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For anyone NEW to RV’s here is a little information about RV plumbing. This is a very basic article, but for people who don’t know anything about an RV and are beginners, this would be helpful. I hope it helps you.
The most important to know is that RV’s are designed with the idea that you can setup the RV without any hookups for a couple of days and simply ‘camp’. This has several names, such as boondocking or dry camping.
Their electrical system is designed to facilitate dry camping.
So is the plumbing system.
Most every RV has three tanks 1) Black, 2) Gray, and 3) Fresh.
Fresh water tank is for holding fresh water for drinking and other purposes. If you use the fresh water tank it is important that you treat it very carefully for the obvious reason that you’ll be drinking from it. Sheri and I have not yet dry camped so we have not used the fresh water tank and always have a hookup to a water source. I’ll write more on the fresh water tank care when I actually do it someday. If you use the fresh water tank, there is also a pump that will provide pressure to the water.
Gray water tank is a holding tank for the ‘used water’ that is NOT from the toilet. We’ve noticed that this tank fills very fast. We fill ours so that we can use this tank to flush out the system when we drain the black water tank, but you really can just leave the gray water tank valve open all the time if your RV is connected to a sewer/septic system.
Black water tank is a holding tank for the water that comes from the toilet. This tank you keep the valve closed and only open it to dump in one big ‘flush’. If you don’t do that your tank will build up. You need that flushing concept to keep things going. This tank is not designed to do any treatment, it simply holds the refuse until you can connect it to a proper dump station. People do put enzymes and other things into the tank, but everything you do is designed to simply assist in keeping the tank clean (you don’t want refuse to build up on your sensors and give a useless reading) and not to treat the refuse. You must use special toilet paper with an RV that is designed to break apart rapidly.
All for now on this very, very basic article.
CJ says
my camper is an 84 older model the bed room is is the back shower to lit in mile then kitchen the living room. the is a leak in back left corner of bedroom under cabinet. new to rvs anyone know what that might be?
thanks
Marlan at Rv52 says
You’re going to have to become friends with getting underneath the camper and see what you can see. I bought one of these ( http://amzn.to/1HT5Cp4 ). However, I recommend getting a good one and not cheaping-out if you mean business. Most likely a leak is nearby – like the bedroom and it can follow along a construction element (wood, steel, pipe, etc) and then drip out. Water leaks are not easy.
Ken says
My kitchen sick is clogged and will not drain. We drained the grey water holding tank. Any ideas?
Marlan at Rv52 says
I would suspect the “trap” below the sink. It is the little upside-down-U. They are easy to remove. All you need is a bucket to catch the water then enough of a wrench to turn the large plastic nuts. They are plastic – so if you turn them too hard – then they might break. So be firm – but gentle.
Debra Peek says
We have a 1977 air stream camper. There’s a leak in the kitchen under the sink. My son has tried to check it out to see where it’s coming from but he said he can’t figure out how to get to the pipes. Is there any other way to get to the pipes other than inside the camper. It’s to small a space to get to it from inside the camper. Please help!! Thank you.
Marlan at Rv52 says
If it is above the floor then I think through the under sink cabinet is the only way to go. Otherwise, you may have to get under the RV and go up through the bottom covering. No fun. Water will run along the pipes and drip out at the lowest point so an easy check might be to check all the pipes fittings you have access to and make sure they are not dribbling. I assume you have located the leak due to water dripping on the ground. You might be able to get more concrete advice here: http://rv52.com/rvhelp