Dump station tips, tricks and mishaps.

[Frank-VA]

Originally Posted by kerrlakelover

Before long everyone will be wearing helmets in case they stand up under the slideout, FOLKS!!!

I took a Swimming pool Noodle and split it down one side and put on the bottom of the side. I then took two short pieces of a noodle and covered the corners of the side.
A friend of mine walked into his slide and knocked him self out cold.
He had also had a few cold ones before the hit the slide corner.

[TheEdge]

Some people do seem to go overboard on the sanitation precautions.

Originally Posted by B47

Yeah - well we all have our own priorities in life!

[kerrlakelover]

See Frank-VA...if your buddy was wearing his helmet, he wouldn't have knocked himself out. Hope he did not fall into the dump station. LOL

[eshenderson]

I agree that some people go to extremes. I watched a guy spend more time suiting up than it took to dump. I have changed diapers for 5 daughters and 4 grandchildren and have not died yet, although in all fairness, I was born and raised in Jersey and spent my summers at the Jersey shore.......

[PhotoMaster]

I dumped for the first time a couple of weeks ago (before seeing this thread) and all went well. I did wear sandals and shorts, and I had no gloves. When I was done, I rinsed my hands with my bottle of beer and dried them with my sammich!
And I'm still living at the Jersey Shore!

[Patches]

My routine is pretty simple. After I glove up, and have an old pair of shoes on;
1. I top off my tanks to make sure they are full.
2.Check and make sure the release valves are in a closed position before I remove the cap.
3. Hook up the sewer hose.
4. Then open the valve to drain.
5. While draining, I check for leaks
6. Close the valve, and repeat on the second drain pipe.
7. I rinse off everything for storage.

Takes me about 20 minutes to dump 3, 37 gallon tanks, (2 connections) and I am out of the way.

If I have the water available, and the time, I will fill the tank up again, and drain it. I put my old shoes, and gloves in separate zip lock bags. Same with the hose. They all go into a plastic container with a good lid

I top off my tanks to help with removal of the contents. I found early on that by emptying less than a full tank, it had a bad effect on the sensors. That, and I did not get full removal of debris.

I check that the release valves are in the closed position before I remove the caps for the obvious reason. On more than on a few occasions I have seen folks remove the cap, while the valve was open. I am pretty sure folks sometimes forget to close these valves when done. On two other occasions as a campground host, I caught some youngsters opening these valves with the owner not knowing about it. Surprise! Surprise!

[Herk7769]

Originally Posted by Patches

1. I top off my tanks to make sure they are full.
2.Check and make sure the release valves are in a closed position before I remove the cap.

I check that the release valves are in the closed position before I remove the caps for the obvious reason. On more than on a few occasions I have seen folks remove the cap, while the valve was open. I am pretty sure folks sometimes forget to close these valves when done. On two other occasions as a campground host, I caught some youngsters opening these valves with the owner not knowing about it. Surprise! Surprise!

So, here is the thing. If some SOB opens; then closes the black tank handle, and you remove the cap, your shoes will still smell.

So, to prevent that unfortunate eventuality, I installed an end of line valve.
That way it does not matter if the black tank valve is open, leaking, or the sewer pipe is "charged", my shoes stay dry.

[Sportracker]

Along with the extra security of dry shoes,I use my end of the line valve to balance our two grey tanks, when one or the other tank is close to full, opening the valves behind the EOLV gives us extra time before heading off to the dump station it was a great little investment

[Greywolfdan]

I top off tanks at site, pull up to dump, hook up then pull black water then grey water to rinse hose then run fresh water through line to finish cleaning, 10 min or so.