Water pump and gray water drain

[Bill and Nancy]

this is a two part question that  I feel rather stupid asking. Is there any harm in running the water pump while be hooked up to city water. This past trip we inadvertently turned on the water pump to run the water while being hooked up to city water. We hardly ever stay where there are hook ups so out of habit we would turn the pump on to use the water while being hooked up to city water. The other question is I find it hard to connect and disconnect the gray and black water drain hose because it sits about a foot in from the bumper. It’s not a huge problem because we only have gray water so it is less of a mess if it leaks. I have a few ideas on how to move the plumbing to an easier location but I’m sure someone has done it already.

Bill

[MobileJoy]

I leave the hose connected all the time. I’ve done this since Oliver returned the OEII to me after a service with it still hooked up. Once done draining, I put the end cap on the open end which seals the hose. For us, it is gray water only.

[Bill and Nancy]

My wife said the same thing, I tend to make this difficult. Do you find that you gray water shut off doesn’t shut completely. Ours leaks quite a bit with it fully closed. 
 

[Boonter Jeff]

There is valve lube that you can add to your gray and black water tanks.  This seems to help, just follow directions.

 

[ScubaRx]

4 hours ago, Bill and Nancy said:

My wife said the same thing, I tend to make this difficult. Do you find that you gray water shut off doesn’t shut completely. Ours leaks quite a bit with it fully closed. 
 

Most of us leave the stinky slinky permanently attached to the drain pipe. 

It sounds like your gray water cable needs to be adjusted.

[Ollie-Haus]

5 hours ago, Bill and Nancy said:

this is a two part question that  I feel rather stupid asking. Is there any harm in running the water pump while be hooked up to city water. This past trip we inadvertently turned on the water pump to run the water while being hooked up to city water. We hardly ever stay where there are hook ups so out of habit we would turn the pump on to use the water while being hooked up to city water. The other question is I find it hard to connect and disconnect the gray and black water drain hose because it sits about a foot in from the bumper. It’s not a huge problem because we only have gray water so it is less of a mess if it leaks. I have a few ideas on how to move the plumbing to an easier location but I’m sure someone has done it already.

Bill

I don't believe it hurts anything to run the pump while connected to city water. There is no change in the valve configuration so whether the pump just pulls from the fresh tank or facilitates the flow of city water makes little difference. 

Regarding the waste tank drain. We also have the composting toilet so before even coming home from picking up our Oliver, I installed the adaptor fitting to allow draining with a standard garden hose. That fitting is even sold in the Oliver accessory display at the showroom. I purchased a black 3/4" garden hose about 15' in length before delivery day and I leave it permanently attached to the sewer drain connection. I have a hose end cap on the other end to prevent leaking while traveling. 

Link:     Adaptor

[Mike and Carol]

Don’t disconnect the sewer hose.  Just slide it back into the bumper and be on your way.  If you are getting a gray tank leak around the blade valve you should check to see if the cable is the problem (easy to adjust) or if the gate isn’t closing because something has lodged in the track.  I’m sure you try to keep solids out of the gray tank, but sometimes something will inadvertently go down the drain.  Mike

[rich.dev]

6 hours ago, Ollie-Haus said:

I installed the adaptor fitting to allow draining with a standard garden hose.

Great idea, but must take a hell of a long time to drain, or do you also use a macerator pump? 

[Rivernerd]

10 hours ago, Boonter Jeff said:

There is valve lube that you can add to your gray and black water tanks.

We use Thetford drain valve lubricant in both the gray and black tanks.  We add add some lubricant after each time we drain, per the instructions on the bottle.

https://www.amazon.com/Thetford-Drain-Valve-Lubricant-15843/dp/B000BGK2L0/ref=sr_1_2_pp?hvadid=282728663680&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9029558&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=3699281593567143709&hvtargid=kwd-407048891006&hydadcr=8059_10893331&keywords=thetford+rv+drain+valve+lubricant&qid=1695219174&sr=8-2

And, we leave the "stinky slinky" attached.  So far, no notable leakage.

[BBL]

14 hours ago, Bill and Nancy said:

Is there any harm in running the water pump while be hooked up to city water. This past trip we inadvertently turned on the water pump to run the water while being hooked up to city water.

