Any issues to home septic system from dumping your tanks at home?

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Any issues to home septic system from dumping your tanks at home?

March 18, 2018, 02:20:26 pm

Hi folks,

Wondering if anyone has specific cautions for me to heed before I install a dump station at home. It will be pretty easy to run a line from a new parking space I am creating, down to the intake pipe of the septic tank. I have an guy who does lots of excavation (including for septic systems) so he knows how and where to tie into the system. However, he did caution me that dumping a large quantity of RV waste at one time could "overload" the septic and cause possible contamination of the leach field.

So I thought I would check with y'all if anyone else shares those concerns, has had bad experience, etc. Any other tips and ideas for this project are welcome. I would not plan on using this exclusively -- whenever convenient, we would dump tanks while on the road. But for short outings or when it was not otherwise convenient, we'd like the ability to dump and/or clean our tanks at home.

We don't use any harsh chemicals in the tank -- typically we use a small amount of Borax and dish soap, plus water, after each dump. I welcome your advise on whether this would cause any issues for the septic tank as well.

All inputs are welcome, pro or con. Thanks in advance.

Re: Any issues to home septic system from dumping your tanks at home?

Reply #1 – March 18, 2018, 02:33:03 pm

No 1st person experience with septic systems although during my travels I have run afoul of two different (Nebraska & Washington) campgrounds that would NOT allow anyone using a formaldehyde product (the Blue Stuff) to dump into their septic systems. I was told that the formaldehyde will kill any 'good' bacteria and destroy the balance they had worked to establish. Now I strictly use an enzyme tank solution.

Re: Any issues to home septic system from dumping your tanks at home?

Reply #2 – March 18, 2018, 02:44:46 pm

Have not dumped into the septic tank at our mountain cabin, but have first-hand experience of potential problems there. However, I don't see any potential issue dumping a few gallons of non-chemical waste into the tank. Might want to add a little Rid-X in the tank a day or two before dumping. Make certain the tank entry is at an appropriate spot to prevent solids from entering the leach field.

Steve

Re: Any issues to home septic system from dumping your tanks at home?

Reply #3 – March 18, 2018, 02:46:31 pm

"...he did caution me that dumping a large quantity of RV waste at one time could "overload" the septic and cause possible contamination of the leach field."
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Unless the 'excavator' is an experienced and knowledgeable septic tank installer/pumper, I suggest discussing your plan with one who is. If your septic tank is large enough and has been maintained and pumped out at appropriate intervals, and if the leach field is of adequate size (and has good drainage through the drain rock bed into 'absorbent' soil and no root blockages in the pipes), I don't see an issue with dumping the relatively small amount of effluent from your rig into the tank.

Also, I have no idea what the excavator means by 'contamination' of the leach field; do you? If I were considering this project, I would definitely have your system evaluated by a local septic tank company (and your tank pumped) before proceeding.

YMMV, as always.

Re: Any issues to home septic system from dumping your tanks at home?

Reply #4 – March 18, 2018, 03:38:30 pm

My septic tank is 1250 gallons (standard for a 4BR house here). I don't hesitate to dump ~60 gallons from the black and gray tanks in at the end of a trip. Our daily water usage is more than twice that and we've been gone for a few days if we're returning from a trip.

Rich
'03 MB in NC

Re: Any issues to home septic system from dumping your tanks at home?

Reply #5 – March 18, 2018, 04:12:07 pm

The only possible issue I see with dumping a lot of waste at once would be if the leach field ground was already water-saturated from rain or snow. For a well designed and healthy septic system, you shouldn't have a problem.

Also, be sure to get the proper permits from your county and community.

Re: Any issues to home septic system from dumping your tanks at home?

Reply #6 – March 18, 2018, 04:49:01 pm

Steve,

A similar discussion arose a few weeks ago. Now, I don’t have a septic system but so far that part of the topic seems to have been covered. That being said, my solution will work only if there is access via a removable cover or clean out connection which yours may not have...but here goes.

