Always, always, always... tighten your rv plumbing fixtures...

This is a short post that is going to save someone an awful lot of money.

We didn't know this piece of advice, but now we know it well. Before I give the advice, which is already in the title of this post, I'm going to list several RV 'events' in which you need to practice a little bit of preventative maintenance...

List of RV events which can cause plumbing problems...
* Turn off water (and of course turn it back on... eventually)
* Freezing weather
* Moving the RV (logically, turning off the water would cover this)
* Receiving your new RV

After ANY of the above events occur and you put water pressure back on the RV water system you need to do the following 15 minutes of work to save you 1000's of dollars of rv repair bills.
* Hand tighten or snug all of the water fittings. You don't have to be super tight, but just make sure they aren't so loose as to not matter.
* With a flashlight, look at every water fitting after the water pressure has been returned. Look for drips.

If you do these two things, you will avoid water leaks in your RV... at least the preventable ones.

Open Range 399BHS black and gray tank information

You can't find this information from Open Range so I'll put it here. I wrote Open Range AND I also have tested enough so that I know.

There are TWO black tanks and two gray tanks.


The FRONT gray tank connects to the shower and the bathroom sink.

The REAR gray tank connects to the rear sink and the kitchen sink.

The FRONT black tank connects to the front toilet. It also has a black tank rinse.

The REAR black tank connects to the rear toilet. It does NOT have a black tank rinse.

Hope this little tidbit answers your questions!

RV Basics : Blank Tank Treatment : Orange Power from Camco

Sheri and I tried the TST Orange Power from Camco. It smelled awful all by itself. Sheri characterized it as smelling like garbage, and that is BEFORE we did anything but melt the corn starch material bag in clean water.

I personally do not have a sense of smell (it is true - none at all) so I can't comment. But I trust Sheri's nose.

We cannot in good faith encourage anyone to purchase this product and we will not do so ever again in the future. Someone would have to tell us we got a bad batch or tell us we did something wrong in using it before we'd touch it again.

I can tell you the ingredients read AWFULLY SIMILAR to baking powder and salt, although I don't think that is what it truly is. The orange color is completely artificial - marketing concept only. Then there is something called a 'bittering agent'. I'm not a chemist so I cannot comment.
 

TST Orange Power from Camco

RV Basics : Fruit Flies, Gnats, and Flies

Recently (summer in Texas 2010) we have been having a few fruit flies in our RV.

There is only one problem though. We don't have any fruit lying around. We freeze all of ours. Sheri uses it to make me 100% fruit smoothies - more on that later - I'll post her recipe. I actually feel better when I drink them.

So they aren't fruit flies.

Clues :
* They are about the size of fruit flies.
* They seem to be congregating in the bathroom.
* They even seem to emanate from the bathroom.

Oh oh.

So before I go further, I have to digress. People have to live. They eat, drink, and breath at a minimum. As a direct result of those items, we pee, we poo, we sweat, and we exhale. Yet, we are so hung up on stuff we fail to really talk openly about a couple of the things that are about 1/3 of the major operations of our bodies. The rest of this article has to discuss things on the poo/pee side. You've been warned.

Back to those flies.

I did a little research on the web and I've found that there exists such a thing as 'drain flies'. They don't seem that uncommon. Here is what I've learned.
* People don't think you should leave your gray water valves open (black should always be closed) even when connected to a septic or sewer. It seems some people think you can.
* I saw mention that if you put a trap (a loop in your drain hose) such that there is no direct AIR path that will keep drain flies out. However, I saw one place that said that the drain fly larvae think traps are ridiculous and can swim.
* I saw mention of insecticides, but nothing very conclusive.
* Someone said drain flies are dirty and carry germs although they probably don't know. However, knowing where they have been, I really don't want them flying around my face.
* People in many places spoke about RV toilets with overflow returns having them live in those areas.
* Drain flies can get in your RV if your black tank is vented. Ours is not. Honestly I wished it was. Send me an email if you wonder why it matters.

Here are some links to articles on the subject:
* Seemingly well linked reference on several types of flies.
* Two conversations (one and two) that are representative of the issue.

Here is what I did...
* I drained the black tank immediately. I then filled it up and had a modest amount of bleach in it ( I do not use this often as I think it is bad to put in the septic/sewers ).
* We allowed this to sit for two or three days and filled up the tank even more.
* I now keep the gray water valves closed as well as much as possible.

Here is what I've noticed.
* Flies are gone.
* Flies have been gone for 3 weeks now.

