How long will 26 gallons last? (Also, a power question.)

[poetj]

First time RVers! There will be two of us, possibly a third some of the time. We would hope to use our own bathroom at night, but mostly use other facilities during the day.

We are flying there, and an RV will be delivered to the site for us.

2013 Crossroads Z-1 25' is the leading option so far, and it seems great, but apparently it only has 26 gallons of black water storage.

There's electricity, but no way to dump the tank for 11 days.

Any guesses or advice on roughly how many flushes that would be? How many days that would last?

How many gallons of black water storage should we have, if we plan to last 11 days?

Also, we will be given a regular 110-120v household extension cord to plug into, which is hooked to a bank of generators for the event. But I wouldn't want to try to draw a dangerous amount of power. Any advice on using a household connection like that?

I checked the FAQs and read a lot, but still don't know for sure about these two issues. 🙂 Any other advice about this you may have would be great!

[catkins]

There usually is a water gravity fill somewhere on the outside of the RV but, not always. You can add jugs of water, we purchase 2.5 gallon jugs BUT that water has to have someplace to go when used. Some use used dishwater to "flush" toilet to extend the water.

40 gallons sounds like a lot but unless you are VERY careful you can blow through that. NO running water for teeth or dishes, stop every time you can and use low flow water for rinsing etc.

GOOD LUCK! This is an adventure to be sure. Enjoy the adventure.

[JAC1982]

We have a 44 gallon black tank. There's 2 of us. Last summer, we boondocked in the middle of nowhere for a week. Husband peed outside during the day, inside at night, I used it throughout the day/night. It was pretty close to full at the end of the 7 days. But, not to be TMI or anything, but he has a stomach disease so #2 was done inside and he uses extra flush water for that.

In our old camper, which was around 30 gallons, we boondocked for about 5 days, and used the facilities inside the music festival we were at, when we were in there, about 5-7 hours a day, but used our bathroom otherwise, and we ended up about 3/4 full by the end of the 5 days.

Both of these were in hot climates where we drank a lot of water and alcohol. I'd guess we could last a bit longer in a cooler climate since we wouldn't be drinking as much (water anyway haha).

All that to say, I think if you just reserve it for use at night only, you'll be fine.

[poetj]

Thank you 🙂 For the record, we should have 40 gallons of fresh water and access to more but it probably won't be a hose connection so maybe that's not useful; we won't be cooking with it or drinking it, so it's mostly for washing up a little and the toilet. I think we'll be OK in the fresh water department.

Is it usually possible to pour fresh water into the tank somehow? Or does it require a hose hookup to fill?

Thanks again - it's going to be fun & a big learning experience 🙂

[catkins]

11 days is going to limit your capabilities with no water nor dump capabilities. I would think your black tank might last IF you only used it at night..... Flush only when you must, with limited water, damp only TP in a plastic bag and trash daily will help capacity.

You will need to conserve fresh water as well. You can supplement fresh water with bottled water for cooking and drinking and can even add from the outside gravity fill if you must. Paper plates become your best friend if eating in. Showers will consume much water - we do "Navy Showers", quick hit of water turn off, soap up, shampoo and quick rinse. We damp cloth bathe, shampoo hair quickly in kitchen sink and NEVER leave water running for dishes, toothbrushing, etc. Daily showers can not be happening with your tank size for a long stay.

Have you made certain you cannot have a local service come and pump you out? some septic services also do RVs.

We boondock long term with 45 gallon black and 100 gallons fresh. By conserving we have fresh left but need to dump black/after after 11-14 days with two of us. If we were fanatical about water we could go a bit longer.

Just be sure you are aware of the limitations of the setup you will have and the extremely limited water onboard it sounds that you will have. Hopefully it works out for you. Conservation is going to be key and walking to facilities when you can essential.

Good luck!

[poetj]

tatest wrote:
That's about the size of my black water tank.

For me, a week to ten days. Me and my wife, three to five days. Me, my wife, one daughter, two grand-daughters two days max, I need to plan dumping the tank daily.

This is about like asking how long a roll of toilet paper lasts. It depends on who is using it.

Thanks for your stats 🙂 When you say a week to ten days for you, is that using it 24/7 or just at night? We just plan on using it almost entirely at night. Two of us. Sounds like it'll be in the neighborhood of OK but not guaranteed then. 🙂

[tatest]

That's about the size of my black water tank.

For me, a week to ten days. Me and my wife, three to five days. Me, my wife, one daughter, two grand-daughters two days max, I need to plan dumping the tank daily.

