Does grey tank spill over into black tank?

[dougmcc1]

The grey tank always fills up fast. By the time its full, the black tank is still showing empty. If I keep running water while the grey tank is full, will it spill over into the black tank? Can I keep running water even if the grey tank is full, as long as there's room in the black tank for the spillover?

[Marine359]

No Doug,
There is no spill-over from gray to black tank, unless you engineer one yourself. You can, however allow both tanks to operate as one tank by: installing a Valterra exit valve on your main drain to ensure yo don’t have an unpleasant accident, then open both drain valves. This process however will contaminate your gray tank with black water. If you don’t like that idea, then get a tote. Use the tote for gray water only. Size it to approximate the size of your gray tank. You can tow the tote by hand or behind tow vehicle or toad. You can also put the tote in the tow vehicle bed and pump the gray water into it using a 12v transfer pump. This allows you to drive whatever distance you need to dump the tote. While you doing that task, carry a couple of 5-7 gal fresh water jugs and fill up your fresh water.

[dougmcc1]

Rather than contaminating grey tank with black water, or carrying a grey water tote, I'd rather contaminate the black tank with grey water especially since the black tank is usually empty anyway.

Any ideas on how to engineer that?

Also, is there a diagram of the tanks that I could use for reference? I can only find floor plan diagrams.

[Marine359]

Nope,
But you might ask for some drawings from WBGO to see how the two tanks are mounted. If there’s enough room at the top of the tanks, you may be able to implant a hose with a one-way valve on the top of the tanks, or between them near the top of the tanks. Of course this would require you to drop the tanks.

There is another solution: use a 12v transfer pump to move gray water from the dump exit. You’d need a Valterra cap with a hose connection. Connect the pump inlet to the Valterra cap, and run the exit hose from the pump through the a window and into the toilet. Time consuming, but it’ll work.

I use that procedure to fill my tote placed in my truck bed. Same procedure for you, except your exit hose goes to toilet.

[powercat_ras]

Originally Posted by Marine359

Nope,
But you might ask for some drawings from WBGO to see how the two tanks are mounted. If there’s enough room at the top of the tanks, you may be able to implant a hose with a one-way valve on the top of the tanks, or between them near the top of the tanks. Of course this would require you to drop the tanks.

There is another solution: use a 12v transfer pump to move gray water from the dump exit. You’d need a Valterra cap with a hose connection. Connect the pump inlet to the Valterra cap, and run the exit hose from the pump through the a window and into the toilet. Time consuming, but it’ll work.

I use that procedure to fill my tote placed in my truck bed. Same procedure for you, except your exit hose goes to toilet.

How about the above but if you have a black tank rinse connection near the grey water dump outlet just run the exit hose to the black tank rinse to move the liquid into the black tank. Using a cheap cordless drill powered transfer pump, this should match the low flow rate capability of that pump pretty well. Also would need only a couple short lengths of hose.

Put a garden hose debris filter ( $ 13 on Amazon ) inline to make sure you don't clog up the drill pump or the spray ports in the black tank rinser. Also would need to not put any cooking grease down the kitchen sink. The debris filter would likely have to be cleaned often but would keep hair, food scraps, etc. that go down drains out of the transfer system.

[Morich]

Originally Posted by dougmcc1

Rather than contaminating grey tank with black water, or carrying a grey water tote, I'd rather contaminate the black tank with grey water especially since the black tank is usually empty anyway.

Any ideas on how to engineer that?

Also, is there a diagram of the tanks that I could use for reference? I can only find floor plan diagrams.

You are making life more difficult than needed! First step is that you are not making it easy to answer when you don't tell us what RV you have?

For info, there is a lot of online info for motorized RV but little for the trailer group.

If you are speaking of motorhomes, this is the place to start looking for info and it has tons of info, including interactive diagrams to let you turn things around to get down to detail like where the tanks are connected and where they drain.

https://catalog3d.winnebagoind.com/menu/Parts.htm

Small point to keep in mind? IF you combine them and overfill them, how do you feel about black water "stuff" coming up in the shower floor or tub? NOT something I like dealing with! Dealing with putting it in the tank is pretty simple but dealing with week old "stuff" is a whole different level!
Dealing with "honey pots" was never my idea of fun!

