Gray tank capacity

[Taxman2436]

I believe my Gray tank capacity is about 33 gallons for the shower and bathroom sink. I have a separate tank for the kitchen sink. We started with an empty tank on Friday morning and brushed our teeth morning & night and took a total of 4 showers and this morning (Sunday) while showering (5th shower) ran out of capacity. Does this sound right? I new at this and trying to learn my limitations.
Thanks,

Lenny

[campigloo]

gmckenzie wrote:

Lwiddis wrote:
Depends on your level of “Navy” showers. I catch what I can when showering for toilet flushing but I’m almost strictly a boondocker.

How do you do this?
I've always thought it would be a good feature to pull toilet water from the shower tank.

Gm,
There are several little tricks we use when boondocking. Just the wife and me and can get about 2 weeks out of a 30gal gray tank. Keep a milk jug in the shower. Catch the water while you’re waiting for the warm to show up. Get in and get wet. Soap yourself down then rinse. Wife washes her hair outside when the weather is warm. Don’t let the water run while you’re brushing your teeth. Shave outside. Instead of washing your hands every time you pee keep hand sanitizer handy.
Practice and you’ll come up with new ones of your own.
Happy trails!

[Katdaddy]

Our camper has a 30 gallon gray tank for bath and kitchen. I have a blue tote with 22 gallon capacity. When we are dry camping I dump every day. Two showers and normal daily activities, washing dishes, brushing teeth, etc. usually puts about 15 to 20 gallons in the tank. On the next to last day I don't dump. That will give me 4 showers and two days worth of normal use and the tank will be full when we get to the dump station on the way out. A long way of saying, yeah 4 showers can use up close to 30 gallons.

[gmckenzie]

Lwiddis wrote:
Depends on your level of “Navy” showers. I catch what I can when showering for toilet flushing but I’m almost strictly a boondocker.

How do you do this?
I've always thought it would be a good feature to pull toilet water from the shower tank.

[wopachop]

Cut the top off a gallon water bottle and time how long it takes. Show the kids so they understand every 10 seconds really adds up. Could even do the math and come up with how many seconds of water time people get per shower.

[Thermoguy]

It can be frowned upon, but depending on where you are camping, you can let the grey tank run out on the grass. It's just shower water and some tooth paste. I have never done this in a recognized campground, but have done it boon docking and have done it at home when I had 3 adults staying in our trailer for 5 days. It smells a little, but doesn't hurt the ground. But, don't do that in a campground. Most have a note about not letting grey water out on the ground, but not all. I think a camp host would freak out...

[Grit_dog]

Even 3 gal is a lot for a thorough navy shower.
Those of you concerned with this, do a little test. Keep water about mid flow, not fully open faucet, but enough to get some pressure out of the shower head.
Time how long it takes to fill a gallon jug.
Bet you can shower fine on 1 gallon If you’re bald and 2 gal of washing long hair. Not luxurious, but clean at least.
We have a 25gal gray tank, and just me in the camper. Not conserving water. Long-ish showers and 1 set of dishes a day letting faucet run while rinsing etc. I’m good for 5 days.
Family of 4 taking navy showers and conserving water, 5 days as well, but not usually 4 showers a day, in the lake all day.

Regarding the “opinion” about dumping gray water.... whether it’s a crowded campground full of RVs or a NF campground. No one has ever “known” when I dump gray water. First if it’s out in the open, wait til late at night. Or if wooded, run hose into woods and be smart where it drains.
Problem is too many cousin eddys who aren’t smart enough to graduate from Velcro shoes!
He!! I cleaned and rinsed gray and black tank in my front yard last week. Been a couple years and the gray was a little smelly. And the black dumps have just been quick dumps.
I would challenge anyone to find it the next day.
Besides the neighbors dog ***** in our front yard anyway and I’m sure mine do in his when they’re out. The whole place doesn’t smell. It’s poo and shampoo. Not nuclear waste.

[valhalla360]

Let's say between brushing teeth and washing hands, you used 5 gal.

That leaves 27gal...so a little over 5.5 gal for 5 showers will use up the rest.

If you are intense about it, you could probably reduce the usage to 3-4gal per shower but at some point, it's no fun being dirty.

Putting a removable blade valve (you can buy them for about $25 and there is no installation needed) on the main outlet and then opening the valves so it equalizes between the 2 gray and 1 black tank will likely buy you at least a couple more days.

[Taxman2436]

Interesting you say this, that was my thought also. I’m in the habit even at home of conserving which is why I was surprised. Although I have not been monitoring what the bride does. We talked about it and I think this could be part of the problem. The other piece is that it seems to take some time for the hot water to come up in the shower even this hot summer. Someone on the forum mentioned that when dry camping they use a bucket to capture the cold water until it gets warm and thinking of that also. We usually have sewer hookup and had been avoiding keeping the drain open so the tank would be relatively full when draining the black. As someone pointed out I can keep the dark open and close it for the last couple of days.

Lenny

[Old-Biscuit]

WHen using bathroom sink....washing face, combing hair, brushing teeth is water left running ????

33 gal....4 days ===roughly 8 gals/day per person which is about average usage but can be improved by a little bit of 'conservation'

[KD4UPL]

My wife and I could squeeze out a 3 day / 2 night weekend on a 33 gallon gray tank. That was 2 shower each plus other hand washing, dish washing, etc. I'd say you did about right. Now that I have 3 kids our next RV will absolutely have a much larger tank.

[Dutch_12078]

When we're not on full hookup sites, my wife and I can squeeze out a week with alternate day navy showers with "spit baths" in between. We have a 65 gallon fresh water tank and the grey and black are both 27 gallons. One "trick" we use when necessary, since the black tank normally fills much slower than the grey tank, is that I installed a third master drain valve that we can keep closed while opening both the grey and black valves, combining the capacities.

[salem]

You don't say whether or not you're in a full hook-up site. When we are, we leave our gray tank valve open. Solves the problem of having to dump ever couple of days. I close it a day or so before we leave so I'll have a good water flow to flush out the hose after draining the black tank.

[stickdog]

If we're staying at a state campground with showers I use them and let the wife use the RV shower. We can last a week like that and using paper plates and grilling.

[Lwiddis]

It’s amazing how little water you can use and still stay clean and brushed as well as wash dishes.