Water/Electric, no sewer. whats the process?

[Chaplain Kent]

I would be happy to loan you ours, if in the Milwaukee area, we hardly ever use it.

[medalguy]

When boondocking we use paper plates, plastic cups and utensils. It’s nice to finish dinner and just toss everything. Saves us a ton of water too.

[RickV]

We go to this event every year for 4 days that only has a water hookup it was two weekends ago. The owner of the property doesn't care if you dump the grey tank(s) on the ground and then we usually stop at a Love's Truck Stop on the way and use their Dump Station on the way home. We were not able to stop at Love's and so I had to use my 40 gallon Barker Tote (which someone gave to me) and drag it from the Pole Barn to the Septic Tank clean out. This was the first time I had to use it other then just trying it out. It was too much like work dragging it across the backyard full. We will be leaving for a 5 month RV trip next month and some of our reservations are at water/power only campgrounds. I had planned to use the tote at these campgrounds but, after the backyard experience I decided to get a portable Macerator Pump. My plan is to leave the tote in the back of the bed of my truck and pump to it then go to the campground dump station. I also picked up a 100' 1" hose so I will be able to pump out the 5er when I am home if anyone is staying in it which happens from time to time.

[Pipeman]

I have a 35 gallon tote. I put it in the bed of the truck at the rear. I have a 12V pump that I attach to the battery bank of the 5er. The pump attaches to a clear elbow at the black water discharge. The hose for that is a 3/4 inch, 25 feet long black hose that fits the pump. The pump is a Flojet portable. When it's full I transport it to the dump station. I took the short hose off of the tank and installed a long one to reach the dump hole. I have a long bed dually so I have the room.

As for doing the dishes. It's just my wife and I and the dishes get washed once a day when boondocking. That happens after supper. Paper plates are also used
We both take navy showers almost every day.
I don't really look at the gauges because they've never been accurate. The toilet will burp to let you know that it's getting close to needing a dump. The gray water gets dumped when I dump the black water, usually. My wife and I have gone 10 days without having to dump the black water because we don't flush the toilet after a number 1. Something to get used to but it works for us.

[mnoland30]

Some campgrounds ar o.k. with draining your gray water on site. We camped for 6 days at a Forest Service campground near Yellowstone, and drove into the park each day. We were camped near a lake, but they had hookups to an irrigation system to water the plants with your gray water. Rather than haul a tote, I ran hose to a tank in the truck, and with a spare Shurflo water punp I pumped the gray water into the tank in the truck. It gravity fed out of the truck, so that wasn't a problem. I had to refill my water tank almost every day, and empty the gray tank every time my sister-in-law took a shower. She has no idea of what a Navy shower is. We stayed 7 days wth 6 people and didn't empty our black tank until we were on the way home.

Gray water contains nutrients (fertilizer) that is good for plants but can cause an algae bloom in lakes or streams. I'm not concerned with draining gray water as long as I'm away from water sources, and the ground water level isn't too close to the surface.

[Cold Lake Kid]

This happened to us in the 1970's, with our first trailer, (bought used - 2 years old), so it is likely not applicable today.
Our trailer's grey water tank filled very quickly.
At first I thought SWMBO and I were dumping water as if we were at home and we had a couple of overflows, until another fellow suggested we measure the input of an empty tank.
At home, in the driveway, with tanks empty, we started pouring measured amounts into the sink and found the tank was smaller than the spec sheet described.
Your mileage may differ.

[Bhrava]

Thanks for the suggestions. What is puzzling about the tanks is they all DO take navy showers! Well, Navy in that they are short, the water is actually warm and not cold. Our last trailer was a Coleman 274BH, and it would be about 3 days before it needed to be drained. It had a 42 gallon grey, the 3660 has two 35 gallon greys. Only a 7 gallon difference between them, so it does appear the tanks are smaller than stated, but I will know for sure once I have a way to measure the output.

I did see that macerator idea, might look into that as I have time, the trip isn't until the end of July.

I just had a thought, will have to check it out when I dewinterize. I wonder if the shower flow rate is too high. That could make a huge difference between the Coleman and this one. If it puts out 2.5 gallons a minute, a 5 minute shower could add up to 12.5 gallons. On average we all take 2 minutes of actual running water during a 5 minute shower. Thats 25 gallons right there. The Coleman was only about a gallon a minute or less.

BUT there is a shower house, and all showers will be done there, so one less thing to worry about.

I took a measurement and the outlet is 16" so the Camco will work. It will be easier to roll around in grass due to the skinny wheels than the Barker, which has been known to be tough to move even on dry pavement due to the fat rubber tires. The one complaint on the Camco were the wheels falling off, but Camco redesigned the axles to use circlips instead.