I do have experience with dumping at home. Most often after already having used a dump site at a campground with the home dump being used to finalise the black tank cleanse (or as clean as is practical). But then again, I have dumped all 25 gallons at home using my Flojet Macerator and a dedicated “black tank” hose that runs to my homes already existing clean out about 75’ from my RB.

The Macerator is about $200 and I take it with me on all my trips. It is a 12 volt device that is powered by the coach battery’s. It is by far a cheaper solution to “home dumping” than paying a couple of grand to plumb a dedicated line for your rig. And did I mention that I can take it with me wherever I go?

Just a thought.

Kent

Re: Any issues to home septic system from dumping your tanks at home?

Reply #7 – March 18, 2018, 05:43:13 pm

Rich nailed it. In a typical single family home, daily water usage is between 60 and 100 gallons per day per person. That all goes into the tank. Dumping about 26 gallons from your black tank and 35 gallons from your grey tank will have no effect in terms of capacity on your septic tank. It would be the equivalent of a long shower. As has been pointed out, if you plan to dump to your tank, any chemical other than those intended for septic tanks, such as Rid-X, could be very harmful.

Ken F in NM

Re: Any issues to home septic system from dumping your tanks at home?

Reply #8 – March 19, 2018, 08:45:20 am

Thanks so far for all of the replies.

Joan, the "excavator" is indeed a licensed septic installer, which is why I am giving his input some weight. And by "contamination", he was referring to waste solids not being captured in the septic tank, due to the larger than normal water "flow" and getting carried with the excess water into the leach field directly. He pointed out that home toilets send a much smaller quantity of water and solids, and they have more time and less velocity to properly settle. However, our system seems well designed and has never had any issues, so I'm trying to see if he was simply expressing "an abundance of caution", or if that is a real concern.

And I don't (and wouldn't) use any of the formaldehyde-based additives in my RV tanks. I've seen other recommendations for Rid-X and would probably consider that if I were to be dumping at home.

Does anyone on this forum have any 1st- (or even well-sourced 2nd-) person accounts of problems they think have been caused by dumping RV tanks at home?

It's sounding like this should not be a real concern. Thanks for the many quick replies. If anyone else can add their experience, it would be appreciated.

Re: Any issues to home septic system from dumping your tanks at home?

Reply #9 – March 19, 2018, 09:54:24 am

"And by "contamination", he was referring to waste solids not being captured in the septic tank, due to the larger than normal water "flow" and getting carried with the excess water into the leach field directly."
---
In septic system speak, this is termed 'hydraulic overload'.

This can be a concern if the tank is not designed or sized appropriately for the amount of use and volume of 'flow' that it receives at one time. Many installations, particularly older systems, may not have been sized to handle the number of people in a household or the number of 'water appliances' they use, i.e., toilets, showers, sinks, dishwashers, garbage disposals, and washing machines, particularly if concurrent use of two or three of these dumps a large volume of 'water' into the tank at once.

If you have the original design specs (which should include a layout for the leach field and all the materials used) for your system, you might want to check the tank size and design/extent of the leach field and assess the past and proposed 'at one time' loads on the system.

Hope this works out for you; home dumping can be a lot more convenient than using a dump station.

YMMV, of course.

Re: Any issues to home septic system from dumping your tanks at home?

Reply #10 – March 19, 2018, 12:45:46 pm

Hi Steve,

Usually Jim posts… this is Sue (wife) and my first post. I sure appreciate all of the time and effort our community pours into this forum. Jim and I cannot express how much your advice has helped us and how grateful we are.

We are on a septic system and have recently had some work performed by a licensed septic system contractor. Without prompting, he warned us of dumping from our RV into our septic system. We use Eco-Save in our tanks, so killing the system’s bacteria was not an issue. Nonetheless, he asserted that the volume of waste/fluid that would enter the system rapidly would likely cause waste to flow from the black side of the septic tank into the gray side and potentially into the leach field (even though there is a rather small high port between the two sides of the tank). Just thought I’d pass along his advice.

