Hey Y'all! Have a noob question!

[BoxerDogs]

Hello.
The Wife and I are from Texas and we just bought a new Lance 1995.
It will sit on our lease the vast majority of the time and we have a question about our blackwater tank.
We'll use it probably two to three weekends a month which of course wont be enough to fill the 45 gallon tank. And it may sit up to a month at a time.
The stinking question.....How long can we leave waste in the tank before dumping? I know you should wait till it's at least 2/3 full for proper draining but as I said there's no way we'll fill it up in one weekend trip.
Any info would be greatly appreciated.

[BoxerDogs]

smarty wrote:
I would be afraid of rat infestation if this rig is left for long in Texas. I hunt there and it is amazing how quickly rats infest anything and everything

My friend and neighbor a couple of hundred yards away leave their fifth wheel out there and they've had zero problems with rodents.
We have plenty of bobcats and other predators to keep em in check.
If not there's always rat poison.
The biggest problem out there is wasp nests,coons and possums.
You definitely dont leave anything out you dont want to get eaten.

It cracks me up!!! When we come back from a fishing trip and fire up the electric fillet knife it's like a dinner bell to the smaller gators.
You wont be done with your second fish and there they are waiting for a handout.

[smarty]

I would be afraid of rat infestation if this rig is left for long in Texas. I hunt there and it is amazing how quickly rats infest anything and everything

[BoxerDogs]

rbpru wrote:
While we do not fill the tank before dumping, we do dump before leaving the park. No sense hauling all that extra weight and **** around.

When we dump the tank, I usually flush about a 5 gallon bucket of clear water down the stool.

When the water runs clear through the clear plastic elbow at the dump slinky hose, we are good to go.

You can develop any method that works for you. Most people do. If you screw up once, chances are you will not make the same mistake again.

Good luck

Once we get the redneck septic hooked up it'll be easy enough to empty after every stay.
Like you said,if it's not full enough to properly drain I'll dump five or ten gallons of lake water down the john and pump it out with the macerator.

[BoxerDogs]

GrandpaKip wrote:

BoxerDogs wrote:
Another thing.
The place is crawling with wild hogs,coyotes,deer,and even a few black bears and cougars.
The hogs make their wallows right on the edge of the water and poop and pee right on the water's edge.

A buried system has nothing on the hogs.

We had these type of systems all over one the lake areas in Florida. Nary a problem. The critters left more deposits than the humans, at least before a blue jillion people moved in.
I have the same type of thing at my house in the NC mountains, only on a larger scale. Big plastic tank connected to a drain field. Sure ain’t rocket science.

Thats my take on it.
It's the same as a septic system on a smaller scale.
And the owners of the property dont have a problem with it.

[GrandpaKip]

BoxerDogs wrote:
Another thing.
The place is crawling with wild hogs,coyotes,deer,and even a few black bears and cougars.
The hogs make their wallows right on the edge of the water and poop and pee right on the water's edge.

A buried system has nothing on the hogs.

We had these type of systems all over one the lake areas in Florida. Nary a problem. The critters left more deposits than the humans, at least before a blue jillion people moved in.
I have the same type of thing at my house in the NC mountains, only on a larger scale. Big plastic tank connected to a drain field. Sure ain’t rocket science.

[rbpru]

While we do not fill the tank before dumping, we do dump before leaving the park. No sense hauling all that extra weight and **** around.

When we dump the tank, I usually flush about a 5 gallon bucket of clear water down the stool.

When the water runs clear through the clear plastic elbow at the dump slinky hose, we are good to go.

You can develop any method that works for you. Most people do. If you screw up once, chances are you will not make the same mistake again.

Good luck

[BoxerDogs]

Another thing.
The place is crawling with wild hogs,coyotes,deer,and even a few black bears and cougars.
The hogs make their wallows right on the edge of the water and poop and pee right on the water's edge.

A buried system has nothing on the hogs.

[BoxerDogs]

opnspaces wrote:
So I'm going to fly in opposition to some of the posts on here. I never, as in never, use any kind of holding tank treatment in my tanks. Been doing it this way for 14 years and don't have smell issues. I have also let my blank tank sit with stuff in it for the entire summer and it was no better or worse than dumping after a weekend of use. If there is more than a few gallons of water in your tank you will be fine. Where the problem comes in is when people don't use enough water when flushing and the poop just drops and piles under the toilet.

Since you're not going to be moving the trailer you won't have the benefit of water sloshing around and breaking up the pile and floating it away. So you're probably going to have to add enough water to the tanks after dumping that the poop can be float away.

Two other thoughts that popped into my mind when reading the replies above.

I think you misunderstood the cassette potty suggestion. Most of the popup tent trailers with bathrooms use a cassette potty. At the end of the weekend you pull the cassette out from under the toilet and carry it off to empty it into a toilet. The cassette automatically seals as you pull it out so aside from the actual minute you're pouring it into a toilet there is no mess or smell. Just pull the cassette at the end of the weekend and put it in the back of the truck and empty it at home. Just don't forget to bring the cassette back to the trailer when you come back the next weekend. If I had to make a choice between a 5 gallon cassette or a 20 gallon blue boy tote in the back of the truck. I would go with the cassette any day of the week.