Now for mounting it, ladder or the Camco bumper rack? Thats my next decision. I have a bike rack in the back so will have to actually get the tank to see how it all clears. It wont fit in the truck bed, at least not the current one, because I have a truck box at the front and store my genny behind the 5th wheel. I have a new truck on order that is long bed, so there would be plenty of room between the truck box and hitch for it.

[Ohio_john]

Originally Posted by lazyjj

When no sewer hook up my rules are shower in the bath house, no #2's unless it is an absolute or 3 am emergency. I empty gray tanks into tote and take to dump station about every 3 days.

Yep! Same shower and toilet rules! Made an exception in 2020…And drastically cut back on dish use! I clean all my cast iron without water..wipe out with paper towels and apply new light coat of oil. But..we very rarely cook in camper. we don’t bring grills like alot do. Have camp stove incase it’s raining and can’t have a fire. I like to keep as much of “camping”, “camping”, by cooking over fire. these condos on wheels isn’t really camping like when I was a kid!! We had no water in dads truck camper. No a/c. Never saw mom cook on the stove. Even when they upgraded to a newer trailer, toilet was off limits unless 3am..mom and sisters only! Dad and I went to outhouse or bath house, maybe the tree on edge of site!! Lol you really can cut down on water!

[lwbfl]

Things I looked for: Capacity - enough to drain both tanks at 50%. Sounds counter productive until you have to haul 50 gallons of water and sludge! Ease of handling was key for me. Wheels - 4 wheel units support all the weight, with just 2 wheels you have to pick up the weight! Personally I don't care if they fill / empty from the top, side, front etc. My tote will always be lower than the TT tank and higher than the dump drain. My only suggestion is to purchase a gate valve with the connectors installed. I put it on the end of my tote tank hose so I can control the flow if there's ever an issue at either part of the process. As a side note, I've found nearly a dozen of these totes on the side of the road because they weren't secured to the unit when traveling. However you mount it, make sure it stays put even when bouncing on bad roads and RR track crossings!

[Gsykora]

Originally Posted by Iwritecode

There have been many threads here about tote tanks and which ones are better. You'll get tons of opinions on size, brand, features, etc...

Personally, I like and use this one.
https://www.amazon.com/Barker-30844-...35278945&psc=1

Fills from the top, drains from the side. Pulls quiet with the big rubber wheels and the metal handle easily fits over a hitch ball.

Also never have to worry about over-filling it because it holds just as much as each of the holding tanks on my trailer.

Kind of off subject, but I followed the Amazon link to this tank and was reading reviews. The first review literally had me in tears. Here it is:

The tank failed where the front wheels connect to the tank. I only noticed this defect when I was towing the heavily laden tank slowly through a campground. At first I was surprised to see all the fellow campers glaring at me as I crept by, but I just greeted them with a friendly wave and continued on my way. I glanced in my mirror and immediately realized why the fellow campers were glaring. There was a ever widening swath of blue liquid horror following my defective poo tote, so I did what any reasonable semi-intoxicated man would do... I accelerated! As I gained speed I thought I was winning the battle against the feces as the dump station was in sight and the stream was narrowing but I over looked one important rule of physics, in this situation it was Newton’s third law. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction and in this case the action was me frantically trying to out run a trail of poo and the eventual reaction was the front wheels ripping off of my toat tank just yards from the dump station forming a massive puddle of my family’s excrement that fully surrounded my truck.
Great product Barker...

[Sharon455]

Originally Posted by DougW

Getting the women to use minimal water while doing dishes seems to be a difficult undertaking. use a plastic pan for the wash water, it will save about half of the water normally used. Put the dish drain rack in the sink. As you wash dishes set them in the drain rack. When the drain rack is getting crowded turn on the sprayer and rinse them. takes very little water yet gets the job done. Also, there is usually no need to turn the spigot on full blast, half speed or less is usually enough pressure to do a good job.

Well, seems if the women are the problem and you are the expert the solution would be for you to be the chief dishwasher. My husband’s first wife (RIP) trained him that if he complained the job became his.

[wnew813]

Originally Posted by Bhrava

So, I normally do full hookups if more than a day at any place, but this year we are looking to stay for a week that only has water/electric with a dump station somewhere on site. I know I will nee a pop tank, but how is it used and which ones are the most user friendly to not spill or otherwise make a mess?

Our 3660 may have two 35 gallon grey tanks, but somehow those tanks fill fast, especially the kitchen tank. Compared to our last trailer, A Coleman 274BH, it seems as though the grey tanks fill at twice the rate with the same use, while the black tank is no different than the last trailer, its like a 3:1 ratio for dumping, where the last trailer was 1:1.