Here are my conclusions.
* Bleach is bad for flies (although I can't say this was the primary thing that took care of them)
* Draining the black tank often is good (although I can't rule out that bleach killed the flies - but you SHOULD drain the tank often).
* Keeping the gray valves closed is a good idea. (Again, it might be better black tank management that is doing it.)

Here is one belief I have which I cannot prove : You can get drain flies from the RV park septic. This makes sense to me and I can't help think it is true. I should ask around... Do you have an opinion? Do you have FACT?

RV Humor : The Black and Gray Water Drain Hose

This may be one of my shortest posts in history! But playing on the internet and looking at some articles around the proper management of the gray/black water drain pipe I found a really great bit of terminology.

The most common RV drain hose is a spring wire which is coiled and wrapped with plastic. It is basically very similar to a plastic covered slinky. They are anywhere from 5-20 feet in length and condense down to  perhaps a space as small as 2 feet long. They normally store in the bumper of the RV or camper but I've since found that the bumpers are really good at destroying the drain hose. I'll post a solution in the near future for that.

But here is your RV term of the day which defines the RV drain hose : Stinky Slinky!

RV Basics : A story about a broken bathroom faucet

[ Update ]

We did actually do this twice. The faucet I picked at Home Depot was the CHEAPEST known to mankind. It lasted maybe 4 months.

We replaced it the next time with the SECOND cheapest faucet in Home Depot.

It pays to get just a little bit better than the cheapest.

M

[ Original ]

When you start reading up on RV's, you'll find there are lots of 'experts' who start talking about very sophisticated things like reverse osmosis water filtration systems, automatic satellite TV systems, and automatic rv leveling and rv stabilization systems and so forth.

I'm not one of those guys. I still wonder "Hey my rv faucet is broke - how do I fix it?"

And I say this because it did break! One thing we're learning is that much of the equipment on an RV is unique to an RV. So when the faucet broke - like you can see in the picture below - after the RV dealer's normal business hours we started to panic because we had to turn off ALL of our water.

I'm going to pass onto you what I've learned from this experience.

From RV Park and Campground Review videos, RV basics, and travel stories with Sheri and Marlan

We actually decided to remove the rv faucet rather than replace the valve on the cold water side. When we took it apart, there were some numbers on the side of the faucet, which you can see Sheri's finger pointing out. I think if I knew much more about plumbing, that would have helped me, but in this case it didn't help much.

The MOST IMPORTANT information was actually that the hot/cold valves were exactly 4 (four) inches apart. That turns out to be a kind-of, sort-of standard. Read on.

From RV Park and Campground Review videos, RV basics, and travel stories with Sheri and Marlan

Because of the 4 inch centers, I was able to locate, in Home Depot, a suitable replacement faucet for our rv. I took a chance (because I did not bring the broken faucet to Home Depot), that the new one had identical fittings underneath the sink (can you see the two plastic inlets with threading above).

And it did have identical fittings. The rest of the installation was pretty straightforward. I was able to hand tighten the fittings and they did not leak.

From RV Park and Campground Review videos, RV basics, and travel stories with Sheri and Marlan

So here is my short summary :

• RV sinks MIGHT use standard plumbing fittings - ours did.
• A 4" center-to-center faucet is a standard - or at least you could find one in a Home Depot.
• You can make this repair for under $15.
• Take the broken faucet with you when you go shopping.

RV Basics : Clean Pure Filtered Water and a review of a Walmart Filter

In an earlier post about an RV Water Filter we mentioned that we purchased it because the water at many parks tastes funny. Honestly, it is probably that it just tastes different, but we did purchase a filter for Puma because of the taste of the water.

You can see the filter in the link above. I'll describe it here though. It is a blue filter about 3-4 inches in diameter and maybe 12-14 inches long. It screws into the RV park or campground water supply and then you screw your water hose onto it and you have filtered water for your RV.

So we've been using it for awhile (and haven't gotten a new one) which is about 4 months. Here is what I've learned and would like to pass on to YOU!

First, we do not recommend an RV-wide water filter like we have shown in the link. Here is why (see cons) worded as pros and cons to the incoming line water filter :

Pros :

• Filtered water is EASY. You just hook it into your incoming supply and you are done.

Cons :

• I don't see a way to tell when the filter is 'used up'. So you just have to guess. Since it is outside and you never think about it until that last drink of water before going to bed, then you never do anything about it.
• A filter on the incoming line cuts down the available water pressure in my opinion and limits the flow noticably.
• It is incredibly wasteful of resources (in a small way) to filter the water for the toilet, handwashing, and your shower. So you really don't want/need to do the whole RV.
• Your filtered water isn't chilled so you still have to put your water in the fridge to get chilled filtered drinking water.

