Fresh water comes from a fresh water tank and is delivered to fixtures throughout the RV by a 12-volt water pump. Fresh water tanks require minimal maintenance. Unless they have become contaminated from a polluted water source, all they normally require is an annual flushing with a mild chlorine bleach solution (about 1 cup per 60 gallons of water) and rinsing with water and baking soda. Other than that, about all you need to do is fill your tank with clean water before you leave home. Always use a potable water hoses to avoid getting a plastic taste and smell in your fresh water supply when filling your tank. Use this same type hose when filling fresh water tanks and when connecting to city water. Use an in-line pressure regulator between the hose and the faucet to prevent high city water pressure from blowing out the hose or damaging your RV plumbing when connecting your RV to city water. If your water pump fails during a trip you can probably get water for cooking, drinking, and basic sanitation by draining some out the spigot normally used to drain your fresh water tank for winterization. If you run out of water, you're going to have to go get some.
Sanitation facilities are made possible by the presence of holding tanks to contain the waste products from sinks, bathtubs, showers, and toilets. Most RVs have two holding tanks: one for "gray" water, from sinks, bathtubs, and showers, and a second "black" water tank for toilet waste. Holding tanks are often a mystery to newcomers and the very thought of having to deal with them is repulsive to many people until they get used to it (and sometimes even after that!). The gray water tank, if regularly dumped and thoroughly flushed, usually requires no additional chemicals or cleaning unless you dump excessive solid food wastes or other unpleasant debris down the drain. The black water tank, on the other hand, requires fresh chemicals after each dumping and sometimes between dumpings, especially in hot weather. Some commonly used chemicals which are usually considered to be most effective, contain formaldehyde which some environmentally sensitive people find objectionable, especially if you dump into a residential septic tank, but there are "green" alternatives that rely on natural enzymes to breakdown waste and control odors. Regardless of which one you choose, take care to read and follow the manufacturer's instructions. Add the correct amount of chemicals for the size of your holding tank. Using too little results in foul odors and incomplete breakdown of solid wastes and subsequent problems dumping and flushing the holding tank. Using too much is a waste of costly chemicals and can even have a negative affect on the performance of the chemicals in the tank. Black water chemicals are usually added through the RV toilet. Dump the appropriate amount of chemicals (powder or liquid) into the toilet, then run enough water to fill the narrow well in the bottom of the toilet before flushing to drop the mixture into the holding tank. Read the directions on the container for the chemicals. Most experts will tell you to add water until there is about 1 1/2" in the bottom of the tank. This provides a medium to disolve the chemicals to begin their reaction and be able to breakdown solid wastes so they can be successfully flushed when the holding tanks are dumped. It also provides some water in the bottom of the tank to prevent solids from sticking and piling up under the toilet. Leaving the black water tank dry is an invitation for disaster. In some RVs, the shower drains into the black water tank in order to provide additional water to facilitate proper chemical action and dumping. If you have this configuration you will want to be especially careful to avoid over-filling the black water tank, which could backup raw sewage into your shower! That could literally be a really crappy problem. Those who do a lot of dry camping often forgo adding water after flushing, but this is an invitation to disaster. Without sufficient water in the tank solids will stick to the bottom and will pile up below the toilet, sometimes enough to clog the toilet. Tank chemicals won't be able to do their job which is controlling odors and breaking down the solids. It may be really difficult to get good results the next time the tank is dumped. If you do have a problem getting everything to flush out cleanly or if the level sensors aren't working right, try dumping a bag of ice cubes into the tank through the toilet, fill the thank about 1/4 full, and drive around a bit so the ice can scour the inside of the tank. The cubes will loosen deposits on all the surfaces inside the tank. Once it melts you can flush the tank as usual and this time everything should come out clean.
Overfilling of waste water holding tanks is an all too common problem, especially among new users. Pretty much, if you ever do it, you won't do it again! Overfilled holding tanks create backup in the drains and the toilet and can make the inside of your RV so foul smelling that it will be uninhabitable. Most RVs with holding tanks have a monitor system that at least gives you some idea of how full the tanks are getting. They usually display E, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and F. Check the monitor often during each trip and compare usage to date to the number of days remaining. If you hit 1/2 half way through a trip, you're probably doing OK but if you hit half on the first day of a multiple day trip, you're going to be in trouble before the trip is over You'll either have to severely restrict additional use or find someplace to dump the tanks. You might make a little extra room in your gray water tanks by draining off a bucket or two to put out the fire each night. DO NOT try this with the black water tank! Gray water usually doesn't contain enough contaminants to cause a problem but raw sewage dumped on a hot fire will create a really foul smell.