There is no harm in doing this however, I did discover something recently that was different from my AS days. in the AS, when I was connected to a low pressure city water I turned on the pump for a boost, worked great.  I recently did the same in our LEII. We were in a campground for two nights. Before leaving the campsite I checked the fresh tank and found I had 50% remaining where I had 100% when we arrived.

It turns out, anytime you turn the pump on it pulls from the fresh tank regardless of whether you are connected to city water. This is good to know and I would have preferred it not do that but OTT said it was part of the design to do that. - Brian

[topgun2]

I too use one of those adapters that converts the discharge of the black/grey down to a garden hose size for the same reason - I do not use the black for anything other than #1.

Obviously, this means that only liquids - either grey tank or the #1 in the black tank goes out that garden hose. which is left permanently attached to the connection in the Ollie bumper area.

For those that do use the black tank for #2 then, just as obvious, they can not use a garden hose adapter.  But, many have used a 45 degree "clear" adapter (like THIS or THIS) in order to be able to get to the connection better for the hose and to be able to see when the tank has actually emptied and/or is running with clear water.

Bill

[SeaDawg]

8 hours ago, Brian and Brandelyne said:

turns out, anytime you turn the pump on it pulls from the fresh tank regardless of whether you are connected to city water. This is good to know and I would have preferred it not do that but OTT said it was part of the design to do that. - Brian

This is the way it works in our 2008. The systems are separate. And, tank fill port and city water port are separate. 

We typically fill the tank, and work from the tank.  We rarely hook up to city water. 

 

[Bill and Nancy]

Thanks for the help I think I will try the garden hose trick and leave it connected and coiled up. As far as the leaky valve I will lube the valve but I think it’s out of adjustment because it has leaked from day one. We have a Lavio toilet so we only have only gray water. We also noticed when we had the pump on by mistake we used a portion of our fresh water. Its not a problem I just wanted to understand how it worked just in case we turned the pump on by accident when hooked to city water.

 

[rich.dev]

I also like the idea of using a hose with the valterra cap, but doesn’t it take long to drain then? 

[ScubaRx]

8 hours ago, topgun2 said:

I too use one of those adapters that converts the discharge of the black/grey down to a garden hose size for the same reason - I do not use the black for anything other than #1.

Do you always wear that bear suit?

[BBL]

14 hours ago, SeaDawg said:

This is the way it works in our 2008. The systems are separate. And, tank fill port and city water port are separate. 

We typically fill the tank, and work from the tank.  We rarely hook up to city water. 

We also have two connections for water, one for City Water and one for Fresh. Regardless of City Water connection, when the pump is on it will always pull from the Fresh Tank.

Not a big deal as long as you know what is happening and monitor it.

BL

[Ollie-Haus]

On 9/20/2023 at 9:44 AM, rich.dev said:

Great idea, but must take a hell of a long time to drain, or do you also use a macerator pump? 

It takes less than 10 minutes to drain. If you are on an uphill slope it drains quickly. 
I drain my gray water when we get home in most cases. My method is to back into my parking spot and then go back and set up my drain line and open the valve. Then I unhitch the camper raising the tongue a few inches higher than the ball. By the time I park the truck and get back to the camper it’s done draining. Probably five minutes. Depending on where you live, you can drain gray water on the ground, some areas recommend this. 

[New2Oliver]

On 9/19/2023 at 8:46 PM, Bill and Nancy said:

My wife said the same thing, I tend to make this difficult. Do you find that you gray water shut off doesn’t shut completely. Ours leaks quite a bit with it fully closed. 
 

We just bought a used trailer.  I say used, but as new.  The black water tank was never used and the grey water probably once or twice.  My gray water shutoff valve did not shut completely.  It let about a gallon of water out in a days travel.  When I inspected both systems I found the black water handle was not properly installed as it was not exactly horizontal which made it rub on fiberglass inset.  The gray water valve was not adjusted correctly, it would not shut the valve completely.  So I had to loosen the allen set screw on the valve and pull out just a little distance on the wire.  Now the handle is about an 1/8th inch from bottoming out and the valve seals completely.

[MAX Burner]

@New2Oliver - Congrats on your new-to-you OTT.  That's an awesome "fix-it" post - thanks for sharing!   What year and hull number did you land?  Just curious - it helps to know yr/hull data to answer questions owners have.

Cheers!

A & D