Jump to content

Should I install a macerator?


Tiffin Allegro

Recommended Posts

Just picked up my Class A Tiffin and it will be parked at my daughter's when not camping this year.  I will be moving into it this fall. Before I hook into her septic system through a cap the plumber installed, shouldn't I use a macerator to make her it's not getting overloaded? Not sure what you call the openings at the moment, <brain gap>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Tiffin Allegro said:

shouldn't I use a macerator

You may want to, but you probably don't need to.

Assuming your daughter has a typical septic system, you don't need a macerator.  You may want one if the connection to her septic tank is up hill, or a long distance.  Macerators chop things up so that the don't clog a relatively small hose.  Your daughters toilets don't chop her waste up.   And the pipe from your daughter's house to her tank is likely much larger in diameter than a standard RV slinky hose.

 

Volvo 770, New Horizons Majestic and an upcoming Smart car

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The macerator would have little impact on the loading of the septic system. You might want to dump tanks on a frequent basis to prevent the large surge of liquid into the septic tank that would come with the emptying of it. A lot depends on the size of her septic tank and how heavily it is used now. You should also not use chemicals in your waste tanks but you could possibly make use of one of the septic friendly products like from Roebic RV & Marine or something similar. I would just leave the gray water valve open to let that go in at the same rate as if showering in the house. 

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The system is ready for full use, but you still might want to use a macerator so you don't have the problem I did. 

Waiting to have a full tank to dump so you don't have a clog can empty all of the P traps in the house and then your homeowner will not be happy. My first empty into a "Cleanout" port caused that and it took days for the odor to go away. The residents were not home and I had no idea it happened until hours later. I stopped using that method and hired a Port-a-Potty company to come out and let me empty into their truck. 

With a macerator you won't have the volume a 4 inch sewer hose has. 

Rod

White 2000/2010Volvo VNL 770 with 7' Drom box with opposing doors,  JOST slider hitch. 600 HP Cummins Signature 18 Speed three pedal auto shift.

1999 Isuzu VehiCross retired to a sticks and bricks garage. Brought out of storage the summer of 2022

2022 Jeep Wrangler Sport S Two door hard top.

2007 Honda GL 1800

2013 Space Craft Mfg S420 Custom built Toyhauler

The Gold Volvo is still running and being emptied in July. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rod,

I suspect your experience was unusual. Still, a good head's up.  And maybe some other folks can comment on their experience dumping into a private residential septic system.  If I ever need to do this using a standard RV dump hose, I'll probably try a half gray-tank dump for the first test.  

-----------------------------------

The standard dump pipe ID for RVs is 3".  The standard ID for a house to a septic tank pipe is 4".  How does a 3" pipe overwhelm a 4" pipe?  With a blockage in the 4" pipe or something it is feeding into.

I purchased my house about 25 years ago and have had two blockages in my septic system. The first was due to tree roots the grew into a water pipe junction box.  The second was that the pipes in my leach field were filled with sand.  I had to have the leach field replaced.

Volvo 770, New Horizons Majestic and an upcoming Smart car

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dan,

We lived in our 28.5 foot Sunnybrook fiver part time rig for a year. Our house septic system was a house to holding tank 2 chamber spill over concrete tank. The smaller second chamber had the electric macerator pump float-switched and lifted the waste, mostly liquid, well connected to a 200 foot run PVC that came above ground to empty into the Oxidation pond. We had to have the holding tank pumped out twice in the 15 years or so we were there.

We hooked up to my workshop power and water and ran a 3/4" hose from it up the oxidation pond mound raising it about six feet over a 100 foot run. We used an RV macerator pump because the house waste was macerated by the septic pump steel impeller blades. If their system is into a tank with macerated solids you should be fine. 

If you have the problem of the pressure just install a vent tube with a cap so it does not vent any other time I would think.

But we did dump directly into the holding tank several times before we bought the Macerator pump and nothing was amiss since it was dumped into the second tank which was bigger than my black tank by far, and then the macerator pumped it to the pond.

k05DVCkl.jpg

3Bx7RENl.jpg

GB5kbxul.jpg

xhr1AqPl.jpg

This was a temporary setup as we were in the edge of the construction zone. The water spigot is washed out in the glare by the door and the 30 amp outlet is to the left of the door. The ramp was for our aging dog of 12 years who could not get up the stairs easily or down so a real throw together RV spot. But we had cable TV and high-speed Internet installed so it was no problems.

I doubt that dumping into a septic system will cause any issues with a 30-50 gallon RV black tank. Mine always kicked on the septic tank macerator pump.

Safe dumping! 😉

 

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have been dumping into  residential  septic systems for years without a problem.  I dump weekly even though our black tank isn't full.  We have 3 properties with septic and dump into all 3.  The health department approves of this.  Most septic systems are designed to easily handle that much waste at a time.  At one of our properties we often have 2 or 3 RV's all using 1 septic system.  If dumping caused "P" traps to go dry there likely is a vent problem and it shouldn't normally be a problem.  When dumping weekly the output is mostly just liquid with little solids so I doubt a macerator would make much difference. 

