Can I dump black water into this?

[mumkin]

Originally Posted by booster

The houses that I have lived in here in Minnesota all had the main sewer line cleanout access inside the house, usually in the baseement or lowest level right where the sewer line leaves the building. It may have to do with the freezing ground and snow we get here, as an outdoor cleanout could get mighty tough to use in the middle of the winter, compared to the relatively easy indoor access.

Yes, I live in Minnesota. But we have them in the front yards in North Dakota - which is significantly colder - and there is no problem.

[Bud]

Originally Posted by tomx

Thank you all for the replies!

Did anybody build a sewer hole at home for RV dumping?

How much would that cost?

Thanks again,

Tom

Hi Tom,

In my subdivision all houses as far as I know have their own cleanout. Mine is in my driveway, and I use it. Others are in the yard, and some are under the yard. There is a symbol on the street curb that indicates where the cleanout is. Then a person can take a whatever, sharp spear and find it. Except that it is not 100% accurate sometimes, but usually is.

There are folks in your area that can assist. Make a couple or just one phone call and learn about your situation. Again, as I and others have mentioned, you can pump to the cleanout or toilet. Me, I got lucky and just use gravity into my driveway cleanout.

You'll find the answer, and cleanout.

Bud

[tomx]

Found 2 more holes. One is black and the other one is white. Any idea what they are? Thanks a lot!

Tom

[BBQ]

.

Probably one is the storm clean out
and the other is a sewage clean out.

I see the downspout next to the black one.
Pour some water in the toilet and downspout and see which is which.

[Bud]

Originally Posted by BBQ

.

Probably one is the storm clean out
and the other is a sewage clean out.

I see the downspout next to the black one.
Pour some water in the toilet and downspout and see which is which.

Or just flush it, the toilet.

Bud

[Doneworking]

White should be the sanitary sewer.

[NickK]

If you are on a septic, Do not dump your tank if you use the commercial tank chemicals, they will affect your septic tank anaerobic process, increasing the sludge build up.

[Phoebe3]

Originally Posted by NickK

If you are on a septic, Do not dump your tank if you use the commercial tank chemicals, they will affect your septic tank anaerobic process, increasing the sludge build up.

I'm using Odorlos, which says it's safe for septic systems. Based on your statement, I did some more research and came across this somewhat self-serving article about tank treatment systems. (Hint, it was written by someone who sells Ordorlos.) But I did find it interesting to discover that treatment products were blamed for issues at dump stations, which is not something I had considered.

http://www.retiretoanrv.com/wp-conte...AND_BEYOND.pdf

[avanti]

...or, you could just skip those chemicals. We never use them and have no issues. If your bathroom stinks, you have a leak.

[BBQ]

Originally Posted by avanti

...or, you could just skip those chemicals. We never use them and have no issues. If your bathroom stinks, you have a leak.

... or something wrong with the black vent. (back drafting?)

[Phoebe3]

I was actually more concerned there might be, shall we say, "hangups" in the slinky when we dumped and wanted to be sure everything was dissolved and suspended.

[NickK]

When we had a fifth wheel, we used water softener in the grey tank, water softener and powdered dishwasher detergent in the black. The softener helps stop sticking to the tank wall, and the detergent starts breaking down solids. Worked great with no smell. Not sure what we will use in the recirculating toilet that came with our classic Xplorer,still working on that.

[gerrym51]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

Addendum to this: newer subdivisions in my area have one such cleanout per each PAIR of homes, not one per lot. Both homes on either side drain to a common line, sharing a single capped port.

Unfortunately for us, our shared port happens to be on the side of our neighbor's driveway, right next to his basketball hoop. Maybe two times in the past 3 years we've had to ask him for permission to enter his driveway for the purposes of dumping. The rest of the time, we've used an off-site station. Just our luck that our houses were constructed this way.

get a portable macerator

[Storysrvwego]

On a related topic, I saw an ordinance recently that prohibited homeowners from using their own septic system for RV dump. Puzzled me as to why until I think I figured why that might be: Septic systems are sized by the number of bedrooms in a home. Regardless of whether you claim a bedroom is not used, used as an office, etc. The point is there could be at any time, all bedrooms occupied and averaged out, this would represent a common amount of waste the septic system is rated to handle. Would your own RV change the rated usage? Probably not if your house is not occupied by the family members that are on the road in the RV! However, there are some people that let a few RV's stay on their property that might overrun a septic system. While the septic repair cost is the owners problem, the amount of waste water entering the ground at that location may just be too much for the area to absorb without detrimental effect to the aquafirs.

Now how that same over use of a septic system might relate to a city waste system; a larger flow of waste than that neighborhood portion of the system was designed for might jam things up for everyone in the neighborhood. ?

Just guessing how things might work in a community. I am fortunate to have a free to use six station, RV dump facility three blocks from our house that is maintained nicely, in spite of some users that occasionally leave a mess.

I suppose someday, somewhere we might see signs prohibiting dumping waste from cassettes at public bathrooms. But goodness, how much load could that represent from a typically 4 to 5 gallon cassette? Besides, I think the assumption that the US market will flock to the cassette systems might not pan out because toting a 40-ish pounds loaded cassette to, and lifted up into a toilet might just not do for the typical American. 10-15 minutes tops at an RV dump to do the traditional USA dump system of more gallons is faster and potentially cleaner and non or virtually non-smelly if you do it right than handling a cassette. The cassette has its virtues for certain travelers to be sure. One has to pick wisely based on their typical travels, including where and how to properly dump black water waste.

[Brad1998RD]

Originally Posted by Bud

And there is always a toilet, if close enough which can be quite aways and uphill.

Bud

You might be able to dump into your homes sewer pipe but it not might be legal with the water sewer Dept as sewage in most places is billed by water used in the home. So might be considered cheating the system.

[avanti]

Originally Posted by Brad1998RD

You might be able to dump into your homes sewer pipe but it not might be legal with the water sewer Dept as sewage in most places is billed by water used in the home. So might be considered cheating the system.

Don't you fill you water tanks at home, too?

Honestly, I really can't imagine that this wouldn't be considered de minimis.

[Brad1998RD]

Originally Posted by avanti

Don't you fill you water tanks at home, too?

Honestly, I really can't imagine that this wouldn't be considered de minimis.

We are on a well and septic so it doesn't matter. I make distilled water for ours. But I know alot of people especially when we lived in Yuma Arizona that would use the drinking water sites to fill their tanks instead of city water from home.
Some municipalitys will measure their fresh water and there are some that measure the waste water.
If you draw from home and dump at home they should not see a difference just dont use any of the blue harsh chemicals as those can be traced back to your home just like oil or antifreeze.

[BBQ]

.

I see your concern... but

If you use the RV as a fulltime residence,
then you will be drawing water from the city and dumping to the city.
ie you have paid your water rates. Nothing to worry about.

If you use the RV as a vacation vehicle,
then you will only be dumping once in a while.
The amount is so small, is there anything to be concerned with?
(unless you are full of shxt )

[Doneworking]

Hey, these are Class Bs! The average black tank is less volume than the wastewater from one good shower.