Resolved Tanks, how long between fills and dumps?

[Neal]

I installed one of these where my shower wand attaches to the wall part which allows me to easily and quickly turn my shower on/off. I do have a cutoff at the shower wand but it's harder to deal with especially with soapy hands. This works very well for me to minimize water use.

Amazon product ASIN B00JQDKTUS

​

 

[Kevin D Pem]

It took us a while to change our water use habits, but we did. When we're off grid, which is most of the time, we've done up to 20 days until we need to dump & refill fresh. We use dish pans in the sinks then use that wash water for the low flow toilet (Wife says if it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down). We have a container to capture water from the shower until water is hot. We'll use that water for other things rather than just letting go into the grey. When showering, we use enough water to soap up, shut it off, scrub, rinse. Haven't measured but not much water used. We supplement our fresh supply with bottled water and a 5 gallon jug with rechargeable pump for drinking and cooking.

50 grey
50 black
86 fresh

Back in the day, I set up a recirculation valve arrangement for the shower. Still to much water! On the boat I used an insect sprayer heating water in a tea kettle. When I changed rigs, I didn't want to do the valve thing. So got another insect sprayer! That is how I know how much water I can shower with.

However my tub!/shower, is valuable space, so I now use a sponge! That space is now shelves, as many full timers are set up.

As many off grid people, I to, don't flush it down, rather I use a sawdust toilet, and that basically makes the odor problems of an RV system a thing of the past!!!

My black water tank is now used for gray when needed!, the last time I had to dump was about 3 months ago.

If I didn't have plants growing on my porch trailer, screen deck (about 2 gallons a day), my water supply would last me (1 person) a month, but I use about 1 fill every week as things sit.

Now you know! There is no standard for water use, it is totally in the hands of the RVer!!!

 

[Diesel Pusher]

I to, don't flush it down, rather I use a sawdust toilet, and that basically makes the odor problems of an RV system a thing of the past!!!

This sounds too much like a cat litter box!

 

[mjeds]

So things are not always as they seem

I have a friend that has a fifth wheel and does a lot of off grid camping out in the desert with his sand rails. He came over last night and we discovered that I had a leaks. Maybe more than one.

rig is parked on grass, so it’s very hard to determine if I have a leak or not unless I crawl under the trailer and get wet.

While we were talking, we could hear the water pump cycle on and off several times a minute, but there was no water running anywhere. I thought this was normal behavior. Dustin told me it is not so we crawled under the trailer to discover that the pex lines coming from the pump to the shower, are leaking at the 90° elbow that goes up into the wall.

This should not surprise me as all of the lines from the docking station into the trailer were leaking when I first got the trailer, all the cinch crimps were loose.

Whomever installed them, or repaired them at some point did not properly clamp the pex cinch clamps.

Appears to be the same issue here, I don’t think this is a factory issue. I think this is from the previous owner. I did buy this trailer used. I did buy it at a dealership, but it seems that every cinch clamp on the water system is not properly clamped and they are all dripping

we went through everything under the sink, everything around the hot water heater, and everything under the trailer and we were able Re-clamp every single one of them at least a few mm each.

We did as much as we could last night we’re gonna go check it again today but I can tell you that for the last two weeks I have been hearing the pump cycle on and off every few minutes all night long. I thought this was normal last night the pump did not cycle at all.

I had also noticed that when I used The pump made a lot of noise. There was a lot of vibration and the water coming out of the shower vibrated that doesn’t appear to be happening any longer either.


So this will address the filling issue, as far as the dumping issue goes, my sensors still show full, but once again when I dumped this morning, the dump didn’t take very long and I ran Clearwater through the system until nothing was coming out and the sensors are still showing full so I don’t think my tanks were full or anywhere near full I need to do something with the sensors

I want to thank whomever recommended macerator pump, that did help dump the tanks significantly faster I’m still having an issue with the connection from the macerator to the home clean out line as I cannot find a proper reducer fitting, but I have rigged something together that is working temporarily and not leaking any nastiness onto the property.

 

[mjeds]

So in total we found leaks in 4 places. Not major. But enough to cause the pump to loose pressure and have air entering the line.

Flushed the black and grey tanks again. For over 3 hours. Empty and refill, empty and refill. Used a gallon of bleach in both as well.

Sensors are now reading the tanks are empty. And the pump is not cycling on and off every few minutes.


There was a lot of crap in the grey tank. Seems like a lot of food went down the drains. I have never put any food down my drains so this was all left over dried on crap from previous owner.


Now I will start to measure my usage and see how long it takes between full and empty.

 

[mjeds]

Still have a leak somewhere. looks like I many have to remove all the under carriage covers, all I see is a puddle forming in the area around the hot and cold drain lines. but those lines are not leaking.


I have managed to go 4 days between dumps though, so sensors appear to be working properly now.

as far as water, I worked it out with the homeowners to run a pex-line up the side of the home, hide it inside of the rain gutter and then down the back side of my trailer. all "temporary" basically, and they want me to turn off the water to the trailer anytime I am not actually in the trailer, but for now have city water connected instead of fill the tanks every few days.

 

[mjeds]

Well I found the final leak. The inlet to the toilet foot pump. Under the rig. Had to remove all the under covers to trace it. They was a 90 degree elbow where the pex crimps were leaking.

That makes 22 points where the manufacturer did not properly crimp the water lines. There is no way this was a result of the previous owner and I strongly suspect it is why he sold/traded the trailer.

It’s a good thing I’m a handy DIY kinda of guy. This would have cost me thousands in labor at a dealer.


Been 4 days with no puddles under the trailer and fresh tank usage is 5-6 days now. Grey and black are 4 days when sensor says full but I pushed it to 6 days until the shower backed up.