Randy

2001 Volvo VNL 42 Cummins ISX Autoshift

Link to comment
Share on other sites

RV,

Your septic system is much different than mine.  I made a classic error in assuming that most folk's septic systems are like mine.  Thanks.

My back yard slopes away from my house (my guess is about a 10% grade).   It has a 1000 gallon concrete septic tank that is buried with an access port covered by grass.  It directly connects to my leach field pipes that are about 3 feet under the surface in sandy soil.  I've have my tank pumped out and inspected every 5 years (which is probably more often than needed).  And I'm fortunate to not need an oxidation pond or pump.

I'm confident that dumping an 80 gal black tank into the clean-out access point at my house would not be a problem.  However, unlike Randy, I haven't actually tried it.

May the safe dumping force be with you.

Volvo 770, New Horizons Majestic and an upcoming Smart car

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Randyretired said:

Most septic systems are designed to easily handle that much waste at a time. 

The only problem that is at all likely for a properly designed and working septic system would be that if it is heavily used the sudden input from an RV with large waste tanks could push the flow into the leach-field too rapidly, as septic systems work based on giving the effluent time for the natural process to work. Since an RV could easily have  100 gallons or more with a combination of both black & gray tanks full, and skeptic tanks can commonly be as small as 500 gallons, such could overload a smaller tank. That is the reason that I recommend leaving the gray water dump valve open when using an unknown septic system. Pushed too fast it is possible to push solids out into the leach lines of a typical drain field and plug one or more of them. On the other hand it isn't uncommon to find much larger septic tanks in places like RV parks where such issues re not a serious problem. A COE park that we volunteered in had a 2 tank system that had 2000 gallon first tank and another 1000 gallon second tank for the 2 chambers. It supported about 150 RV sites that had no sewer but dump station access. 

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Kirk W said:

The only problem that is at all likely for a properly designed and working septic system would be that if it is heavily used the sudden input from an RV with large waste tanks could push the flow into the leach-field too rapidly, as septic systems work based on giving the effluent time for the natural process to work. Since an RV could easily have  100 gallons or more with a combination of both black & gray tanks full, and skeptic tanks can commonly be as small as 500 gallons, such could overload a smaller tank. That is the reason that I recommend leaving the gray water dump valve open when using an unknown septic system. Pushed too fast it is possible to push solids out into the leach lines of a typical drain field and plug one or more of them. On the other hand it isn't uncommon to find much larger septic tanks in places like RV parks where such issues re not a serious problem. A COE park that we volunteered in had a 2 tank system that had 2000 gallon first tank and another 1000 gallon second tank for the 2 chambers. It supported about 150 RV sites that had no sewer but dump station access. 

Most modern septics have 1,000 gallon tanks or larger. Any that I have installed in the last 30 years start at 1,000 gallons and then add on as necessary Still that is why I dump the black tank weekly.  Modern septics are engineered to withstand large flows.  The washing machine, a couple of bathtubs and toilets should all be handled even all at once.  Maybe if all that is going on when you dump I guess that might ...  I worry more about bleach and preservatives in large quantities stopping the action.  In our case we use just water.

Randy

2001 Volvo VNL 42 Cummins ISX Autoshift

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, DanZemke said:

RV,

Your septic system is much different than mine.  I made a classic error in assuming that most folk's septic systems are like mine.  Thanks.

My back yard slopes away from my house (my guess is about a 10% grade).   It has a 1000 gallon concrete septic tank that is buried with an access port covered by grass.  It directly connects to my leach field pipes that are about 3 feet under the surface in sandy soil.  I've have my tank pumped out and inspected every 5 years (which is probably more often than needed).  And I'm fortunate to not need an oxidation pond or pump.

I'm confident that dumping an 80 gal black tank into the clean-out access point at my house would not be a problem.  However, unlike Randy, I haven't actually tried it.

May the safe dumping force be with you.

We have had 3 RV's all using one 1,000 gallon septic tank for several winter months over several years without a problem.  Grease, bleach and preservatives (formaldehyde)  can really cause problems.   Periodic pumping is necessary.

Randy

2001 Volvo VNL 42 Cummins ISX Autoshift

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, DanZemke said:

May the safe dumping force be with you.

👍😏

Dan thus the pics. That system was well built although I did replace the macerator septic pump once in the 15 years we were there. It was a five acre property that was semi-rural. We had TB speed cable TV and Internet, city electric, gas, and water. 10 minutes from the base so it was great except for the climate.

The city annexation stopped at the house next door but they were putting in sewer services. I still would not use them as it would have been a 500-600 foot pipe run to dump into it. My pond was never smelly even in summer triple digit heat, as it was sized right and was built from railroad ties.

