Grey water tank

[prplehearts]

Could someone definitively explain why I should'nt dump my kitchen grey dish water in the toilet in order to create more space in grey tank?  We enjoy boondocking in the desert but please don't explain that it's okay to dump outside...it's not and we won't.

Thank you

[mptjelgin]

No reason at all not to dump gray water into the toilet. I think that folks sometimes get concerned about somehow connecting the two tanks together and "contaminating" the gray water tank with black water, but what you've described is perfectly ok!

 

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

If you look at volume only, then you suggestion is okay. 

There are those who look at the Black tank as a septic tank system and the introduction of Grey water which tends to have a high content of soap which is not good for a septic tank as the soap kills of the enzymes that break down solids in the Black tank.

[prplehearts]

1 hour ago, Mark and Dale Bruss said:

If you look at volume only, then you suggestion is okay. 

There are those who look at the Black tank as a septic tank system and the introduction of Grey water which tends to have a high content of soap which is not good for a septic tank as the soap kills of the enzymes that break down solids in the Black tank.

Thanks goes to both responses, as far as the solids in our black tank, we let the macerator do its thing.

Again, appreciate both replies

[Barbaraok]

1 hour ago, Mark and Dale Bruss said:

If you look at volume only, then you suggestion is okay. 

There are those who look at the Black tank as a septic tank system and the introduction of Grey water which tends to have a high content of soap which is not good for a septic tank as the soap kills of the enzymes that break down solids in the Black tank.

There is no way that a dishpan full of dishwater from doing the dishes is going to overwhelm the black tank.   In fact any food particles will actually help whatever bacteria are there.   And holding tanks aren't septic systems.  The one thing NOT to do is hookup the two systems so that black wastes could flow into gray tank and then up into the shower.  

[Five Wood]

If you are at a full hook-up site, does your grey water not mix with the black after you dump them?  I might be missing something here. . . but I see nothing wrong with adding gray water to your black water tank. 

 

Jim

[Devilishjim]

2 hours ago, prplehearts said:

Thanks goes to both responses, as far as the solids in our black tank, we let the macerator do its thing.

Again, appreciate both replies

Just a heads up all plugs in /from blacktank occur before waste gets to the valve where your macerator is hooked up

[Big5er]

1 hour ago, Devilishjim said:

Just a heads up all plugs in /from blacktank occur before waste gets to the valve where your macerator is hooked up

Not if you have a macerator toilet like my rig. It macerates it between the toilet and the tank. 

[Kirk W]

15 hours ago, Barbaraok said:

  And holding tanks aren't septic systems.

While that is true, if you don't put a bunch of chemicals into your tanks the septic action does begin there. It is a natural action caused by bacteria found in human waste. The solids do begin to break down there in exactly the same way that they do in the first section of a septic system.  From A GUIDE TO OPERATING & MAINTAINING YOUR SEPTIC SYSTEM

Quote

In a very few hours bacterial action will disintegrate and liquify most substances naturally entering the sewage.

We live in a co-op community with community septic systems that I am directly involved in maintaining. The book I referenced was suggested reading for our residents by the engineering company that designed our system. One of the engineers recently put on a seminar for us and answered several RV related questions, since nearly everyone here is an RVer. 

12 hours ago, Five Wood said:

If you are at a full hook-up site, does your grey water not mix with the black after you dump them? 

It most definitely does mix there and under normal use, it causes no problems at all. Many people empty some or all of their dishwater into the black tank while dry camping since most RV owners fill the gray tank first and just to introduce some detergents into it. I have never heard of that causing anyone problems unless they happen to fill the black tank too quickly from putting too much water into it. 

[scouserl41]

If soap in the black tank was a problem then all the boondockers who routinely dump dish washing water in the back tank to conserve grey water tank space would have ceased long ago. Not to mention the people who routinely put various soap products in there to clean the sensors.

The black tank is a holding tank and any "Septic System" benefits are purely coincidental.

We dump dish washing water in our back tank when we're dry camping for more than 4 days (our routine dump schedule) we can go 7 days without dumping that way. We're not big time boondockers just occasionally.

BnB

[Kirk W]

5 hours ago, scouserl41 said:

The black tank is a holding tank and any "Septic System" benefits are purely coincidental.

Not really. It is pretty important that most of the solids you put there liquify by the time you dump your tank. It would require even more water if it were not for the natural bacteria found in your waste and that is what makes septic systems work. 

[Lou Schneider]

I'm pretty sure if you drop a solid into some soapy water it will dissolve just as fast as it will in pure water.  Same for toilet paper.

If anything, the soap breaks down the surface tension of the water, which will make the solids dissolve faster.  That's the science behind the so-called Geo Method (Calgon water softener and Dawn dishwashing liquid) that was popular a few years ago.

[Barbaraok]

Lou, there isn't surface tension to worry about in a black tank - - to many particles of all different shapes and sizes.  The key is simply water.   Why people keep trying to find other answers is beyond me.  Just like everything on this planet, the key is water.