Etiquette Question

[Rok]

So my wife and I were at the Mother Earth News fair in Puyallup, WA this weekend and camping in the fairground campground. There were lots of earth children there old and young alike and a lot of hucksters and some new techie type people. (I really liked the Tesla Roadster.)

Anyway at the end of the event, we were at the dump station dumping our Great West SE. We put in our hose, set up everything, pulled the black, closed the black, pulled the grey, etc....

While we were doing our thing another rig pulls up on the other side (this dump station was 2 sided). Anyway it was an old class B "Horizon" that looked like an old Bigfoot or Airstream unit from the 80's. The rig pulled up real close and out jumped a earth child looking guy and I watched him open his ONE valve and dump the contents of his rig onto (mostly onto but splashing every where else, too) the slightly concave pad allowing it to drain down the hole. I mentioned to him that he seemed to have only one dump valve and he said that they didn't use the "onboard facilities" in his unit or some such. Still what came out looked pretty dark looking.

The display was disgusting to my wife and me.

Is not using a hose an acceptable way of dumping? I know that most of the concrete pads where the hose hole is are indented to drain, but I thought it was for rinsing ones hose after draining and for drips, etc. I didn't think it was for dumping.

We're new to this, so please help us out. Is what this dude did proper RV etiquette? (We hope not.)

My wife was wondering if we should have reported him to the campsite hostess. Should we have?

Thanks in advance for your comments.

............Rocky

[markopolo]

I think (and hope) that was unusual Rocky. I've never seen someone dump without using a hose. I bet it splashed outside the concrete.
I can only assume that his tank was grey water only so not a big deal to him. But even grey water will have grease and food bits etc. that would have to be washed down well else insects, animals and birds will be attracted.

It's possible the guy was new to this and hadn't thought of using a hose but more likely he was in a hurry or lazy. Not using a hose is not an acceptable way to dump your waste tanks. Using the hose is not difficult. I have a detachable short section of hose (approx 3 feet) on the end of my longer waste hose which I use and it makes the job a little easier and quicker.

[Davydd]

The guy is a pig and you can bet he is why campgrounds without dump stations such as national forests have signs saying not to dump waste water on the ground.

[mlts22]

Here in Texas, he would get a $3500+ fine just like the guy I met who had his trailer set with remote controls to dump on the ground. If I can manage to pull out a sewer hose and plop the 90 degree elbow down a dump receptacle without sloshing poo water all over creation, anyone can... and I'm definitely not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree by any means. (I'm sure people on rv.net and other forums I haunt can attest to that.)

Even if it were grey water, chicken grease and other stuff gets very germy. Even water itself can get full of algae. The person was just making a thin excuse to do something that no reasonable RV-er would ever do, since it gives everyone else a bad name.

I will say that letting 'er rip everywhere is one of the reasons that most dump stations have disappeared these days.

[Davydd]

Reminds me of this.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/chi-05031 ... 9199.story

[Rok]

Thanks for your comments, everyone. I guess we should have reported him. Anyone who would openly dump like that would undoubtedly also lie about it all being grey water.

After thinking about it for a while. The event was a good 1/2 mile walk from the campsites,and the event ended at 7 p.m. and started at 8:00 a.m. the next morning. I have a hard time believing that he held everything that long. Of course he could have peed out in the grass, but that is not much less disgusting since others might sit in it, etc. He also had his girlfriend/wife with him, and my bet would be that she wouldn't go out and squat in the middle of the night.

Just a little thinking really makes me come to the conclusion that he indeed was a pig.

...........Rocky

[Karsty]

I suppose along the same lines ... I was wondering what people do when they empty their composing toilets. I'm seeing more an more people talking about them and how great they are. Just what do they do with their little bundle of joy when it's time to dispose of same?? Makes me a little nervous just thinking about it.

[Mike]

Originally Posted by Rok

Thanks for your comments, everyone. I guess we should have reported him. Anyone who would openly dump like that would undoubtedly also lie about it all being grey water.

After thinking about it for a while. The event was a good 1/2 mile walk from the campsites,and the event ended at 7 p.m. and started at 8:00 a.m. the next morning. I have a hard time believing that he held everything that long. Of course he could have peed out in the grass, but that is not much less disgusting since others might sit in it, etc. He also had his girlfriend/wife with him, and my bet would be that she wouldn't go out and squat in the middle of the night.

Just a little thinking really makes me come to the conclusion that he indeed was a pig.

...........Rocky

Not to condone the activity you were a witness to, but there must be some folks that don't use the on board plumbing systems, for a variety of reasons, which might include not wanting to be bothered or not knowing how to dump them. Some people don't carry water on board to keep travel weight down, or just won't use their toilet, because many class B vans don't have a completely private water closet area. We've met some people like this in our travels. We've been asked some "how to" questions as well, that sort of tip you off that there are some systems that aren't being used. We even met some people on Route 66 a few years back that simply used their van to get from motel to motel and for eating lunch at rest areas. Some people only use their toilets for "#1" and don't want to have to worry about dumping solid waste. After hearing about some folk's macerator problems, I don't blame them.
Maybe they didn't use their toilet, but chose to use rest areas, public pit toilets, or porta-potties, which must have been all over the place at a fair ground or public campground in a festival setting?
Does make you wonder what the heck they dumped?

[stanw909]

" stupid is as stupid does " No reason to beat yourself up. The dummy would have been gone by the time you found someone to report him to.

