Question on sewer at full hook-up site

[prd2hnt]

We are getting closer to our trip to Grand Teton and Yellowstone. We are staying in a full hook-up site. We have never stayed in a site with sewer hook-up.

Are the devices that support the black hose necessary or at least advisable?

Something like this?

Slinky support

Thanks.

brian

[hedgehopper]

bee_46 wrote:
We never leave the sewer hose hooked up. We pull it out when we are ready to dump and put it away again. We often find that the sewer hook-up is in an inconvenient location even to just dump and we will use the dump station as we leave instead.

Ditto.

[eichacsj]

I don't leave it hooked up. When They get full I hook up, dump, put back away. Even if you do leave hooked up don't leave the black open.

[GoPackGo]

Most people leave their grey water valve open.

We are full timers. I don't like to be taking a shower and look down and see the water is rising in the shower!

To avoid "Build up" in the grey tank of "Stuff" I close the grey valve the day before leaving along with dumping the black tank so when traveling there is some "stuff" in both tanks to slosh around.

* This post was edited 08/21/15 11:43am by Cummins12V98 *


X2 on this.

[myredracer]

I know in Oregon by law they are required and you must have a min. downward slope to the CG drain. Tried to find the Oregon regs. once but couldn't. We've been to many CGs in Or. where the rule isn't enforced at the CG tho. I believe some other states have a similar reg. Probably a good idea to pack a set just in case.

I never use these things. Used them in our first season and never again. I just lay the hose on the ground and doesn't matter if it slopes up or down as long as the CG drain is below the elevation of the black tank outlet. Then I just "walk" the contents along the ground until the hose is empty. Easey peasey and fast. Don't use a hose storage carrier either. I just connect the ends together and toss them in the back of the truck.

[RavensFan24]

I use my Sidewinder in certain situations. A lot of times the hook up is 6 inches above the ground and last I checked solid waste doesn't like to go UP very much. Sure the force of a full tank will push most of it through, but I like a nice flow to make sure everything gets out of the tank. I keep my Sidewinder with me for whenever I don't want to keep lifting the hose to make sure everything is out of the tube.

It's a nice to have, certainly not a requirement.

[obgraham]

The upshot of all this is that most of us are finding our own favorite ways to handle the "issue". I don't really care how you do yours, so long as I don't have to encounter a mess. It's a pride point for me to dump without a single drop of spillage. (No, I'm not always successful!)

[Cummins12V98]

Terryallan wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:

GoPackGo wrote:

azdryheat wrote:
I forget where is was but it was a state law that a hose support be used. Just buy one, they're cheap and don't take up too much room.

New Mexico. I wandered around the state for a month last fall and all the places I stayed at required that the sewer hose had to be supported off the ground and said it was due to a state law.

Plus I've lost count of the number of places I've been where the sewer inlet is several inches above ground. If you don't use a support, how do you get liquid to flow up hill ?

As long as the inlet at the ground is loser than the outlet on your RV you are good to go. It's always better to have a low spot in your sewer hose it keeps sewer gases from coming up they your rig and constantly stinking up the neighborhood!

How will the gases get past the shut off valve? I want no low pot where stuff can pool and I keep my valves closed unless dumping. Every one should.

Most people leave their grey water valve open.

We are full timers. I don't like to be taking a shower and look down and see the water is rising in the shower!

To avoid "Build up" in the grey tank of "Stuff" I close the grey valve the day before leaving along with dumping the black tank so when traveling there is some "stuff" in both tanks to slosh around.

[PAThwacker]

Gray water is nasty. Basically soapy black water with rotting food, bodily waste and grease.

[Johno02]

With the hose squirm on the supports, I like to use the gutter sections ovner the supports, then fasten down with some plastic tie wraps, espedcially if we are going to be there more than a few days. the tie wraps are cheap enough to cut and throw away when we move, but keep the squirm from jumping off the supports.

[willald]

We have one of those slinky hose supports. Used to use it regulary, but now, not so much.

