Motorhome with Wastemaster
As a comparative newby to motorhomes (30 years as a caravanner) I am always curious about what other people do, without being deliberately nosey I hasten to add! On a Club site at the weekend (very rare for us) the small motorhome next to us (about 6m maximum) had a Wastemaster under the waste tank outlet. I cannot for the life of me imagine why anybody would do that so perhaps somebody could enlighten me? Am I missing a trick? As I was anti-Wastemaster anyway with the caravan, finding them too big and bulky, I wonder where it would be stored in transit and what the advantage might be.
Comments
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If I know I am staying on a site for a lengthy period,a week or more, I will take a wastemaster to save moving off pitch. I have previously carried it strapped to my rear ladder with bungie cords but if I am towing a car I put it in the boot of the car. I suppose if you were going somewhere to stay and no night stops were involved you could carry it inside the motorhome without any inconvenience as it would come straight out at your destination.
peedee
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I personally would consider one of those smaller makes with wire handle. Very much a box shape and easier to store. Not as easy to pull I imagine but with a lesser capacity might be OK. It would save lifting covers on some sites to empty for one thing and might be useful therefore on some sites and maybe moreso on some CLs.
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Good point about CLs TG, it can also apply to some sites. I get round that problem by permanently carrying two collapsible canvas buckets for occasional use and at least use one to drain off some waste to take to a disposal point at the same time as I empty the loo.
peedee
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We have only once needed to empty by draining into a bucket and would not contemplate carrying anything as bulky as a Wastemaster.
If you can't access a dedicated MHSP, it's very possible to empty into any waste drain by attaching a hose to the outlet.
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I have a Wastemaster that has been sitting in my shed for the past five years, since we changed to a motorhome!!! However we still take with us the 23 lts Fiamma grey waste container which we used to take with us when we caravanned abroad (simply because many Continental waste points require a container to be lifted about a foot) If we are staying on site for more than a couple of days I use it to empty the main waste tank to save moving the motorhome. Whether you need such a container may well depend on whether you use your onboard facilities and the size of your waste water tank.
David
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We've got a collapsible bucket which we occasionally use and also a small 23 litre black waste container. Plus a small fold up trolley which comes in handy on rallies etc., anywhere where we might have to carry things a distance. None of them take up much room. Usually we manage without, the bucket gets used the most.
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When I was at a C&MC site a motorhome arrived and the owner filled up his aquaroll then syphoned the water into his MH tank and continued to fill his tank this way for the week. Not sure why you would do this as there's a MH service point onsite. He also used a wastemaster I suppose so didn't need to move off pitch.
Only owned the motorhome since May and have always used the site facilities to fill the tank with fresh water and used the MH waste point to empty.
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We carry a couple of the collapsible buckets too, mainly used for filling with fresh water when abroad and we are stopping for longer on site, we have a long flat hose as well but sometimes the taps are to far away, with the Bailey pump in system the buckets come in handy, the waste tap however is very low so we would have to just about collapse the bucket to get it under, wouldn't get much in it
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I can't quite grasp why you need any devices to get rid of waste water - unless you haven't got a waste water tank fitted to your MH.
We have a 100 litre fresh water tank and a 90 litre waste water tank.
When we run out of water (remember some will have been drunk (cups of tea/coffee) and some will go into the toilet cassette) we know it's time to top one up and empty the other before it overflows.
A short 10 minute trip to the tap and waste outlet facility and job done for another four or five days.
Why do those with a decent size waste tank feel the need to faff about emptying their water containers on a daily basis and carry water from the tap to their MH when is doesn't seem necessary?
If you're on a site for many days a trip in the MH to get water will give the engine a turn over, handbrake won't lock solid and the tyres won't get a 'flat spot' through standing in one place too long.
I appreciate Caravanners who change to Motorhomes will probably have the ingrained habit of getting rid and replenishing water on a regular basis but most Motorhomes don't need the same amount of attention to the water situation as those with a Caravan.
Surely the less work you do, as you're on holiday, the better – not find work to do unless absolutely necessary.
We are going away tomorrow - water topped up, gas cylinders topped up, fuel topped up, fridge topped up, wine cabinet topped up – and finding any extra work does not figure highly on my agenda for the next week.
