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Old 08-21-2010, 01:06 PM   #1
herewegotogether
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Greay tank Newbie Question

We had our tanks pumped out thursday am as we are not at a FHU site. We have taken a total of 6 showers and the grey tank is reading full. We have not run the shower continouesly either. The specs say the grey tank is 93 gallons or is that the total between the grey tank and the galley tank. Confussed as to why we are full is such a short usage.

Thank you for you knowledge and teaching us about this

Bill and Laurie
 
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Old 08-21-2010, 01:24 PM   #2
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Bill and Laurie, Not sure what model you have but my guess is 93 gallons is total grey and galley. Assuming the pump out person completely drained your tanks, I'm guessing your tank level indicator is probably off. They generally are. You will learn not to depend on them. The more you use the rig the more you will know when it is time to dump. Until then you'll know the grey tank is full when you are standing in water in the bottom of the shower. Good luck, Jim
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Old 08-21-2010, 03:02 PM   #3
Art-n-Marge
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Like jimcol says there are two separate 46/47 gallon gray tanks and they may not necessarily be off. One is for the kitchen/galley sink, and the other is for the lavatory/shower. Therefore the bathroom areas are draining into only half your gray tank capacity. Between the showers for DW and I, and washing hands and face at night and the morning, and washing hands after toilet use we empty about every 3 days or so (or about 6 showers total and my wife has a lot of hair to wash), which sounds about what you are experiencing when we are hooked up to a sewer hookup. We don't run the water continuously either. If we aren't on a sewer hookup, we are even more stingy, but that's more like camping and that might add a day or two to the dumping schedule.
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Old 08-21-2010, 05:20 PM   #4
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We have been able to go 5 days by conserving. The indicator lights are usually always wrong but when the water comes up in the shower, you're full.
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Old 08-21-2010, 05:56 PM   #5
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If the size of the gray tank is a limiter, you can effectively expand it by also using the galley tank. Get one of those twist-on external dump valves, ensure it is closed, and then open both the gray tank and galley tank handles. The water level is the two tanks will equalize. Now when you are standing in water in the shower, you can be sure both tanks are full.
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Old 08-21-2010, 06:49 PM   #6
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Now that sounds like experience talking.
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Old 08-21-2010, 07:41 PM   #7
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LOL. We have one of those twist on valves. I'll let Louise know that way when the kitchen sink backs up she can blame you.
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Old 08-22-2010, 02:18 AM   #8
herewegotogether
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Thanks to all for your knowledge and experience.

Bill and Laurie
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Old 08-22-2010, 02:24 AM   #9
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When living full time in our Montana, our showers are of the "Navy" kind: wet down, turn the shower off, soap up, turn the shower on and rinse off. We never let our shower water run continuously. We have gone 10 days at a time like this and still have some water left in the fresh water tank. I know that there are some people who just have to have shower water running continuously while they shower, but just like we did, we changed our habits.

Orv
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Old 08-22-2010, 02:56 AM   #10
CamillaMichael
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by herewegotogether

We had our tanks pumped out thursday am as we are not at a FHU site. We have taken a total of 6 showers and the grey tank is reading full. We have not run the shower continouesly either. The specs say the grey tank is 93 gallons or is that the total between the grey tank and the galley tank. Confussed as to why we are full is such a short usage.

Thank you for you knowledge and teaching us about this

Bill and Laurie
It would be great if we could actually depend on the level indicators, but as the constructive feedback you received shows, we can't.
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Old 08-22-2010, 03:11 AM   #11
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We have had a trailer or fiver about 15 years now and I don't even touch/look at that panel anymore. We tried some of the "tricks", but it just doesn't matter to be honest. Our experiences parallel what others have said.

btw - our "record" for a family of four in our TT was 6 days in Denali National Park. And that was with 30 gallon grey, galley, and black tanks! Dishes were washed in a pan in the sink and that water went down the commode. We used the outhouses and really metered the water we were using inside. Definitely was camping vs. RVing!
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Old 08-22-2010, 04:33 AM   #12
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Carl,
In Quartzsite last Jan did I see a pair of hip boots hanging outside your trailer?

In all seriousness I had not heard that about using the twist on valve and then equalizing the two grey water tanks. Now that is another RVer creativity. It is true RVers are the most creative people out there.