Sue

Re: Any issues to home septic system from dumping your tanks at home?

Reply #11 – March 19, 2018, 01:05:28 pm

"And by "contamination", he was referring to waste solids not being captured in the septic tank, due to the larger than normal water "flow" and getting carried with the excess water into the leach field directly."

Caveat: We don't have a septic tank, so no personal knowledge of this subject, but wonder if a small accumulation of waste material - like the small amount accumulated on the last day of a trip home after having completely dumped at the last campground - would be acceptable to a septic system.

Having this availability might make that last day on the road home a lot more pleasant! ;->

Virtual hugs,

Judie

Re: Any issues to home septic system from dumping your tanks at home?

Reply #12 – March 19, 2018, 01:10:48 pm

While septic contractors are experts on septic systems, I wonder how much some of them know about RV's.

In particular, I wonder if their answers would be any different if you specified that dumping both tanks at the same time would add less than 60 gallons. Many bathtubs hold more.

There are old, poorly built, under-designed, or failing systems out there. On the other hand, many septic systems built in the 80's or 90's have ended up being over-designed.

At our home, for example, the system is designed to handle 300 gallons per day. Since this house was built, the 8 gallon per flush toilets have been replaced with 1.5gpf models. The 5 gallon per minute shower heads have been replaced with 2gpm versions. The top loading washing machine has been replaced with a front loader using half as much water. Instead of the 300 gallons per day the system was designed for, we now average around 125 gallons per day with 5 people (including teenagers).

Rich

Re: Any issues to home septic system from dumping your tanks at home?

Reply #13 – March 20, 2018, 06:15:18 pm

I'll address this question from a slightly different perspective. First, we do not have a septic system. We do have a drain at our home. But, more importantly, we use an excellent product, Always Fresh, in our RV black tank. As a result, we have no solids. Ever. And, no odor. The product is a white powder, the consistency of baking soda. We are L.D. owners for nearly 24 years, on our second L.D - a 1994 and a 2006. We've used Always Fresh that entire time. We do use only RV tissue.
We/I have nothing to do with this company other than a loyal customer. Always Fresh has instructions for use in a septic system directly, so I can't see any incompatibility. It's only available by order and it's not cheap. However, it works!
alwaysfreshinc.com

Juli W.

Re: Any issues to home septic system from dumping your tanks at home?

Reply #14 – March 20, 2018, 06:39:25 pm

Juli

Thanks for your endorsement of Always Fresh! I Goggled them so that I could learn why you are so pleased with the product. I didn't learn much! They are quite close mouthed about the product, no mention of what the chemical action is that does the job they profess.

I also have been using a product for over twenty-three years with complete satisfaction, Eco-Save. It is enzyme based as you can read at their web-site on the link provided. I get the same results that you reported, no solids, only a slurry of effluent when I dump and no odor, either from the toilet or the dump. One difference is that I use the liquid form instead of the powder. And, I do not worry much about the type of paper I use, only that it has to be two-ply and soft.

Eco-Save Products, Green long before it was Fashion!!

Re: Any issues to home septic system from dumping your tanks at home?

Reply #15 – March 20, 2018, 07:26:52 pm

Quote from: JuliW - March 20, 2018, 06:15:18 pm

I'll address this question from a slightly different perspective. First, we do not have a septic system. We do have a drain at our home. But, more importantly, we use an excellent product, Always Fresh, in our RV black tank. As a result, we have no solids. Ever. And, no odor. The product is a white powder, the consistency of baking soda. We are L.D. owners for nearly 24 years, on our second L.D - a 1994 and a 2006. We've used Always Fresh that entire time. We do use only RV tissue.
We/I have nothing to do with this company other than a loyal customer. Always Fresh has instructions for use in a septic system directly, so I can't see any incompatibility. It's only available by order and it's not cheap. However, it works!
alwaysfreshinc.com

Juli W.