Foul odors. Besides the obvious size limitations (holding tanks always seem to fill up way too fast!), the most common complaint about holding tanks are foul odors. Foul odors are usually the result of improper maintenance -- incomplete dumping and flushing or the lack of sufficient chemicals. While traveling, odors from roof vents may be drawn into the RV or the partial vacuum created by open windows may draw odors up through drain pipes. Odors may also escape through an incompletely closed toilet valve. There are fancy 360 degree roof vents designed to disperse vent odors. Ordinary vents are simply a loosely fitting cap on top of the vent pipe from the holding tank. If you experience holding tank odors while on the road, close all the windows. That will usually eliminate odors from being sucked in through the drain pipes. If the odor seems especially strong inside a cabinet, like under the kitchen sink, the problem may be a faulty vacuum breaker. These are used to prevent all the water from being siphoned out of the P-traps on the drains. The water left in the P-trap normally prevents odors from wafting back up out of the holding tanks through the sink and shower drains. A faulty vacuum breaker may be either stuck open, allowing odors to escape or stuck shut, allowing water to be siphoned from the P-traps subsequently allowing odors to come up through the drain. If the odor is coming from the drain, you may be able to temporarily solve the problem and make your trip more pleasant by dumping about a cup of water down the drain to re-fill the P-trap. If the odor is strongest inside a cabinet, try to locate the vacuum breaker and tap it gently to get it unstuck. The housing is made of plastic, so don't bang on it too hard or you'll may damage the plumbing and create problems far worse than a bad smell. If you notice exceptionally foul odors coming from the toilet you probably have an inadequate amount of chemicals in the black water tank or the holding tank is full! Perhaps you didn't add enough chemicals after the last dumping and flushing -- or maybe you even forgot to add them at all. You often will need extra chemicals between trips to the dump station during heavy use in hot weather. If the tank is not full, try adding chemicals to the black water tank. If, when you look down into the tank through the toilet, you do not see any liquid, add water so the chemicals can begin to breakdown solid wastes. Rather than waste precious fresh water, put a bucket under the gray water dump valve and drain off some of that to transfer to the black water tank (dump it down the toilet). As previously mentioned, some RVs connect the shower to the black water tank to deliver extra fluid directly into the tank to aid breakdown and dumping and reduce filling of the gray water tank. With that in mind, you definitely want to avoid over-filling your black water tank since it can back up into the shower, creating an extremely nasty mess! Keep an eye on the level of your holding tanks and dump them BEFORE they backup and cause some really unpleasant situations inside your RV. Most RVs have gauges that show the holding tank levels. If you're doesn't or the gauges are not working (an all too common problem), try to monitor and limit your fresh water usage. If sewage splashes back up when you flush the toilet, your black water tank is getting dangerously full. The residue from even a gray water backup creates an ideal environment for molds to grow, creating additional bad smells and staining. So avoid backups and, if you do get one, make sure you clean up any overflow as quickly and thoroughly as possible. A solution of 10% ordinary household bleach and 90% water is an effective disinfectant on most hard surfaces, but be sure to test it on an obscure spot to be sure it won't cause permanent damage when using it on carpets, upholstery, curtains, paneling, or wallpaper.
