Cruisers Forum
Main Forum => General Discussion => Topic started by: echo11 on August 01, 2012, 01:16:25 pm
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I have not yet used the gray by-pass on the sani-con system. I would like to give it a try on our next trip. Our gray tank is very small on the PC2350- 23 gallons. We usually dump the gray tank every other day.
Does this sound like the right way to set it up? First the sani-con hose goes into the septic hookup and then the electric gray valve is opened and left in that position until you no longer want to leave the gray bypass set up. Once the valve is opened, the blinking light on the switch tells you the valve is open. Is it okay to have the valve switch blinking for days on end? Will it burn out or otherwise harm the switch unit? Since I have been unsure of this, we haven't used the gray by-pass.
What are your thoughts on the pros and cons of using the gray by-pass?
Thanks- Roni
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um, i'm not sure quite whqt the grey by-pass is. methinks i am just lost in word definition land. my grey and black tanks have what sounds like the same electric valves. i thought these were the only valves which held the floods in abeyance. (open my valves & stand back or wear two tone wingtips) are these two valves what you call the by-pass?
if so, i don open my grey 'til the black has been opened, drained & then closed. I use the grey water to flush the black out, leaving stinky hose squeaky clean (in my dreams)
I don't need any more dribbling tanks in my life (see billy's bad aim campfyre...)
I like to flush like a racehorse
kevin
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My understanding was that if the gray valve is left open (and the hose in the ground) the gray tank, once it hits a cetain level in the tank, will drain slowly on it's own (without the sani-con pump).
Maybe this isn't correct?
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My understanding was that if the gray valve is left open (and the hose in the ground) the gray tank, once it hits a cetain level in the tank, will drain slowly on it's own (without the sani-con pump).
Maybe this isn't correct?
This is my experience also, there is a 1/2 inch tube that bypasses the sani-con and the level in the gray tank needs to be high enough to force it's way through the bypass tube. It works well for extended stays with sewer hook up. You can see the bypass tube on the sani-con, it is a clear 1/2 inch tube.
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Bobander,
Thanks for your response. When the gray valve is electronically opened, will the blinking light on the valve switch keep blinking and will it harm the light or switch itself?
Thanks- Roni
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me again, I reread your post & am now also in better understanding. When I drain, I open a valve and wait - listening as the fluid rattles & chortles to the sanicon, maceration thingy. Then, I turn on the grinder widget, letting it run until the hose does a dance of constriction - expansion. After I open the grey water and the water gets to the pumper, I have waited, as I am also curious on its workings, to listen for drainage sounds. If it does get past the macerator, I haven't heard much sound - until I flip the switch, hose dances and fluid flows out hose end. I peeked under the skirts
(WH) and I do have a sewer outlet for large size stinky slinky attachment for when pump use not desired (or working)
Maybe you could hook that up and then open black then gray valves as needed. I don know, it just seems henky - to me - to leave valves open & allow the s l o w draining of the tanks. I like those suckers to flush down and out - go away....far away.
kevin
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You could also equalize your grey and black tanks several times and then dump less often. Read up on it in the san-con literatrue that came with your motor home. I tried this twice at the Louisville Good Sam rally since my 2551 also has a 23 gallon grey tank. We were dry camping with no way to dump and with two of us using the shower we filled up the grey tank in about one day. It worked great. When we got home I dumped both my tanks as usual. Neither one was full. We probably could have gone one more day dry camping. I have not used the motor home yet in an RV park with full hook up. I understand you can continuously drain the grey tank but have no experience with it.
Dick
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Bobander,
Thanks for your response. When the gray valve is electronically opened, will the blinking light on the valve switch keep blinking and will it harm the light or switch itself?
Thanks- Roni
Roni,
Yes, the light will continue to blink while the valve is left open, and it will not harm the light or switch.
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If you just let the gray water drain as you let water into it, you'll have nothing to flush the black tank and hose with.
If I stay at a CG for one night, I Use the Sani-Con. If more than that I use the 3" valved (the valve is convenient but not required) dump line.
