Newbie on Hookups

[CharlieG]

HI, I'm a newbie :shy: and don't even have an RV yet. I was wondering, when one is in a campground with 'full' hookups for city water, electric and sewage, are the connections always 'active'? Does the city water continually replenish that used in the RV? Does the black/gray water tank remain open thru the drain and basically stay empty after material flows thru it, or must one dump on a regular basis. (This is, of course assuming the vehicle has not been moved for a period of time)
thanks,
Chas

 

[Gary B]

Newbie on Hookups

Hi Chas, the city water (water from the RV park hookup) is always on and your pumbing works just like at home, open a faucet and you have water, flush the toilet etc., it does not refill your fresh water tank, you have to open a valve to fill and then close the valve when its full to prevent overfilling. The black water tank is left closed untill you need to dump to prevent the liquids from draining off and leaving the solids to build up and eventuilly cloging the tank ( not a nice situation)the grey water tank can be left open (what we do is have ours open until about a day or two before we have to dump our black tank, that way I have water to rinse the sewer hose after dumping the black tank, I then close the black tank and leave the grey tank open). This is as you say if we are sitting for a time, when we are traveling daily we generally don't even hookup the holding tanks untill we neede to dump which for us is about every 5 / 6 days. :laugh: :bleh: :approve:
PS the time between dumps while traveling will of course depend on the size of the holding tanks and how much grey water you generate.

 

[hertig]

Newbie on Hookups

In some (most?) RVs, you have to stick a hose into the tank fill inlet in order to fill the tank. However, all water usage while hooked up to city water comes from the water hookup, not the tank.

 

[retlveit]

Newbie on Hookups

Welcome to RVing Charlie! You will find it daunting at first (I did). However, you will find the old saying of "a stanger is just a friend you haven't met yet" is particularly adept in RV circles.

Most RV's have plastic pipes that are probably designed for 10 to 20 psi (this psi is a WAG on my part but should be ballpark). Whereas city psi can be upwards of 100 or better. Ensure the water intake on your RV has a pressure reducer. They all come with one, but occasionally one may have gotten lost or come off or whatever. When you are "dry" camping at WalMarts or where ever you will find it be very useful (if not necessary) to become frugal with the water. Not exactly sponge baths, but the next thing to it!

 

[hertig]

Newbie on Hookups

I think RV piping is good for 40 PSI, at least all the regulators I've seen available seem to be set to that. I don't know what percentage of RVs have them built in, but I suspect it is less than 50%. Make sure you have one, and if not, get an external one. One hookup without, and I blew the toilet intake seal and the water pump pressure switch...

And while we are on the subject of hookup safety, there is no guarantee how good the water supply is. An inline water filter ia good idea. I use the one from Camping World which is supposed to be good down to bacteria size. Then I've got a purifier under the sink for drinking water.

Electric hookups can be a problem too. The first suggestion is to have a power guage to plug in before you plug in the trailer. A good one will tell you if there are any wiring errors, and voltage and frequency. If the power source passes this test, its ok to plug in the trailer. However it would be wise to have a good surge protector in the system, and possibly some low voltage protection.