The Icky Side of Camping

Not all parts of our camping experiences are glamping. Some of it is just gross, like the emptying of the gray water and black water tanks.

Our gray water tank is 19 gallons, and it includes shower water and sink water. This is only a little bit gross. The black water tank holds 6 gallons of yucky used toilet water! That is a LOT gross! Fortunately, for both of these things, our modern camper is set up to have very little contact with either one.

As we camp, the tanks under the camper fill up. Now, I'm going to possibly share TMI here...we do use the toilet...but we don't use it for solid waste. We've decided that particular usage will be for emergencies only. :) Anyway, this keeps our black water tank from being too disgusting, and it doesn't fill up too fast. We are able to camp for 3 days without needing to dump. When we finish camping, we stop by a trailer dump station, usually located within the campground we're staying in. Sometimes, if a campground doesn't have a station, they have a deal worked out with a nearby campground so you have one to use. You can also stop by a campground and talk to a campground official and offer to pay to dump.

Let's start with what a dump station is:

Here's one!

Basically, what you'll find at the station is a hole/drain in the ground with a cover, a fresh water (non-drinkable) hose, and sometimes a potable (drinkable) hose. As you can imagine, the goal is to dump the contents of your black water and gray water tanks with as little spillage or contact as possible. It's a pretty straight forward process, and if you do it right, you'll barely come in contact with the water. This particular site had a sign posted to explain what to do.

That's most of the story, but it leaves out a few obvious and some unspoken rules. The rule that I feel is most important: wear disposable gloves! It is possible that you'll come in contact with icky things, so be smart, and protect yourself. When you've finished dumping, wash your hands or use hand sanitizer to prevent spread of germs! There are many more, and I found this blog post that kind of sums them up:  http://www.doityourselfrv.com/rv-dump-station-etiquette-rules/ The overall ideas are

1. Make sure your gate valves are shut tightly. Drips and spills are gross.

2. Don't spread germs.

3. Dump black tank first, then gray.

4. Pull forward, away from the dump area, to use the potable water hose. Avoid cross-contamination.

5. Be quick! Don't make others wait for you while you multitask.

SO far, this has gone well for us. We do think it's a little funny when we pull into a dump station next to a big rig. We are in and out so much faster because our tanks are tiny like our camper!

I hope you've learned something, and I hope it didn't bore you too much. It's a part of the camping experience, so I wanted to share!

Happy camping! (and dumping)

Peggy