ahattar
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Posts posted by ahattar
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Ha. Some of us move quicker than others I guess. Your job sounds like an hour max.
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btw, did you notice the size of your tank when you pulled it out?
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I think you mentioned you removed the tank for more storage. Did you make a post for that? I'm not gonna pull the floor for this, then its getting into more work than its worth. If anything, I might just use the existing black tank for non potable water just cause it would be fast and easy. I know some of the ausi overland trailers do that with two seperate water tanks.
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Well, looks like this is all a waste of time unless I pull out the existing black tank. I spoke with a lady that manufactures these tanks. If they're not certified its because they ultimately don't know what the tank is made of because its made of recycled materials. Could be high or low carbon levels and can definitely leach into your water. This is the same for ABS.
Side note that will annoy me until I get clarification. Oliver clearly advertises 18.5 gallons but it says very clearly on the tank, 15 gallons.
I'm still gonna look into putting a potable tank in. Would at least make plumbing the composting toilet easy.
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8 hours ago, Overland said:
I have to quote this as famous last words, but I’m eager to see what you come up with.
Ha! You sound like my wife when I say an hour. Notice I said a couple of hours. The vast majority of the work is already done, don't even need to make any tank penetrations. I'm just trying to get some details from the tank manufacture before I start. I'm talking to the "tank expert" today where oliver buys tanks.
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On 3/9/2020 at 4:14 PM, SeaDawg said:
There are some smaller trailers and boats out there with only one waste tank. I believe Airstream's nest is one of them, probably because it was originally designed to carry a portapotty or cassette toilet, though it now has a standard rv toilet, flushing to a very small combined grey/black. My understanding is that in these joint systems, the single tank is designated as black, and has to be dumped in a designated dump station. I don't know what the argument would be for you, with solids directed to the composting nh, but I can say I probably wouldn't welcome grey with urine in my garden. Yes, I know human urine is supposedly 99 per cent sterile. 😁
The other thing is, over the years, I have found grey and black tankage capacity more limiting than fresh water capacity. I supplement the fresh tank with potable water in several square, stacking 5 gallon jugs with a spigot for refilling water bottles, making coffee, cooking, even heating water in a tea kettle to do dishes. With these methods, and navy showers, using cg sinks, and using the cg toilets and showers when possible, we can really stretch time between dumps, and taking on fresh.
Just my thoughts. We don't (as yet) have a composting toilet in either the rv or the boat, so still just thinking/pondering.
Looking forward to seeing what you decide to do, and photos of your implementation.
Sherry
For us its very simple. When we're out dry camping for weeks at a time in places where a drive to get more fresh water is a 200 mile round trip, the only thing we can't get more of is water. With a composting toilet we can dump anywhere as long as its composted, though my wife and I can get 3 weeks out of one toilet load pretty easily. Grey water even with urine, we can dump anywhere. Having 60+ gallons of fresh water without having to pack more stuff in the bed of the pickup and without having to pump it into the trailer is pretty darn convenient. And the more I look at doing it, the easier it looks. I can't see it taking more than a couple hours to setup.
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On 3/8/2020 at 9:31 PM, John E Davies said:
The two waste tanks are ABS (black plastic, like most sewer pipes) and only the fresh water tank is poly.
John DaviesSpokane WAThe black tank is not ABS, its black poly and the grey tank is grey poly. The difference being that the black and grey are not certified potable.
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7 hours ago, John E Davies said:
No, you are putting words in my mouth.
I said to tee into the line that exits the bottom of the fresh tank. That line will allow the full black tank to gravity feed through the lower port into the empty fresh tank when your new ball valve is opened. The pump has nothing to do with transferring water by this method.
NOTE: Older Ollies that have not been modified (like mine and some others) use this lower blue line as a suction supply for the pump. (The upper fitting with line removed is the tank FILL port.) Newer or modded Ollies use a new third syphon line exiting the top of the tank. This change allows use of (almost) the full 30 gallons instead of sucking air with 10 gallons remaining.
DO NOT PLUG THE FRESH TANK OVERFLOW!!! Nonono! You could explode your tank.
