Grey & Black tanks

[Rog Mich]

So, my house has a septic system. All plumbing goes to the septic, black, grey, and fresh. Why is it the campers need a tank each for black and grey water? Why not one tank. I all goes to the same dump tank when emptying them, right? Just wondering.

[Donna D.]

Because you put chemicals in the black tank to break down the solids. And not everyone who dumps uses a dump station for the gray water tank. Some use totes to dump down flush toilets (or pit toilets) and the gray water (with no chemicals) is dumped into a different receptacle. I can dump my gray water in parks (using a tote) that the tenters use. But, they wouldn't want me to use that to dump my black water!

[Rog Mich]

Always something for a new person to learn!! Thanks, and that does make sense to me.

[Donna D.]

And... if you are camping on BLM during a drought, you may hear it's okay to dump your gray water around plants, but you need to bury black water. After all, human waste is considered a bio-hazard due to bacteria, etc.

[thrifty bill]

FWIW. new Airstream Sport comes with a combination black/gray water tank. +1 to chemicals/whatever, I sure would prefer them separate.


https://www.airstream.com/travel-tra...pecifications/

[rbryan]

Originally Posted by thrifty bill

FWIW. new Airstream Sport comes with a combination black/gray water tank. +1 to chemicals/whatever, I sure would prefer them separate.


https://www.airstream.com/travel-tra...pecifications/

It's a compromise that they decided on due to the small size of the sport. They tout it as a convenience or improvement, but to my mind it's neither. If you look carefully, there are several other compromises that I don't care for - like a single axle, even on the 22fb. Heck, even my Escape 19 is a tandem axle, and having towed it for thousands of miles and a couple years now, I'm glad of it.

[WaltP]

The one remaining thing I don't care for in the new Parkliners is the waste system, with a combined black/grey tank and a mascerating toilet. Otherwise it's a great trailer.

Walt

[Wayne Collins]

Originally Posted by WaltP

The one remaining thing I don't care for in the new Parkliners is the waste system, with a combined black/grey tank and a mascerating toilet. Otherwise it's a great trailer.

Walt

It is definitely a convenience to just dump one tank.
I would not try to dump grey water around plants, what with the detergent et al in it.
I see some Casita's have the grey water drain teed to the black water drain. So, why not just one tank?

[Donna D.]

It's very common to have both tanks routed through one dump valve, but with two pull handles. One for each tank. My Escape is routed that way. My Scamp however is not and requires moving the sewer hose from one tank to the other to dump... and it's a PITA.

[redbarron55]

My Scamp is a little modified and the black tank is at the same level as the gray. The two are tied together and have 1 1/2" valves in each line going to a tee that feeds a macerating pump to empty either or both tanks.
The two can also be drained from either end with the 3" regular dump system from either end.
If I do that I use the front (black) drain and drain the rear (gray) tank through the 1 1/2" line that ties them together.