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Truck Camper Forum _ General Discussion _ Septic Tank Issues

Posted by: JustShar Aug 23 2009, 11:09 PM

Hi guys does anyone know how I can find out if one of my tanks is closed off so it wont take the dirty water from sink and toilet in? It seems there are 2 tanks and we never use that much but always seems to be overflowing before our short weekend trip is done. Was just curious if maybe there was a way to shut one of them off? We have a sportking slide in camper ...1977 ..any info would be greatful! ty

Posted by: mh45472 Aug 24 2009, 08:19 AM

I have not heard of being able to valve off inbound waste into a holding tank. I did read in a Highways magazine of a guy who had a similar problem and the knock out was not entirely removed from his holding tank when the drain piping was installed. Maybe you gould run a sewer snake down through the drain or toilet and see if you can get it all the way to your drain valves.

Posted by: Spanky Aug 24 2009, 11:36 AM

Are you sure there are two tanks. Mine only has one and that is the black water. The grey water goes directly out the drain to the hose where I have a bucket to catch it.
Gary

Posted by: JustShar Aug 24 2009, 12:17 PM

Well when we get underneath it and looks it appears as if there is two tanks? one smaller one and one larger one? Im a real newbie when it comes to this and I cant find any info anywhere on how its set up or routed..I will try the snake thing and see what happens...if I cant figure it out Im going to try and take it out this winter and see whats going on down there!

Posted by: mh45472 Aug 25 2009, 08:29 AM

Do you have 2 drain valves? If so, then there are 2 tanks.

Posted by: JustShar Aug 26 2009, 08:34 PM

QUOTE(mh45472 @ Aug 25 2009, 07:29 AM)
Do you have 2 drain valves? If so, then there are 2 tanks.
*




yup there is two valves ...we open them both when emptying but it really seems like only one is gettin used? any ideas?

Posted by: mh45472 Aug 27 2009, 08:59 AM

You may just have a very small grey water tank. I have a 26 gallon grey tank on my TC and that gets us about 5 days of doing dishes and washing hands. We (me, wife & 2 kids) usually stay at parks so we don't use the shower much. We have a 16 gallon black tank and we never seem to fill that.

How fast does your tank fill up? How many people camp with you & what do you use the tank for?

Next time you're empty, try pouring a measured amount of water (I'd start with a 5 gallon bucket) down the sink and see exactly how much water it takes to fill your grey tank totally. I am not familiar with Spert King but it might just have a small tank. If that is the case, there are drain caps with small garden hose sized caps built into them where you could connect a short length of hose to and connect the other end to a portable holding tank with a similar cap available at almost all RV stores in a variety of sizes. (I have a 15 gallon and it is not too big) This would expand your tank capacity. Do this for grey water only. black water would not go through the small garden hose. You'll have to dump the black tank using a 3" hose but it could be dumped into your portable tank as well. I took a old hose I had and made a short 2' hose that I use to dump my black or grey water into my portable tank.

Hope this helps! Let us know.

Posted by: jquise2423 Mar 15 2011, 06:59 PM

QUOTE(mh45472 @ Aug 27 2009, 06:59 AM)
You may just have a very small grey water tank. I have a 26 gallon grey tank on my TC and that gets us about 5 days of doing dishes and washing hands. We (me, wife & 2 kids) usually stay at parks so we don't use the shower much. We have a 16 gallon black tank and we never seem to fill that.

How fast does your tank fill up? How many people camp with you & what do you use the tank for?

Next time you're empty, try pouring a measured amount of water (I'd start with a 5 gallon bucket) down the sink and see exactly how much water it takes to fill your grey tank totally. I am not familiar with Spert King but it might just have a small tank. If that is the case, there are drain caps with small garden hose sized caps built into them where you could connect a short length of hose to and connect the other end to a portable holding tank with a similar cap available at almost all RV stores in a variety of sizes. (I have a 15 gallon and it is not too big) This would expand your tank capacity. Do this for grey water only. black water would not go through the small garden hose. You'll have to dump the black tank using a 3" hose but it could be dumped into your portable tank as well. I took a old hose I had and made a short 2' hose that I use to dump my black or grey water into my portable tank.

Hope this helps! Let us know.
*




I ran into this problem. My gray water holding tank is only 11 gal. Within two days of two adults doing dishes and only one shower a piece my tank was full. Yet my black water tank wasn't even close to full. I thought of just bringing a large sized bucket with me and when the gray water ran full I was going to empty it and pour it into the black tank. As I usually camp in areas that do not have dump stations.

Any thoughts on this?

Newbie
James

Posted by: Ruck Feb 9 2013, 10:21 PM

QUOTE(clarasmithh001 @ Jan 31 2013, 01:05 AM)
Tt is important to pump it regularly. It is better to get the septic tank pumped as they get blocked with the waste products when accumulated for a long period of time. Therefore, to increase the lifespan of the septic tanks, it is essential to pump it and clean the inlet line. Septic tank pumping in your area If you are staying in various areas of US, you can get in touch with your local septic tank pumping services, like septic tank pumping services.

http://pumpcoseptic.com/we-serve/
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Seriously? Who does that? Never heard of that. No way the suction hose of a pump truck could even fit inside the toilet to pump the tank! And there's no other way in besides the gravity drain. dry.gif

Posted by: Spanky Feb 10 2013, 08:40 AM

Ruck, as you see I have deleted that post as I think the poster had no idea how RV systems work and was only advertising for some septic tank service.

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