You must add a BIG overflow to the black tank, just like the fresh tank one, so you will not rupture it while filling especially when the ball valve at the gravity feed line is closed. None of these tanks can accept 60 psi and survive. Not even 10 psi, I suspect.
I suppose you could possibly fill both tanks from the black rinse port, but that would be way WAY slower than filling the fresh tank through its own port. Gravity feeding through a 1/2” pipe will probably take as much as half an hour. There is only about 3 inches of height difference to provide head pressure.
Are you quite sure you want to do this? No offense intended, but I am getting some bad vibes....
John Davies
Spokane Wa
Settle down there big John. I know you fancy yourself the expert of all things in the world and this forum fills voids in your life, but you need not be so dramatic. I've seen several of your posts and you are always so matter of fact and dramatic. Chill out man. I didn't put words in your mouth, I simply forgot a question mark and assumed you were saying things that made no sense. Don't worry, nobody will hold you liable for anything other than speaking too much and trying to prove how smart you think you are. I got back on this post because you spend an unhealthy amount of time poking around your trailer and thought it might save me some time. It hasn't. In the future, if you think you're feeling "bad vibes", thats actually everybody around you being incredibly annoyed......my guess is on the forums but more importantly in real life! Take care and remember, settle down!
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2 hours ago, John E Davies said:
There are a number of fresh water lines near the water pump, the line at the very bottom of main fresh tank would be my choice to tee into. You might have to disconnect and move some other lines to get in there. You will need a manual ball valve where you can reach it easily, say under the front dinette, so you can leave that closed until the big fresh tank is nearly empty. Otherwise the black tank will just drain and empty into it, and the excess will flow right out the fresh vent hose...
I haven't opened up the bathroom vanity, but others have. There are pictures floating around. It is pretty straight forward, you should have no trouble at all reaching the black tank vent. You will need to cut it and cap it, and also cap the main waste vent that you removed it from.
While you are under there, disconnect and cap the fresh water hose that goes to the unused flush toilet, so you no longer have to winterize that part. Leave it to where somebody could easily hook it back up in the future...
Have fun, please start a new thread with pics.
John Davies
Spokane WA
Thanks John. So you're basically saying to pressurize it with the water pump. I thought you were thinking you could do a true gravity feed where you could plug the fresh tank overflow, add an overflow to the black and just fill the black tank and allow it to fill both. I'll take a look again tomorrow at the lines you mentioned. Thanks
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1 hour ago, Landrover said:
I think there are many different ways to carry extra water than turning the black tank into a fresh water source. If i needed to carry extra water. My idea would be to buy a Atv spot sprayer from northern tools. They have various sizes and prices. They have onboard 12v pump and would be a easy mount to many different applications. Just a thought.
But if you had an 18 gallon tank that was out of the way and could be converted to a fresh tank in an hour or two, would you do it? Having 60 gallons of onboard fresh water is pretty awesome, not sure why I'm the only one that sees it that way.
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16 minutes ago, ahattar said:
How is it anymore or less hygienic if you have two closed systems? Its already been confirmed that the black tank is made from the same material as the fresh tank.
Also, you guys do realize that your composting toilet is basically an open urine tank with no trap. If you don't smell that, you're highly unlikely to smell the grey tank especially through a couple of traps.
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1 hour ago, Mike and Carol said:
I’ve had the front off of the bathroom vanity a couple of times. Four screws. Just pry off the covers, unscrew and break the caulking. What’s in there is what you would expect, hot and cold fresh water lines, HVAC ducting, black vent pipe and electrical connections for the water pump.
If you add urine to your gray water tank is it still a gray water tank? Or does it become black? If you have urine in your gray tank and your traps go dry is there a sanitary issue since it’s a direct connection with your sinks and shower? If you have urine in your gray tank and forget to close the gate while traveling and have a back up in the shower pan, would that be acceptable? Also, is the plastic that forms the black tank rated for drinkable fresh water? How do you fill the “black” tank with fresh water, through the black tank flush port? These are questions that popped into my head as I read through this thread again.
All good questions, thanks. Thanks for the info on the vanity, thats kinda what I figured once I popped off one of the screw covers. Figured one of you guys would have already been in there for something.
