with 5 gallons (or less) of water. (using the button to regulate usage).

Another thing I do is take a small pot/bottle to catch the cold water when I start a shower (till it turns hot). That water is then used for dumping into the toilet and saving water there. It is about 1/2 a gallon (or more) each time.

If your black tank fills up too fast, then the only thing I found is to pee into a bottle and dump it outside. The pee and constant water flushing fills up the tank more than #2. Not too much you can do here.....

But conserving water is easy...and makes a huge difference! Now, if you have kids....forget it...

Seann45 · 02-16-2016, 08:40 AM

First learn about navy showers.... water on get wet water off soap down water off rinse off water off... the 2 min shower..
you can also look at this Portable RV Fresh Water Tank: 45 Gallon - New World CW1605 - Fresh Water Tanks - Camping World I have used one for 8+ years now...

Camper_bob · 02-16-2016, 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by canadiankid

We always bring a couple 5 gallon water jugs and have a pump for the top. That's what we drink and cook with. Saves some water and I'm sure there's a place near by that you could fill them up.

This is what we do as well. We even use a "Dolphin" pump dispenser, which is great. We use the "Glacier" fill stations. Around here, you can find them at drug stores, grocery stores, and even a few gas stations. It costs $1.00 to fill a 5-gal jug with RO treated water. We've been doing this for around 2 years with great success.

As far as conserving water in the waste tanks, we don't worry about the black tank (takes a long time for us to fill that up), but gray is a different story. We take "Navy" showers. And I carry a 3 gallon cat litter bucket as a utility bucket; I'll put my 5/8" garden hose adapter on the gray tank outlet and drain a little of the gray water off and put it in the black tank using my bucket (usually about 6 gallons is plenty).

My plan for gray water if I'm staying out a while is to plumb a water barrel with a garden hose attachment, put it in the bed of my truck, use my 50' garden hose (NOT my drinking water hose) and a 12V pump to pump the gray water into the water barrel. If I can dump the barrel in an approved station (using the outlet I plumbed into the bottom of the tank), then great. If not, I'll dispose of it at home after the trip. That should get me about 3 of my on board tanks of gray water usage, which is more than plenty with some conservation. The cost for all that is SIGNIFICANTLY less than a standard waste tote, and has much more capacity. Downside is it can't be used for black waste. I haven't done this yet as I haven't had the need yet...

Wally26RLS · 02-16-2016, 11:07 AM

To conserve on your water usage and filling your black tank remember....
If its yellow let it mellow...if its brown flush it down

RVhiker · 02-16-2016, 11:55 AM

My wife and I often camp without a sewer connection. We can each take a shower each night for five nights and not fill up our 32.5 gallon grey tank. The main secret (as previously suggested) is to develop a good technique for a Navy shower. Second, a shower head that is frugal with water and has an easy cut off in important. Third, if you don't fill up your galley tank or black tank, water from your shower tank can in many cases be easily transferred to those tanks. If your trailer is level and if your tanks all have a common dump hose connection and if your tanks are all at the same level in your trailer you can attach a temporary sewer valve like this one (clicky). Making sure the temporary valve is closed, open the shower tank and the tank you want to transfer waste water into. The levels in the two tanks will equalize. At this point, I close both opened valves. When you dump, you can connect the dump hose to the temporary valve outlet, dump the small amount of grey water it has trapped, remove the temporary valve and dump as normal. This procedure can add a day or two to our dry camping days.

SmokerBill · 02-16-2016, 12:31 PM

I keep a shoebox size plastic storage container in the small section of the kitchen sink, and use it to hold water from washing dishes, washing hands, etc., and use that water for flushing the toilet (with the water pump shut off). I'll give the pedal a quick push (pump back on) afterwards to give the bowl a clean rinse. Then, I give the bowl a spray of my sanitizing concoction (about a quart of water, a tablespoon or so of Clorox bleach, and about 1/4 tsp of Dawn dish detergent, in an old Formula 409 bottle.) which keeps the bowl clean and deodorized.

To minimize bath water usage, unless I'm really grungy, I use another storage container filled with about a gallon of hot water. I add one or two TBS of baby wash (Walmart brand is reasonably priced), and use that to take a sponge bath. Since the baby wash is so gentle, there's no need to rinse afterwards. When I take a "real" shower, it's Navy. And once in a while, if I didn't do anything to get dirty or work up a sweat, I'll just go without.

When washing dishes, I use about a pint of hot water in the largest dirty pan or bowl, and wash the others from that. All that water gets dumped in the sink mounted storage bin for toilet use, too. Dishes are rinsed under a slowly running kitchen faucet, which also drips into the shoebox.

Heck, one time I bought a yard of sod, place it near the TT and used gray water to keep it nice and green.

Forelyndogs · 02-16-2016, 02:58 PM

Don't know if all Jayco MH's have this feature, but ours came with a short hose and a setting on the water system that will pump water from a water can/jug into the fresh water tank. A great convenience when dry camping. We bought a 5 gallon water jug at Wallyworld that we carry in our toad.

SmokerBill · 02-16-2016, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Forelyndogs

Don't know if all Jayco MH's have this feature, but ours came with a short hose and a setting on the water system that will pump water from a water can/jug into the fresh water tank. A great convenience when dry camping. We bought a 5 gallon water jug at Wallyworld that we carry in our toad.

You can do the same thing (and I have) by simply using the winterizing hose at the water pump. Just set the valves in the appropriate position and pump from a 5 gallon container inside the TT.

Forelyndogs · 02-16-2016, 03:41 PM

Perhaps the short hose Jayco provided is really intended for winterizing. However, I've lived in Arizona and California for nearly 50 years now and have no clue what "winterizing a RV" except to say that during winter is when we travel most often.

tdekeyser1 · 02-16-2016, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Forelyndogs

However, I've lived in Arizona and California for nearly 50 years now and have no clue what "winterizing a RV" except to say that during winter is when we travel most often.

Winterizing is clearing out all the water in the RV - in climates below freezing. This is to avoid damage by expanding freezing water. It is amazing how a molecular structure change in H2O can cause SO much headache....lol

Fire_Instructor · 02-16-2016, 05:53 PM

Camping World has (had?) a 40 gallon water bladder that when empty, rolled up to about the size of a 12-pack. It's designed to go on your ROOF (of your tow vehicle) to fill it, then gravity drain to your fresh water tank. I purchased a small 12v water pump, which I wired to a trailer hitch plug, so I use that to transfer the water, but I've used it at the track in Dover and while beach camping without hook-ups....

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