Dumping and flushing holding tanks. The most important part of maintaining your holding tanks is also one of the simplest, but many new RVers are repulsed and intimidated by it. That is dumping and flushing the tanks. Anyone who has seen the movie "RV" with Robin Williams can appreciate their trepidations. The scene where Robin's character tries to dump the holding tanks of rented RV is an exaggerated and spectacular demonstration of what NOT to do and how unpleasant the consequences can be. By the way, it is highly unlikely you will ever encounter a fountain of waste on the scale seen in the movie, but improper procedures can easily result in shoes and pant legs soaked in sewage. On the other hand, if done correctly, dumping the tanks is a fairly simple and sanitary process. Normal RV holding tanks are dumped via a 3" hose using only gravity to transfer the sewage from the holding tanks to the dump station. As a starting point, you need the right dump hoses and fittings (in good condition) -- something the poor novice in the movie was sadly lacking (along with a total dearth of knowledge about the rented RV). Check your sewer dump hose before you leave home to make sure 1) you have one, 2) it is in good condition, and 3) is has all the necessary fittings to connect it to your dump valves and to the dump station inlet. Extend the hose so you know how long it is. That will let you know how close you must get to the dump station. If there are worn spots on the hose or, if when you run water through it, you see leaks, get a new one! The last thing you want to deal with is raw sewage spilling onto the ground or onto you! If it spills on the ground there is a good chance that sooner or later you will walk in it and track it into your RV. The over-the-head sewage geyser in the movie is lot going to happen, but the pressure of sewage flowing through the dump hose could create nasty sprays through pinhole leaks in your dump hose. Spray could easily reach as high as the level of the sewage still in the tank, meaning it could usually go about waist high. Make sure the hose is securely attached to the fitting that connects to the dump valves and connected properly to the dump valves. More than one poor RVer has gotten a nasty surprise when he opened the dump valves and the weight and force of the sewage charging into the hose separated it from the fitting. And, since by necessity, you must be in close proximity to the connector to open the dump valve, you are likely to be the unwilling and unhappy recipient of a large portion of the spillage. Yccch! If you have two holding tanks connected to a single dump connection, there should be separate valves, one each for the gray water and black water tanks. Open the black water valve first and leave the gray water valve closed until you have dumped and flushed the black water tank. If you have separate connections, dump the black water tank first, then dump the gray water tank. By always dumping the black water tank first the gray water will rinse most of the raw sewage from the black water tank out of the dump connection on your RV and the hose before you put it away. How can you tell which is which? The black water tank should always have 3" dump valve. The gray water might have a 1 1/2" valve. The black water tank is usually directly below the toilet. After dumping each tank, flush the tank with clear water before closing the dump valve. This is where having a holding tank flush system comes in handy. With one of those, you simply connect a garden hose to the flush system fitting on the side of the RV and turn on the water. Nozzles inside the tank rinse the tank. Lacking a flush system, you can flush the black water tank by sticking a special wand attached to a garden hose down through the toilet or just running water down the toilet with the flush pedal depressed. A wand works better than just a hose because it directs a concentrated spray around inside the tank to rinse the walls. Try to avoid aiming the wand so that sewage is blown back up through the toilet! You won't like the results. There are also sewer hose fittings that have back-flush features. This consists of a female hose fitting upstream from the sewer hose (near the connection to the RV) that lets you connect a garden hose to the fitting. The water is directed in a forceful spray back up inside the holding tank. Of all these options, the flush system is the cleanest and easiest to use and does the best job of rinsing the inside of your holding tanks. Regardless of the method you use to rinse the thanks, rinse each one until the water coming out the end of the sewer hose is clear. Dirty water from the gray water tank will be, well, gray or cloudy. Dirty water from the black water tank may be blue or green or brown, depending on the type and amount (or lack) of chemicals in the tank. Again, dump and rinse the black water tank first, then the gray water tank.That way the gray water flushes the nasty sewage from the black water tank out of your dump hose and deep into the drain. Flush each tank when the contents have been dumped and before moving to another tank. This avoids contaminating your gray water tank with raw sewage or chemicals. If your RV does not have a flush system, one can usually be added. I've added them to several RVs myself. It is a fairly straight forward task, easily within the skills of a confident do-it-yourselfer if you have the right tools and sufficient access to the holding tanks. You need to drill a hole in the tank to install the flush nozzle and run a hose to a connector for a garden hose. The hole should be in about the middle of the tank, top to bottom and end to end. It is most effective if installed on the long side of a rectangular tank. Not only will you need a place to install the nozzles, you will need room for the tools (drill, screwdrivers) to do the job. The installation kit will include detailed instructions for proper installation. Pay close attention to the instructions to avoid unpleasant leaks. Do NOT use the same hose to flush your holding tanks and rinse your dump hose as you use to fill your fresh water tank. Yeah, its a nuisance to carry around two hose, but you run the risk of contaminating your fresh water hose if it is used to flush holding tanks and sewer hoses. Professional installation of the flush system is available at most RV dealers for a nominal charge. You should always flush your holding tanks at the end of your journey, just before you put your unit back into storage, even if it has been a short trip with minimal use. Of course, you many need to dump the tanks multiple times during extended outings as well. Dumping after a trip is a good time for a thorough cleaning. The sloshing around during transit will have loosened solid waste deposits so they can be be flushed out at the dump station. You sure don't want to leave sewage in your tanks while your unit is not being used or the next time you enter it you may feel like you need a gas mask -- and the odors will cling to carpets and upholstery for a very long time! Residual solids left in the tank may dry and get too hard and too stuck to the tank to be flushed out if you don't get them out at the end of your trip.