[Rok]

The fairgroud campgrounds require that you have onboard facilities to camp there because apparently there are no other facilities when the fairgrounds are closed at night and locked up. (There were two campgrounds about 1/2 mile from one another and the other one might have had facilities, ours didn't, but of course the fairgrounds did when they were open, but I didn't see any showers.

.........Rocky

Originally Posted by Mike

Not to condone the activity you were a witness to, but there must be some folks that don't use the on board plumbing systems, for a variety of reasons, which might include not wanting to be bothered or not knowing how to dump them. Some people don't carry water on board to keep travel weight down, or just won't use their toilet, because many class B vans don't have a completely private water closet area. We've met some people like this in our travels. We've been asked some "how to" questions as well, that sort of tip you off that there are some systems that aren't being used. We even met some people on Route 66 a few years back that simply used their van to get from motel to motel and for eating lunch at rest areas. Some people only use their toilets for "#1" and don't want to have to worry about dumping solid waste. After hearing about some folk's macerator problems, I don't blame them.
Maybe they didn't use their toilet, but chose to use rest areas, public pit toilets, or porta-potties, which must have been all over the place at a fair ground or public campground in a festival setting?
Does make you wonder what the heck they dumped?

[Mike]

I think I understand. Odd that the fairground shut down the facilities overnight with people camping there, but that's their choice, I guess.
Guy could have been just passing through, saw a dump station not busy, and decided to avail himself.
(still wonder what it was they dumped, after your description??)
There have been a few times we've done that. FYI, some public rest areas on some interstate freeways still maintain dump stations for RV travelers. It's a nice touch, if you're approaching full status, and in the middle of nowhere on the freeway. We found one on I-70 about halfway across Kansas on a return trip one time. Also one on I-90 somewhere between Montana and Washington on a westbound trip. Both were very handy at the time.

[Davydd]

There is an app for that called Allstays RV Dumps. It's available for an iPhone. I assume they have an Android version as well.

[Mike]

Is there a landline version? That's what we use on the road. Long, long cord......

[arrveedogz]

You can also look at http://www.rvdumps.com/dumpstations/ for dump stations in the US (although 'RV dumps' could describe some campgrounds I've been in).

Speaking of, just yesterday I was happily macerating away at a beautiful Army Corps lake campground in South Carolina. A pickup pulls in trailing a 'tank buddy' (always a comical sight); the guy pulls out the hose from his buddy and hooks to the sewer connection (it was a 'two-holer'). Unfortunately, the end of the hose at the buddy wasn't really attached. The result was ... nasty. But it didn't seem to phase Jim Bob one bit, as if tank buddies always spill.

But here's the really weird thing: rather than use the hose on the wash line at the dump, he pulls out a white water hose from his pickup and rinses away the evidence. Then the white hose goes back in the truck. Let's hope he doesn't get that hose mixed up with his fresh water supply hose one of these days!

[Rok]

I've seen people who will use their water hose to rinse after dumping at the dump site. I won't do it.

As I've said many times, we are new to this, and we feel that it is better to take more precautions than necessary rather than risk doing something that might get us, or someone else, sick. When we dump we are just short of wearing hazmat suits. We have disposble gloves on and spray everything off. I imagine that to a more seasoned camper we are pretty funny.

We did visit a campground once where there wasn't a rinse hose at the dump site, but all the fittings, etc. I went into the store and asked if there was a hose somewhere we could use. They sent out the maintainance guy who immediately ask me why I wasn't using our fresh water feeder hose to do the rinse. I said I just wasn't gonna do that. Finally he found a hose for me to use. It was an ex-KOA campground. They said they couldn't justify the expense of being part of KOA anymore. My guess is that KOA wouldn't have them anymore. (They are our all time bottom campground. My wife went on a walk and accidentally went to the forbidden "permanent residents" area. There were signs all around saying for the campers to keep out of the permanent resident area and not bother the permanent residents. We figured out that the signs were to make sure the campers didn't SEE the squalor the PR's were living in and drive down the road. It was something else.

Our BEST experiecne was a place called the Golden Rule RV Park near the CA coast. It was on the historical Ridgewood Ranch,home of SEABISCUIT.

Here is the feedback we left of Golden Rule: This is the best RV Park we've stayed at in our travels. There were frogs at night croaking, Wild deer were in the campground in the morning when we woke up. The laundry room was spotless. The people were extremely nice. it rained gently while we were there. We saw some wild turkeys and also caught a glimple as we were leaving of the small group of white deer from Africa that live in the area. The only drawback is that they don't take credit cards, but that wasn't an issue for us. Other campers we've talked to give this a big thumb's up, too. Oh, and the price was reasonable, too.

.............Rocky

[arrveedogz]

When we dump we are just short of wearing hazmat suits. We have disposble gloves on and spray everything off.

Gloves are a good idea and I'm starting to see more people using 'em. You know how you handle your own fittings etc, but you never know about the guy just prior to you in line. I keep a bottle of hand sanitizer in my sewer fittings box as well. I used to have a small spray bottle for diluted bleach, but gave that up when it leaked.

[mlts22]

I keep bleach wipes for just that purpose. Pull one out of the can, rub down the faucet, call it done.

[Mike]

Agree and agree. Been using dollar store latex gloves for years and also the Clorox wipes.
That, and washing hands afterwards, jic.

The bleach spray bottle we keep in the bathroom at home for the shower/tiles. I might try one on the road as an experiment.