Not to get into the legalities of the homemade septic idea, but you mentioned the nearest well is 4 miles away. You also mention filling the tank with lake water. You do realize the restrictions on septic placement and such are based on distances from water sources, not just wells. Hopefully the lake is uphill from or at least a good distance from all the home grown septic systems around it.

We've used a cassette toilet in the past. They tend to fill up pretty fast.
We're about thirty yards from the lake but as I said it's pretty much all sand which is a great filter.
There isnt that many people on this lease and very few have septic.
If I had to guess I'd say there's no more than ten camps on the 6k acres.

As far as the water in the lakes goes they're all crystal clear with a continuous flow of spring water and full of fish and gators.

I'd say there's far more deer scat in the water than anything else.

[opnspaces]

So I'm going to fly in opposition to some of the posts on here. I never, as in never, use any kind of holding tank treatment in my tanks. Been doing it this way for 14 years and don't have smell issues. I have also let my blank tank sit with stuff in it for the entire summer and it was no better or worse than dumping after a weekend of use. If there is more than a few gallons of water in your tank you will be fine. Where the problem comes in is when people don't use enough water when flushing and the poop just drops and piles under the toilet.

Since you're not going to be moving the trailer you won't have the benefit of water sloshing around and breaking up the pile and floating it away. So you're probably going to have to add enough water to the tanks after dumping that the poop can be float away.

Two other thoughts that popped into my mind when reading the replies above.

I think you misunderstood the cassette potty suggestion. Most of the popup tent trailers with bathrooms use a cassette potty. At the end of the weekend you pull the cassette out from under the toilet and carry it off to empty it into a toilet. The cassette automatically seals as you pull it out so aside from the actual minute you're pouring it into a toilet there is no mess or smell. Just pull the cassette at the end of the weekend and put it in the back of the truck and empty it at home. Just don't forget to bring the cassette back to the trailer when you come back the next weekend. If I had to make a choice between a 5 gallon cassette or a 20 gallon blue boy tote in the back of the truck. I would go with the cassette any day of the week.

Not to get into the legalities of the homemade septic idea, but you mentioned the nearest well is 4 miles away. You also mention filling the tank with lake water. You do realize the restrictions on septic placement and such are based on distances from water sources, not just wells. Hopefully the lake is uphill from or at least a good distance from all the home grown septic systems around it.

[BoxerDogs]

Sam Spade wrote:

BoxerDogs wrote:

The camper sits on 6000 acres and is in the middle of nowhere.

In that case, all you really need is a big hole in the ground for "outhouse" use. :B

But the barrel method that you propose will NOT be legal in any area that regulates septic use. It just won't.

It is where I'm at and it's far better than a hole in the ground.
Humane waste isnt poison. When treated properly it's a fertilizer.

The ground it's going in is pretty much all sand which is a great filter.
Obviously I wouldnt go this route if it was clay soil like we have on the coast since it wont let liquids pass and you'd end up with a full barrel of poop and liquid in short order.

[Sam_Spade]

BoxerDogs wrote:

The camper sits on 6000 acres and is in the middle of nowhere.

In that case, all you really need is a big hole in the ground for "outhouse" use. :B

But the barrel method that you propose will NOT be legal in any area that regulates septic use. It just won't.

[BoxerDogs]

Sam Spade wrote:

BoxerDogs wrote:

It works like a standard septic only on a smaller scale.

About what I expected.
No it does NOT work the same.
It is illegal and dangerous......especially if located anywhere near a well.

Having lived in the country and used septic tanks fo a lot of years I assure you it is the same.

You have a tank and a drain field,just like a standard septic system.

Surely you've heard "the grass is always greener over the septic tank"
As well as over the drain field.

Oh....the nearest well,an artesian well that flows 24/7 is four miles away at the front of the property.
The camper sits on 6000 acres and is in the middle of nowhere.

And you also have to remember the thing will only be used by two people on weekends.

And of course you dump a bunch of Rid X in the tank as well.

[ScottG]

Dont leave it sitting in there. My buddy did as you describe and ended up with a solid "cake" in the bottom that was miserable to clean out. It actually clogged his tank and made it impossible to drain.

We use our trailer just as you described and also never come close to filling the black tank.
But, I have a solution:

Add a third valve just before the hose connection.


This allows you to use your grey tank contents to flush your black tank thoroughly even when it is only partially full.

Procedure:
*Dump black tank, leave its valve open and close third valve.
*Open grey tank valve and allow contents to flow into black tank.
*Close grey tank valve and open third valve to dump black tank again.
*Close black tank valve and dump grey as usual (or backflush black again if you want).

This procedure cleans the black tank far better than my rinser (as evidenced by all the stuff that came out after I used my rinser and then used my third valve method). It also solves the problem of not having enough content in the black tank to dump it succesfully.

I even use this method at dump stations since it only takes an extra 30 seconds or so.

[BoxerDogs]

Huntindog wrote:
Most tank treatments preserve the poo.
There are some that use bacteria to dislolve/eat it. These work very well with time. I once had my DW live in the TT in the driveway for 2 months. I did not get around to dumping the full tank for awhile. When I did, the clear plastic adaptor I use showed absolutly no solids were left. No smell, and it was pretty clear.
You are a perfect candidate for such a treatment.

Thanks for the info.
I'll dump whatever is necessary in the poop pod to make it a month.