Dumping Waste Tanks

[Roger & Marcia S]

We have a 2008 27'RSB love the unit but hate the low discharge point. It is a big hassle to dump the tanks when the dump point is above the discharge on the motorhome. We are thinking about a system like the Thetford Sani-Con Tank Buddy. Has anyone tried one or know anyone who has and where they satisfied with it. Any other ideas for the problem would be great.

Thanks
Roger

[whemme]

If you were to look under the coach in the area of the gray and black water tanks, you will see why the discharge outlet is that low. It has to be lower than the bottom of those tanks in order for gravity to drain them fully.

[al1florida]

We have a 2008 27'RSB love the unit but hate the low discharge point. It is a big hassle to dump the tanks when the dump point is above the discharge on the motorhome. We are thinking about a system like the Thetford Sani-Con Tank Buddy. Has anyone tried one or know anyone who has and where they satisfied with it. Any other ideas for the problem would be great.

Thanks
Roger

I had to Google "Thetford Sani-Con Tank Buddy" to see that is another name for a macerator pump.

I use a macerator pump when parked at our daughters house and pump our waste tanks down a garden hose about 75' to the sewer clean out opening. It works really well in this situation.

The one drawback to the macerator pump is that you don't get a rapid flush of the black water tank. I feel the "rapid flush" helps push the solid debris from the bottom of the tank. Especially when you add 5 or 10 gallons of water back into the tank through the black water flush and then open the drain valve. I would be concerned that constant use of the pump would lead to a build up of the solids in the bottom of the tank.

[thestoloffs]

We had the factory install a Sani-Con permanent mount pump, from the start, because we felt that Marilynn could manage the smaller hose by herself.

It works fine, especially in situations where we need to add a second 20' extension hose because we have parked "backwards" to accommodate our rear wheelchair lift. (I'd hate to have to manage 40' of "stinky slinky" on a gravity feed!)

Because of the low placement of the discharge valves, the feed hose to the pump hangs a bit lower than we'd prefer (for purely aesthetic reasons), but we've never had any problems with it. It also means that Gerry usually sits down while performing the process, so that he can watch the clear hose elbow and see when to switch the pump off.

Here's a tip from a Thetford rep that the literature doesn't advise: Once you've dumped the black tank, with the SaniCon, you can leave your black valve open and open the grey valve -- thus backflushing the black tank!

We dump the black water first, then backflush and dump the "semi-black" water twice, then finally dump the remaining grey water. The whole process takes about 30 minutes -- not recommended if you've got a waiting line at the dump station!

We have noticed one interesting phenomenon: The only time we've ever seen it appear to "block up" is ... trying to dump on the last day after long stays at a campground, especially in the rain!

If you're unsure whether it's for you, consider the portable model. It can connect onto your discharge outlet and use alligator clips on your house battery.