Remove black water tank or leave it.?

[NanciL]

A sewage question for those of you that leave your RV on a permanent site

We just put a new 40 foot trailer on our permanent site, (where we will spend each winter) and I am thinking of connecting directly to the ground sewer. My original thoughts were to remove the black water tank, but the other day talking with a neighbor, he said to just leave it there and leave the valve open. He said he has had his that way for many years and never has had a problem. He also said that lots of the others that leave their RV's permanently have done it the same way.

Can any one who has done this chime in and say if you have had problems with a build up.

It sure would make it simple if I didn't have to remove the tank. Naturally I would make sure to have the proper slope in 4" PVC pipe.

Please don't answer if you have not done it

Jack L

[mgirardo]

It will work fine if the toilet is right over the tank and the tank valve. I remember when I was in my youth, my grandmom had a trailer permanently parked at a resort on the eastern shore of MD. The camper was already setup when she bought it. Who ever set it up did not remove the tank, they just put a PVC pipe from the tank to the sewer.

No one stayed at the camper all season long, it was just used for week long or weekend trips throughout the summer. I can remember at least once every summer we had to keep the toilet's flush pedal down to flush out the tank because the toilet was very slow to flush. It was just something we had to do. We didn't know why, the resort maintenance guys just told us to do it. Your camping neighbors may do the same thing and not consider it a problem, just something they have to do every so often.

When solids get left in the tank they begin to harden over time and attract other solids and eventually they build up into a "Poop Pyramid". This pyramid is what causes the toilet to flush slowly or not at all.

We are wrestling with the same issue. We are hoping to purchase a 40' Destination trailer for our seasonal site. It has a bath and a half, so 2 black tanks. I'd really like to permanently connect them to the site's septic, but I don't want to remove the tanks. Both tanks have built in tank flushers, so I might just see how things go running the tank flushers every so often and leave the valves open all the time.

-Michael

[navegator]

Leaving the tank and the valve open will create problems in time, when the toilet is used in this manner not all the fecal matter is "flushed" down the sewer line and eventually it will clog the tank and the tank will have to be removed.

Your best solution is to remove the tank and purchase a house toilet and connect that to the parks system, hook the toilet to the existing valves so that when you leave for the summer you can "shut" the system down and no sewer gas gets in or sewer critters, for that matt I would also remove the gray tank and connect directly to the valves.

Just remember to leave the breather tubes hooked to the new lines.

navegator

[stro1965]

Leaving the valve open is a bad idea. Eventually you'll have to deal with an unpleasant pyramid.