Grey water disposal
We are new to motor homing and have a question regarding disposal of grey water. We are told not to travel with full tanks but have recently stayed on a site with no grey water disposal. We have seen some people connect a pipe to their grey waste and just let it run out into hedges or undergrowth whilst parked on site. Is this normal/approved practice?
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Your grey water can always be sluiced down the chemical disposal point, even if you have to use a bucket. On some sites, especially on the Continent, the disposal of grey water on the ground is forbidden. When it's warm the water will smell and leave waste deposits which could attract vermin.
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Best thing to do is ask about grey water disposal on CL type sites if no MH waste point. Many are happy for you to irrigate hedgerows and shrubs. Polite to ask though rather than assume. Goes for Caravan grey waste as well. Failing that, its a bucket job! There are lots of threads about this on forum Tufty!
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To save me leaving the pitch if we are on site for a few days I move some of the water from the waste tank into a Fiamma container and take that to where ever the emptying point. Did the site not say where waste water could be disposed of. If you are on small sites or those that predominately take touring caravans they might not have a dedicated motorhome waste but the owner of the site should be able to advise.
Just as an aside we have just stayed on a site on the IOW where all pitches were serviced, I am an immediate fan!!!
David
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We will often put a bucket under the waste outlet and empty it discretely in the hedges but it depends on the site and weather conditions. Hot, dry weather with little vegetation means less chance of the waste being absorbed into the ground and could create smells.
Having said that, we occupied a pitch in hot, dry, southern France just after a tent had left. From the smell it was obvious that the occupants had been using the pitch as a toilet, however, despite the lack of rain the smell dissipated quite quickly.
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Who has told you not to travel with full tank/s, Tufted? Is it a payload issue?
Our normal method of travelling is to set off with full fresh and empty waste then, over subsequent days, the balance of fresh to waste gradually reverses. We certainly don’t drain the tanks before hitting the road. One advantage of a MH over a caravan is that it removes the need to constantly fill and empty water containers and is therefore self contained.
Good advice above about checking with the site owner re waste disposal. We carry a hose to pipe it into any waste drain if all else fails.
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You might find some small sites like CLs are off main sewerage etc so a septic tank or soak away might be in use. Often the request will be for grey waste to go in a hedgerow etc (but not a water course or river bank.) Always best to check with the site owners. Agree with other comments too, you'll find out the best way to do things the more you use your van, enjoy your travels.
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Wonder why you were told not to run with full tanks. If you are thinking of going further afield then you may need to fill your tank when you find a suitable tap. You should fill up with water, diesel and everything else that you take with you and go and get it weighed. You need to know the weight on the front wheels, weight on back wheels and total weight. From that you can work out if you can drive with full tanks.
You will find a plate that gives you maximum axle weights on the vehicle.
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During the firemans' strike a number of years ago the Home Office Green Goddess fire engines were deployed crewed by army personel. Though designed primarily as mobile pumps for moving water over long distances in a "daisy-chain" they also had an 400 gallon onboard tank and a couple of hose reels.
After about a week of operation the appliances started to be involved in a number of scary handling incidents when travelling, including at least one roll-over. It was dicovered that to increase road speed the crews had been only filling the tanks to half capacity to reduce the weight. Hence on corners when the driver tried to turn, the mass of water moved in the tank and upset the ballance.
The moral is if you want to run with tanks that are neither full nor empty ensure that they are well baffled inside!
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Have we helped, Tufted?
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I have seen continental motorhomes at the NEC show where they state that you should only fill fresh water to 25% for travelling. Since some manufacturers are notorious for offering totally unrealistic payloads (large vans with 3500kg limit such as Burstner Ixeo TL734 for example which has 120 litre but only 20 litre for travelling), the advice on tank filling seems designed to prevent excessive loading. On a 100 litre tank it would save 75kg to travel a quarter full and many continental vans have much larger tanks. Dubious sales practice I would say.
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