Gray water expansion

[Christine]

I have a hw296 and wish it had more gray tank capacity. What are my options? Can you add a bigger tank or an extra tank??

[Chris Pastuzyn]

If your grey tank is getting full to quickly you can always just leave that valve open during those heavy use times, showers etc,The black tank definitely have to leave closed .

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by Christine

I have a hw296 and wish it had more gray tank capacity. What are my options? Can you add a bigger tank or an extra tank??

I seriously doubt it. Popups have a lot crammed into a small box already.
I think your only option is a tote tank for gray water.

[GalsofEscape]

Our hw277 pop-up had a small gray tank as well (only 12 gallons). Too small for even a weekends volume of gray. So, we always just used an external 25 gallon tote that we hooked up to the gray outlet.

[sjwieland]

We use the outside shower with a pop up enclosure. That saves a considerable amout of space in the tank. If it get full from the kitchen sink I will let it drain( depending where we are)

[Christine]

Originally Posted by bikendan

I seriously doubt it. Popups have a lot crammed into a small box already.
I think your only option is a tote tank for gray water.

Thanks! I think we’ll try that [emoji1303]

[Christine]

Originally Posted by sjwieland

We use the outside shower with a pop up enclosure. That saves a considerable amout of space in the tank. If it get full from the kitchen sink I will let it drain( depending where we are)

Thanks! Most places we go don’t allow that but we’ll try it when we can.

[Christine]

Originally Posted by GalsofEscape

Our hw277 pop-up had a small gray tank as well (only 12 gallons). Too small for even a weekends volume of gray. So, we always just used an external 25 gallon tote that we hooked up to the gray outlet.

Thanks! We have 12 gallon too so that would more than triple our capacity. Is a 25 gallon tote manageable? Do you have any recommendations?

[Christine]

Originally Posted by Chris Pastuzyn

If your grey tank is getting full to quickly you can always just leave that valve open during those heavy use times, showers etc,The black tank definitely have to leave closed .

Thanks! That’s not an option for most places we go ☹️

[dtptrson]

Originally Posted by Christine

I have a hw296 and wish it had more gray tank capacity. What are my options? Can you add a bigger tank or an extra tank??

I added an additional 20gal grey water tank just behind the axels. There is a decent bay there between the floor struts. It was custom made from 3/8" thick HDPE sheet stock and welded together with a cheap harbor freight plastic welder. I also tied all the grey lines into the black line with valves so I only have to stab into the black bayonet fitting to drain both the grey and black tanks. It needs to be vented and the easiest place I could find to do that was to tie into the vent under the kitchen sink. 32 gals of grey is perfect for a long weekend trip, you might even squeeze in a quick shower or two. Keep in mind I always dump before leaving the campground, I wouldn't want to travel down the road with the tanks being full. For the longer trips out west to the Nat'l parks where there usually isn't any showers available, I bring the tote along.
I have no idea why forest river still puts in those 2 dinky 6gal grey water tanks when there is plenty of room underneath to put in a more robust grey water tank. They are pretty useless. And the 2 seperate grey and black water discharges...why? For the costs of a couple of gate valves and a couple extra feeting of piping, life could be a lot easier.

[GalsofEscape]

Originally Posted by Christine

Thanks! We have 12 gallon too so that would more than triple our capacity. Is a 25 gallon tote manageable? Do you have any recommendations?

Mine is a Barker tote (actually 22 gallon) - some people refer to it as the "blue boy". they get heavy when full, but they have a handle that fits over the ball of you vehicle hitch so you can drag the tote to the dump when full. It fit on the floor in front of the bath with the dining slide in when i packed up.

[SomeName]

We also use an external tote for grey water, it’s a 15 gallon. Frankly, I wouldn’t want anything bigger since you’ll have to find a place that you can store it while traveling. Our 15 gallon is kinda long and skinny and just barely fits into the front storage compartment on the trailer. If it didn’t fit there I’d have to tie it on somewhere since it ain’t riding inside with us (we tow with an SUV).

At 15 gallons I can also wrestle it inside to drive it to the dump station rather than towing it behind at 5 mph. This is helpful if your campsite is a ways away from the dump station. 25 gallons and you ain’t lifting that sucker, you’re towing it.