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Doug,
I’m surprised at how fast our gray tank fills up. There’s just my wife and I. I take fairly short showers, and she takes “medium” showers. If I don’t either drain the tank every two days, or just leave the gray valve open, on day three, the shower drain starts backing up. It surprised me, because the 3380 we had before seemed to go four days before being absolutely full. And all the tank sizes, according to the dealer and paperwork, are the same.
Our galley tank, (which is used fairly frequently washing the dishes,) seems to last four days.
The black tank can go about a week before the toilet starts having trouble flushing. We notice it will bubble back when we step on the flush lever.
One thing you might want to check when you have a chance, and before it becomes a problem, is the security of the plumbing fittings in your basement, and under your counters. We had a loose joint under our shower. I noticed some dripping after a shower, when I was in the basement, looking for some boxed stuff. My dealer tightened the fittings, and noticed a piece, (the plastic shower drain,) that they had to replace with a metal drain. They caulked it and added silicone sealant. It stopped dripping, of course.
Then there was a pinhole-sized leak at the top joint under the toilet, where the pipe enters the basement. Apparently the factory sealant wasn’t enough, so “water” was able to run slowly down the pipe. I don’t know if it dripped on anything, but I could see the white calcium build-up along a line leading from that sealant around the fitting. I washed up under that spot, and used some of the “Odo-Ban” we used to use for the dog’s odors in our old brick & stick home. No new water line.
I can keep the gages working pretty well if I use the black tank flush when I drain that tank. And you can keep the gray tank gages working fairly well, unless you have a lot of soap suds going down the drain. There’s a thread somewhere that my wife pointed out about using some softener solution to help with all tanks. It's good to check a little while after you've dumped, to see how the gages register. They do require the inside of the tank to settle down and let the residual water flow down off the side walls, where the gage sensors are located. (Flushing the black tank helps remove toilet paper that may stick where the gage sensors are, and show it's more full than it really is.)
When I know I have one more day before having to flush the black tank, I close the gray tank valve and let it get at least half-full to use to flush the pipes after draining and flushing the black tank. The galley tank’s valve is so near the drain hose connection that I save that tank until last, myself.
Good luck. Everyone will have their own preferred methods.
Happy Camping,
Steve
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