Reason being: For us, it once caused a nasty mess. You see, the problem with those slinky hose supports, is that when you dump, and a bunch of 'stuff' rushes through your hose, unless you hose is stretched really well in reaching the sewer drain (something you can't do if your shortest hose is 10' and the drain is only a few feet away)...The rush of water will make the hose 'squirm'/expand. When that happens, I've had the hose squirm enough sometimes that it fell completely off the slinky support. One time, when it fell off, it twisted the hose enough that it popped right off of its connection to the RV, then we had a 'shower' of nasty stuff spewing out until I could close the valve back! Ugh!!

(..That was also the day that I learned why its a VERY good idea to use black tank chemicals to reduce the smell of that 'stuff', and that the kind I was using, 'Odorlos', works very good at that, haha!)

Since then, only time I use that slinky support is when the sewer connection is far enough away that I can stretch the hose enough to be sure that won't happen. The slinky support comes with several short rubber 'bands' to stretch across the hose to hold it in place. Problem is, those bands wear out very quickly, or fall off and get lost even easier. That, and you'd have to have at least a dozen of 'em to hold the hose well enough to keep it from 'squirming' off of the support.

Its ironic - its a case where a 'law' in some places put in place to prevent a mess, creates the risk of creating an even BIGGER mess, as it did with us once. 🙂

Anyway, we leave the hose connected up when we have a sewer connection, to allow for easy dumping of the gray tank every few days (with a family of 4 and all like to take a shower every day, gray tank fills up fast, haha!). Rarely use the hose support for the reason described above, and its never been a problem. I just have to remember after dumping, to pick the hose up to let it drain out. Takes just 5 extra seconds, and much easier than dealing with the mess that happend the day the hose popped off on me! And, no, I've never had the hose come off from where it goes into the sewer outlet when doing that. Thats why you put weights of some kind on that end, to prevent that from happening.

I do like the idea some have discussed, of using a few sections of gutter to support the hose. I think a gutter would be 'deep' enough, that the hose could not squirm out like it does on the slinky support. Not sure that PVC pipe, or the contraption CW sells mentioned previously would prevent that from happening.

One of these days, I may just go buy me a few sections of gutter from Lowe's, and build me a support that can be used without risking the hose falling off and causing a bigger problem. 🙂

On a separate note: Why is it that any thread on the subject of sewer/'poop', gets sooo much attention here from everyone? 6 pages of posts already, in just 3 days. 🙂

[dodge_guy]

Anyone ever see someone that doesn't use one and the "stuff' collects at the low point where it goes up and into the sewer? now you have the possibility of the "stuff" pulling the hose out of the sewer connection and creating a mess for you and everyone around you. sure it can be a pain to set up all the time, but it is well worth it to have a good flow. I`ve only been to one campground that had a good natural flow into the sewer where I didn't need one.

[austinjenna]

I have seen firsthand at Ocean Lakes when my neighbor left his black tank open. A storm came through at night..there was like 6 inches of water flowing down the road and in the park. Next day he had his door open and a pedestal fan going. We got to talking and he said the black tank overflowed inside his fiver because he left the valve open. So none of mine stay open at all, ever

[mlts22]

A family is different -- it is understandable to leave the gray water open in that case, so people can take showers.

This is more of a "different strokes for different folks" thing, but I also pack up my hose. I left it hooked up once... and wound up with sewer smells coming through the hose into my rig. Won't happen again.

Plus, with a twist-on valve, I use the gray water as a "free" backflush for the black when dumping. I dump the black, close the twist-on valve, open the black and gray tank valves, give water time to fill up the black, close the gray, then open the twist-on. That winds up backflushing the lower half of the tank. I then repeat once more, then dump all the tanks, close all valves, put the hose back in its plastic tub, and call it done. Since the gray water is going to wind up at the same place the black is, might as well get some extra use from it, as opposed to using more water for a black tank rinse.

[tpi]

I'm in the camp who doesn't leave sewer hose out. I can go at least 3 days on the tanks often more. I'll just briefly get out the hose, dump, and put it away. Not as much need for bulky fittings and accessories-and I have limited storage (especially for sewery things). I've stayed in (very few) parks requiring the supports, but in my very brief dump events I've never been questioned.