Nuevo grey water

I don't have my Nuevo yet but will soon be preparing the Transit for sale. Last year I bought a small catch tank for the grey water waste which allowed me to empty it every couple of days.

What is the arrangement on the Nuevo? I see it has a large grey water tank but how do you empty it? I am aware some site have a drive over grating but I've not noticed them (not been looking) on every site - and what do you do when wild camping?

I'm basically wondering if I need to keep my catch tank or not.

Not sure about the newer ones (presume the same) but on my 2004 its simply a drain tap on the offside just behind the rear wheel.

Fairly easy to reach down to open and drain off.  I carry a small length of hose in the gas cupboard to drain at the appropriate points without it splashing everywhere.

My 2011 Lancashire grey tank has a handle to pull centre of back under number plate. This operates a slide but you have to remove a cap before emptying. This means using a drive over drain. I understand that some owners have modified the cover to fit a hose fitting to enable emptying by hose.

Hope this helps!

Hi Dave

I can only speak from experience. We have never filled our grey waste tank, nor have we bothered with a catch tank (as you call it )

There's never a problem emptying on site - apart from the time it takes the "fast emptying" tap to empty!! Fast it ain't!

If we ever need to empty it off site we use a bit of common sense and look for somewhere where it will not be a nuisance. It's nothing nasty after all, and some CL and CS owners even ask for it to be thrown under the hedge, rather than fill their tanks.

If there is a drain, or somewhere for it to soak away without inconveniencing anyone, I see no reason not to dump it. The contents are almost exclusively organic so it will bio-degrade in no time.

We are fairly secretive about it however, just in case someone thinks we are dumping the contents of the toilet. It doesn't do to get motorhomers a bad name in the eyes of those who don't understand.

Having said all that, we have only needed to dump (other than on site) twice in more than ten years of motorhoming, and even then the gauge was not showing "full". The tank is plenty big enough for a few days of "wild" camping.

Dave

Just the same as Noggin's on my van, drive over drain if available, if not, and we're on tarmac or other hard surface, it's a bucket job to the nearest drain. No need for a catch tank, if you're staying on aires or other camper stops, putting anything outside is considered camping and not usually allowed anyway. Most times though we drain the tank into a convenient hedge via a six foot hose when we stop for a brew.
Although quite large, the grey water tank is smaller than the freshwater one, so emptying is required more often than filling.
Al.

I use a wheeled waste water container, find it easier .leave drain tap open and the waste water goes straight into the waste container, not staying in the tank.

thank you all. Gromit's van is probably closest to what I will be getting so this is mostly aimed at him..... What is the physical arrangement? Is it just a tap you open to drain into your ditch?

One of these on mine, simple plastic tap.  Like I say, a length of hose will give the option to run into a vessel or simply into a suitable waste point.

Daisy mae! we do exactly what you do. As I have got older!, I now use a wheeled WasteMaster container. Storing is an obvious issue - in a purpose made bag in the shower area. I use to partly fill the onboard waste tank and then empty into two buckets (for balance!) every day to keep dumping waste water under control. 

Now, no struggling or waddling like a drunk, across a big site for everyone else's entertainment! I also don't have to lie down afterwards to recover! 

Dead easy.

Pete

All good points, but like lots of things it depends how you use your van. Some on here like the convenience of official sites or attend rallies, and maybe don't move their van for days, in which case, unless on a fully serviced pitch, it can mean a lot of water carrying, both fresh and grey. Others, like me, use aires or other free parking and seldom stay in one place more than a night, so calling at a service point and draining/refilling en route is no hassle.

dbroada wrote:thank you all. Gromit's van is probably closest to what I will be getting so this is mostly aimed at him..... What is the physical arrangement? Is it just a tap you open to drain into your ditch?

This what the tap is like. This blue one is the fresh water drain, but the grey waste tap is just the same but grey, and further back along the side of the van.

Dave



Dave

Thanks.

That looks like you might "accidentally" leave it slightly open as you drive off and scatter your used washing up water over a considerable distance.

Before confirming our Nuevo order we hired a Swift for a few days to get the hang of a short coachbuilt. That had the waste water tap on a swinging arm so it was two actions to empty the tank, and vulnerable if you didn't put it away again.

I carry a collapsible bucket...  I usually buy a couple at shows (they're ridiculously cheap)  because they do start to leak after a while. I make it a regular job to empty some grey water off every day or so into the collapsible bucket. 
In a collapsed state  the bucket measures approximately 10 inches in diameter and just over an inch in depth. In the Nuevo it fits very neatly on top of the two Fiamma ramps stored in the outside 'wet' locker.

Masai Warrior wrote:Daisy mae! we do exactly what you do. As I have got older!, I now use a wheeled WasteMaster container. Storing is an obvious issue - in a purpose made bag in the shower area. I use to partly fill the onboard waste tank and then empty into two buckets (for balance!) every day to keep dumping waste water under control. 

Now, no struggling or waddling like a drunk, across a big site for everyone else's entertainment! I also don't have to lie down afterwards to recover! 