I feel I will be making many trips that week.

How is it filled, how is it transported and how is it dumped and what is done after dumping?

First time in 6 years this will be an issue. We had done a 3 day sprint at Kentucky Horse Park and only had to dump when we left, so not sure what is going on with the new trailer and why it seems we use so much more water.

We have 3 tanks also, gray is bigger, kitchen is small, black is in-between. We are also going on a 7 day trip without sewer. They usually have a sink to wash dishes, we are using all disposable, we will use the campsite showers and toilets during the day. We will use our toilet at night. Hopefully it will last 7 days. If not we will have a disposal tank on wheels. The problem with those, they are the same height as the trailer, so the hose fills up, you lift it up to drain in the tank, slow and pita.

[OscarsMom2]

What we do when at a site without a sewer hookup is to minimize what goes into the holding tanks. Use the public restrooms/showers as much as possible. Wash dishes in a dishpan and dispose of the water in a sink water dump that is common in some campgrounds. If those aren’t available use a bucket to dispose of that water at the restrooms. I have used a portable tank, but I prefer not to use it. If all else fails, you may need to hitch up and drive to the dump station to empty your tanks.

Since you have 2 gray water tanks, you might want to use an additional valve where you hook up the sewer hose to the trailer if you notice that one of the tanks is fuller than the other. Be sure that the external extra valve is closed and open to two gray tank valves to attempt to equalize the contents of the two tanks.

Usually, you will be OK with the black water. It’s the gray that will fill up first.

[lwbfl]

Originally Posted by wnew813

The problem with those, they are the same height as the trailer, so the hose fills up, you lift it up to drain in the tank, slow and pita.

Wow, what kind of tote and TT do you have?

[Reverse_snowbird]

Water in... water out.
If you are hooked up to a water connection, you can measure how much you're using by hooking up one of these. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...e?ie=UTF8&th=1

[Accountingphd]

Buy a portable dishwasher, it uses less water than washing dishes by hand. Wouldn’t camp without it. Just make sure it will fit on your counter.

[NavyLCDR]

Originally Posted by Accountingphd

Buy a portable dishwasher, it uses less water than washing dishes by hand. Wouldn’t camp without it. Just make sure it will fit on your counter.

Yeah, but can you use the discharge from the portable dishwasher to flush the toilet with?

[BOO-BOO-IS-IN-CAMP]

Originally Posted by Bhrava

There are 5 of us in the trailer, two are teens. What we will not be doing is showering in the trailer, there is a shower house on prem, which will save on a lot of water use. Even with short showers it fills the tank fast. When we are on full hookup I have to drain it daily.

The soap pan in the sink is something I will have done from now on, seems my wife can fill that tank washing dishes in no time.

if you stay more that a day or to how could you fill them your camping no at the spaaaaaaa...


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[Accountingphd]

Originally Posted by NavyLCDR

Yeah, but can you use the discharge from the portable dishwasher to flush the toilet with?

Actually if I am dry camping for an extended period of time I catch the discharge from the dishwasher in a basin in the sink, pour it into one gallon water bottles and use it for flushing the toilet. It doesn’t matter whether I am dry camping or whether I just don’t have a sewer hookup, I don’t use campground bathrooms.

[Bhrava]

Originally Posted by Gsykora

Kind of off subject, but I followed the Amazon link to this tank and was reading reviews. The first review literally had me in tears. Here it is:

The tank failed where the front wheels connect to the tank. I only noticed this defect when I was towing the heavily laden tank slowly through a campground. At first I was surprised to see all the fellow campers glaring at me as I crept by, but I just greeted them with a friendly wave and continued on my way. I glanced in my mirror and immediately realized why the fellow campers were glaring. There was a ever widening swath of blue liquid horror following my defective poo tote, so I did what any reasonable semi-intoxicated man would do... I accelerated! As I gained speed I thought I was winning the battle against the feces as the dump station was in sight and the stream was narrowing but I over looked one important rule of physics, in this situation it was Newton’s third law. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction and in this case the action was me frantically trying to out run a trail of poo and the eventual reaction was the front wheels ripping off of my toat tank just yards from the dump station forming a massive puddle of my family’s excrement that fully surrounded my truck.
Great product Barker...

I read it as well and it gave me pause on this tank and pushed me towards the Camco. I read a couple others with the front wheel being an issue on the Barker, and plenty on the Camco with the wheels falling off, but Camco corrected that with C Clips. The wheels though being thin and plastic tend to not last long, so its six of one half dozen of the other.