Black does not become black until its the combined liquid and solids. Thats actually the great thing about a composting toilet, its just dirt and you can dump it anywhere if its well composted. I don't see my traps going dry and I will "T" in downstream of the shower trap. If someone was really worried about it you could possibly add a check valve after the urine line trap if it doesn't need pressure. I pee in the shower all the time! Grey water is actually dirtier than urine so I wouldn't worry about it. Yes, black tank is potable. Filling through flush port is an option though probably slow. It appears to be easily accessible under the dinette so I would probably remove the spray head for higher flow.
Thanks for the input.
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2 hours ago, SeaDawg said:
Fwiw, if I had a composting toilet ( and I don't), and I wanted to utilize the black tank, I think I would look at directing the urine to the black tank, along with the grey water from the bathroom sink.
Understanding that I would run the risk of voiding some warranties, i think it would likely be the simplest plumbing, and most hygenic use of a tank designated and situated for black contents. A number of rvs dump vanity sink to the nearby black tank, as do many boats.
Adding the sink water to dilute the urine could possibly minimize the odor. Keep the vent. Dump less frequently. My thoughts.
Sherry
How is it anymore or less hygienic if you have two closed systems? Its already been confirmed that the black tank is made from the same material as the fresh tank.
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On 11/22/2019 at 6:26 PM, John E Davies said:
It would be super easy to convert the 18 gallon black tank to potable water, it can gravity feed into the main fresh tank when that one is depleted, since the black tank sits about thee inches higher.... I am unaware of anyone who has done this yet. The access should be fine, the only tricky part would be blocking the vent pipe where it connects to the main vent under the bathroom sink. After blocking the vent you would have to install a large overflow pipe, going from the top of the tank to the belly. Access is OK since there is a big hole in the floor under the toilet.... And of course you would need a home built adapter with a ball valve at the outlet of the tank, under the front dinette seat.
I personally would not want any urine going into the grey tank. That would make it way more stinky than it already is, and it would not be appropriate to water a sage bush with it.... you could buy a second pee tank and cap ($40), and stash either the empty one, or a full one, behind the toilet, I think it would fit fine but I haven’t tested it there.
John Davies
Spokane WA
Ok, so I'm finally digging around exploring the options here. I think diverting urine to the grey tanks is going to be pretty straightforward. I'm thinking I'm going to cut an access hole behind the toilet where the unused cold water supply line pops through. This should hide things somewhat. There should be enough room between the black tank and the exterior wall to run some pvc. Its going to have to cut in downstream of the shower trap so I'll add a second trap for the toilet under the dinette access. I'll have to do some digging for fittings so that the toilet can be easily removed for dumping/cleaning.
Side note, the Airhead composting toilet I installed in my truck camper did not have the seat attached to the tub by a hinge. This allowed us to carry a second tub in the trailer to swap in and put the full one in the trailer for a week or once we got to warmer weather to promote better composting. Made it a shit-ton easier to clean! Was that a pun?
Ok, so on to converting the black tank to extra fresh water storage. I agree that it would be super easy to use a gravity system but I'm not sure how you thought you would be able to tie the fresh and black tanks together. Is there easy access to the fresh tank that you were thinking about? I'm gonna go get under the bed and see if maybe I can snake a tube through somewhere but thought I'd ask what you had in mind.
As far as plugging the black tank vent. Looks like the storage shelf deal under the sink should be pretty easy to remove. Do you know what it looks like in there before I pop it out for nothing?
Thanks
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I say if you're in a place where you need a curtain, you should move. If you have to be in a place where you need a curtain, just don't use one and most other people will move. Let it all hang out.
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There are plenty of apps out there that do similar things, Onx is just the best user experience and most accurate I've come across. Its very outdoors focused so fishing access, hiking trails, camp spots etc. The private ground boundaries are super useful for hunting of course, but we use them all the time. Just hiking unmarked trails or even looking for rural acreage to buy it allows us to walk the boundary lines with confidence. People should try all similar apps and just get the one thats most intuitive to them.
