After Emptying Tank

[soohma]

I have yet to have to empty my holding tank, but have a question for when I do. In reading other posts, it seems that when you finish emptying the tank, there's a short hose available at dumping sites that you use to stick up the sewer hose to rinse it and the tank out. Is that correct or do I need to bring my own hose.

[Davydd]

There is almost always a water hose at a dump station. Those water hoses are usually very short so can only reach the dump area. Since it is handled right after you dump and handle your dump hose and often touches the dump hose there are usually signs saying not to use it for drinking water. It is used for rinsing off your dump hose and any other accidental spillage. You don't use it to clean your tank since you should close off your tank and remove your dump hose before using the water hose to clean things off.

The proper procedure is to first pull the blade and dump your black water from your toilet, close it and then open your mostly soapy gray water tank. That procedure will clean your dump hose fairly well. Close your gray water tank and detach your hose from your RV. While the other end is still in the dump hole take the water hose, hold the dump hose upright and spray it down inside so the water goes directly into the dump hole not on the pavement. The water hose is generally very high pressure so aim carefully or you can deflect spray all over yourself. That is better done by two people. One to hold the dump hose steady and one to spray with the water hose. Leisure Travel Vans have permanently attached hoses to the van so I am not sure what procedure you would use. Macerator hoses are also different I assume from this procedure, but trying to spray back up a hose from the dump end and having it flow back out sounds very messy to me. Maybe someone else can pipe in on that.

I'm surprised you haven't done this. You must be very new to RVing. But rest easy. It is nothing like the Robin Williams movie, RV. We usually dump anywhere from 3 to 5 days of camping and almost always on leaving a campground with an undetermined destination. We use our toilet only for urinating unless for an emergency (rare) with no other camp or public toilet rooms around. That helps with dealing with dumping. It is mostly liquid.

[soohma]

That's very clear and I appreciate your response. I am new to RVing and the the RV mechanic said I have a very large tank, so it might be awhile, but at least I'll now know what to do!

[Mike]

Davydd's got it pretty much covered.
It never hurts to top off your holding tanks with water/treatment stuff,
and dump them, even though you know they may not be completely full, as Davydd
suggested. Just before departing a campground, or at a fuel/dump station or truck stop.
Empty tanks = less overall weight = better fuel economy, for one. More capacity available
when needed for use, for two.
Some folks suggest it's a good idea to use a little coconut oil to keep the valves lubricated,
or I believe RV antifreeze is also good for that. It also is supposed to help keep your tank
level indicator sensors cleaner, too. You may have heard of putting "ice cubes in the toilet"
and then flushed into the tank to loosen black tank "debris" prior to dumping. You dump a
bag of ice cubes into the toilet and flush them, then drive around for a while before dumping,
to get a more thorough "scrubbing" out.We also only use our toilet for liquid waste,
so we don't do the ice cube thing.

One thing we found out (the hard way) when filling the gray tank with water
by filling our galley sink with a hose, is make sure the low point shower drain
plug is secured. In a Roadtrek with aisle shower, there's a floor drain hole with
a plug which blocks back or overflow when the gray tank is full or filling. First
time we filled our tanks to practice dumping, we didn't notice the previous owners
left it in place, but loosely, as they never used the shower, and rarely used the sink.
Ooooops!!