[Chester Stone]

I would like to verify if I am using my dump valves correctly. There is an air valve on both sides of the coach that empties into the drain hose. In addition the is another valve which seems to be connected to the main tank. On my 2001 coach, this manual valve has been replaced with an air valve. I assume if I want grey and black water to mix into one tank for dumping, I leave this tank valve open. If I want to accumulate the black water in one tank, and grey in another, I should leave this valve closed. Is this correct and is it practical to accumulate the black water in one tank and save the grey water to flush out the sewer hose?

[rheavn]

Chester,
Unless you have an unusual Newell, you only have one waste tank. Your choice is to catch both grey & black water into the waste tank or let the grey water go out the sewer hose and collect only black water in the waste tank.

[Fulltiming]

Steve is correct. Grey water is routed into a single pipe that dumps into the line coming from the waste holding tank to the sewer connection on the driver's side. There is a valve on each side of the grey water line. If the valve between the grey water line and the tank is closed and the valve closest to the sewer hose connection is open, all grey water will drain through the sewer hose and all black water will be trapped in the waste holding tank. This is the normal position when you are parked with sewer hookups. Closing the valve closest to the sewer hose and opening the valve on the other side of the grey water line will let all black and grey water go into the waste tank. This is typically used when driving or when parked without a sewer connection. Opening both valves will allow all waste and grey water to flow out of into the sewer hose.

The connection on the passenger side dumps the contents of the waste tank. I have used that connection when, due to a view at the rear of the space, I headed into a space that was designed to be backed into. That was the sewer hose had a short run to the park's sewer connection. It is not possible to dump just grey water from the passenger's side dump valve.

It is not possible to 'store' grey water separately. After dumping the waste tank, you can close the valve between the grey water line and the waste tank, turn on a faucet in the coach and flow clean water through the sewer hose. Attempting to store grey water separately will typically end up with a shower full of grey water (the lowest grey water drain inside).

[Chester Stone]

Thanks for the explanation. I will leave the tank valve open to combine and store both grey and black sewer. I will close it only when I want to accumulate the black and dump the grey constantly. Please let me know if i am still confused.

[Fulltiming]

You have it!!

[folivier]

Normally I've been letting gray & black combine then dump when full. This spring especially using the washer so often I found I was dumping 2 or 3 times a week.
When you bypass the gray water how much water do you put in the black tank? I was thinking to have at least 1/4 tank of water so the sludge isn't too thick. Also when doing that does anybody use any "bacteria products"? I really don't want to use chemicals but concerned about odors if I'm bypassing the gray and the tank is then basically a septic tank.

[bikestuff]

I am always afraid that I will push the wrong button at the wrong time and get (as Robin Williams says it)...a shower of sorrow!

So far all I have done was use the valve closest to the pipe. I may get curious now though.

[rheavn]

I do like the one tank approach. I like mixing the grey water with the black which dilutes it. Most people will create far more grey water than black water. Don't forget there is also a waste tank cleanout on the right side of the coach in the AquaHot bay that allows you to clean out the waste tank with clean water.

[whatsnewell]

Personally, I like having two separate tanks (actually one tank sub-divided)......we can go 9-10 days without dumping the black tank, but as we all know we generate a lot of gray water. That comes in handy when we are in one spot for a couple of weeks as I can just run a hose into the forest and dump the gray tank without having to pour that in our host's septic tank.

[Fulltiming]

Back in my Airstream days, we had a sewer cap with a hose fitting on it. We could hook up a garden hose to the hose fitting, run it away from the coach and keep the grey water tank open all the time. As late as the early 90's some State Parks (Beavers Bend in Oklahoma being one of them) still allowed you to do that openly. Sometimes we forget that prior to the early 70's many travel trailers (including Airstreams) did not even have a way to store grey water. Grey water HAD to be dumped. If you wanted to 'collect' it, you put a 5 gallon bucket under the grey water drain.