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Its $99 a year if you want the nationwide plan. If you just want to dabble for a while, you can play the free trial game. Its pretty easy to put your account on hold and just keep trying out each states free trial. If you travel a lot or even a little really, the $99 a year plan is a no brainer in my opinion. If you're just traveling a month at a time or less, its $15.
It works on Iphones and android, beyond that I have no clue.
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Heres one for you guys. This is literally the only reason I keep a smart phone at this point. We started using it for hunting of course but now we use it for everything. There are pockets of public land everywhere and its dead accurate in showing you. We use it for simply pulling off the road somewhere or to find huge blocks of land to explore. Downloading maps and adding POI's offline is awesome. For example we can float 100+ miles down a wilderness river and mark all the best camps, hot springs, rapids etc along the way. As soon as you log in once you have service it updates everything seamlessly. Best app I've ever used and its nice to support our local Montana businesses.
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12 minutes ago, Mike and Carol said:
I checked on proper chains since we’ll be visiting our son and family in Durango. The manual is pretty specific. I didn’t get the airbag option and will just continue with my Andersen that I’ve been using on my Tacoma then Ram 1500. This one sits higher than my old 1500 so some adjustment will be necessary. Mike
Sounds like a fun setup. Enjoy
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You guys all seem like great people and at the end of the day, the most important thing is that you're having fun. As a former vehicle sales person, this thread is giving me the sweats and my trigger finger is starting to tremble! Don't worry, I'd only shoot myself!
Nice truck. One thing to note. My neighbor bought one and proceeded to get it stuck in the snow pretty quickly. He said something about no clearance for chains. You might want to do some test fitting before you go out adventuring.
I have a Ram 1500 and with a lighter trailer than the Oliver, a WDH made all the difference in the world. It does help breaking and steering in a massive way because you're putting the correct weight on the front tires so you actually have traction. Even if you got the overpriced RAM airbag option, the WDH mathematically is still way more efficient at loading the frontend. That said, if you're just driving down pavement in good conditions, those airbags will work just find.
Congrats.
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I guess I'll have to take your words for it, but it's never been my experience or anyone I know other than on a 5.9.
Regular driving for me is hwy 90% and 10% town
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In a quick search, the norm lines up with my experience. What are you guys doing different than everyone else......
https://www.valleychevy.com/2018-chevy-silverado-2500hd-fuel-efficiency-gas-consumption/
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Sorry guys, I'm not buying what your selling. I assume you're actually doing the math not just looking at the computer. I drove his truck which has no mechanical issues with a bed cover at 65mph for several days, never better than 16 mpg. Maybe at 50mph I could get more. I had a 2012 f450 which is heavier and a dually but still never better than 16. I now have a 2016 ecodiesel. It gets 22 if I keep it under 65 and will jump to 25 on long stretches in Idaho at 50mph. I live in Montana where the driving conditions are perfect for a diesel, no cities or traffic.
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On 12/16/2019 at 12:34 PM, underdug said:
I agree with BackofBeyond.
I tow with a 2019 Duramax with a trifold tonneau cover. I carry about 600 lbs of camping gear and tools in the back along with a 3000 watt generator.
I did not opt for the Anderson hitch as it is not needed with this truck. The Ollie elite 11 pulls like it is not there and the mileage is 15 to 16 on the highway (70MPH), 22 to 24 with out hauling. I don't know the exact weights but would guess just north of 500 pound tongue weight and somewhere near 6000 loaded.
The item I found I like most about the Duramax after a long stint out west was the exhaust brake. When it comes to mountain driving i found this to be indispensable.
Having said this I may not have gone to a 2500HD for the Ollie. I also tow a heaver boat with a T top (wind catcher) where it was needed. I would however not give up the security of towing the Ollie now that I have done it.
Give it an A+.
Underdug
22-24, really? My brother has a 2017 and it gets 16mpg in the most perfect conditions. What has changed to get 3/4 tons in the 20's?
SARS-Cov-2/Covid-19 and Travel
in General Discussion
Posted
This thing is for sure blown out of proportion but if any company should be keeping their customers from gathering right now its probably Oliver. Lets be real, not a lot of spring chickens in this group!