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Open Roads Forum  >  Class C Motorhomes

 > How do all the tanks work?

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paullac

Cincinnati, OH

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Posted: 05/05/12 08:33am Link  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

2012 Sunseekers have the following tank sizes:
fresh - 44
gray - 30
black - 30

2012.5 & 2013 Sunseekers have the following tank sizes:
fresh - 44
gray - 39
black - 39

I'm concerned about the gray tank size. We do state parks (i.e., no hookups) on weekends. I figure I can make 39 gallons work for our family of 4 but 30 gallons won't work. Isn't a 30 gallon gray tank too small for a 44 gallon fresh tank? Or am I missing something in how the tanks work.


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NewsW

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Posted: 05/05/12 08:44am Link  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

The tank capacity is ample with reasonable conservation efforts that one normally practice in an RV.

If anything, you are going to run out of fresh water before anything else.

Combined capacity of black and grey is way above the fresh water capacity.

A fair amount will be used for black / flushing of toilets.

Grey is kitchen / shower water.

In the worse case and emergency, grey water can be released with only minimal hazards as long as there is not dangerous stuff in the water.



Back of the envelope it...

No. of gallons per shower, X persons X days.

Amount used for wash / kitchen..

robsouth

Near Atlanta, GA

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Posted: 05/05/12 08:45am Link  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

If you are very conservative with water use, you should be ok for one weekend. If not, then you will have to go to the dump station and dump. You could get a "blue tote" to dump grey water into, and just take that to the dump station. Good luck.


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downtheroad

Pacific Northwest

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Posted: 05/05/12 08:56am Link  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

paullac wrote:


Isn't a 30 gallon gray tank too small for a 44 gallon fresh tank? Or am I missing something in how the tanks work.


You have a total of 60 gallons of waste water capacity... they are assuming that you will dump a portion of your 44 fresh into the black tank also..


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bukhrn

Lanexa, Va

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Posted: 05/05/12 09:20am Link  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

If you are using State or National Park CG's, you can save a lot of grey water space by using the CG showers.
When we stay somewhere without hookups, the grey will fill at least twice as fast as the black.


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tenbear

Northern Vermont, USA

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Posted: 05/05/12 09:35am Link  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

When you do the dishes use a basin and dump the water in the toilet. My bathroom sink is plumbed into the black tank, maybe yours is too? That helps a lot.


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fla-gypsy

North Florida

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Posted: 05/05/12 06:50pm Link  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

RV makers don't seem to have a clue about what is needed for gray water capacity vs black water.


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crawford

Dandridge Tenn.

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Posted: 05/05/12 07:39pm Link  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

Remember a lot of bath rooms are hook to black tank. To check that run your bath room sink see which tanks is filling. My slide has kitchen sink is also hook to black tank. So to be sure check you may be surprised I was.





ron.dittmer

Northern Illinois

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Posted: 05/05/12 08:56pm Link  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

Our motor home has....

41 fresh
35 black
23 gray

Admittedly it's not ideal, but it was interesting when we picked up our rig from the factory. During the run-down & inspection, we were advised the gray will likely fill up before we were ready to dump. We were instructed by the motor home manufacture to feel free to blend the two tanks when the gray fills up. And so we do so quickly and simply which is kind of nice to flood the black tank with soapy wash water for a cleaner black tank draining. So there is a bright side to the inconvenience.

I don't know if blending tanks is something all motor homes can do without creating a mess during dumping, but our Sani-Con system here makes tank blending clean and simple.


Other floor plans of our particular brand motor home has the black and gray switched. It has to do with the standard mounting of the two waste tanks behind the rear axle, and the relative positions of the plumbing fixtures. Our toilet happened to be right above the larger tank, so there we have it so.

I wouldn't want any other drain going to the black tank for fear that toilet water could back up. Worst case scenerio would be having poop water back up into your shower pan.

* This post was edited 05/05/12 09:10pm by ron.dittmer *


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hotbyte

Barnesville GA

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Posted: 05/05/12 09:20pm Link  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

Do conservative navy showers (use on/off button on shower nozzle), the basin in sink to dump into toilet, stay aware of what you are using (turn off sink when brushing teeth, between rinsing dishing, when washing hands, etc) and you should be OK. Since we don't use a toad, I keep our campsite setup easy to break in case I need to go somewhere in motorhome. If needed, a quick trip to dump station isn't much of an issue or stop by when coming back in park after a trip to store, etc. Some state parks here in GA have gray water dump areas around the loop. They are basically buried trashcans filled with gravel and hardware wire over the top. They do have signs saying "Gray Water Only." I've gotten a site next to one of those before and using a non-drinking water hose and sewer cap with hose bib fitting drained gray tank.


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