[Marine359]

OP rv is posted on his profile. A Minnie 22M has 40/45/40 fresh/gray/black.
If he’s filling up that huge gray tank quickly, he must have kids. 45gal gray would last me a week, taking 6gal Navy showers for 2 every other day.

[dougmcc1]

@Morich I will respond to your rudeness in kind.

Originally Posted by Morich

you are not making it easy to answer when you don't tell us what RV you have?

I dont know what's so confusing about checking my profile. It's all right there!

Originally Posted by Morich

how do you feel about black water "stuff" coming up in the shower floor or tub?

Thats why you... wait for it... DRAIN the tanks first.

[dougmcc1]

Originally Posted by Marine359

If he’s filling up that huge gray tank quickly, he must have kids. 45gal gray would last me a week, taking 6gal Navy showers for 2 every other day.

My panel shows capacity in thirds - Empty, 1/3, 2/3, Full. I dump either when it shows 2/3, or pretty soon after showing that its full. So probably around 35/40 gallons. It usually takes around 4 days for me solo. Getting into daily rituals and usage is besides the point though.

I'm sure there's a good reason why the black and grey tanks arent essentially one 95g tank with a wall divider in the middle that leaves space at the top for the grey overflow to spill over into the black tank. What is that reason? (out of curiosity)

[bigb]

Originally Posted by dougmcc1

My panel shows capacity in thirds - Empty, 1/3, 2/3, Full. I dump either when it shows 2/3, or pretty soon after showing that its full. So probably around 35/40 gallons. It usually takes around 4 days for me solo. Getting into daily rituals and usage is besides the point though.

I'm sure there's a good reason why the black and grey tanks arent essentially one 95g tank with a wall divider in the middle that leaves space at the top for the grey overflow to spill over into the black tank. What is that reason? (out of curiosity)

Some places allow gray to go onto the ground, you wouldn't want the possibility of the two mixing, also the aforementioned shower overflow would then become gross. One thing you might consider is a macerator pump on your gray tank to pump gray into the black as needed. I have a gray water macerator pump and it works very quickly thru a 1" line, however my rig came with it, to pump gray out to the dump valve as my gray tank is on the other side of the axle so it's the only way to empty it. Our gray is only 26 gal if I recall.
Some other ideas are using a dish pan for the kitchen and then put that water in the toilet. Also a lot of RVs have the bathroom sink plumbed to the black tank so check for that as well.

[Morich]

Got this one put in the correct file!

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by dougmcc1

@Morich I will respond to your rudeness in kind.
I dont know what's so confusing about checking my profile. It's all right there!

Doug, two things -

Morich is a super helpful and respectful member. You may have felt his response was too direct for you, but knowing Richard I know he wasn't trying to be rude. Maybe it's best to give other's the benefit of the doubt when it comes to written words. It's easy to misconstrue the feelings of people just by their words. And, best practice on Forums is to treat others with respect even if you feel they've been abrupt with you. "Responding in kind" only escalates things - this isn't Twitter. Instead it's best to respond in kindness. See what I did there?

Look around. Everyone helping you in this thread has their RV detailed in their Signature. This is a super kind way to treat your fellow members when all they are doing is taking time out of their day to try to help you.

I hope you don't take my post as rude - as I'm only trying to help you as you learn about the atmosphere around here.

UPDATE: I see you have already put your RV info in your Signature as I was writing this post. THANK YOU!

[creativepart]

Most of us are good with our gray and black tanks being totally separate. I do know of people that have installed a composting toilet and don't need a black tank so they combine the black and gray tanks to double their gray water holding capability.

Some folks will take other steps to stretch their gray water tank. Some wash dishes in a tub in the sink and then carry that to the bathroom to dump into the black tank. Some also go so far as to shower with a bucket to catch gray water to dump in the toilet as well.