Dead easy.

Pete

As I haven`t a lot of space I have the Fiamma 23ltr waste container, fits in its own waterproof bag and goes in under the OS settee , next a watering can, ring tyre inflator and a coil of TV aerial  if on site aerial connection. so loo area freed up when travelling. 

Agree no more struggling , MHoming is suppose to  be relaxing

Snap, we use the same waste tank. I have no problems driving over the grey water drain to dispose of the waste but I do have a problem standing like a spare wotsit for half an hour (usually being watched by those waiting their turn) while the water drains away   Two minute job to take it over and dump with the wheeled tank.

In our Nuevo it is a slide out valve at the back with a screw cap to remove. When on site I have one of those small plastic garden rubbish bins with a handle each side. Every morning I just go out and pull the valve and fill the bin and either carry it to a drain if nearby otgerwise it gets slung in the hedge.

Askit wrote: I do have a problem standing like a spare wotsit for half an hour (usually being watched by those waiting their turn) while the water drains away

This is why we usually stop in a layby or any quiet country spot and let the tank drain while we have a leisurely cuppa.

In previous years of prolonged drought, we can all recall advice from water companies to use your bath/washing up water to irrigate your garden beit lawn, flowers or vegetables. Where there is provision to empty grey water on any camp site, if dumped elsewhere you risk condemnation from owner or other campers. There is a lovely CL site Doghouse Lane Chideock Dorset where you would be expected to empty grey in the appropriate drain. However on the other side of the hedge is exactly the same pitch set up but because it is not CC registered, you can dump your water in the dry ditch below the said hedge. As we all understand, grey water may not expel completely from the tank until you have left the site, stopped to open the drain tap and driven off to look in the rear view mirror to see a lot more water empty on the road. But agree that any volume of grey water emptying is best performed perhaps in a subtle way when on the public highway.

Sorry but I would not let any waste water out on a public highway or layby come to that, no wonder Motor homers get a bad name and we are all  tarred with the same brush, can you blame car parks etc banning us when folk do this ? .also dangerous to motor bikers, . I know standards have dropped in all departments doesn`t mean it is acceptable. opposite is true.

We're talking about a bit of soapy water here Margaret, not nuclear waste! I've been to many CL's where the  'official' grey waste pipe just goes round the corner and empties into a field!
 Like has been said on this thread earlier, draining is always done in a subtle way into a hedge away from hardstandings, no harm to bikers or anyone else. For goodness sake in times of drought we're encouraged to do it! A few litres of biodegradable water is not in the same league as what comes out of our exhaust pipe every time we go anywhere!!
And please refrain from shouting at people just because they do things in a different way to you.

Thanks bikeralw, like you where I mean subtle, it is disposable of nothing more than soapy water in a manner that leaves no trace. Certainly not in a car park or directly on the carriageway for all to see. On several CL sites we have been encouraged by the owners to empty grey water directly onto shrubbery in times of prolonged dry weather.

I agree entirely with Al and Paramedic.

I wonder if those who are so concerned about grey waste, take inordinate care to catch and dispose of the water they use when cleaning their vans and cars?

Of course they don't! It goes straight down the nearest storm drain (or possibly a soakaway on a domestic property) and the detergents and polishing agents are just as, or perhaps even more damaging than a drop of shower and washing up water.

Where people have to use on-road parking, that's where their vehicles are cleaned - yet nobody seems bothered by the soapy residue left on the road surface or the stream in the gutter finding its way to the drain, if there is one nearby!! You only have to look at all the cars being cleaned by the roadside on a Sunday morning to realise they contribute vastly more than do we motorhomers.

Dave



P.S. No offence to Margaret , but things do need to be kept in perspective.

Gromit wrote: dispose of the water they use when cleaning their vans and cars?

Of course they don't! It goes straight down the nearest storm drain (or possibly a soakaway on a domestic property) and the detergents and polishing agents are just as, or perhaps even more damaging than a drop of shower and washing up water.

That's why its illegal to wash your car in Germany. You have to take it to a special area that recirculates all the water (presumably after washing it).

So, back to my tank. I think I will keep what I currently have and then see how I actually use the van before deciding whether to keep it or not.

Thanks all for your contributions.

Regarding flow while dumping grey water, on my 2002 Nuevo, it all looks fancy with the drain tap in the skirt, only snag is it runs up hill from the waste tank. I moved mine farther back below the skirt with a 22 MM straight through plumbing tap with a new bracket I made. The result is draining is now fast and completely empties the tank. I also added a spareline from the the spare wheel to the bracket which means I can check the tyre pressure without dropping the wheel

When in dire straits I have dumped discretely but, by the time that you get to that stage I find that the waste has started to smell. Because of thst I dump waste whenever convenient at proper dump points.
Sometimes I leave the waste tap open so that the bottom inch gets lost en route as it won't drain otherwise. To remind me to close it again I hzve some black tape over the end of the tap handle that is at the bottom when it is open.