RAA Posted July 19, 2006 Share Posted July 19, 2006 Why is it that waste water from motorhomes is called grey water when the same from caravans is always called waste water? Grey water from motorhomes often has to be covered with a lid at the MHSERVICE point when there is never a lid for caravan waste water emptying points. Why is this? The lids provided are often heavy and may at some time cause problems to motorhomers. Why is it that Motorhome Magazines never comment on this point? Very good deccriptions of sites rarely provide any detail of the MHSERVICE point facilities. The sites of one Club always seem to have lids and in many instances have no concreted draining area so that waste water which misses the hole runs away downhill. In other instances the drainoff point is in a corner cut off by hedges into which only a car sized van would fit. Our latest Continental built van has a centrally fitted drain off point which cannot be easily positioned over aukwardly installed drain off points. I thought all Club sites were the same until recently when I stayed on a site run by the other Club where the drainoff point was an open grating about 1M x 1.5M excellent How do we get improvemets like this everywhere? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikemoss Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 Good question RAA, something I hadn't realised until you mentioned it. At a guess, we call ours 'fresh, grey and black) because we have three different built-in tanks for fresh water, waste water (grey) and the other stuff that ends up in the cassette loo (which thankfully never looks black to me). Quite why some sites should expect us to dump our waste water in a different place to the tuggers I don't know. I do know we often found it tricky with our first MH which had one of those buried in the middle at the back type of outlets. It could be a real pain as it was impossible to get a bucket under it. Current model has a short length of thick hose just behind the rear wheel, with a tap. This means we can use a bucket to carry the stuff to the tuggers' waste water drain where we can't position the MH next to it. But on CLs and CSs we use an extension to run the grey water along a hedge, which in my view is far more environmentally friendly than clogging up the sewage farm with stuff which will biodegrade anyway. Before anyone starts moaning at me, we always ask the site owner first before doing this, and they're always said they prefer this anyway! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 Mike has done the fresh/grey/black water terminology bit. The principle difference is that most caravans are fairly immobile once sited, whereas motorhomes remain much more mobile. Hence the fresh/waste water goes to the caravan (Aquaroll etc) whereas the motorhome goes to the fresh/waste water. While you're there do the cassette at the same time. Remember also the relative sizes of the reservoirs. Most motorhomes carry around 100 litres, or more, of both fresh or waste, so filling/emptying is a bit more time consuming.Why lids? Mainly, I think, because these facilities were late additions to the sites, often, it seems, placed where there was previously just a manhole. The "club" receptacle is often no more than a large tundish, over which it would be tedious for others to drive unless lidded. Also these tend to be on the road, not in a bay, so more readily accessible to children, whose little hands need to be kept out! If it's any consolation, there is no standardisation anywhere else in Europe - not that I've found anyway! The main problem is that site operators generally don't understand the requirement, so don't install what is really required. The best I have found was a dedicated MH service bay in Portugal, falling gently from both ends towards a full width drainage grating, set about two thirds of the way down the bay towards the rear. Thus right, left, or centre, discharges could get over it, irrespective of whether installed between the axles or behind the rear axle. It even had a flushing system for the channel and a handy hose to wash down any misses. Perfect? Well yes, except for those intellectually gifted motorhomers who had emptied their toilets down it, leaving the grating festooned with toilet paper! And yes, there was a chemical toilet point adjacent. There was also a drinking water hose that was continually left lying on the deck, beside its hose reel. However, it seemed no one thought this mattered, as I saw several other bright sparks using the wash down hose to fill their fresh water tanks!So, depressingly, even when the provision is just about universally perfect, the idiot motorhomers mess it up anyhow. No hope, is there?I mainly blame the hire market for this stupidity, most of the culprits' vans had hire stickers on them, and it seemed no one had explained the procedures or the risks. However, do people really need to be told? On the evidence, it seems they do. Elimentary hygiene just seems not to be taught anywhere in Europe, including UK! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryVan Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 Brian, following your post I am now updating my manual for the van I hire out to include the details you mention. In my check before hiring out I found very few owners / business's provide a manual. Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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