TJ&LadyDi
RVF "Dinosaur"
As I mentioned in another thread, I recently sanitized my fresh water tank in preparation for heading out. I use a 2-part Thetford sanitizer, so there's lots of flushing required. After flushing the system 4-5 times (yeah, I'm a little cautious about my water tank cleanliness), I discovered the dreaded "yellow light" on the macerator toilet controls. Looks like I ran about about 15+ gallons through each toilet. And, my gray tank was about 3/4 full too. All this and we're still in the driveway! Not a good way to start a trip.
We are on a septic system and I know there are some concerns about over-filling septic tanks. Still, I have considered finding a way to dump the holding tanks at the sticks-and-bricksI. I thought about it a bit and realized that LadyDi has a walk-in "spa/tub" in her bathroom that holds about 60 gallons. It dumps fine and we have not had any issues as a result.
With a 45-gallon black tank (3/4+ full) and a 65-gallon grey tank (also 3/4 full) we're looking at about 75 gallons total. And, since I like to start a trip after a long lay-off with the holding tanks at about 25% to get a good cleaning action going on the first leg, we're actually talking about less than 60 gallons that I needed to dump; just about the same as the spa/tub dumps into the septic system. OK...I talked myself into it!
So the time was right to give it a go. I ordered a 100' 3/4" garden hose via 2-day Amazon Prime (@Neal would be proud!) and it arrived yesterday. The length was perfect with about 5' to spare. This morning, I connected the new hose to the Sani-Con fitting, popped the lid off the 4" clean-out where the house sewer line enters the septic tank, inserted the 3/4" hose (and locked it in place with a perfectly-fitting wood block I had. LadyDi served as the lookout with instructions to wave frantically and yell loud if liquid started overflowing. I had no idea of what kind of pressure to expect at the hose end.
Everything went as planned. Nice when that happens. No panicked waving and yelling from LadyDi and a steady decline on the tank gauges until I reached the shut-off point. It could not have gone any better.
I'm still not quite sure what the stream flow was at the end of the hose, but there was no noticeable squirming and wiggling of the hose at the entry point to the septic clean out. So, my take on this after my first time pumping into a 3'4" garden hose is..."no big deal." Thankfully. I will be using this system again when we return to the S&B after our travels. I like the idea of being able to do a REALLY good flush when we return home. And, LadyDi likes the fact that she can use the bathroom all the way home instead of stopping at the nearest convenient rest stop with sewer dump facilities (about 60 miles away).
Sani-Con rocks!!!
TJ
We are on a septic system and I know there are some concerns about over-filling septic tanks. Still, I have considered finding a way to dump the holding tanks at the sticks-and-bricksI. I thought about it a bit and realized that LadyDi has a walk-in "spa/tub" in her bathroom that holds about 60 gallons. It dumps fine and we have not had any issues as a result.
With a 45-gallon black tank (3/4+ full) and a 65-gallon grey tank (also 3/4 full) we're looking at about 75 gallons total. And, since I like to start a trip after a long lay-off with the holding tanks at about 25% to get a good cleaning action going on the first leg, we're actually talking about less than 60 gallons that I needed to dump; just about the same as the spa/tub dumps into the septic system. OK...I talked myself into it!
So the time was right to give it a go. I ordered a 100' 3/4" garden hose via 2-day Amazon Prime (@Neal would be proud!) and it arrived yesterday. The length was perfect with about 5' to spare. This morning, I connected the new hose to the Sani-Con fitting, popped the lid off the 4" clean-out where the house sewer line enters the septic tank, inserted the 3/4" hose (and locked it in place with a perfectly-fitting wood block I had. LadyDi served as the lookout with instructions to wave frantically and yell loud if liquid started overflowing. I had no idea of what kind of pressure to expect at the hose end.
Everything went as planned. Nice when that happens. No panicked waving and yelling from LadyDi and a steady decline on the tank gauges until I reached the shut-off point. It could not have gone any better.
I'm still not quite sure what the stream flow was at the end of the hose, but there was no noticeable squirming and wiggling of the hose at the entry point to the septic clean out. So, my take on this after my first time pumping into a 3'4" garden hose is..."no big deal." Thankfully. I will be using this system again when we return to the S&B after our travels. I like the idea of being able to do a REALLY good flush when we return home. And, LadyDi likes the fact that she can use the bathroom all the way home instead of stopping at the nearest convenient rest stop with sewer dump facilities (about 60 miles away).
Sani-Con rocks!!!
TJ