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I can’t help with the single tank setup as I have two but, I try and dump the tanks daily. Becky likes long showers and the gray fills fast. I don’t add any chemicals when dumping daily.

When i head to storage I try and keep the values open a few minutes to completly drain the tanks. No chemicals then either.

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There’s only 1 tank; if you keep the grey bypass closed, all wastewater will go into and drain from the 1 tank. In spite of advise to the contrary (due to buildup) I leave my hose connected and drain valve open in campground. Only time I add chemicals is when I’m letting wastewater build up in the tank.

I suppose if you were spending like a month in a campground, you might have a build up problem, but I bet your coach has a washer/dryer which dumps quite a bit of water through tank. Also, we don’t take quickie showers when we’re hooked up.

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Dean,

You will learn to like the single tank. I use no chemicals, it’s not in there long enough. Everything in your holding tank is liquid, no solids as the Headhunter takes care of that. We put no grease, oil or any food down the drain and use a sink strainer to make sure nothing goes in.

You will be dumping often, just the nature of the beast, but at least it’s getting cycled often. If you want to use the gray water by-pass at a campground, you can make an adapter like I did that just pushes into your PVC gray water pipe under the bus and then hook to a hose. I use this when dry camping if I’m in a place that welcomes the water for irrigation, like Peter’s ranch, makes green grass.

About 8 bucks and home depot.

Then you can hook to something like this while at a campground..

[Dave]

Tom,

I have the adapter like you show that allows you to hook a garden hose to the gray water bypass. I just hadn’t seen the sewer hookup like you show that allows the garden hose to hook to it. Can you give me a quick lesson on the headhunter? I understand that I have a macerator which if used grinds things up before pumping them out but I’m not clear on the headhunter.

[AL]

Just so everyone is aware the device shown for flushing the tank is illegal in every single plumbing jurisdiction in the country because it is called a “cross connection”. But I think it makes folks feel good because they assume it somewhow enables them to clean the tank.

The general concensus on holding tanks seems to be that it “self cleans” if it is allowed to fill to a large extent, with the resulting flow when the valve is open carrying out the waste. If the valve is left open or the tank is drained frequently the theory is the pile of solids will not get carried out. I have no idea if any of the theories is true, but I haven’t had a problem using our method.

We always start out with a full water and and empty holding tank. When we have drained down the water, the holding tank gets full. When we refill the water, we drain the holding tank. If the theory about a full holding tank carrying away the waste is true then I can say it works, but beyond that I am not going to look in my tank to check the theory. I don’t do what I do because I am trying to avoid a pile of poop from remaining in the tank. I do what I do so I should never exceed the capacity of the holding tank. Theoretically.

[Dean]

Dean, One thing to remember when buying fittings for your coach, the sewer fittings are larger than normal and can only be found at Liberty or a airstream dealer, least it is that way on mine gary

[Greg]

Unless it has been modified the sewer connections are “Thetford”. They are available on line from multiple sources. I carry spares because if one of the “ears” breaks off the local Camping World not only doesn’t have them, the clerks will try to tell you the fittings they have will fit. They will not.

[Jerry]

Dean,

The Headhunter does not use a macerator, the waste is turned to liquid by the jet force of the flushing water. You can rig up anything that works for you with the gray water by-pass, but for us it’s a non issue when at a campground, you just have to dump the tank often, especially if your usng the washer/dryer.

You could also add a water house fitting at the sewer end connection and hook your hose there for your by-pass water.

Make sure you have good tight fittings with your sewer hose, because when you open that single tank valve, lots of water and pressure is coming your way due to volumm.

You also have a macerator build in to your Liberty. I had to replace the pump, but it works great and that’s another option if you don’t want to deal with the big hose

[Archived]

Thanks for all the response. My only real concern about dumping the holding tank so often was having to put chemical in every time. I was hoping that by dumping the tank often it would eliminate the need to do that and it sounds as if thats the case. I will do just what it sounds like all of you are doing, dump the holding tank every time I fill up the water tank. Thanks Tom for the explanation on the headhunter. I didn’t realize it worked that way.

[Rod]

You’re making this too difficult.

If you’re dry camping, use chemicals and you can roughly fill and empty together at the same time. On my coach, I believe I have 165 gallons fresh and 135 gallons waste so there could be an issue. A little grey water on the ground through the bypass at an appropriate time is sometimes desirable to use most fresh water.

If you’re in a campground (other than Liberty’s), I simply connect fresh water hose, open valve, leave pump on, and turn on auto-fill. Connect one sewer hose and leave valve open. No watching, no dumping, no nothing.

[Archived]

I have never added any chemicals for any reason to my holding tank. But then then again my ………doesn’t smell.

[Dean]

I owned several Newells with the one tank system. Otherwise all of my other Prervost coaches have had two. I much prefer two tanks for the way I use my coach.

Shortly after my current coach was built I had a 2″ pipe plumbed from the gray tank to the center of the rear axle area. I have a switch by the drivers seat that operates the controller. Of course I would never do this….., but you could easily pull off at a little used exit and empty the gray tank without leaving the drivers seat in 2-3 minutes. You could also hit this switch when dry camping and get rid of the gray water as well.

Regarding holding tank chemicals see my earlier post:

last year while traveling through Texas I overnighted at the Buckhorn Ranch. While there I had their vendor clean my gray and black tanks. She gave me really good advice on tank chemicals. She said take a gallon jug and pour 48 oz of pine Sol in it. Then add 1/2 cup of Calgon bath beads. Fill the remaining area of the jug with water. Shake it good. She said to put 8 oz in black tank and 4 oz in gray tank after dumping tanks. This has worked awesome for me and kept my tanks clean.

[Archived]

OK
Joel, I gotta challenge you on this one…

Leaving
the tank valve open assuming you have a slight list to the port side
would probably keep things running through with little problems.
If you’re perfectly level or even a slight list to starboard,
wouldn’t there be a tendency for some build up in the tank since
there isn’t enough fall for it to gravity out? If parked for a long
time, I would think this would be a problem. Short term, no issue..
My take has always been to wait until the tanks or tank (Liberty) is
at least half full to get a really good flush of the system due to
volume.

If
you had a direct drop toilet, this for sure would be a problem.

Your
turn…

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Tom: I think you’re absolutely right in theory. With a list to stbd, the drain could probably be an inch or so over the tank’s lowest point. If you left your coach that way forever, it may create an issue.

Practically, however, it’s so much more convenient for me not to worry about it when I’m in a campground. Often my so awakens in the night and does a load of wash or whatever…I don’t want to hassle. Then when I travel, all the fluid in the tank is sloshing around cleaning it out anyhow for the initial drain at my next stop.

Take that! (Merry Xmas)

[Archived]

I surrender Joel….:)

Merry Christmas