Joe
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Old 08-22-2010, 05:36 AM   #13
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We have been able to do 6 loads of laundry with the two Gray tanks cross connected. I wouldn't recommend cross connecting the black tank ever. When they get full you don't want black water coming up in the kitchen sink or the shower... Dave
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Old 08-22-2010, 10:37 AM   #14
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We can fill and empty our freshwater tank 3 times before all tanks are full.
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Old 08-22-2010, 01:15 PM   #15
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Well even though the guages say full we both took showers and such and still not coming up into shower. When we are in Fort Stevenson State Park with FHU for the week of Labor day we will see how long we can go before needing to dump.
Quite interesting that they give this much safety room before "full".

Thanks to all.

Bill
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Old 08-22-2010, 03:16 PM   #16
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A lot has to do with the grease that ends up going down the gally drain and the soap that goes down the shower and bathroom sink. I try to dump all the grease from frying (bacon) (browning meat) into a grease container in fridge and they whip the rest out with a paper towel. I have also found that if the rig is going to sit for several weeks I will dump a whole gallon of white vinegar into both gray tanks and fill them almost full. I will let them set that way for a couple weeks and when I dump the sensors all work fine until the next time they foul out. As for the soap in the shower we have been using liquid bath soap since we got the rig. unlike Dial soap it leaves very little on the glass shower stall walls and is easy to clean off. We haven't used bar soap in the rig at all... Dave
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Old 08-22-2010, 05:21 PM   #17
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Good thing to point out Dave.... using liquid (not solid or dry) soap, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, detergent or whatever else seems to leave much less residue anywhere. This includes both the bathroom and the galley. We have noticed things stay cleaner for much longer when changing to liquid. We also apply this philosophy to the stickhouse.

And regarding Dave's other post I hope NO ONE every includes or leaves the Black tank in any plumbing combination with any other tank. That's just a sanitation disaster waiting too happen. The black either stays in the black tank or down the sewer dump, but belongs nowhere else. Do remember to leave some gray water to flush out the drain lines after the black water has been through them.
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Old 08-29-2010, 08:37 AM   #18
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by ols1932

When living full time in our Montana, our showers are of the "Navy" kind: wet down, turn the shower off, soap up, turn the shower on and rinse off. We never let our shower water run continuously. We have gone 10 days at a time like this and still have some water left in the fresh water tank. I know that there are some people who just have to have shower water running continuously while they shower, but just like we did, we changed our habits.

Orv
Our rig is a bit newer than Orv's and our tanks may be larger, but we can go 14+ days without issue, including the black tank. Equalizing the tanks like Carl says is a trick that we also use.

The best place to learn about your "use" capacities is while you are at a full hook-up site.
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Old 09-07-2010, 03:46 AM   #19
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We were very disaapointed to discover after purchasing the Mountaineer that 90 gallons grey actually meant 45 in the shower and 45 in the galley tank. As it would take about a month to fill the galley tank I think this is very bad design on Keystones part (and a little devious in their advertising.)

We can't equalise the two grey tanks because the galley tank is higher than the main grey tank and I have found that once the main grey tank is full the top of its starts to bulge even before water is coing out the shower drain which cause the floor of the under storage area to bulge also.

We like our long showers and so do tened to fill the main grey in 2 days (4 showers) although when we have had to conserve we have managed to stretch it to about 5 days. One trick I am using (and many may frown) is to equalise the main grey with the black tank. I have fitted a twist on gate valve at the drain point (essential anyway, I believe) and what I do is keep this closed, open the grey tank to fill the tube and then open the black. As the black is always much less full than the grey the grey water flows back into the black without the grey tank becoming contaminated with black water. This has the added benefit of giving the black tank a bit if a wash and vastly increasing the ratio of water to solids which, I believe, has helped prevent any solids build up in the black tank.

I have also fitted the SeeLevel tank monitoring system as the triple lights are absolutely useless.

Cheers
Craig
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Old 09-07-2010, 07:22 PM   #20
Carl n Susan
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by KiwiRVer

We can't equalise the two grey tanks because the galley tank is higher than the main grey tank....
I don't have a Mountaineer but I know the Montana uses the same type of tank for Grey, Galley and Black tanks. There are all mounted the same and are the same height. I am dubious the Mountaineer uses a different system for their tanks.

Is there some other explanation for this problem?
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