Help. Tank Readings

[hobo]

Doing our sea-trial and we're not using shower, etc.  We left the factory on Thursday and assume the grey water tank was empty.  We have only used a few gallons worth of water for rinsing some dishes and washed my hand a couple of time.

 

Monitor reading for grey water is reading "100" which I assume means 100 % full. The manual was not helpful BTW:  Can someone tell me what's going on?  I attempted to leave a message for service (it's Saturday) and I was under the impression that Jason and or Rodney monitor the service line after hours.

 

The dump site here is not user friendly from what I can see so I don't want to try to dump (in the rain) if not necessary.

 

Can someone offer a suggestion here?

[BackofBeyond]

Hard to say without a baseline to go from. 100% on my unit means it is full.  Dumping the grey water is very simple - I'd make the effort to dump it, make sure the rear is lower than the front, and monitor the readings on the monitor. When it drains no more - you will have the answer your looking for, to guess otherwise seems unwise.

 

I have never used our black water tank - but it read 5% full for ever, not any more...

 

Good luck.

 

RB

[Townesw]

Is your trailer level when you are seeing the 100% reading or is the front elevated? The grey tank level sensor is located where the yellow mark is in the following picture. It is near the rear. Even if you only have a little water in your grey tank and the front is elevated the sensor could be seeing 100%.

 

[hobo]

In fact, it is elevated to some degree.  I am hooked up to truck for an early morning departure so it does set up a little high righ now.  Left to right is level though.

 

I have decided to dump on the way out in the AM just to make sure though.

 

Related/unrelated:  I am finding that my hitch is actually higher than necessary.  I was told the top of my ball should be about 24" high but in reality, my trailer is actually level at about 21" of height.  Any thoughts about that?

 

Thanks for the input.  I'll report back on how much grey water was actually in the tank after I dump.

[Townesw]

Those tanks are long in length, narrow in width and short in height and the sensors are at the rear ends. You can be easily fooled by the readings. You will become accustomed to what you are putting in them and how often you need to dump and the display will mean nothing. Have fun. If grey water is not coming up through the shower drain you are good. Just be sure to close the valve beside the head before you move.

[ScubaRx]

Hobo, don’t get too caught up in the readings. As had been pointed out, if the front of the Oliver is somewhat higher than the rear the sensor will think  that there is more water in the gray tank than there actually is. A simple test that can be done right now is to simply see if you are able to put water into the tank from either of the two outputs (kitchen sink or shower/bathroom sink. Yes=tank not full. No=Water will back up meaning tank is full and you can plan to dump tomorrow morning. Otherwise, relax and have fun.

 

On an additional note, if you wash dishes in the sink and allow food particles to go down the drain and end up in your gray tank it will result in the gray water smelling really bad. We wipe everything off prior to washing or usually just wash outside in a dishpan.

[Townesw]

My trailer is sitting dead level on a concrete shop floor and the distance from inside the top of the coupler to the floor is 21.25 +/- 0.1 inches.  I have hull 313.

[John E Davies]

Related/unrelated: I am finding that my hitch is actually higher than necessary. I was told the top of my ball should be about 24″ high but in reality, my trailer is actually level at about 21″ of height. Any thoughts about that?

That is a little odd, 21” seems low..... post a pic of your ball mount and ball. Also one of your truck and trailer from a distance, showing the angles....If you are using a dead weight setup, consider a 7500 lb rated ball with extended 1” OD shank. (They are intended to go through a really thick truck bumper.) You can use a lower drop mount and with that ball you have the ability to stack thick grade 8 washers under it to do fine adjusting of the height. Maybe you just need a little less rise.... I was able to get my 06 Ram 3500 and the trailer both pretty much dead level. If you want some pics let me know.

 

Edit, found one.... you may not get your truck level unless you luck out, but you should be able to get the trailer pretty close. Remember that when you look at pictures that adding a bunch of passengers or cargo in the cab will drop the front of the truck a little.

 

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

[Newshoes]

Sorry for the "newbie ?" the valve for the grey tank to the shower. Is closed pushed forward or pulled aft?

 

 

[John E Davies]

Sorry for the “newbie ?” the valve for the grey tank to the shower. Is closed pushed forward or pulled aft?

Push in for towing, pull out for running the faucet. Pushing in moves the other end of the cable further, causing the blade in the valve to move closed. I actually labeled my shower wall with a Sharpie. “PUSH IN FOR TRAVEL”

 

It’s easy to verify, just run the sink and if your socks don’t get soaked, it is in the normal operating position.... you learn fast after that happens.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

[Geronimo John]

Hobo:

 

I remember it by thinking about how I OPEN the dump valves (Gray and Black).  They have to be pulled out, else wise you can't close the hatch.  Likewise you have to pull out the handle by the toilet for the valve to be open to allow your feet to stay dry.

