Bigfoot sewer and water

[Gilles]

Originally Posted by Paul O.

I simply sprayed the WD40 generously over both mating ends, including the seal ring and the ears, so it all slides together better without the danger of braking either the pins or the ears.

For all that is in water hose connection, I use silicone lubricant.
I applied once in spring and usually it is not necessary to reapply during the season.
The rubberized seals remain soft, not dry, I have no water leakage between connections.
I also use the arm valves to drain waste water, they are easy to handle with this product made specifically to lubricate where there is water ...

The web page for this product in Canada :
Silicone Lubricant | Master Plumber®

Certainly the United-States you have the equivalent of this product ...

[Jack L]

Originally Posted by ZachO

Ok. Hard to say if it's original, since someone did combine the grey and black outlets at some point. Either way, this is not something I want to have happening every now and then. Once I start making some money, I'll just upgrade this stuff.

I didn't look close but I don't think the parts were very expensive. If I've got it apart already, I'd rather throw the old one away and put in a brand new one rather than clean the old one, since we all know what I'd be cleaning off it...

Do you just have one valve to drain both tanks ? My Bigfoot has 2 valves. One for black and a smaller one for grey. The suggested way to drain is first drain the black, then the grey, so the grey water flushes out the hose. If you only have one valve, I suspect your system has been modified.I replaced both valves on mine 2 years ago. The black was leaking and both valves cost about 30 dollars. It's a simple but messy job to clean or replace the valves so it's a good idea to have replacement valves with you just in case a cleaning is not enough

[WaltP]

A single valve for both would make no sense. It would mean the two tanks were directly connected into a single system which would essentially be a black water system.
When I got my BF, the black tank was connected to a standard 3" bayonet fitting by a 3" blade valve, and separately the grey tank had only a garden hose fitting on a 1 1/2" opening. I soon upgraded that to the modern system with a common 3" bayonet fitting and two separate 3" blade valves.

Walt

[ZachO]

Yes but as I know from always buying old vehicles, what "makes sense" doesn't often enter into the equation with a lot of people.

Luckily, that's not the case with my trailer. There is a separate valve for each tank.

Aside from black water first, grey water last, how to do you use the fresh water hose? This is assuming you don't have one of those fancy back-flushing things. Do you just spray the valve areas, or do you bring the hose in the camper the spray some water down the toilet then drain again?

When I was at the rv shop dumping, two things happened. I saw a really nice Oliver Legacy Elite II (we waved to each other but I didn't get to check it out), and a guy filling his motorhome with fresh water was this close to using the hose laying there along the sewage opening, used to spray everything down. I stopped him and at least got him to take that hose off and use his own hose.

Why he was hesitant to use the independent water spigot 30 yards away from where everyone dumps their tanks, I don't know. I pointed it out to him but he wasn't convinced it was any better... At least I got him to use a clean hose.

I'll definitely look into some silicone spray. I have some, but I'm pretty sure there is food-grade spray out there too, which would be better than what I've got.

[WaltP]

Do you just spray the valve areas, or do you bring the hose in the camper the spray some water down the toilet then drain again?

Please don't ever do that. Shudder. Almost every dump station has a clean water hose for rinsing the dump hose outside. If it doesn't, I'd look for another one down the road. I would never let the dump hose get even close to the inside of my trailer.
Oh, yes, not thinking there for a moment. Other situations than a dump station.
Boondocking? drive to a dump station. There are several apps to help find them.
On site sewer connection? Then you'll also have city water. Close all valves and run a fresh bunch of water into the grey tank and then open the grey valve again to rinse the hose.There, did I cover it all?

Walt

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by ZachO

Aside from black water first, grey water last, how to do you use the fresh water hose? This is assuming you don't have one of those fancy back-flushing things. Do you just spray the valve areas, or do you bring the hose in the camper the spray some water down the toilet then drain again?

NEVER ever use your fresh water hose for doing anything to do with tank dumping, slinky hose cleaning or tank cleaning. Buy another hose if have a tank wand for doing tank cleaning or toilet cleaning.

I have a fancy built in back flushing system on my new trailer and a separate dedicated (marked as such) hose for using on that.

[ZachO]

Sorry that was a little misleading.