I used to use Always Fresh until I installed a wind-driven rotating vent cap which seems to have eliminated all odors, so now I use no additives. As for breaking up solids, the attached article something about that, but simply driving does a pretty good job as well. Toilet Chemicals for RVs

Chris

Re: Any issues to home septic system from dumping your tanks at home?

Reply #16 – March 20, 2018, 10:43:15 pm

Hi Steve,
Yes, you're right - Always Fresh is very closed mouthed. My folks were RVers and long time members of FMCA. At one of the many rallies, a woman chemist (also FMCA member) attended with cases of samples of her new product Always Fresh. Dad bought a small container and got one for us. This was in the late 80's or very early 90's as I recall. This was during the era of such products as Trojan Gold which was a dark blue powder or liquid about the shade of India Ink and contained formaldehyde. Nasty stuff. I was so glad to find something that didn't leak, wouldn't spill and stain anything it touched - - and it worked!
I, too, wish I knew what it contains. Clearly, it's a closely held secret. Or, maybe it's just baking soda. :-)
Juli W

Re: Any issues to home septic system from dumping your tanks at home?

Reply #17 – March 21, 2018, 06:54:13 pm

Hi folks,

OP here, and thanks for the additional inputs.

I've seen some apparent corroboration at least for advice that one needs to be careful of too large a flow possibly causing waste products to get delivered to the leach field prematurely. And I think keeping this concern in mind can be part of the solution.

Ideally, dump tanks before returning home (when feasible), and then only empty the remains of the black tank or residue from cleaning it out. That would be minimal load on the septic system. Also, if one has no alternative, I would feel pretty confident dumping only the black tank, and then closing it and filling with water for a cleansing rinse at a later time. Similarly for the grey water, I would plan to dump that at a later time, letting everything settle in the septic system.

My sense is these precautions would avoid any possible contamination of the leach field. And since I'm parked at home, no harm in doing this in multiple steps (say, waiting a few hours or a day in between).

And thanks also for the multiple tips on what can safely be added to the RV tanks for treatment that will end up in a septic system (Rid-X, Always Fresh, Eco-Save), and what should always be avoided (any formaldehyde-based products, as they will kill the septic tank's important bacteria). And the view it is also possible to get by without any additives at all.

I think this answers my questions, and I really appreciate the feedback.

If anyone has any remaining horror stories that would contradict these conclusions, I'm still all ears.

I greatly appreciate the combined wisdom of the forum. Thank you all!

Re: Any issues to home septic system from dumping your tanks at home?

Reply #18 – March 22, 2018, 03:28:06 pm

Chris - I would like to hear about your wind-driven rotating vent cap (brand, etc), I looked at solar ones early on before we started using an enzyme product and was not impressed with the quality at all.

We use powerblue - enzyme product - in our tanks (just starting to use it in our grey tank). We also get that slurry even when sitting in one spot for the entire tine (eg no driving between dumps). Makes a big difference on the smell also.

Septic, having had houses with septic here is my 2 cents:

Septic tanks are permitted (county, city building permit) in most areas.

In our area they were designed for the number of bedrooms in the home - eg you can't just add a bedroom without proving your septic tank handles that amount of bedrooms.
Note: it is not number of bathrooms or number of people or how they use it (eg long showers, several people in each bedroom, at home 24 hours so more bathroom use vs at work 16 hrs a day so less bathroom use). It was number of bedrooms (planning over time the people living in the home would change).

That said all construction is overdone (eg there is variation with extra room so if you have 3 kids per bedroom or two adults per bedroom the septic should still work fine). Exceptions likely if it was built pre 1970 (I have heard of one built in the 50s that were under built or have structural problems and new designs are just so much more sophisticated these days). Also depending some on the builder (but plumbing statues/laws at the time would influence hingsbalsi).
Ours was pretty simple, not like today's fancy ones - a big concrete hole. A large pipe that led out towards the leach fields ( there was no second tank like I believe I saw in newer septics). We lived in Northern California - Bay Area - not a ton of rain but not dry, and on a hillside (I don't know if that made things worse or better (flow outside tank downhill so faster).