As for your "why no overflow to black" question I think that most would worry greatly that the gray overflow would lead to a far more unpleasant black tank overflow without realizing it.

[powercat_ras]

A lot of people catch their shower and sink water in a plastic milk jug until it heats up to the desired temperature and save that to flush their toilet, that is one way to reduce what goes into the grey tank that is cheap and easy to do. It's pure water so I've never been anywhere that had a problem with pouring it outside, either, if you generate more than you need to flush the toilet.

Another thing I have done is put a temp display on the water heater tank and shut off the water heater when the temp reaches 100 F and then I don't have to try and mix hot and cold to get the desired 100 F water for my shower. Heat to 120 or whatever you like to wash dishes. The way I did the temp display was using a bbq grill meat thermometer with wireless remote display, the meat probe gets pushed thru the styrofoam of the water tank and you have it make contact on the top side of the tank near the outlet. The one I used the remote temp display had an alarm to alert me that the water had reached the desired temperature so I could manually turn off the water heater. This works great in particular if you are RVing solo, as 6 gallons of water heated to 100 F is plenty for a shower before the cold water coming into the 6 gallon tank mixes with the heated water and what makes it out the top of the water heater starts to become cooler.

[bigb]

Originally Posted by powercat_ras

Another thing I have done is put a temp display on the water heater tank and shut off the water heater when the temp reaches 100 F and then I don't have to try and mix hot and cold to get the desired 100 F water for my shower. Heat to 120 or whatever you like to wash dishes. The way I did the temp display was using a bbq grill meat thermometer with wireless remote display, the meat probe gets pushed thru the styrofoam of the water tank and you have it make contact on the top side of the tank near the outlet. The one I used the remote temp display had an alarm to alert me that the water had reached the desired temperature so I could manually turn off the water heater. This works great in particular if you are RVing solo, as 6 gallons of water heated to 100 F is plenty for a shower before the cold water coming into the 6 gallon tank mixes with the heated water and what makes it out the top of the water heater starts to become cooler.

That's a great idea! I was just thinking about this last week as there have been times when I turned on the WH just before a shower and after a few minutes it
was hot enough for a shower without using any cold water. This also solves the issue of the temp at the shower head getting cold while the valve is off.
I have a spare aquarium thermometer with remote display I have been just wondering what to do with!

[Marine359]

Great Idea with the water heater Randy,
Would you mind posting a link to the thermometer?

[peggwn]

In defense of dougmcc1, the first time I saw his Signature wasn't until Post #9. Incidently, I did not see a Signature under Morich's (Richard's) posts #6 or #11.

[Morich]

Originally Posted by peggwn

In defense of dougmcc1, the first time I saw his Signature wasn't until Post #9. Incidently, I did not see a Signature under Morich's (Richard's) posts #6 or #11.

Actually there is a really simple reason for not showing an RV in my signature!
I don't currently have one. That actually means I am highly unlikely to be asking how to fix my RV !!

It really doesn't take much study to figure out that we can get a much better answer quicker is we do a tiny bit of thinking and let everybody know details like what RV we have.
Part of making life hard for ourself involves not thinking and the folks who tend to not think are also often the type who feels insulted at every chance they get.

There are great places to get really good info on things like where the plumbing runs and how the tanks are located but I'm not motivated to go too far to help a guy who is not motivated to help us help them!

[dougmcc1]

@creativepart

Originally Posted by creativepart

Morich is a super helpful and respectful member

Evidence here suggests otherwise. It absolutely was a rude way to respond to a legitimate question. You stepping in to defend him and to lecture me doesnt change that one bit. Birds of a feather. Look around at the other replies. See what I did there?

@Morich As I said before, my RV info was in my profile but I went ahead and included it in my signature in order to avoid rudeness from folks like yourself in the future. I got you correctly filed away as well!

[creativepart]

Since this thread is become contentious I'm going to close it.

I will suggest to ALL members that they treat each other with respect whether you personally think they deserve it or not.