This blog pretty much goes hand in hand with my last blog titled “Boondocking and Dry Camping Solutions here.
A real money saver and effortless dumping! Dry camping has become such a breeze for me with the purchase and use of the macerator pump as I simply pump my tanks into my two blue boy totes. I have a 22 and 15 gallon type giving me a total of 37 gallons I can dump each trip to a dump station. Of course the benefit of this is you never have to hitch up go to a dump station, return and re-setup the trailer, and so easy. My problem was when at the dump station I would have to get up into the bed of the truck and lift the heavy totes up to dump them. With my bad wrist this was becoming a chore. I had decided to invest the money ($250 or more) to buy a 32 gallon tote with the dump valve on it so all I had to do is hook the hose to it, pull the valve and done! Rinsing with the same method this also eliminates you having to tow the totes through a campground to the dump station as well and especially if the dump station was off site and a mile or two away. After speaking to a Rob, owner of Morro Bay RV and Marine he suggested I just put the valves in my 2 totes instead of spending all that money on a new tote. $45 worth of parts and a little time saved me about $200 or more! Some people ask why my totes are in the back of my truck in the first place. Hey to me it’s all about making life on the road as easy as possible. Here’s a pic of my 22 gallon tote before I started with the parts I needed……
The first thing you need to do is establish where you want the valve. You must then drill a hole in the tank for the heavy rubber seal to be inserted. This can be done with a hole saw. I used a 3″ saw, but found I had to enlarge the hole some with a sharp type knife to accommodate the seal. You want the hole low as possible in order to be able to drain most of the totes contents yet it has to be high enough to accommodate the valve when the tote is sitting level on the ground or in bed of pickup..
Once the hole is drilled and the edges cleaned up the heavy rubber seal is inserted into the hole. Take note in the pic below which end (short end) goes into the tank. You have to worm the seal in per say as you see the slit in the middle of the seal is where the tank wall goes. Once I got the heavy seal in place I peeled it back along the edges all the way around putting in a large bead of silicone to seal it well wiping any excess from around the edge. Don’t be afraid to use plenty of silicone on this.
The next step was to insert the smooth flange that the valve will attach to into the seal you inserted into the tank. I suggest putting some silicone around the smooth part that goes in as well as the inside of the rubber seal to help as it’s a tight fit and must go all the way into the seal and be flush. I then let this set overnight to give the silicone time to dry and set up. You do NOT want any leaks!
Now it’s time to bolt the knife valve assembly onto the flange you inserted into to seal in the tank. This is very simple and self explanatory. On the outside of the valve is the plastic part that that your sewer hose attaches to for dumping. Just like on your RV. It all bolts together very easily. 4 bolts with nuts accomplishes this easy task.
Once everything is together you should fill the tank with fresh water and let it set for an hour or so to insure there are no leaks, I doubt if you follow my instructions about the silicone above you will have any, but if so simply drain the tank and use silicone or similar compound where necessary to take care of any leak. Other than letting the initial part setting over night to allow the silicone to dry and set up the whole project takes around an hour or so. Because the sides of most these totes are slightly rounded compared to the ones manufactured with the valves (in a flat spot) the valve will have a slightly outward and downward setting which is just fine. The end result is a couple hundred dollar savings in buying a tote with one of these valves already installed, easy effortless dumping and no need to tow the tote behind your truck or vehicle. Sure makes my life much simpler! Pretty cool even if the nearest dump station is a mile or two or even further way. This setup will also work for you motor homers as well as long as your toad is capable of carrying the totes loaded and can dump from them.
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