But I still flush the 3" hose/Sani-Con & hose with gray water.
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If you just let the gray water drain as you let water into it, you'll have nothing to flush the black tank and hose with.
You are right, I will stop using the grey water bypass when I anticipate the need to dump the black water tank so that I have enough grey water to flush the system after dumping the black water tank.
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Good move. You'll be happy you did. 2o2
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A few more questions on the bypass tube and the sani-con unit-
Have you actually used this option of the gray bypass and were you happy? I do not want to use a regular sewer hose and the non electric hookup. I do have a regular sewer hose in case of emergencies, but hope to never use it. I like using the sani-con electronic valve system and would like to try the gray bypass option on longer stays. I'd really like to hear from folks that use this often on trips.
It sounds like the gray water level needs to be high enough to get the water to pass through the bypass tube. Do you know what the monitor will read at that point?
Also, if the level is high and the bypass tube slowly lets the gray water drain, will taking a shower cause it to overflow into the RV? In other words, faster coming in and slower going out- will it cause a problem?
Thanks- Roni
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A few more questions on the bypass tube and the sani-con unit-
It sounds like the gray water level needs to be high enough to get the water to pass through the bypass tube. Do you know what the monitor will read at that point?
Also, if the level is high and the bypass tube slowly lets the gray water drain, will taking a shower cause it to overflow into the RV? In other words, faster coming in and slower going out- will it cause a problem?
Thanks- Roni
I tried leaving the grey open ONCE, and the monitor read FULL ... I had the same concerns as you about it draining too slowly and I have chosen not to ever camp with the grey open. I just pump out some grey during extended stays.
Not the answer you were looking for ... hopefully someone else has better experiences
BC
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We too have a 2350 with the gray tank being the smaller 23 gallon one. Given we almost exclusively dry camp, the gray tank always fills long before we run out of fresh water. To buy time, (per Phoenix USA instruction) I flood the gray water into the black tank by first opening the gray tank valve, then the black tank valve, wait for the gurggling sounds to quiet down, then close the black valve, and finally the gray valve. I usually do this once between every fresh water fill-up, so it is done very frequently during trips. If getting very close to empty with the fresh water tank, sometimes I have to do it twice before dumping. It is no big deal. Only an inconvenience.
Given we don't do #2 in the bathroom, without fecal matter to be concerned about, I am tempted to keep both valves open all the time, but worry that if sewage ever did back up into the shower pan for any reason, it would be contaminated with urine. It does seem a remote possibility which has me tempted. Also, I think some rigs of other brand motor homes, have the shower pan dumping into the black tank.
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I continue to be dazzled by the degree of thought that goes into using your RV by so many people. I just wait until I need to get rid of black or gray water and flip on my macerator pump in the proper sequence and send it to the drain. I takes no more than 5 minutes to do this, 10 at the most, and I find it much nicer than dealing with the old 3" gravity flow hoses. They are MESSY.
By the way, Ron, I always like your descriptions of waste management in your unit. Other than some sort of innate distaste of bodily excretions, why would you worry about urine contamination of your shower. Ever swim in a public pool? Think those little kids hesitate about urinating in them? Also, urine is essentially sterile until it picks up a few germs on the way out of the body. Believe it or not, millions of strange people world wide drink their own urine thinking it will keep them healthy. I'd worry more about some of the smelly, bad tasting fresh water that is available at many campgrounds as potable water.
Jerry
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Jerry, You kill me. roflol
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I am still trying to figure out how Ron goes dry camping for two or three days and never poops in his PC. Is he doing the old army style of digging a hole and using it? >8)
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Good Question Tom,
We dry camp in primitive camp grounds without hook-ups. But there are public toilets, either flush or pit present.
I'll always draw a comment or two when I mention we don't do #2 in our PC.
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Good Question Tom,
we don't do #2 in our PC.
We tried that system, but at a certain age the inevitable becomes unavoidable and untimely ... roflol
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I paid to have a toilet and plan on using it to the fullest. I guess to each his own.
