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Old 05-14-2010, 11:59 AM   #1
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Bath sink drains to black tank

I just discovered my bathroom sink drains into the black holding tank. Is this normal for Flagstaffs? Just wondering if I should persue making them drain it into the grey tank where it belongs.
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Old 05-14-2010, 12:06 PM   #2
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the small amount of water from the bathroom sink is not going to make much difference draining to the black tank,,,just make it fill up a little quicker. i think it would not be worth the effort to change it. jmo
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Old 05-14-2010, 12:43 PM   #3
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Most folks find that the gray water tank fills first so any drain
water going into the black tank is helpful.

You don't have a problem in my opinion.

Enjoy your new trailer!!
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Old 05-14-2010, 12:47 PM   #4
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Ours does too. As stated above the grey fills much faster so having a bathroom sink drain into the black isn't an issue. However as we found out on our maiden voyage, you MUST run some water down the sink from time to time to fill the P-trap otherwise you will get odor into the rig from the tank. In very hot climates it doesn't take long while traveling for the water to slosh/evaporate out of the trap. Stinky....
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Old 05-16-2010, 06:22 PM   #5
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Thanks for the replies. We don't use the bathroom sink for much more than brushing our teeth so the additional water in the black tank wasn't bothering me, but as Jeeper said when the trap dries up the odors will make it obvious which tank it drains to!
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Old 05-22-2010, 09:59 PM   #6
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I've heard about showers draining in to black tanks, also. I'm not sure what the logic behind that one is.
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Old 05-23-2010, 08:36 AM   #7
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It depends on the layout of the trailer and how easy (or hard) it is to plumb the drains to the gray tank or the black tank. In some cases, such as mine with a rear kitchen, it was easier to add a galley tank than to try and run the lines to the gray tank.

I do know the shower and sink in our bathroom drain into the gray tank. Otherwise, nothing would go into it. I would be surprised it the shower drained into the black tank. You would have to empty it every other day.
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Old 05-23-2010, 06:28 PM   #8
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It's a feature, not a problem. Running some sinks / showers into the black tank keeps enough liquid in the black tanks to help break down the solids and enable you to dump the solids without having to flush the tanks every time.

Think of it this way.. If you had a 30 gallons of poo sitting in your backyard, you would RUN to find the nearest hose!
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Old 05-24-2010, 11:50 AM   #9
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It also helps to disperse some of the waste water, post people use a lot more water from sinks/showers etc than the toilet, therefore your gray tank usually fills a lot faster than the black tank, now your tanks will a bit more evenly reducing the need to dump so soon
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Old 05-24-2010, 09:57 PM   #10
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Thanks for the replies. I'm glad it is only the sink that drains into the blak tank and not the shower too!
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Old 05-25-2010, 10:06 AM   #11
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May I ask, how did you determine that the sink was draining into the black tank? I find it very hard to see where the drains are going in my rig.
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Old 05-25-2010, 10:12 AM   #12
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First, be sure that both tanks are empty to start with. Otherwise this method could give you a nasty surprise. Then the way to tell which tank your sink or shower is connected to is to close both tanks and run water from the sink. Run a gallon or so into the tank. Then open one holding tank at a time. Whichever one the water comes out of is the tank the sink is connected to.
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Old 05-25-2010, 10:19 AM   #13
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I thought that the OP was able to see how his unit was plumbed. Kim, I didn't think of trying your method. Sounds like it would be pretty easy to determine where everything drains that way.
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Old 05-25-2010, 12:20 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tmmar View Post
I thought that the OP was able to see how his unit was plumbed. Kim, I didn't think of trying your method. Sounds like it would be pretty easy to determine where everything drains that way.
I'm not sure how he figured it out. He may be able to see how it is plumbed. I just figured I would give an easy solution so anyone can figure out where their water is going. It does help to know that.
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Old 05-31-2010, 03:28 PM   #15
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I discovered the issure when I was sanitizing the water system. The sink in the bathroom moves the most water so I was using it to purge the air out of the hot water tank then to purge the bleach out of the water tank. After running the other faucets I pulled the drain valve for the grey tank and just got a trickle of water. I was worried that there was something plugging the opening so I checked the water level in the tank and it read empty. I checked the black tank and it registered full!
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