This is about like asking how long a roll of toilet paper lasts. It depends on who is using it.

[poetj]

myredracer wrote:
What about buying or borrowing a tote tank? We have an 18 gallon and two of us can lift it into the back of our truck. Not sure what you're driving tho. Could get you a few more days. Would need to find a dump station somewhere. Sanidumps.com lists locations.

I hadn't heard about tote tanks before! Totes thanks! I will see if the rental place has something like that available.

[myredracer]

What about buying or borrowing a tote tank? We have an 18 gallon and two of us can lift it into the back of our truck. Not sure what you're driving tho. Could get you a few more days. Would need to find a dump station somewhere. Sanidumps.com lists locations.

[Mr_Mark1]

Poetj, it looks like availability of RV rentals is limited so you may not have much of a choice.

I would want an RV that would allow me to use it totally without any exceptions. And yes, a 30 gallon holding tank is a teeny bit better than 26. If you take either unit, you will find what works and what doesn't.


Good luck, hope everything works out for you.
MM.

[poetj]

Mr.Mark wrote:
The rental company did not do you justice renting you that unit. I'm sure you told them how many you had in your party and your set-up at the event.

We haven't actually reserved it yet. The good news is, there are toilets a medium-short walk away. It's just not that convenient. When you say it's the wrong unit for us, it's just about the 26 gallons, right? Otherwise it's fine?

I haven't been able to find any RVs available for rental and delivery that weekend with black water tanks any bigger than 30. (Will 30 make much of a difference?)

We are organizers of an area at the Electric Forest in Rothbury MI. If anyone reading has any advice about RV rentals for that, we've gone through rvshare and also talked to some rental companies.

So excited to have a home of our own after working all day!

[Mr_Mark1]

poetj wrote:
First time RVers! There will be two of us, possibly a third some of the time. We would hope to use our own bathroom at night, but mostly use other facilities during the day.

We are flying there, and an RV will be delivered to the site for us.

2013 Crossroads Z-1 25' is the leading option so far, and it seems great, but apparently it only has 26 gallons of black water storage.

There's electricity, but no way to dump the tank for 11 days.

Any guesses or advice on roughly how many flushes that would be? How many days that would last?

How many gallons of black water storage should we have, if we plan to last 11 days?

Also, we will be given a regular 110-120v household extension cord to plug into, which is hooked to a bank of generators for the event. But I wouldn't want to try to draw a dangerous amount of power. Any advice on using a household connection like that?

I checked the FAQs and read a lot, but still don't know for sure about these two issues. 🙂 Any other advice about this you may have would be great!

Poetj,

The rental company did not do you justice renting you that unit. I'm sure you told them how many you had in your party and your set-up at the event.

I would be thinking about that holding tank the whole time ruining my experience.

In California (where I Iive part time in a S&B) we have been through a drought recently. The motto is, 'if it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down'. That will save you water. :E

Good luck,
MM.

[poetj]

Now these sound to be very wise words.

myredracer wrote:
How long a tank will last will depend partly on it's shape/configuration. Some tanks are quite shallow and "solid" waste doesn't spread sideways like water does. Our blank tank is shallow and the most we can get out of it for 2 people is about a week. Had a previous TT with smaller tank that would last longer due to it's shape.

Don't skimp on water to make the tank last longer because it won't. Add a few gallons before using it and don't skimp each time you flush or you can get the infamous "pyramid of poo" in just a few days.

[myredracer]

How long a tank will last will depend partly on it's shape/configuration. Some tanks are quite shallow and "solid" waste doesn't spread sideways like water does. Our blank tank is shallow and the most we can get out of it for 2 people is about a week. Had a previous TT with smaller tank that would last longer due to it's shape.

Don't skimp on water to make the tank last longer because it won't. Add a few gallons before using it and don't skimp each time you flush or you can get the infamous "pyramid of poo" in just a few days.

[Ralph_Cramden]

midnightsadie wrote:
you,ll get lots of answers ,but ask a local septic company if they,d like to earn some extra money.

Also ask them if the honey dipper knows how to operate his rig when dipping out an RV? If they turn on full vacuum on the truck, it might not be so pretty of a situation with plastic tanks.

hoosiermark wrote:
As an emergency back up, you could acquire some plastic bags to line the toilet with and then put them in a trash can if the tank gets full and well, you gotta go.

Then give them a toss into the neighbor's fire ring?