sewer hose

[dustyrose]

booked our first trip in may with our first tt. if the campground has a sewer connection at our site I was wondering do you wait for the tank in the tt to fill before emptying it or are you hooked up to sewer the whole time and what about the grey water tank it there a y connection I can buy so you dont have to switch the hose from grey to black?

[T&M_Texas]

Originally Posted by dustyrose

booked our first trip in may with our first tt. if the campground has a sewer connection at our site I was wondering do you wait for the tank in the tt to fill before emptying it or are you hooked up to sewer the whole time and what about the grey water tank it there a y connection I can buy so you dont have to switch the hose from grey to black?

Personally I keep my gray water open for showers and batch the black water when its about 3/4 to full. When I disconnect for travel I empty my black water and fill my gray water to flush behind it to help clean the discharge hose. I also use a separate water hose when flushing my black tank using a "Y" at the water source down stream of the water regulator. I only have one outlet on my 5er for all my tanks sounds like you have 2. Maybe others can offer some input with two outlets.

[Jblack]

I have 2 grey tanks. I keep the aft grey services the outside kitchen sink and indoor kitchen sink. I leave it open all the time. The forward tank does the bathroom and I use it to flush the lines after a black tank flush. I use a "Y" connection at the camps sewer dump, since I have to sewer lines. If you only have 1 outlet you want to make sure you have water in the grey tanks to flush the lines. No "Y" connection would be needed if you don't have but 1 dump valve.

I also have a black tank flush that I use every time I dump - Always use a separate hose to flush black, just in case of back flow. My trailer has an internal back flow preventer and I use one external as well. I don't want to have any chance at contamination of the parks water.

[John from Central Florida]

Originally Posted by dustyrose

it there a y connection I can buy so you dont have to switch the hose from grey to black?

Dusty, T&M brought up a good question for you. Do you have more than one grey/black outlet on your rig?

Can you add your TT onto your signature line to describe what you have? It will help us help you.

Safe travels.

[RVhiker]

A sewer hookup is convenient, but I think all drain valves should remain closed until the tanks are drained. Otherwise, you risk an infestation with sewer flies.

Sewer files are a real issue and not a made-up tale. The less time the valves are open, and exposing your tanks to infestation, the better.

[jloco]

Originally Posted by dustyrose

booked our first trip in may with our first tt. if the campground has a sewer connection at our site I was wondering do you wait for the tank in the tt to fill before emptying it or are you hooked up to sewer the whole time and what about the grey water tank it there a y connection I can buy so you dont have to switch the hose from grey to black?

You absolutely wait for the black tank to fill before emptying it. DO NOT leave the black tank open just because you are connected to the sewer. Always, always, always wait until the tank if full before emptying it. If you don't, you'll get massive build up in the tank that will be very difficult to remove. After dumping the tank be sure to give it a good rinse either by using the built in black tank flush (if you have that option) or by using a flush wand down the toilet. This will help kit keep the tank clean and meters accurate.

You can leave the grey tank open while camping if you want. Some folks prefer to keep it closed and will open it AFTER the black tank has been emptied to help rinse out the hose.

Both tanks empty via the same hose connection (at least on my rig they do) there is no need to move the hose to dump the different tanks. Do you have two separate sewerage hose connections? My trailer only has one.

[lefoster]

I was taught to.... leave the black tank closed, until about 3/4 full, so it will have enough liquid in it to flush out any un-dissolved solids when you open the valve, and then flush it with a hose and wand.

You can leave the gray open or closed, but if you have it open; close it at some point before dumping so it can fill to 3/4 or so. Then after you dump the black tank, you open the gray tank and that water helps flush the sewer line.

I think it is easiest to leave both closed, then dump as needed during your stay. I have a separate water hose that I use only for sewer flushing.

Good luck, and find out what works best for you. But for sure leave black valve closed until time to dump. The chemicals need time to break down solid waste and paper.

[wags999]

Originally Posted by lefoster

I was taught to.... leave the black tank closed, until about 3/4 full, so it will have enough liquid in it to flush out any un-dissolved solids when you open the valve, and then flush it with a hose and wand.

You can leave the gray open or closed, but if you have it open; close it at some point before dumping so it can fill to 3/4 or so. Then after you dump the black tank, you open the gray tank and that water helps flush the sewer line.

I think it is easiest to leave both closed, then dump as needed during your stay. I have a separate water hose that I use only for sewer flushing.

Good luck, and find out what works best for you. But for sure leave black valve closed until time to dump. The chemicals need time to break down solid waste and paper.

As others have said, you leave the black tank closed. If you have available water and a black tank flush it's not as important as waiting till the tank is full to dump. You can dump most anytime using the black tank flush to make sure you get all the solids flushed out. If you kept the black tank open, the liquids will drain leaving the solids behind, which, can solidify causing issues.

