Follow-ups House Battery for LD TANK CAPACITIES FOR 1982 LD August 02, 2016, 04:54:06 pm Hi All,We've had our 20 foot mid bath LD for about a year. Have been on several trips but not more than 6 days/5 nights. We went on a two weeker where no showers so used the MH for that. The grey tank filled on day 5 and came up through the shower pan. I checked the fresh and it was well over 70% full. I've searched and searched for capacities but found closest is for 1984 22 twin/king of fresh-58 gallon, grey-17, and black-23. I measured outside dimensions and come up with fresh-40 gallon, grey-15, black-14. All approximate as the waste tanks are unusual shapes and the fresh overflows before reaching full height.The grey seems extraordinarily small. I had a Cortez MH before for 15 years and waste tank (only 1) was the 5 gallons bigger than the fresh. Any other MHs look like the grey is about 85% of the fresh which sounds right. Yes both tanks were drained before leaving. Yes we are very water wise and experienced on usage. And as I said I checked the fresh tank and it was about 70%. So my measurements of grey (15 G) and 30% of 40 G look pretty close.Anybody have the specifications of the tanks or why LD would have such a small grey tank?Thanks,Jim
Re: TANK CAPACITIES FOR 1982 LD Reply #1 – August 02, 2016, 08:42:32 pm LD did not make a MB model in '82, so not sure what you have - I believe they had a rear dinette at 20' as well as the twin-king and rear lounge models, all which had the bath up front, at 22'. Anyway, the twin-king had a notoriously small grey tank until recent models, smaller than the literature indicates.Steve
Re: TANK CAPACITIES FOR 1982 LD Reply #2 – August 03, 2016, 01:17:32 pm Thanks. I thought that MB meant mid bath. My mistake it does have the rear dinette. At least I know the grey tank is small and that there is not something in there or other problems. One last thing, does anyone know of any retrofits to increase the size of the grey? If not, looks like there will be a lot of nocturnal draining on long trips.
Re: TANK CAPACITIES FOR 1982 LD Reply #3 – August 03, 2016, 05:41:19 pm "If not, looks like there will be a lot of nocturnal draining on long trips."----I well understand the drawbacks to small holding tanks, but you might want to verify that draining grey water in any place other than a dump station/sewer outlet (or where grey water ground dumping is specifically permitted, usually in a desert area) is permitted where you want to offload before opening the valve. To me, "nocturnal draining" suggests that you already know that "stealth dumps" are a bad practice. Individual states and/or localities and areas managed by government and/or other entities have very specific rules about if/when/where grey water ground dumping is OK, if at all. To some, dumping grey water on the ground may not be a big deal, but I've observed (and smelled!) quite a few grey water dumps (and a couple from the other tank, too, unfortunately) in many boondocking areas; dumping several gallons (or more) of grey water laden with soap scum, food particles, grease, and general YUK stinks, draws flies, and makes a big, flippin' mess. (Even worse than ground dumping (IMO) is dumping grey water into a creek, river, or lake.) Each individual can check the grey water dumping regulations where one is boondocking and/or make up his/her own mind on the acceptability of grey water dumping outside of an appropriate facility, but if you decide that it's OK, hopefully your grey water offload will be far away from where I'm camped. As ever, YMMV.
Re: TANK CAPACITIES FOR 1982 LD Reply #4 – August 04, 2016, 12:11:07 am Quote from: jukinj3 - August 03, 2016, 01:17:32 pmThanks. I thought that MB meant mid bath. My mistake it does have the rear dinette. MB does mean mid-bath, but this model is longer and came about later on. The bath in that model is between the front lounge and kitchen area and a rear lounge area, not just behind the driver's seat:Lazy Daze - Floor PlansSteve
Re: TANK CAPACITIES FOR 1982 LD Reply #5 – August 04, 2016, 12:44:07 am As RVs become shorter, the available space under the floor becomes limited. Short RV typically have small tanks.Your 20' LD has less available space than the 22' models and the tanks are smaller as a result. The early 22' models did not have the capacities of the 26.5' models.Everything has its advantage and disadvantages, you can park in a regular parking spot where the rest of us can't.Can the tanks be changed to larger capacity tanks? If there is enough room for bigger tanks, sure, but expect to pay big bucks for custom made tanks, not what most owners of 25 year old RVs want to do.You might want to check to see if the tanks are clean of build up and to verify that the vents pipes have not dropped down into the tanks, reducing the usable capacity.Tank build up can seriously reduce capacity. Tanks should be flushed regularly. I annually flush and fill the tanks with fresh water and then add a septic tank enzyme. The tanks are allowed to sit for a week or more, giving the enzymes a chance to digest anything left in the tanks. It works best in hot weather. Our LD is presently going through this process, might as well take advantage of the summer's heat.Larry
Re: TANK CAPACITIES FOR 1982 LD Reply #6 – August 04, 2016, 01:53:54 pm Quote from: Larry Wade - August 04, 2016, 12:44:07 amI annually flush and fill the tanks with fresh water and then add a septic tank enzyme. The tanks are allowed to sit for a week or more, giving the enzymes a chance to digest anything left in the tanks. It works best in hot weather. Our LD is presently going through this process, might as well take advantage of the summer's heat.We're actually in the middle of the same process with one (1) extra step. We allowed the cleaned out tank to cook with septic tank enzymes for two (2) weeks and then dumped and now letting it cook for another two (2) weeks. With our daytime temps over 100 degrees, I'm hopeful that the prolonged soaking in very warm clean water and enzymes will help to clean the sensors. At the very least, the tank should be cleaner! 1 Likes
Re: TANK CAPACITIES FOR 1982 LD Reply #7 – August 04, 2016, 02:31:45 pm I'll be manually checking the grey tank build up and capacity with a 6 gallon and 1 gallon bottles. I'll check the vent pipes and thanks for the floor plan layouts. As to the grey water dumping. I have never understood why it is OK to do dishes in the sink with a container and then take that container outside to dump and not have grey tank draining other than somebody probably pulled the wrong valve. My 67 Cortez was specifically designed to "Gopher Hole" the grey water. The Cortez was under 19 feet and they managed to get large tank in but was a class A. IMHO the super small tank was a bad call.
Re: TANK CAPACITIES FOR 1982 LD Reply #8 – August 04, 2016, 03:08:11 pm "I checked the fresh and it was well over 70% full."Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see any mention of what you are using to measure the tanks' status. The built-in "idiot light" gauges are notoriously imprecise, and in-tank gauges in general are often inaccurate. It's just possible that the situation was not as bad as it seemed. With regard to nocturnal dumping, I'm with Joan: it's prohibited in most places I've boondocked, and it certainly doesn't do the next camper any favors. Dump stations are not that hard to find--Sanidumps and other sources list tens of thousands nationwide."I have never understood why it is OK to do dishes in the sink with a container and then take that container outside to dump and not have grey tank draining"Dishwater doesn't stink. Gray water does--and how! It sits in the tank and bacteria go to work on it, and the result can be really nasty.I traveled in a 22' 1985 LD with tank capacities similar to yours (58/17/23) for five and a half years, including a year and a half as a full-timer, and I only once felt the need to dump some gray water on the ground (in a remote desert area). That happened when I was a new RVer who didn't know how to find dumps, and it was due to simple bad planning on my part. 1 Likes
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