If done correctly, your hands should never come in contact with any sewage, but it is still a VERY good idea to always wear disposable latex or nitrile gloves whenever you handle your sewer hose -- getting it out, checking it, using it, rinsing it, and putting it away. I leave my gloves on until after I've added the chemicals to the black water tank to avoid getting the chemicals on my hands too. Some people use re-usable household rubber gloves, but I prefer disposable gloves so the dirty gloves don't contaminate anything in my RV. If you use re-usable gloves, wash and sanitize them thoroughly before you put them away so you don't contaminate your hands handling the gloves next time. Wash your hands thoroughly after you remove your gloves. Keep a bottle of hand sanitizer handy when dumping your holding tanks. You 'll feel better knowing your hands aren't contaminated.
What does a sewer hose look like? Sewer hoses are 3" in diameter and should have a fitting on one end that attaches to the dump connection on the RV. The hoses are usually blue, gray, or brown. They are compressible so they don't take up extra space in storage. They have a steel spring inside that keeps the shape and allows them to be compressed. They look kind of like a Slinky that's been dipped in plastic. They may or may not have a second fitting that goes into the dump station. Anyone who does a lot of full hook-up camping will probably have fittings that accommodate various sized openings a the camp sites. Folks who mostly dry camp often just stuff the end of the sewer hose itself into the dump station drain. Some dump stations have a heavy metal lid that can be positioned to help hold the hose in place. If you encounter one that doesn't look for a rock or brick to put on the hose -- or have someone keep one foot on it so it doesn't pop out when the initial surge of sewage comes through and doesn't work its way loose from vibration during dumping. Obviously it is better to subject some inanimate object to possible spills than it would be to use a foot. You can rinse spill off a rock pretty easily, but cleaning crap off your shoes, socks, and feet would be a rather unpleasant task and you may up just throwing away your socks and Reboks if you get a black water spill on them.
Some RVs have a macerator system that grinds up sewage and pumps it out through a 1" hose instead of the big 3" dump hose, but mostly you'll see 3"dump hoses for disposing of gray and black water. The macerator systems have several advantages. One, they grind up waste into small particles so it can be flushed out through a 1" line that can be run into a toilet instead of a dump station. Just be very careful to keep the hose in the toilet and not let the toilet overflow! Another advantage is they can pump waste uphill and over some distances while standard dumping procedures rely totally on gravity. If you're using a macerator system it will probably take longer to dump your tanks through the little 1" hose than through the big 3" gravity dump hose.
