Portable Waste Holding Tank

[DC8Captain]

Would someone please educate me on how a portable waste tank is used? Even if you had a truck bed to transport the thing a 20 gal tank would weigh more than 160 lbs. You would have to have a ramp and a winch to get it onto the truck bed. If you tried to lift it with two people it would be very heavy and what if it slipped out of someone's grip you would run the risk of it splitting and having to call the local hazmat team. You see them in all the stores but I don't see why.

[DesertRat]

That's why they have wheels. You pull them like a wagon to the dump site. Might be in stores but sure don't see many out being used.

[DC8Captain]

Originally Posted by DesertRat

That's why they have wheels. You pull them like a wagon to the dump site. Might be in stores but sure don't see many out being used.

What really peaked my interest was a TT parked down the street this summer with one of those underneath it. I imagine you could pull it over to the outside sewer line clean-out port and empty it there. I have to say I was pretty stumped at the time. I'm also never going to camp close enough to the campground dump site to be wheeling it over there either. The farther from the dump site the better. ha ha

Thanks Mike

[DesertRat]

I agree, don't see a need for one. If you have a dump on your rig that means you have holding tanks. How do you fill one without over filling. What would you do once you took the drain hose off that tank.? Have you seen Robin Williams in RV. You might need to get out your lawn chairs & watch.

[wahoonc]

I have a 25 gallon one that I inherited. It only gets used at one particular campground we frequent. My gray tank on my Airstream was a whopping 10 gallons and had to be emptied just about daily. Most places I camp, grey water can be run out on the ground after dark. This particular one I could not. So the "blue boy" came in handy. Some of them have a hook that allows you to hitch it to the trailer ball to tow it. We towed ours with the golf cart over to the dump station. My current gray tank is only 28 gallons, we can just squeak through a weekend with that if we are very careful. Black tank is the same size and can go close to a week.

Aaron

[3wheeler]

We use one all the time. We camp locally at a couple of forest service campgrounds. Usually we stay the 14 day limit. We can stay that long on the black water tank but we usually have to dump the gray at least once. How do you keep from overfilling? You stop putting water in when it gets full.

[hddecker]

Originally Posted by DesertRat

I agree, don't see a need for one. If you have a dump on your rig that means you have holding tanks. How do you fill one without over filling. What would you do once you took the drain hose off that tank.? Have you seen Robin Williams in RV. You might need to get out your lawn chairs & watch.

[MartyG]

The alternative, of course, is to do what we did this year in St Augustine. The campground was full, the only thing available was water/elec. Right across the road were full-hookup sites. My neighbor alerted me one guy was leaving. Hmm., ought to be an hour at least before a new guy checks in. I went first, hooked up without WD bars, only had to raise the stabs. Unplug elec, disconnect water and leave hose in place. I was across the road in minutes, plugged into the drain and dumped. Neighbor pulled in as I pulled out. We JUST got back in our spots when a new guy pulled in across the road. Wonder if he smelled anything! LOL

[Redtail cruiser]

Originally Posted by Fdhealy4

Would someone please educate me on how a portable waste tank is used? Even if you had a truck bed to transport the thing a 20 gal tank would weigh more than 160 lbs. You would have to have a ramp and a winch to get it onto the truck bed. If you tried to lift it with two people it would be very heavy and what if it slipped out of someone's grip you would run the risk of it splitting and having to call the local hazmat team. You see them in all the stores but I don't see why.

They are used a lot by the Trailmanor owners, which are equipped with the Thetford Electro-Magic recirculating.toilet. They only handle six gallons with a lot of deodorant. Owners will dump with the blue boy tubs, rather than break the rig down, go dump, then go back and set the rig up again.
I chose to remove the Electro-magic stink-erator and replace it with a cassette style unit. That way I only had to dump once and do it in any campground, rest stop or gas station bathroom/pit toilet. This has worked well for us for the past few years, but now we're ready to upgrade to something with a little more convenience.

[hddecker]

Originally Posted by Redtail cruiser

They are used a lot by the Trailmanor owners, which are equipped with the Thetford Electro-Magic recirculating.toilet. They only handle six gallons with a lot of deodorant. Owners will dump with the blue boy tubs, rather than break the rig down, go dump, then go back and set the rig up again.
I chose to remove the Electro-magic stink-erator and replace it with a cassette style unit. That way I only had to dump once and do it in any campground, rest stop or gas station bathroom/pit toilet. This has worked well for us for the past few years, but now we're ready to upgrade to something with a little more convenience.

How long before we get composting toilets.

Just think, we could drive our big bad petroleum power trucks and still be tree huggers.

When your composter is full you can fertilize the trees.

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by hddecker

How long before we get composting toilets.

Just think, we could drive our big bad petroleum power trucks and still be tree huggers.

When your composter is full you can fertilize the trees.

I wouldn't hold my breath...

There is a thread over on the Lance board where I guy put a composting toilet in one of the smaller TT's. He uses it for hunting in the high elevations. I have staying in a couple of vacation cabins with them in the past. They take a bit of care to use properly, but seem to work well. If we get any more rain I may be looking into them for my house. Both septic systems are starting to burble. Which means the fields are saturated, which means the tanks will be full soon, and unfortunately they don't have dumping provisions.

Aaron