Sheri and I have ended up purchasing and so far, very much enjoying, a Pur pitcher that filters the water. The water tastes great and its chilled. And our water pressure is much better now.

RV Basics : List of Enzymes for RV Black Water Treatment

[ This article will be updated from time to time. ]

I thought I would provide a short list of different enzymes you can get to treat your RV black water tank to reduce odors and prevent build-up of waste. I am not endorsing these, but I'm putting this list together as a service so if this is the method YOU utilize you will have a handy reference.

I may have accidentally gotten a deodorizer only crossed with the enzyme type as the manufacturers label these to get people to purchase them not necessarily to be honest.

• RidX - Not really for RV's but I see several RV owners saying they use it.
• Camco Orange Power
• Thetford Aqua Kem
• TST RV Toilet Treatment
• Odorlos
• Ecosmart
• Quickscents 
• Nature’s Whey RV
• Enviro-Chem RV
• Super Digest It.
• Roebic RV
• Sealand
• Valterra Toilet Treatment
• Walex

RV Basics : Black Water Holding Tank Treatment Strategies

If you search the web for information on the treatment of RV Black Water tanks, you'll find several strategies listed. You'll see lots of people insulting each other and saying they know this and they know that and that the other person's strategy is very poor. Usually, they will insult an alternate strategy and then say "this works for me".

In over 8 hours of non-stop web surfing I found ONE and ONLY one person who actually took the time to objectively ask HIMSELF the question : Is my treatment plan working? He did it by inserting a small camera up into his black water tank and looking around. That made me smile, but at least this guy KNOWS.

This article is not to completely describe the strategies, but is meant to provide context to information people are seeing on the web. In follow up articles, I'll go into more details about different strategies.

Let's do put a single FACT on the table here: Black Water tanks are simply holding tanks and are not designed for TREATING waste. The next fact is that the toilet simply drops waste (I do not plan on being more descriptive) directly into the black water tank. At the far end of the black water tank, there is a valve to drain the tank. The tank is designed with a slope. All roads lead to the valve.

Black water tank goals :

• Do not make the RV smell.
• Always drain reliably.
• Sensors read reliably.
• Related to the prior two : Waste does not build up on the sides/bottom of the tank.
• Honestly this SHOULD be a goal : Do not hurt the environment.

Most strategies for treatment hinge on the goals above. The following are strategies that seem to be in common deployment, with little empirical evidence they work.

Listing of Strategies for managing the black water tank for an RV. No particular order  :

• Water Only. Just use lots and lots of water.
• Pro - simple and probably does work. Since cleaning the tank is usually involved the tank should stay free of gunk.
• Con - very, very, very wasteful of water. 
• Geo Method. A concoction of dish soap, water softener and sometimes other stuff. Also recommends using lots of water with this method.
• Pro - Probably works, but maybe no better than water only? Unproven.
• Con - Chemicals. Lots of water. Unproven.
• Deodorants. Typically chemicals of some sort. Lots of discussion about avoiding formaldehyde. For this article, just assume that none of these have formaldehyde.
• Pro - Simple. Easy to understand how it works - it reduces the smells.
• Con - Could be bad chemicals. Might allow gunk to build up.
• Waste Digesters. Supposed to eat the gunk and liquify it. Supposed to use the same bacteria that are in  the environment to eat the waste and make it non-smelly, non-sticky-to-the-side, and easy to drain off. In my mind this makes sense, but.
• Pro - If it really works, then you would have clean, non-stinky tanks.
• Con - Unproven. No evidence found online but lots of stuff to BUY! Also, when bacteria eat, the put out smells too. 
• Macerator. Imagine a toilet that when you flush takes the waste and basically runs it through a blender. Well, that is what it is. A $600 toilet!!! On one hand this also makes a lot of sense, but I'm not there yet.
• Pro - doesn't address stinky. But sticky-to-the-tank and easy draining seems obvious to me.
• Con - $600 plus the humiliation of using a blender on your dookey.

Well, there you have it, my outline of the basic strategies and why people do them. Soon, I'll start trying to fill in some of the details and along with that some more empirical evidence. I just don't accept some cranky person flinging insults at alternate methods saying that "his method works". That is baloney. RV'ers need to set a better example anyway. I hope you (the person reading this right now) do not flame people like that and act that way on the web.

