Filed under: Humor, RV Maintenance, RV Modifications
RV Dumping: The Unfortunate Learning Curve
July 17, 2012 by Dalin Brinkman · 4 Comments
Even as an RV newbie, I was well aware of the fact that dumping was one of those things you don’t get wrong. The unfortunate consequences of such failure could (and did end up being…well lets just say we can’t use that term).
This task was delegated to me by my wife. She has handled most of the RV maintenance, but somehow, this task was mine to do. I thought about complaining about getting all the dirty jobs, but I figured it might be smart of me just to keep my mouth shut (and probably my nose).
I noticed that there was all sorts of different types of dump hoses around the campground. Some people had hoses with stilts that looked like caterpillars snaking across the ground. Others had glass openings in them. Why anyone would WANT to see that stuff was beyond me. Then there was that rock. An RV friend told me in passing that it was extremely important to have a rock. I had no idea why. All I knew was that every dump station I had seen had a nice big rock next to it.
RV Dumping Education
So my naïveté and the clear and present danger of getting the wrong result prompted me to do what most people do…research online. To make sure I got this right, I broke down and went to TrailerLife.TV and watched a video on the subject. Here I got to watch several jovial middle-aged men talk about the process with far more enjoyment than the subject demanded. I did learn the basics, like what that clear part is for. The rest of my questions, including what the rock was for, remained unanswered.
My First RV Dump
So I pulled up to the dump station and pulled out my gloves and 20-year-old drain tube. My kids were so excited that they gathered around Daddy to watch this encounter from a safe distance. Following the directions I’d watched, I hooked everything up and checked it twice out of paranoia. Satisfied, I opened the grey and black water tanks and started to watch it drain. I was met with “ewwws!” from my little ones as they watched what flowed through the clear part of the tube.
There were only minor leaks and so I stepped back in successful glory. That’s when I figured out that rock. As I turned to check the hole, I notice my hose was sliding OUT of the hole. To prevent disaster, I grabbed the biggest thing around I could close to me to hold that hose down. Now I knew what the rock was for.
So now I stood and waited. No one described to me what I was supposed to do during this time of solitary patience. I’d expected a toilet flush, not at a time to ponder with just me and the sound of draining unmentionables.
Finally, the drain looked clear. I closed the tanks and unhooked the pipe. That is when disaster struck. I somehow missed the part that said there would still be stuff in the tube. Yes, I wish I had known that. Because I let the pipe drop in the opposite direction from the drain, which was most conveniently where I was standing. The resulting splash left me feeling wet, humbled and disgusted all at the same time. I didn’t have time to—um—soak it all in before I was met by a chorus of “ewww!” from my onlooking children. Clearly, this wasn’t a moment that my children looked upon their father with admiration.
As I delicately tried to figure out how to handle the situation, I realized that having external bays provided the unexpected benefit of hiding and storing the evidence of my mistake. I also quickly discovered why most dump stations have the fresh water hose fill-up AFTER the dump station.
As I drove away, I felt a sense of humility and isolation. My wife and kids were still keeping their distance from me. My RV had taught me another lesson. When you have a crappy day, sometimes it’s best to just to drive to a happier place.
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Howdy Dalin,
I’m sorry for your early lesson on ‘dumping the tank’!! We had an almost duplicate of it our first ‘dumping’ experience… I am handicapped, so Joyce has to handle the ‘operation’, when it’s time… On our initial voyage: the commode didn’t shut-off and flooded the bedroom(luckily the tank was ‘clean), we never used the commode, but it was FULL of water, so I chose to dump and not haul that weight home… We pulled up to the dump station and Joyce(105# 5’0″ granny-gray hair) got out and to do the dump.. She stood there looking bewildered at the opening, where the bay-door I had knocked off an hour and a half after buying the coach was supposed to be; a couple of helpful gentlemen walked over to over their services… One pulled the ‘big’ hose out, fastened it to the valve and opened it up.. The hose was FULL of PIN-HOLES and sprayed like a yard sprinkler, EVERYWHERE!!! LUCKILY it was only clean water!!
He waited until all of the water had run into the dump-station, rolled the hose back up into the compartment, Joyce thanked him and we went on our way…
We stopped at Wallyworld and got a Rhino Kit, on the way home; she still only stands and looks at it,
some man always does the dump for her!!!
I was grossed out and laughing all at the same time at that last comment!
At present…nothing bad has happen,,, BUT, the RV in front of us in Alaska was dumping and FORGOT to close the Black and Gray valves from the last time they dumped…When open the drain pipe everything started to come out…It took him 1 hour to clean up the mess…His mistake made me to remember to close after dumping.
Trust me guys, you are not the only one this has happened to!
I was new to RVing and had my new RV towed to a park because I hadn’t yet figured out how to set up the 5th wheel to be towed with my giant lifted truck. So, my friend dropped off our RV at the site and he left. Come to find out that the dump station was 30 feet away from the output on the RV. I had a dump hose that was about 20 feet long and I thought… This will work!
I streeeeeetched it so that it would reach and pulled the handle to drain it. At first it seemed to work until it filled up and the “sprinkler effect” took place. Then the dump hose was so heavy that it ripped off from the quick connect fitting and lets just say it wasn’t a very pleasurable experience.
So… I learned from this experience right? I went down to the RV parts place and bought a longer hose that I thought would make it, a 30 footer. I hooked it all up and realized that I am going to have to stretch this one as well in order to make it to the dump. As I stretched it across the black top it created a bunch of little holes in the line and the same darn thing happened! Well I thought if you can’t fix it with duct tape, it wasn’t meant to be fixed! So I wrapped up all the holes and tried again. Hey, no leaks! Sort of… but why isn’t it draining? Oh jeez, the line is going uphill!
I returned to the RV place and looked at the caterpillar set up but I needed at least 30 feet of it and the grand total for that was $200! Scratch that idea… So I went to Home Depot and bought some long 2X4s . I put them on gradually decreasing sized rocks until it hit the dump station and duct taped it all together!
Why do I have to make things so difficult? I have no idea. Moral of the story is make sure your dump station is in line with where your black water comes out and let gravity do the work for you. Buy quality hoses and attachments and don’t let them scrape against asphalt. Also it is handy to actually have your vehicle set up to tow your RV in the event you might have to move it a little closer to the dump station.
Sometimes gaining experience is painful and stinky but such is life I guess.
http://www.victorianrvpark.com