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I carry the fiamma waste tank because I don’t want to drive round to the service point, or if leaving, would rather not have to queue and wait at the service point, BUT, the tank takes up space, although I can still get everything in the MH, and the waste tap is too low to put the waste tank under the tap so I have to decant into a collapsible bowl (Aldi).
I usually need to empty every 3rd day.
I also carry a 3 metre flexible hose in case I’m on a fully serviced pitch.
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The modern diesel exhaust with a particulate filter etc are best driven for a distance once started to reach maximum operating temperature. A quick trip to fill and empty does`nt really fulfill this requirement, so those who top up and carry away are probably doing the right thing.
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I don't use a motorhome. But I imagine that to take the vehicle to dump waste means perhaps putting the kettle away, clearing the cups or glasses perhaps, unplugging EHU, driving off ramps and moving these aside, driving to disposal point, perhaps lifting a cover, opening waste tap, waiting until it drains, driving back around site, place on pitch, place levelling ramps, drive up said ramps, plug in EHU and put out kettle again. I suspect some find it easier to walk 50 yards to a disposal point and back.
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You are right EasyT, if we're on a site for any length of time we just empty and fill as required using the nearest ordinary service points. On off site rallies and some CLs there are no M/H points anyway so we adjust to whatever is there. We always arrive with an empty waste tank and a full water tank so we don't do a lot of emptying and filling.
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100 litres of water weigh 100Kg, so a full tank is quite a bit of payload to carry about. We fill up until our ancient analogue meter says we're 'in the green', we then replenish as needed using a watering can. Our waste water tank is external to the heated habitation area ( it's an entry-level Hymer) so we use a plastic jerrycan to collect and dispose of grey water in normal temperatures. On our first visit to the Alpes in winter ( daytime temperatures -10C) we had the waste water outlet permanently draining into the jerrycan. We then discovered that we couldn't empty the solid block of ice! We thawed it out in the heated shower block. Tip is to use an open-sided plastic bucket so that you can empty out the ice block.
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I guess if you are staying put for a while it kind of makes sense, although on the occasions that we stay on site for a while we eventually have to move off pitch to visit a supermarket. We do have stacked flexible buckets which stow away and we can put other things inside. If we are near to a suitable disposal point then the bucket goes under the waste outlet. A bit different to a Wastemaster though!
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again, horses for courses...and different sites/durations (for us) result in different 'methods'....
most popular....using site showers, we can last 10 days or so on one fresh tank and one waste tank.....process is dump waste on way put as we wont be staying on this type of site (in the uk) for this length of time.
long term staying abroad....usually serviced pitch in the price so process is connect up to waste drain with long flexible pipe.
THS (or CL) site, showering in the van water lasts 5/6 days, if staying longer and with remote waste dump point, process is (possibly) run flexible hose into hedge (with owners permission).
if all else fails.....resort to Fiamma waste container.....sold wastemaster a while back....
BTW, we also have a lowish waste outlet but have a screw on short waste hose.....by laying the hose across the Fiamma and down into the hole, this gets over the issue and water will happily flow 'uphill' through the pipe into the Fiamma....
ill try and do a piccy....
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We now use a bucket and empty on regular basis . after a two days on our first trip to dordogne using waste tank there a really awful smell in m/home .and it took ages to clean and get rid of the smell .now empty about 10 litres of fresh water and cleaning agent .into waste tank let that slosh about in tank .empty when we get home .no more smell thanks to advice of fellow m/ homers
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AS you say, Brue, even some Club sites etc have no facilities and there is some sort of nursery rhyme about them !!
The drain / refill point at my favourite Scottish site is at the top of the bank and, even tho' I will be on and off site I'll NEVER dump waste grey water just because it's convenient. Up and down the grassy bank does keep my sugar levels in limits
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I tried the bucket method with our caravan when we we away the other week .... I couldn't keep up, it was almost always full (and some). As it was, the field was sodden so another couple of gallons didn't really make much difference.
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I use a wastemaster and also have a 25 litre fresh water container as well. The wastemaster is handy if there is frost or below zero temps. I can get the water out of my system. Also saves me moving the MH when waste tank is full, but the main reason is I don't want to queue at the MH service point on arrival to fill up and certainly not queue to empty my waste when I'm ready to leave. This way I can fill and empty at my leisure.
Also, if wild camping I have the benefit of extra portable tanks to take more fresh and hold more grey water until I can empty and fill.
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