So where is that darned sewer hose in the first place? There are a number of places it may be stored. Some units have 4" square rear bumpers where the hose is stored. Just remove the end cap to pull out the hose. Some have special compartments which are essentially a small door covering the end of a piece of pipe that extends under the RV or into a cabinet into which the hose is shoved for storage. In some units, the sewer hose is stored loose in the cabinet with the dump valves. In some, especially older units, there may not be a specific location designed to store the sewer hose and you may find it in just about any cabinet -- hopefully any previous owners or users have had the good sense to put it in an exterior cabinet and not under the kitchen sink or the bed! If your unit is lacking a convenient place to store the sewer hose, you may be able to add one using a length of large PVC or ABS pipe. Cement a cap on the far end and install a removable cap (threaded is best) on the end where you will access the hose. Attach the pipe to the bottom of your RV or to the rear bumper using plumbers tape. On some units it may be more convenient to mount it on the rear bumper or between the bumper and the coach body. In an ideal installation, the open end of the tube would be placed behind an appropriately sized door in the side of the RV near the dump station. For the most convenience, the storage should be located near the dump valves. Once you have rinsed your sewer hose and put it away, rinse the concrete pad around the dump station to flush any spilled materials down into the drain. Some dump stations have a garden hose available for your use, but just in case, it is a good idea to carry your own. This is particularly true if you have a flush system, because many times, the male fitting will have been cut off the end of the dump station hose to prevent stupid people from connecting it to their city water inlets or using it to fill their water tanks and contaminating their water supply. I carry a green garden hose for use at the dump station so it never gets confused with the white, potable water hose I use to connect city water or to fill my fresh water tank. You don't want to be using a hose for fresh water that you previously shoved down inside a sewer hose to rinse it. The very thought is almost enough to make most people want to puke! And if just thinking about it doesn't do it, drinking contaminated water just may. I sure don't plan try it to find out!
When you are finished dumping, make sure your dump valves are closed tightly and locked in place and that the travel cap is securely re-installed on the end of the dump valve connector. You can be cited if your dump valves leak onto the roadway. Besides that, the nasty stuff splashing back up onto your rig may create a really unpleasant mess to clean up when you get home. Dump valves have a lock-nut that screws down at the base of the handle to keep them from vibrating loose during transit. Thoroughly rinse your sewer hose and let the water drain out into the dump station before you put it away. Make sure you've put away your personal garden hose and re-connected the one that belongs to the dump station. Check to see if you've left anything behind. Then, once you've added the chemicals to the black water tank, remove and discard your disposable gloves and wash your hands. You're done! If you've done it right, it wasn't all that bad a task. If you screwed up, chances are you will never make the same mistake again since the consequences are generally very unpleasant and embarrassing -- but it will make a good campfire story some time. Just don't share it at meal time!
Holding tanks leaks are, fortunately, fairly infrequent, but they do happen and can be very unpleasant and embarrassing. Leaks may occur do to impact damage, freezing, stress, vibration, or just plain age. The most frequent source of leaks is loose connections and they can usually be easily fixed by tightening the clamps or coating the joints with the appropriate sealant. Other leaks where the tank or plumbing has been damaged will require patching or replacing the damaged components. Most RV sewer lines and holding tanks are black ABS plastic. ABS can be chemically welded to make repairs. Milky gray tanks are LDPE and are impervious to most solvents and may require thermal welding or replacement if they are damaged. See my separate post on Holding Tank Repairs for more information. I once saw the holding tanks on a trailer fall out on the highway. The reflected heat from the hot pavement on a very hot day had caused them to soften and sag enough under the weight of the waste inside to sag and collapse out of the frame rails that held them in place. The subsequent repair included adding cross members beneath the tanks to prevent a re-occurrence.
Black water tanks may require extra chemicals during especially hot weather to control odors. High temperatures may accelerate the development of odors and interfere with the effectiveness of holding tank treatments. Even gray water tanks my get unusually smelly when its hot. Gray water tanks usually don't need chemicals for odor control but you may want to keep some on hand if odors become a problem. You can use a small amount of the same chemicals you use for your black water tank in the gray water tank, but there are also special gray water tank treatments that do the job well without the risk of over-treating and perhaps introducing a high chemical odor into the tank.
Holding tanks, drains, and dump valves are susceptible to freezing in cold weather. The holding tanks on many RVs are underneath the body where they are openly exposed to cold temperatures. If you go camping in freezing weather with an RV that is thus equipped you will need heating pads to keep the holding tanks from freezing. Heat tape may be need to prevent drain lines from freezing too, depending on the configuration of the plumbing. If you have enclosed holding tanks and valves you may only need to keep the cabinet warm enough to prevent freezing. A 100 watt incandescent light bulb (now difficult to find) or a "reptile" light used to heat the habitat of cold blooded pets might provide enough heat to prevent freezing. BTW, you probably won't encounter any excess odor problems during cold weather unless you over-heat the tanks.
Keep On Flushing!
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