I like that subtitle “hook ups”, but at my age I don’t believe the modern-day use and definition of that phrase is territory that I should transit. So disappointing, I guess I will have to settle for “hook ups” as it pertains to the RV world – darn it! Wishful thinking at the least. In my RDB article titled; Getting Acquainted, I committed to crafting articles that might provide helpful hints and insights to MCG guests. My target audience are people who have just began (pups) their adventures into this wonderful, exciting, educational and fulfilling opportunity called RV’ing. Experienced RV’ers (ole dogs) are welcome to join in to share their knowledge, and who knows, maybe an ole dog can learn new tricks. This first part of the article will be focused on the black and gray sewage systems. An RV has two sewage systems. Each system has its own storage tanks installed somewhere within the chassis framework of the RV. Usually there is one for the raw sewage (aka: black water) and one or two tanks for waste water (aka: gray water) from the sinks and shower. The capacity and locations of the tanks vary depending on the type and size of your RV. You can generalize where they are located but knowing the capacity information can prove useful. One of the tasks of setting up in an RV park is to hook up a sewage drainage hose from the RV to the ground sewer drain. I want to take you through the connecting process before we talk about other parts of both sewage systems. There is nothing more embarrassing than pulling into a RV site and doing a few preliminary setup tasks only to discover that you parked your rig in a location where you could not hook up your electric, water or sewer systems. You only have X number of feet of 30 or 50 Amp electrical cable, water and sewer hose. In the begging, think nothing about taking the cable and hoses out of their storage locations and lay them on the ground to ensure that the rig is in the right location for the three hookups. After gaining a little experience you will get good at using the guesstimate method. The first thing we always hook up is the electric because we want to get the electrical environmental systems functioning. The next steps will be to hookup the sewer and water system but before you do that, look where the site connections are in relationship to the RV connections. You may want to consider delaying the opening of the slide-outs on that side of the RV until you have completed your hose hookups. It is so much easier when you have a lot of wiggle room to do your thing on that side. Unless you need the water right away, hookup the sewer next. It looks like I’m “bloviating” too much in this part [Part I], so I will finish this part with information about the sewer hoses and cover more about the hookup process in Part II. There are two types of sewer hoses: First, there is the 4” diameter hose, which I believe to be the most common; the other type is almost the size of a garden hose. It is used when the RV has a system that grinds up the waste materials and then flushes it through the smaller hose. I don’t know much more than that about the system so I can’t provide any help. I will begin Part II with more information about quality, lengths and sewer connections, as well as, the hookup process.