Finding out what your septic was built to handle might help you. Information is typically in the permit offices for when the septic was installed/house built though of it was a long time ago it might just say septic with no details. And check with your permit people to determine if you need permits (they often double check calculations but don't count on them catching everything).

A good septic company, when pumping it out, should be checking for structural problems and could tell you something about use (is yours more full or more empty typically). Ours was built early 1979s, 2 bedroom but for 5 years no more than 3 people and we used no more than half capacity so we would have had plenty of room for an RV dump.

Jane

Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone

Re: Any issues to home septic system from dumping your tanks at home?

Reply #19 – March 22, 2018, 03:33:13 pm

"We use powerblue - enzyme product..."
-----
I think you might mean this product?

Amazon.com: Valterra V23128 'Pure Power Blue' Waste Digester and Odor...

As an Amazon Associate Lazy Daze Owners' Group earns from qualifying purchases.

Re: Any issues to home septic system from dumping your tanks at home?

Reply #20 – March 22, 2018, 04:05:57 pm

Yes, that is what we use. I have talked to the company, this one has more enzymes than their other ones.
A local Rv pets store told us this is the one their customers liked the best.

We also heard from other RVers about happy camper but we were so happy with power blue we never tried it.

We have also used the same companies sensor cleaning product with amazing results. One use and sensors that had not worked forever and were not expected to work ever again now work great.

Jane

Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone

Re: Any issues to home septic system from dumping your tanks at home?

Reply #21 – March 22, 2018, 08:57:46 pm

I guess many have little idea how a septic system works.
If dumping 60 gallon of liquid waste into a 500 gallon tank causes problems and contaminates of the field, you system is already about to fail. Failures are common, mostly caused by tree roots.
Brings back unpleasant memories of cleaning roots out of my parent's tank.
How Sewer and Septic Systems Work | HowStuffWorks.

From my experience, the only use for chemicals is to cut down the smell in warm weather, solids break down on their own, even faster if the RV is driven a little before dumping.
Anything else is mostly wasted as a good holding tank flush takes care of cleaning the bottom of the tank.
A holding tank is not a processing tank, anything beyond breaking up the solids is wasted effort, that's what a septic system or sewage processing system is for.

I do a once a year treatment, in the heat of summer when the rig is going to sit for more than a week.
The holding tanks are dumped, flushed and filled to to the top with fresh water.
A good dose of septic tank additive is poured to each tank before filling with fresh water.
Let the solution sit for at least a week or longer before draining.
What comes out is a thin, nearly odorless slurry, the digested remains of the coating that build up on the tanks.
Many would be surprised how the grey tank has the biggest buildup on the tank's walls.
Even though we stopped using the Factory's tank level indicators years ago, after installing the SeeLevel system, the
LEDs still correctly indicate the approximate tank's level, the indicator's internal pins are still clean.

Larry

Re: Any issues to home septic system from dumping your tanks at home?

Reply #22 – March 23, 2018, 11:52:44 am

Larry, do you have any suggestions for the few of us who are in our rigs full time?

Jim

Re: Any issues to home septic system from dumping your tanks at home?

Reply #23 – March 29, 2018, 06:24:45 pm

It just so happens that we are preparing to have our septic tank pumped out next week so thought I'd post these photos for the benefit of those who have never had the pleasure.

This is a 1200 gallon tank, circa 2008. It's actually not too bad of a job digging up the access covers if you have had 3 inches of rain the previous week!

Re: Any issues to home septic system from dumping your tanks at home?

Reply #24 – March 29, 2018, 07:42:34 pm

Quote from: HiLola - March 29, 2018, 06:24:45 pm

It just so happens that we are preparing to have our septic tank pumped out next week so thought I'd post these photos for the benefit of those who have never had the pleasure.
This is a 1200 gallon tank, circa 2008. It's actually not too bad of a job digging up the access covers if you have had 3 inches of rain the previous week!

Makes me glad we are on a sewer system.
Happy digging!

Larry

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