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I'm with Tom. Say we're parked in an unlighted, deserted, no hookup campground with really smelly pit toilets and it's 40 degrees outside and I wake up at 2am with a desire to go to the toilet. Do I get up, get dressed, get a flashlight, and head out into the woods with the wolves and bears? Or, do I roll gently out of my twin bed right by the rear bathroom and enjoy the comfort of modern plumbing? Even if it means flushing the tanks at the next stop with hookups, I don't have to think twice.
Jerry
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oh,,,,,gosh....golly :-D you get out of bed to do that? :)(:
what wondrous new ideas i get on/from this forum
informed, yet again
kevin
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I'm with Tom. Say we're parked in an unlighted, deserted, no hookup campground with really smelly pit toilets and it's 40 degrees outside and I wake up at 2am with a desire to go to the toilet. Do I get up, get dressed, get a flashlight, and head out into the woods with the wolves and bears? Or, do I roll gently out of my twin bed right by the rear bathroom and enjoy the comfort of modern plumbing? Even if it means flushing the tanks at the next stop with hookups, I don't have to think twice. Jerry
If that be our situation, we'd be utilizing the bathroom that way as well. But it has not come up yet.
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Ron, you've obviously never camped in the little forest service campground located in a rain forest just down the road from Rainy Pass in the Cascades NP. It's like I described above plus water dripping off all the trees. Once I was in my space, I wasn't going outside after dark.
Jerry
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I was fishing for Cutthroats in 1966, got totally lost in the Cascades and spent the night there.
So now I know you're afraid of the dark.
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one word "compass". ;)
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I had a compass. But it was broken when I slid into a small ravine on the way out.
I could have used the sun but a front had moved in and the ceiling was less than a thousand feet from where we were on the mountain.
So when the rain started and we couldn't see well enough to continue, we stopped and made a camp of sorts (a Poncho, fire, Trout and spring water made it OK for me but Larry, the guy I was with, was really, really askeeered and wouldn't stop complaining or asking what was making the sounds we were hearing).
When it dawned we were less than 200 feet from the logging road we'd come in on.
Dead reckoning, a stream and following contours saved the day.
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For those of you who like blacktop roads that are a little off the beaten path, highway 20 from Sedro-Wooley, Washington, to Twisp is highly recommended. This takes you through the really beautiful Northern Cascades National Park. The scenery is wonderful and it is NOT crowded. You will see more campgrounds without hookups than more elaborate ones, but the views of mountains, lakes, and rain forests are well worth it. If you're coming down from Canada south of Vancouver, go a little further east to cross at a less busy crossing and you can drive due south to get to Sedro-Wooley.
Jerry
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This is a one of those dumb questions. I have a 07 with sani -com. Have had for 2 years and thought i knew how to work system. Things dont seem to be working right. My local rv shope is not all that familliar with system .
I checked underneath and saw the gray valve open when switch is activated. When I activate the black the valve handle does not move in ot out. I can manually close and open. The light on black switch lights but no activity on valve.
I checked fuses and flushed the tank. I guess I need the valve replaced. Not sure where to get a vlalve like thiss. I see there is a latter and early system. Cant find any pictures of the valve. Thetford seems to make system.
Can one of you fine guys or girls poit me in right direction. Thanks John
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First check the wiring to the valve and the switch. Make sure all the connections are tight and clean. The problem is most likely the electric valve, which is not really part of the sani-con, just needed to make everything work. Camping World sells a similar valve, but I would call the factory on Monday and talk to Carol, in order to get the right part. With PC it does not matter how old you motorhome is or even if you are or are not the original owner, they know what the right parts are and can help with finding out what really needs to be fixed. What a great company.
http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/electric-waste-valve/36150
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Here is the manufacturer, website and telephone number for the dump valves used by PC. I have called and talked to them in the past. They have a good customer service department.
Dump Valves - Barker Auto-Drain - http://www.barkermfg.com/autodrain.html - 1-800-537-9940
Also here is the URL for their manuals http://www.barkermfg.com/manuals.html
Barry