Recommendation on a Waste Tote Tank

[Cate&Rob]

I have been surprised the number of times having a friend who is a welder has been handy lol.

mpking
Hi Mike,

I operate on the same rule as Neil . . . the tote is for grey water only. This means that it would be reasonable to carry it in an inside space if that worked best. These tanks do have air tight caps for all openings. Something to also consider is where you will carry the macerator pump and hose (if you intend to use this method rather than gravity dump to the tank).

I don't use the "taste" test referenced by Neil (typo LOL )

Rob

[ncitro]

[QUOTE=Cate&Rob;n46160]

I don't use the "taste" test referenced by Neil (typo LOL )

Oh gross, worst typo ever lol

[howson]

I have a hard rule that I only use mine for grey...

Hmmm...that "rule" would have come in handy if I'd applied it on my first boondocking experience. Without boring everyone, let's just say I had a "crappy" experience with an errant tote. What a mess.

Cate&Rob -- assuming your gray volume exceeds the tote's capacity, how do you know when to stop pumping without overflowing or having waste water stuck in the macerator hose?

Howard

[Cate&Rob]

Hmmm...that "rule" would have come in handy if I'd applied it on my first boondocking experience. Without boring everyone, let's just say I had a "crappy" experience with an errant tote. What a mess.

Cate&Rob -- assuming your gray volume exceeds the tote's capacity, how do you know when to stop pumping without overflowing or having waste water stuck in the macerator hose?

Howard

The tote has a simple “float” fill gauge. I watch that and close the gate valve and shut down pumping when it gets close to full. A bit of a judgment call, but has worked so far.

Rob

[ncitro]

Hmmm...that "rule" would have come in handy if I'd applied it on my first boondocking experience. Without boring everyone, let's just say I had a "crappy" experience with an errant tote. What a mess.

Cate&Rob -- assuming your gray volume exceeds the tote's capacity, how do you know when to stop pumping without overflowing or having waste water stuck in the macerator hose?

Howard

Yeah I decided before I ordered mine it would only be grey. I still treat it the same way, and I do use the maceretor pump itself for both, but I like knowing if something goes sideways it’s not completely gross lol.

[howson]

As has been discussed in other threads, the first limit that we reach is grey water capacity when camping on a site without sewer hook-up. We have all seen folks towing totes about the campground with their trucks . . . but, as Neil mentions, there are lots of ways for this to go wrong!

ncitro, Rob, and forum members;

QUESTION
One part of the gray dump process I don't understand: how do you clear the gray water from the hose attached to the macerator to the dump tank without making a mess? There will be water left in the hose, right?

PROCESS/PLAN (Request for Feedback)
Based on all I've read from you two and others with more experience in this area, here's my "boondocking plan" to give you (and others) a chance to critique. Assume all tanks in the RV are empty to start:

1) Fill fresh water tank with <=30 gallons.

• A separate container outside the RV will have an additional <=30 gallon reserve "ready to go".
• I ordered a four-wheel 36 gallon Rhino tote so only putting 30 gallons of water in the RV ensures I won't overflow the Rhino. (I overflowed the relatively small 21 gallon Rhino I have now that only has two wheels and no side dump capability. As I've mentioned elsewhere...I made a colossal mess with the 21g Rhino...not fun).

2) The 36G Rhino, empty, is placed in the truck bed.

• The Rhino can't "live" in the truck bed as the space is used for multiple purposes, most importantly the motorcycle!
• Moving a full 36G tank...over soft ground? Don't want to try that!

3) Using a Flojet 18555-000A macerator coupled to a 3/4" 50' hose, pump the gray water contents to the Rhino.

• With the Rhino in the truck bed there's no wrestling with the tank.
• Alternative: If in a situation where pre-loading the Rhino in the truck is not possible, I'll use my truck's LoadAll motorcycle ramp and the winch to get the full Rhino into the truck bed.
• I'm planning on getting power for the Flojet from the front stabilizer 30A circuit, as the circuit is already protected. I'll mount an outlet near the RV dump--probably right on the RV's lower trim as it's easily accessible. The appearance will be like the Furrion Solar Plug outlet that's on the outside of the camper.

4) With the side dump on the Rhino, there's no lifting of the tank to dump.

5) The integrated hook on the Rhino allows easy attachment to the ladder for transport.

6) Unlikely I'll boondock long enough to require a black water tank dump, but there may be circumstances where dumping the black directly to an RV dump is not possible, so if need be I could use the macerator and Rhino to dump the black. Unfortunately the black in my 315RLTS has a 43G capacity, so I'll have to carefully manage this to ensure I don't overflow the Rhino.