 

Or, you can just wash socks.  :-)

 

Have fun.

[roguebooks]

We live in our Ollie full-time. I cannot tell you the number of times I have dumped my gray water and a few hours later the gauge reads 65% full or other. First time it happened I called my brother who is a long-time RV'r and he informed me the gauges on all trailers, for the most part, are shite and you cannot rely on their accuracy. Like others here, I learned to feel my way through experience, and I pretty much intuitively know when to purge the tank. Also, my black water tank often reads 5% and that is way off as we do not use it at all by having a composting toilet.  I think humidity is the culprit behind both.

[KWRJRPE]

Being a fan of switches, we opted for the Oliver optional auto-drain option ($300).  This switch is located in the closet and opens/closes the shower drain valve to the gray tank (with the auto drain option, the manual handle in the shower to open/close the valve to the gray tank is not provided).  Interestingly, in the open position, a red light flashes continuously as reminder the drain valve is open.  At home, we leave the Ollie parked under our pole barn, hooked up to 30amp service, with drain valve open so always ready to use sink/shower at home (our adult kids like to sleep in Ollie when they come visit).  So, the red light flashes A LOT (the bulb will certainly run out eventually). I wonder if it makes more sense to close the valve, turning off the blinking light, and remember to open valve whenever need to drain bathroom water? Also, keeping valve to gray water tank closed may limit possible odors in the bathroom coming from the gray tank?  Hmm. I think I just talked myself into keeping the valve closed as part of "normal" storage.

[topgun2]

I simply hate all those "idiot" lights that are flashing or are always on.  I'd either put a piece of tape over it or a dab of paint on it just so I didn't have to look at it.

 

Even though the tank is vented I did (one time) get odor from the grey tank.  I bought and used a grey tank deodorizer that took care of that problem:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Camco-Control-Drains-Treats-Holding/dp/B0006IX80U/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1UNZIILJ9KK6H&keywords=grey+tank+deodorizer&qid=1557078266&s=gateway&sprefix=grey+tank+deoderizer%2Caps%2C150&sr=8-2

 

Having said all that - I always leave the tank valve closed unless I'm actually camping.

 

Bill

[John E Davies]

The only thing keeping gases from venting into the cabin is the standing water in the two sink traps and the shower trap. If that water evaporates you will get smells, so make sure to add some (or antifreeze) before storage. I get smelly burps regardless of water in the traps due to really massive elevation changes, like 5000 feet in fifteen minutes. When the grey valve is closed the tank doesn’t vent properly. To the best of my knowledge the vent in the bath area is the only grey vent.... other than the sinks.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

[Spike]

The only thing keeping gases from venting into the cabin is the standing water in the two sink traps and the shower trap.

 

Thanks, John. I hadn't considered that.

 

Regarding gray water deodorizers, I found that TankTechsRx works well in the gray water tank to prevent odors. (I have a post somewhere on the forum about an experiment I conducted with it and another product.) I also use a mixture of water and TankTechsRx (about 5 to 1) in a spray bottle in the cabinet above the Nature's Head composting toilet and spray some of the mixture into the head before and after turning the handle. This seems to speed up the composting process and control odors.

[hobo]

OK,  the verdict is in:  The grey tank was in fact almost full.  Apparently when the trailer was de-winterized the morning we picked it up, the fluids all ended up in the grey water tank.  When I went to dump it on the way out of  camp this morning, there was a LOT of fluid.  And it wasn't from us!  We might have used 3-4 gallons of water tops.

 

On the trailer hitch height, I have to agree with the previous comment of around 21.5".  I have it set at 24" and it's too high even with the 2 /5/16" ball.  My guess it will end up somewhere between 21-22" to be perfectly level.

 

On a totally different subject, we're camped out at a vineyard in Christiansburg, VA about 4 hours from home in N. VA.  We are members of "Harvest Hosts" and we're camping overnight at a very peaceful, beautiful vineyard at no cost except the annual membership of about $57.  Worth checking out if you're not familiar with it.

 

 

[KountryKamper]

Our hitch was at 23.5" originally and that was too high and is now at 22" and the trailer is level.

[hobo]

Hobo:

 

I remember it by thinking about how I OPEN the dump valves (Gray and Black). They have to be pulled out, else wise you can’t close the hatch. Likewise you have to pull out the handle by the toilet for the valve to be open to allow your feet to stay dry.

 

Or, you can just wash socks. ?

 

Have fun.

 

Thanks but it was "Newshoes" that posed that question.  I will remember your response though on thoseoccasionss that I have a brain fart and forget.