RVing - When Poo goes wrong.

 

Dumping RV tanks shouldn't be this hard.

If you have ever travelled in an RV, you probably know that one of the downsides of the whole experience is dumping your greywater and blackwater tanks.  We have travelled with a variety of recreational vehicles over the years and I have had the unpleasant task of doing just that.  Every time.  And I can say with honesty that it isn't always problem free.  

This last point was clearly made at the conclusion of our last outing.  In fact, it has the honour of being the worst experience in my tank-clearing career, thus far anyways.  It started when we were finishing up at our last site in preparation to leave for home.  One of the last things that has to be done is to dump tanks.

I prefer to dump at the camping facility when possible, and our site had the appropriate connections to allow this.  We had a new trailer (we sold our motorhome last year) and a new hose kit (see lower left inset in the above photo).  The RV park requires that both ends of the hose be secure, one end attached to the RV and the other to the dump site.  So, I started by removing the hatch from the dump hookup and screwing my connector in.  Then I proceeded to attach the hose to that component, but nothing I did would fit.  After 10 or 15 minutes of frustrating attempts, I gave up and decided to dump at a familiar station near home.  However, I could not get the screwed connector out.  I tried force, used wrenches, and even pounded it a few times.  

At that point, all patience expired, I brought out the axe.  It came off, all right, but not in a way conducive to it being used again.  Now I was angry, but at least in a position to leave for home.  And so, off we went.

I pulled into a gas station that has a sanidump station.  I have used it before and it has always been pretty good, and at $5 a good price.  It took me a couple of tries to park the rig at just the right spot.  Once that was done, I was ready to go.  I pulled out the hose connection and went to get a key.

I should have known there was going to be problems when I discovered the price had doubled.

After paying and getting the key, I opened the hatch and inserted one end into the void.  In order to attach the other end, I had to unseal the plug on the trailer's receptacle.  The moment I did this my world turned brown.

It seemed that the RV came with both tank valves open.  I had assumed that they were closed while camping as that is always the state I leave them in.  Not in this case.  I had a flood of sewage escaping the vent and quickly had to replace the cover.  I closed both valves, put the end of the hose underneath and then reopened the plug; a small torrent exuded from the orifice but it quickly ebbed.  I then attached the end and followed normal procedures.  That went fine.

At the same moment, in the truck's cab, my wife was wondering why things got so smelly, as they are normally not that bad.  She had a good chuckle later on when I told her.

Anyways, after dumping, I went to wash up.  I had soap on my hands and turned the water on.  Nothing happened.  No water.  OK, so here I am, the complete antithesis of Mr. Clean, and I have no water.  I had some from camping in a blue container in the back of my truck, and I gingerly accessed it and cleaned up and cleaned up my hose.  Unfortunately, the area around the dump site was somewhat contaminated, but what can you do when there is no water?  I returned the key, washed up in the restroom, and skulked away.

If I thought my wife laughed hard at the first incident, she was practically rolling on the floor at the second.  The truck smelled.  I smelled, and it took half an hour in a bathtub to remove the vestiges of my encounter.

When poo goes wrong, it really goes wrong.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen

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