At the one rv dump station I've ever used my whole life, there was a hose attached to the spigot, for cleaning things at the station. That's the hose I was wondering about threading in to my camper to stick down the toilet, etc.

So if many or most dump stations don't have a hose attached to that spigot, I would want to buy another length of hose, to use strictly for the purpose of flushing some fresh water through my black and grey tanks after dumping?

That or buy a back-flushing attachment?

[Borrego Dave]

Originally Posted by ZachO

That or buy a back-flushing attachment?

You may want to look this up on line, it's not just screwing it on .

[WaltP]

I don't recall ever seeing a dump station that didn't have a hose for rinsing things off. If I ran across one like that I'd go elsewhere if at all possible.
By far most will say it's not potable water, but it is clean for rinsing. And many will have another, potable water faucet nearby.

[ZachO]

Originally Posted by Borrego Dave

You may want to look this up on line, it's not just screwing it on .

Depends on which one you buy, I guess. Or are we talking about different things?


Ok, so, back to the other question. The dump station had a spigot, with a hose attached, right there, 10' from the sewage openings. It's the hose the motorhome guy was about to fill his fresh water tank with before I stopped him. Was I wrong to pull that hose into my camper to flush fresh water into the toilet and grey water tank?

[WaltP]

Originally Posted by ZachO

Depends on which one you buy, I guess. Or are we talking about different things?


Ok, so, back to the other question. The dump station had a spigot, with a hose attached, right there, 10' from the sewage openings. It's the hose the motorhome guy was about to fill his fresh water tank with before I stopped him. Was I wrong to pull that hose into my camper to flush fresh water into the toilet and grey water tank?

Sounds like you are thinking of the backflusher that just fits between your dump hose and the bayonet fitting. I don't have personal experience with those but I've read on several forums that they don't work very well. There's another kind that mounts in the sidewall of the black tank and is a fairly major install.

Regarding the hose at the dump station, if they did not have a prominent sign that stated whether or not is was potable water, that's very irresponsible, but either way it would serve well for rinsing your waste tanks as long as it was kept isolated from the fresh water system.

Walt

[ZachO]

Great. No there was a big sign on the side of the building that said there's a fresh water spigot around back, and that you should use your own hose, and if there is for some reason a hose already attached, use at your own risk.

[Paul O.]

I do not see how campgrounds would have two kinds of "clean" water, one potable, one not.

The way I see it, it is the same water at the dump station, but marking it NON-potable makes people stop and not use that spigot and hose to fill fresh water tanks. The potable water 25 feet away, or around the corner, is where you want to fill water bladders or your fresh water tanks, because the immediate area is clean.

After dumping the BW we fill the bowl with some water, flush and dump it again. Then connect to grey water, dump that and hose the area clean. While the water is in full flow through the slinky, I give it a few waves up and down to avoid any stagnation.

[WaltP]

I think you may be right at many sites. But most campgrounds get their water from a well and I can see if the water requires treatment to be top drinking quality it would make sense to run some lines without the treatment where possible.

Walt

[ZachO]

My guess is that both water spigots come from the same source. They just have the other spigot for exactly the reason you mentioned: it's far from the splatter zone. Not sure why anyone would want to fill using that dump site hose but that motorhome guy was more than happy to...

They very clearly had the one spigot for cleanup, with a hose which was obviously not the white drinking-water-safe-type, and another spigot around back for drinking water.

Sorry I'm clearly not explaining this very well since this has been a confusing thread!

[Cantnotar]

Originally Posted by Carol H

If there is water in your fresh tank as soon as you turn on the water pump it will fill your hot water tank from the water in the fresh tank or if your hooked up to City water the tank with automatically fill (assuming you have no bypass values stopping it from doing that).

If all your water supply is completely empty and your filling the hot water tank your best to go outside and open the relief valve in the outside hot water tank hatch. Once the water starts to flow fully out of the valve, the hot water tank is full. The danger of not doing that is that you run the risk of ending up with a hot water tank half full of air . With lots of air in the hot water tank, when you turn the tap on it will put a lot of pressure on the old inside plumping causing pipe/connections as it burps/spits out all the air.

I think if you leave the hot water taps open, any air in the tank will escape as the water flows in, no need to open the pressure release valve.
Nick