Emptying toilet

[ShrimpBurrito]

That is correct, Bill. You use the non-potable water hose. It is usually accessible to your rig when you are dumping. The fresh water hose typically requires you to move forward, hopefully in an attempt to eliminate confusion leading to folks using the potable water hose for flushing septic.

Dave

Good point Bill. I always carry a 1/2" grey colored hose for tasks such as this. I did run into an issue last weekend at a California State Park. Their hose had no male fitting on the business end and the female end was installed so it couldn't be removed... I had to wait to do a thorough cleaning 'till I got home and could use the SewerSolution. Hey, what system is perfect?

[ShrimpBurrito]

Scott - You could keep a nipple with you to help in that situation. But if course that doesn't solve the problem if the hose end is cut and doesn't have any fitting. You could possibly use a barb for that, but then you might have problems getting it off.

Dave

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by Bill

When you go to the dump station, and hook up their water supply to the Flush King, what hose do you use? The sign at the dump station's rinse hose always says "Non-Potable Water", which means (I think) that they are using water from the septic system for rinsing. I sure wouldn't want to use my drinking water hose for that connection.

Bill

"Non-Potable Water" means that the water is coming from the CG irrigation system and not the City Water System directly. The only difference is that the water in the irrigation system is not protected and could be contaminated by back-flow from the sprinklers..

It's best not to even take out your drinking water hose at the dump station. We carry a separate hose for the Flush King.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by harveyrv

"Non-Potable Water" means that the water is coming from the CG irrigation system and not the City Water System directly. The only difference is that the water in the irrigation system is not protected and could be contaminated by back-flow from the sprinklers.

I can tell you are a Western-US boy, Wayne! "Irrigation" is a concept that is not widely known east of the Mississippi, except for hundred-acre-plus farm fields. As my avatar line shows, I straddle these two worlds, and since we made the move to Arizona for half the year, I have learned a lot about domestic irrigation - far more than I wanted to know. East of the Big M, domestic lawn irrigation is more rare, but the dump stations still have a hose, the hose still says "Non-potable water, do not drink!" - and the water comes from somewhere.

Bill

[ShrimpBurrito]

Originally Posted by Bill

East of the Big M, domestic lawn irrigation is more rare, but the dump stations still have a hose, the hose still says "Non-potable water, do not drink!" - and the water comes from somewhere.

Bill

In those cases, I was thinking the non-potable and potable water come from the same source. If that's true, the non-potable hose is probably labeled as such due to backflow and direct-contact contamination.

Dave

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by ShrimpBurrito

In those cases, I was thinking the non-potable and potable water come from the same source. If that's true, the non-potable hose is probably labeled as such due to backflow and direct-contact contamination.

Dave

That's correct. The irrigation water (other than large, closed systems such as farms) comes from the City water source. The City water line is protected from back-flow from the irrigation system by a back-flow valve so that the water from the irrigation system cannot bleed back into the City water.

I doubt that this is any different either side of the Mississippi...... If it is, I wouldn't be real excited about drinking the water over there because bacteria from animal waste, fertilizer and chemicals from the ground can enter the irrigation system find it's way back into the City water supply and make a lot of people sick.

Thus the warning....""Non-potable water, do not drink!". Campgrounds sometimes run the water for the dump station off of the irrigation pipes because they are closer than running a drinking water pipe due to distance. Often, large irrigation systems will also have some collection areas that the water is recirculated from........for irrigation only.

When at a campground with at least one fresh water hose outlet or a dump station with a fresh water outlet with at least 15 psi of water pressure, we use http://www.sewersolution.com/. We discovered the product on this forum and purchased it from Camping World for about $125.

The system is completely clean, odor free and efficient. It uses a high pressure nozzle to completely macerate solid waste as it is drained from the Thetford. You then rotate the nozzle to shoot the high pressure stream back up into the Thetford. You repeat this process until the drain water is clear and free of all debris.

[ThePair]

Flush King works here, but I usually wait until I get home -- often the next day, even. I can easily reach my outdoor sewer cleanout port with a 25' hose, so flushing and dumping at home isn't an issue. I still have no odor issues with the Thetford, despite this practice. With the twins in the car, and DW, I just don't want to take any extra time at the dump station to pull out yet another hose/device and clean/flush etc, especially when I've not found any downside to waiting.

I do occasionally put a scoop of Surf detergent into the unit with a gallon of water when leaving home for a trip -- Surf is one detergent that combines a water softener in with the soap, so it's like using the Geo method with a single product. I can't find Calgon in my area... Doing this freshens the unit while driving, and prevents residue from sticking, so even my delayed flushing seems to be effective.