• With good planning the goal is to never get in this situation. I stopped at a Camping World (I'm a Good Sam member) and dumped for free between boondocking locations on the last trip.

Am I missing anything? Any and all suggestions will be appreciated.

Howard

P.S. While this may seem like "overkill" part of my thought process is planning for contingencies while traveling to Alaska and other remote locations. The more options I have the better!

[Cate&Rob]

ncitro, Rob, and forum members;

QUESTION
One part of the gray dump process I don't understand: how do you clear the gray water from the hose attached to the macerator to the dump tank without making a mess? There will be water left in the hose, right?

Assuming that we are only dealing with grey water, spilling a little of this on the ground is not going to be a big problem. I would suggest using as short a hose as possible to minimize the volume in the hose when you shut off the transfer pump. (I don't think you need 50 ft). If grey water on the ground is not allowed, the tote end of the hose could be put in a pail before disconnecting from the pump.

If you are planning to transfer black tank contents, this obviously gets more complicated. I would close the black tank gate and open the grey tank gate before the tote gets full, to flush the transfer hose with grey water . . . same as a normal dump operation.

Rob

[ncitro]

howson this is pretty much exactly what I do. I don’t really worry about the leftover grey water in the hose, but I also don’t use a 50’ hose. I’ve got one at my office I use when flushing the tanks there, but when on the road I’ve got a 25’ gorilla hose (helpfully bright orange so I don’t use it for something else by mistake), so I’ve got a bit less water in the hose to worry about. If it was the black I’d probably sacrifice some fresh water through the flush port of the macerator to clean out the hose before I unhooked it, but I do not think it should ever be an issue. I’ve let mine go while on a trip before to see how long it takes to fill, and it started smelling at 75% after like three weeks once.

Obviously with the tote above the pump there is hoping to be done grey water in the hose, I just let that spill out. I suppose you could have a hose shut off at the pump and close that when you unhook it from the pump. Then raise that end up and open the valve and it should mostly drain into the tote.

[ncitro]

Rob beat me to it, but mostly the same advice 👍

[JBill9694]

howson . If you can use your motorcycle ramp to wench the full tank up into your truck bed, why use a macerator pump?

[howson]

howson . If you can use your motorcycle ramp to wench the full tank up into your truck bed, why use a macerator pump?

I'd have to move the full tank close enough to connect the winch, or cobble together some straps to the end of the winch to reach the Rhino. A full 36 gallon tank can weigh almost 300 lbs. That would not be fun trying to pull across a typical campground spot. Using the winch is an option, but not the first one.

For the record, no "wenches" are near my ramp, thank you. lol Almost as good a typo as @ncitro's "taste" oopsie the other day.

[ncitro]

I'd have to move the full tank close enough to connect the winch, or cobble together some straps to the end of the winch to reach the Rhino. A full 36 gallon tank can weigh almost 300 lbs. That would not be fun trying to pull across a typical campground spot. Using the winch is an option, but not the first one.

For the record, no "wenches" are near my ramp, thank you. lol Almost as good a typo as @ncitro's "taste" oopsie the other day.

That was a good one for sure lol.

You’re 100% correct on the winch. I would not want to manage that with your tote let alone mine. It works great having it in the bed. I put it in sideways, so I just run the sewer hose right off of it and down to the dump. My goal is to not move the tote at all once it’s full to avoid any issues.

You probably know this, but Cabelas usually allows overnighting and usually has a potable water fill as well as a dump station. The dump station has either a small fee or free if you pick something up in the store. If we’ve been boondocking I’ll try to pick one of those off for an overnight to dump and fill.

[ncitro]

When I installed the trolling motor outlet I used for my pump I decided to mount it next to the grey dump handle. There was a black here for an extra dump handle I didn’t have, and the hole was the right size for the outlet. I ran some #12 so cord I had up to the front and put it on its own fuse. There’s fuse in the handle that pops on occasion (the factory wiring is pretty small), so keep some of those around to replace it.

Marinco 70A Trolling Receptacle Motor https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000NI590U...ing=UTF8&psc=1

[Jlawles2]

howson

Put a valve on the end of your grey water hose so when you stop the macerator pump you can "blind" in the excess water. i know my pump will push air through the system. The biggest issue I have found with the pump is in closing the valve from the tank and having the pump try to pull a vacuum on the line between the pump and the valve. If you are really concerned about keeping as much waste in the hose as possible use 2 valves, one on each end. When dumping black, chase it with grey to help clean the "stuff" out of both the pump and the hose.

[JBill9694]

Thanks for the rational, howson , and the spelling correction. lol