As far as sewer flies, I have worked at 5 campgrounds and replaced sewer lines at each one, I have yet to see a single "sewer fly". I leave my grey tank open for up to 6 months at a time and have again never seen a single fly or sewer rat or any other creepy crawly thing. Perhaps I've been lucky or, my eyes are worse than I think


Happy Camping

[Jagiven]

As you heard the key is to keep the black tank closed, until your ready to dump. It is important to have a lot of water in the tank. After dumping add about 10% tank tank capacity of water back into the tank, until the next trip. This is for tank health, and to help eliminate fromation of a poop pyramid under the toilet.

We will stand inside before dumping with the flush valve open to add water.

Key is LOTS of water.

[schrederman]

Not mentioned yet... that I saw. After draining the black tank completely and flushing, add back 4 to 5 gallons of water along with some additive... (I use Happy Campers). That water and additive will slosh around while in motion, and keep the build-up away, and keep the tank as clean as it can be kept. It's that old "ounce of prevention" thingy in action...

[JHerzog]

Originally Posted by schrederman

Not mentioned yet... that I saw. After draining the black tank completely and flushing, add back 4 to 5 gallons of water along with some additive... (I use Happy Campers). That water and additive will slosh around while in motion, and keep the build-up away, and keep the tank as clean as it can be kept. It's that old "ounce of prevention" thingy in action...

Also a little trick to keep the sensors from clogging and showing full all the time - add Water softener to the tanks and fill to the top and let it sit - then flush.

[North of 49°]

For the most part, the onboard tanks are big enough for us for even a long weekend. When we have a full service site, we don’t dump until we’re ready to leave, sort of our own private dump station. If we’re staying longer than 3-4 days, then we’ll hook up the hose and open the grey water valve, and close it a day or so before we leave, so there’s something in there to rinse out after dumping the black tank.

[bdreinv]

We have 2 grey and one black tank, maybe good for a weeks camping. Dump black first followed by greys. Wow never heard of sewer fly's nasty!

[dustyrose]

ys there is a grey water outlet and a black water outlet I have tried to add that info guess I'm doing something wrong will try again we have 2018 jay flight slx 28.4 bhs

[Octopus Prime]

We are new, but here is my two cents:
My mother told me she can smell sewer if she leaves any tanks open, so she keeps them closed until she needs to dump something. I've been inclined to do the same.
I've noticed that our gray tank appeared to get full within 24 hours, so on our last trip I went outside in the morning and emptied the gray tank.

Also, allow lots of water to flow into the black tank. You don't tend to fill it up very quickly, unlike the gray. I try to let the water flow at least 30 seconds before I drop the toilet pod down; I should probably let it flow longer since the water shows the color of the toilet pod as soon as I begin emptying my tank before leaving.

But to answer your question, we keep both tanks closed and only empty as needed. We also flush the black tank before leaving the campground.

[Atlee]

Never leave the black tank valve open. Keep it closed until the black tank is at least 3/4 full before opening the black tank valve. Once you've finished dumping the black tank, close the black tank valve.

After dumping the black tank, then you dump the gray tank.

Some people will leave the gray tank valve open and let it drain continuously, but will close the gray tank valve in order for the gray water to build up in order to help flush out the sewer hose after dumping the black tank. Personally, I just keep the gray tank valve closed all the time also. Should I need some room in the gray tank before the black tank is dumped, I would just open the gray tank, drain some water from the gray tank, and then close the valve again.

I do have a question though. Does your Jayco actually have separate gray and black dump outlets? I've never had a trailer like that. In all the trailers I've ever had, the gray and black tanks were connected with a Y and both used the same outlet to dump.

In some older models there may have been a separate outlet for black and gray.

Now, some trailers have gray tanks in two different locations, so you would have to switch the sewer hose between outlets, but one of the gray water tanks is almost always next to the black tank and will share an outlet.

Originally Posted by dustyrose

booked our first trip in may with our first tt. if the campground has a sewer connection at our site I was wondering do you wait for the tank in the tt to fill before emptying it or are you hooked up to sewer the whole time and what about the grey water tank it there a y connection I can buy so you dont have to switch the hose from grey to black?

[schrederman]

My TT has 2 gray tanks and 1 black, but only one hookup for the sewer hose. But the tanks are small. If I have full hookups I dump the bath gray tank every morning until I'm 2 days from leaving. It will fill in those 2 days so I have plenty to flush after draining the black. But I never leave any of them open...

[NismoGriff]

Also never assume the blank tank valve is closed before you put in any tank treatment and start using it. Speaking from experience (and it wasn't a great one) you want to make sure your blank tank valve is closed before you go to open up the cap to attach your sewer hose. Kids (and I have none) playing around your camper doing what they saw mom or dad do can make for a s$#%y experience at the dump station.

[GrumpyDad]

Yeah I'd just leave everything closed unless everyone is having showers around the same time or something. Dump as needed and close valves again.

[bdreinv]

Whats worse was bsing with a guy at the dump station. Finished up gray tanks,next camp trip. Surprise forgot to dump black and it was full really full. Just another old guy thing lol!