Permanent sewer question

[virstens]

I am getting ready to build a permanent sewer hookup for our seasonal site. Does anyone glue the pvc together or just friction fit it and then secure it down. Not sure why I would need to take it apart but would hate to have to saw it up.

[Kimber45]

A very short coarse thread screw would hold it together let you take it apart and should not leak if you caulk or get the correct length.

[cavie]

Remember, DO NOT leave your gate valve open during use. Fill your tank then dump.

[BrettN]

Originally Posted by cavie

Remember, DO NOT leave your gate valve open during use. Fill your tank then dump.

Please forgive a newbie, but do you recommend that course of action for both gray and black tanks?

[TURBS]

Leave both tank valves shut till full, open black first and drain the gray.

[cavie]

Originally Posted by BrettN

Please forgive a newbie, but do you recommend that course of action for both gray and black tanks?

I hold the gally and let the gray run.

[Kaadk]

Originally Posted by BrettN

Please forgive a newbie, but do you recommend that course of action for both gray and black tanks?

Unless you remove the black tank completely and plumb the toilet into the sewer lines, you want to leave the black shut until it’s full. You need lots of liquid to flush out the solids.

As a weekender, I prefer to keep my grey closed for two major reasons:

1) dumping the grey after the black helps flush down the solids. Remember, you want lots of fluids.

2) even the grey gets a bit of solids (food particles, hair, etc...). Again, lots of liquid helps flush solids.

However, since it’s a seasonal, the grey tank is up to you. If you leave the grey closed, you have to deal with dumping it. If you leave it open, you can leave it open all year and never have to dump. The trade off to less maintenance though is you don’t have that reserve of water to deal with points 1 & 2 above.

[David 01]

I am not sure anybody answered your other question. I am also permanent camper. My PVC pipes are glues, the exception being where the meet the trailer. I use rubber gaskets at the connection point. Black tank is closed until flushing time. I keep both grey tanks open. I will close the shower grey tank when I know that I need to flush just to get some extra in there. Buy yourself a nice external flush elbow so you can attach a hose and reverse flush. About every 3-4 black tank flushes I make sure I fill the tank completely with fresh water and flush again. It's not a big deal to do. I also add Calgon water softener to each tank after the flush. I would think most people don't add enough water back to the tank after dumping so make sure you get a couple gallons in there each time. Good Luck and most importantly....HAVE FUN!

Dave
Cuyahoga Heights, Ohio
Go Tribe!

[Seasonal]

I glue mine. Not sure why you wouldn't. Support it some too, if you have a longer run.

Some seasonal trailers can be ordered without tanks. Tanks are optional.

[eye-five]

I glued mine everywhere except where the 3" goes into the 4" sewer at the camp site. That has a 3" PVC street elbow and than a 4"x3" fernco reducer which has hose clamps on it. If I ever have to take it off I can loosen the screws on the fernco and then just twist the connector at the camper. Run is about 7' long and I have blocks under it in two places to give it some support and keep it pitched.

I keep the gray waters open all the time and just dump the black water tank before we leave each weekend (closing the gray waters first before I dump the black) and then run the toilet while I'm dumping to give it a little push of fresh water.

[Seasonal]

I saw someone this weekend working on their seasonal site sewer connection and using silicone to join the pipes and at the trailer connection. It must not have worked. When I left for the weekend to go home, I noticed that everything was disconnected again at their site. Silicone struck me as an odd choice to join plastic pipe. They used a good amount at the trailer connection and that looked like a real mess to clean-up.

[cavie]

Originally Posted by BrettN

Please forgive a newbie, but do you recommend that course of action for both gray and black tanks?

No, I let the gray run full time. I hold the black.

[pokey]

Originally Posted by Kaadk

Unless you remove the black tank completely and plumb the toilet into the sewer lines, you want to leave the black shut until it’s full. You need lots of liquid to flush out the solids.

As a weekender, I prefer to keep my grey closed for two major reasons:

1) dumping the grey after the black helps flush down the solids. Remember, you want lots of fluids.

2) even the grey gets a bit of solids (food particles, hair, etc...). Again, lots of liquid helps flush solids.

However, since it’s a seasonal, the grey tank is up to you. If you leave the grey closed, you have to deal with dumping it. If you leave it open, you can leave it open all year and never have to dump. The trade off to less maintenance though is you don’t have that reserve of water to deal with points 1 & 2 above.

I am also a permanent RV'r and have 3 tanks. One is the bathroom sink and shower water only that I leave open, soap, shampoo, toothpaste etc. The other two, black and grey stay closed until dump time. I did some researching and agree that it's not a good idea at all to leave the galley tank open at all times. As this poster said, there are food particles etc.that drain and if left open will accumulate slowly inside the drain pipe and tank. Over time these particles will be permanently stuck more and more in the drain and tank causing odors that will come through the kitchen sink drain. After this happens over a long period possibly the only option to rid the odors is to remove the tank, plumbing and clean. I'd prefer not to take that chance so I drain after the black. Just my 2 cents on the topic and

[eye-five]

I will do a combo of open/closed. I generally leave my gray tanks open, but if I'm leaving on Sunday I'll close my bathroom and galley gray tanks in the morning so they can accumulate water from showering and doing dishes to they at least get up to a 1/4 full. Then before I leave I dump the black tank and then after that finishes I'll close the black tank and open both gray tanks so I get a nice flush of water down the sewer lines.

Then I leave the gray tanks open until the next weekend. No issues with odors from them and it's worked well so far.

[Iwritecode]

Originally Posted by Seasonal

I glue mine. Not sure why you wouldn't. Support it some too, if you have a longer run.

I didn't glue mine and never have had any problems with leaks.

I'm glad I didn't glue them because I've changed CGs since I first installed them and had to reconfigure the layout when I got to the new CG.

[whj469]

I don't leave tanks open unless we are washing clothes and then I leave the gray tank connected to washer is left open. Dumping is much better with lots of water. Dump black tank and follow with both gray tanks one at a time. Then close gray tanks and open black tank and flush black tank.

[NMWildcat]

There is a third option. You can buy slip X threaded PVC fittings to use in appropriate places so you could have permancy and the ability to break down into haulable sections if the need arises. Of course, the fittings that size aren't exactly cheap.

[kenmyfam]

Glued everywhere except each end which is on a rubber adapter.

[Boomerweps]

Just glue it all together (except at the TT, of course). PVC pipe is cheap enough AND they also sell couplers that you can just glue in where ever you had to cut it. Why risk a leak? Unless it was under a couple years old, I wouldn't mess with trying to clean out and reuse a PVC sewer line at a new site.

[TheWolfPaq82]

He probably already has it done as the first post was April of 2018