So mine was essentially the same as an RV system as it has a holding tank, and was dumped when the pump chamber floated the switch.eld in the big chamber from the house and it then did some percolating. No leach field as the clay there was on the edge of not passing the percolation test. It did pass but my system needed no replacement. MY neighbor on one side had a two chamber wastewater treatment plant that sprayed overflow. IT was ill maintained and started spilling over to my side and once pointed out he had it fixed. We had a good neighborhood there and I did not expect nor worry about backlash. I won a lot of dollar bets that they could not smell the pond from ten feet away the bank inside the fence, downwind, on a hot day. Turtles and frogs lived in it! No additives.

Safe dumping!

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Randyretired said:

Most modern septics have 1,000 gallon tanks or larger. Any that I have installed in the last 30 years start at 1,000 gallons and then add on as necessary

I can show you quite a few here in TX that are less than that The cooperative community that I was president of is located in Smith County TX and they have 10 septic systems, all installed between 1998 and 2001. The largest tanks are 750 gallon and the others are 500 gallon. You may be correct about the current requirement as while I was president we looked into expanding the systems with the licensed contractor who installed them and were told that they do not meet current code and are OK but if the contractor works on them he will be required to bring them up to code. If your rule is 20 years old it may well be accurate, but these are just reaching the 20 year point. 

Interestingly, in searching online for information about minimum tank sizes I found a lot of charts with tank size, number of people and frequency of pumping that show smaller tanks, such as they have. (We have sold our place and no longer live there.)

septictable.jpg

I am very familiar with the above chart as I used it to sell the board on increasing the pumping frequency of the tanks. The problem that they have is that the original systems were designed for RV sites that sit empty more than half of the year and today many of the lots are occupied year around. 

 

Edited by Kirk W

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

It's great to hear that you picked up your Class A Tiffin! To answer your question, before hooking up to your daughter's septic system, it's a good idea to use a macerator pump to reduce the size of solid waste and toilet paper in your RV's holding tanks. This can help prevent the septic system from getting overloaded or clogged.

The openings you are referring to are likely the RV's waste dump valves. These valves control the flow of waste water from the RV's holding tanks to the external sewer hose or macerator pump.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, DanZemke said:

Anawilliam850,

Are you using ChatGPT, or some other tool that uses a LLM ( large language model) to compose your posts?

Hmmm. Good question Dan.

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, DanZemke said:

Anawilliam850,

Are you using ChatGPT, or some other tool that uses a LLM ( large language model) to compose your posts?

And a couple other newish members.

I have been wrong before, I'll probably be wrong again. 

2000 Kenworth T 2000 w/N-14 and 10 speed Gen1 Autoshift, deck built by Star Fabrication
2006 smart fourtwo cdi cabriolet
2007 32.5' Fleetwood Quantum


Please e-mail us here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK guys you can't answer the question of whether it will hurt a septic system to dump into it with the standard 4" RV dump hose or whether using a macerator would be better. I used a macerator pump because I was dumping into an oxidation pond and needed to pump it ~75 feet uphill through a 100' 3/4" heavy duty hose. As well since the waste was macerated from the house from the holding tank I knew the pond would handle it as well as the house effluent.

Kirk's chart about tank sizes is great if how often you must pump tanks was the question. But no matter the size of tanks or chambers the type of septic system you are dumping into is important.

If you want to get a good answer you need to know what type of septic system you are dumping into. I would also caution folks not to dump into a home septic system if your RV black tank is full of additives to make your stuff not stink. As if  . . . .

Very popular down in Louisiana are what they call wastewater treatment systems that have a tank usually smaller and a treatment system to disinfect the outgoing water and spray it into the air. The problem is folks don’t maintain them or add the pre-treatment of whatever type are spraying pathogens, harmful bacteria into the air and animals can pick it up walking through the bacteria filled water.

So here are two articles and a series of pictures showing the many different types.

I will reiterate my point in that using a macerator with a standard hose outlet will obviously provide less disturbance to any type septic system all at once.

Here’s a brief description of each type:

https://www.thecleverhomeowner.com/different-types-of-septic-systems/

Here is a series of pics and diagrams showing many types. Just click the right arrow to move through them:

Septic system pics

So you need to know what type of system to really determine the effects of dumping a 20-100 gallon black tank into one with the big dump hose or a macerator.

 

 

 

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Congratulations on your new Class A Tiffin! Before hooking up to your daughter's septic system, it's a good idea to consider using a macerator to prevent overloading the system. A macerator is a device that grinds up solid waste and toilet paper into smaller particles, which makes it easier to pump the waste through the RV's sewer hose and into the septic system.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

normal stinky slinky hose dumping is the best way. a macerator is best if you need to go up hill, or a good 50+ feet away.

the wash of a larger dia tubing tends to bring everything out at once. trying to pump through a pump just slows down the volume and things might not make it out in time.

i have one, only use it at home,(sticknbrick).  never found a use for it otherwise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I mentioned it earlier but it is important to use the more expensive 3/4 inch hose. I tried with the 5/8" hose but it made a big difference using the contractor quality 3/4" hose. I did always use a clear elbow to see if it was clean on rinsing.

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...