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Old 10-13-2011, 10:55 PM   #1
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Portable waste tanks

We just got back from our first outing without sewer hookup. With the two of us we filled the black tank in about 3 1/2 days . We managed our grey fine buy dumping sink water into a water jug and taking to the dump station, which by the way I talked my husband into, he was one of those that thought it was okay to just dump on ground but when he saw what the water we collected was like he is a changed man.
Any way we have decided we want to purchase a portable tank and wanted to ask what everyones preference was to brand, size , features to look for, etc.
Thanks all!
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Old 10-13-2011, 10:57 PM   #2
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my family of five doesn't fill a black tank in three days ?
how do you know it was full? do not trust the gauge !
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Old 10-13-2011, 11:14 PM   #3
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We are new to this so this will sound silly but how do you tell how full it is? We looked down the toilet and could see stuff but not sure how full. Monitor said full but toilet was still flushing and it didn't look full but we were worried about nasty accidents.
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Old 10-13-2011, 11:16 PM   #4
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The two of us have used our black tank for 7 days and it is still not full and plan on using it one more weekend before winterizing.

I agree with the above post. Don't trust your gauge. Mine says 2/3 full when right empty.
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Old 10-13-2011, 11:19 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by iluvlcy View Post
We are new to this so this will sound silly but how do you tell how full it is? We looked down the toilet and could see stuff but not sure how full. Monitor said full but toilet was still flushing and it didn't look full but we were worried about nasty accidents.
I don't believe you will have any 'nasty' accidents as nothing can over flow that I am aware of. When the stuff gets closer to the bottom of the toilet it is full.
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Old 10-14-2011, 06:32 AM   #6
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Also normally when one tank is full your_ fresh will be empty unless your using city water
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Old 10-14-2011, 08:52 AM   #7
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Enough about poo. Back to your original question. Any of the totes will work about the same. Pick the one you can find the best deal on. Personally I have only had the "blue" totes and they have performed well for me. I do not dump black water into mine. Where we camp I can go for over a week on the black tank so I only worry about gray water. One word of caution. DO NOT get one of the biggest tanks. They are just too darn heavy and hard to handle when full. Keep tank size to around 20 gallons and you should be able to handle that pretty easily.
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Old 10-14-2011, 09:00 AM   #8
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X2 (f1100turbo)

Try looking at the tanks from outside under the TT. You can tell exactly how full they really are.

I had a problem with my DD and toiletpaper usage :/ and she would use way too much and it would just pile up in the tank right under the toilet, so when you looked in, it seemed more full than it really was.

Has anyone ever unrolled a roll of TP? There is tonnes on there!!!!!
Now imagine all that in your tank............
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Old 10-14-2011, 09:24 AM   #9
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Also fyi I bought a blue tote thinking I would use it .......
never have just sits in my garage.
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Old 10-14-2011, 09:52 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by iluvlcy View Post
We just got back from our first outing without sewer hookup. With the two of us we filled the black tank in about 3 1/2 days . We managed our grey fine buy dumping sink water into a water jug and taking to the dump station, which by the way I talked my husband into, he was one of those that thought it was okay to just dump on ground but when he saw what the water we collected was like he is a changed man.
Any way we have decided we want to purchase a portable tank and wanted to ask what everyones preference was to brand, size , features to look for, etc.
Thanks all!
We use our 18gal Thetford blueboy (Portable RV waste water tanks, blue holding tanks, smarttote thetford black water holding tank on wheels, rv tanks Camping World - Portable RV waste water tanks, blue holding tanks, smarttote thetford black water holding tank on wheels, rv tanks - Pr) regularly as many Florida federal and state CGs do not have sewer connections at each site, but instead a dump station as you mentioned. There are larger sizes (27 and 35gals) and probably other brands. The smaller size just fits us well and it isn't too big to carry along.
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Old 10-14-2011, 10:57 AM   #11
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I believe ours is 22 gallons. We have had it for 4 summers now and this is the first summer we have used it. We have never had to use it for the black tank but we did for the gray tank. We ordered it over the internet, but I don't remember from where.
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Old 10-14-2011, 12:01 PM   #12
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Our underbelly is enclosed so we cannot see tanks. May I ask why some of you do not use your totes for black water?
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Old 10-14-2011, 12:16 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by iluvlcy View Post
Our underbelly is enclosed so we cannot see tanks.
I can't either, can you explain Labzy?

Quote:
May I ask why some of you do not use your totes for black water?
We don't mostly because we can easily go 3-5 days on the black tank's capacity and dump it on the way out. Not the same with the gray, with the showers, kitchen, and bathroom sink water going into it it fills rather quickly.

However, I wouldn't have a problem empting the black tank into the tote. It has a flushing connection on the top for a throughout cleaning inside. Empty it, flush it, add your preferred black tank chemical/sanitizer into it and you're all set (to do it again!)
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Old 10-14-2011, 12:22 PM   #14
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The two of us can go days, before we even get close to filling the black tank. We've gone on numerous trips before we decide to finally to dump the 25 gallon tank.
We do have a 15 gallon Barker tote, for the gray tank, when dry camping.
Barker is the most recommended brand.
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Old 10-14-2011, 12:29 PM   #15
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We do not dump our black tank till we leave the cg .
since we do not fill the black tank up before leaving .
my new camper has 3 grey water tanks and one black tank so it takes a loooooong time for me to fill up . 120 gallons of grey 42 gallons of black.
but on my old camper we had a 42 gallon grey and black and never filled them full with 5 kids and two adults in three days of camping .
I thought we would fill up fast so I bought the portable tank and ive never filled it up enough before the weekend was over.
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