RV Basics : Reducing Air Bubbles When Hooking up Water

So I'm sitting outside under our RV awning with Sheri and we're watching the "harbor pilot" help another rig pull into its back-in slot. [ Aside : why do back-in slots cost less? they are better but for the only small hassle of backing in the trailer. ]

As we're watching the "harbor pilot" who is drunk offers a little tip, what I would call a mini-tip, that isn't too bad of a tip. It isn't earth shattering, but it is interesting in a tiny way.

Here is the tip : PRIOR to connecting the water hose to the RV, run it full of water by holding the unattached end really high in the air. After it is full of water, turn off the water and connect it to the RV.

Now you won't have near as much air in the system.

Sheri and I will probably try this someday. It won't really make a big difference, but it is just one of those little tiny itsy bitsy things we thought we would pass along.

Enjoy.

RV Basics : The Camco SideWinder Sewer Support

For a good while, Sheri and I did not have anything with our RV black water sewer hose to prop it up or help it drain. Partly because getting started in RV'ing is a little expensive, but partly because in the parks we had visited must have had exceptional drainage.

We finally broke down and got a little thing called a SideWinder from a company called Camco. I wouldn't call this a review. Honestly, how much can go wrong or what could a person write about a plastic sewer hose holder!

I will say that when the sewer hose is empty the hose and the holder can and will blow over. We fixed the problem with a couple of tent stakes.

In case you've not seen them, I've posted some pictures, so you can get an idea.

RV Basics : RV Plumbing System Basics

For anyone NEW to RV's here is a little information about RV plumbing. This is a very basic article, but for people who don't know anything about an RV and are beginners, this would be helpful. I hope it helps you.

The most important to know is that RV's are designed with the idea that you can setup the RV without any hookups for a couple of days and simply 'camp'. This has several names, such as boondocking or dry camping.

Their electrical system is designed to facilitate dry camping.

So is the plumbing system.

Most every RV has three tanks 1) Black, 2) Gray, and 3) Fresh.

Fresh water tank is for holding fresh water for drinking and other purposes. If you use the fresh water tank it is important that you treat it very carefully for the obvious reason that you'll be drinking from it. Sheri and I have not yet dry camped so we have not used the fresh water tank and always have a hookup to a water source. I'll write more on the fresh water tank care when I actually do it someday. If you use the fresh water tank, there is also a pump that will provide pressure to the water.

Gray water tank is a holding tank for the 'used water' that is NOT from the toilet. We've noticed that this tank fills very fast. We fill ours so that we can use this tank to flush out the system when we drain the black water tank, but you really can just leave the gray water tank valve open all the time if your RV is connected to a sewer/septic system.

Black water tank is a holding tank for the water that comes from the toilet. This tank you keep the valve closed and only open it to dump in one big 'flush'. If you don't do that your tank will build up. You need that flushing concept to keep things going. This tank is not designed to do any treatment, it simply holds the refuse until you can connect it to a proper dump station. People do put enzymes and other things into the tank, but everything you do is designed to simply assist in keeping the tank clean (you don't want refuse to build up on your sensors and give a useless reading) and not to treat the refuse. You must use special toilet paper with an RV that is designed to break apart rapidly.

All for now on this very, very basic article.

RV Plumbing : Sheri's surprise in the shower

Recently,  I was relaxing and Sheri was showering when all of a sudden Sheri started saying "Marlan, turn the outside water off!" over and over again. Since that is really easy to do, I went outside and did it.Quickly too.

When I returned inside I found out that the COLD water faucet in the shower literally 'shot' off its handle and ICY cold water was shooting on the shower door. Sheri couldn't turn it off AND Sheri couldn't open the shower door to escape the cold surprise.

RV materials seem to NOT be as high quality as materials in a stationary house. I believe that is for a number of sensible reasons like reduced weight, reduced usage (not counting full-timers), lower perceived needed cost since an RV is considered to be an EXTRA item a person buys, and so forth.

Fixing an RV hot or cold water faucet :

When I looked at the shower faucet, it did not look broken at all. In fact, I believe that the units will loosen over time as you turn the faucet on and off and they will eventually be loose. So as you shower or use any washers in the RV, you might check occasionally and give them a tighten. We noticed that things seemed a little more loose after the RV has been moved.

As for the faucet, I could not see how to put it together so I had to disassemble the HOT water and look at that faucet and once I did that I was able to assemble both back together. Nothing but a screwdriver was needed. I won't put any pictures or diagrams here because many faucets will be different. My recommendation is to simply remove the 'other' valve and examine to see how to reassemble the one you are fixing.