Hi All
Came across an interesting article on having a home based blackwater dump station.
Where I grew up we were on city sewer.
My Dad rigged up an external to the house black water dump station for our little travel trailer to make it more sanitary to empty the holding tank once we got home from our trips.
It was just like at a full hookup RV camp site and the waste was processed by the town system.
With that in mind we had the opportunity to add a black water dump station to our SC home when we had the septic leach field replaced several years ago. ( We did this not long after taking ownership of the home as The original septic leach drain field died of old age after nearly 30 years and the numerous Pine Tree roots that had migrated into the old field.) Anyway, we were also having a concrete side yard (to park Over Easy) and walkway cast so we took advantage of the opportunity and tapped into the line between the house and the in ground holding tank.
The caveat with an in ground septic system and a city/town septic system is that the primary deodorant used in most RV and Marine systems use a compound called ‘Formalin’ or ‘Formaldehyde’ as the active ingredient to keep the waste from breaking down. Thetford (and others) are the typical manufacturer(s) of this compound in either liquid or powder form. These compound can very easily kill the good bacteria that breaks down the waste in the home septic system holding tank and leach field.
The point is that if you have a home based blackwater dumping process you might want to take a look at the article in the link below:
https://www.rvtravel.com/dump-holding-t ... stem-2052/
What we do when using ours is to:
-> limit the rate at which we dump
-> limit the amount which we dump to ~5 to 10 gallons a day
-> dilute what we dump by at least 50% with fresh water
-> add a dose of a commercially available compound like ‘RID’ with each black water dump session and again in the following week.
-> regularly add a dose of ‘RID’ monthly to maintain a healthy septic system.
This was part of the instructions provided by the knowledgeable firm that installed our new septic drain field.
In addition we also have the holding tank pumped out every two to three years like we have had done at our prior homes.
Hopes this helps someone from prematurely and unknowingly damage thier home septic system.
Best Regards
Over Easy
) will generally fill a 5 gallon holding tank of a Portalet in about 4 to 5 days. So a 30 gallon capacity black water holding tank should provide about 24ish days between pump outs.
