Black/Gray Tank clean procedure August 25, 2019, 06:42:01 pm The goal of this note is to share good practice on tank dumping/cleaning. The issue is not protection of yourself, although that is very important, but to protect others from you. Generally your personal family already has be exposed to your germ/virus biology. The real issue is we have no idea what was the practice of the folks that preceded us to the water or dump station. As background I worked in medical field and hospitals most of my adult life. With this in mind this is a modified system I use to protect me and mine. The key is to keep 'dirty' equipment separated from clean equipment. 1. open compartment2. put key in pocket3. put on gloves4. open 'dirty' bag and connect dump hose5. open value to dump black then gray water6. close value7. disconnect dump hose8. clean dump hose using dump area water9. store dump hose in 'dirty' bag10. remove gloves See of Checklist 5: Applying Non-Sterile Gloves of this page . 1.3 Hand Hygiene and Non-Sterile Gloves – Clinical Procedures for Safer... .11. put gloves in trash12. remove key from pocket -- lock bin13. start LD -- vacate dump stationglen
Re: Black/Gray Tank clean procedure Reply #1 – August 25, 2019, 07:47:51 pm Glen,I, too, maintain one outside compartment/bay for all my gray & black water gear and clean up fluids. I also store several plastic leveling blocks and a bottle jack in the the bay.My fresh water items are stored in another bay. Draining water from all hoses prior to storage allows me to store many other camp related items with this equipment.If I may add to your list one item, that would be to rinse/hose down the dump station and rinse the water down the drain. This will help flush any waste that can often escape the RV dump hose. Sanitizing the dump station water valve/handle can also help keep our fellow campers just a bit cleaner. Just a little something that takes only a few seconds and costs pennies.Thanks for your post. Kent
Re: Black/Gray Tank clean procedure Reply #2 – August 25, 2019, 08:55:51 pm I bought grey and white containers with snap-on lids. The containers just fit through the access door in the back of my 31IB. I keep all black waste hose, orange water hose, sprayable clorox solution and gloves in the grey box. The white water hose, filter, pressure regulator, etc go in the white container. I keep containers apart after they are removed from the storage locker. Also wipe down both containers with clorox spray before storing back in the coach. I use the clorox solution to spray down everything that I am going to interact with at the dump station. 2 Likes
Re: Black/Gray Tank clean procedure Reply #3 – August 25, 2019, 09:13:20 pm "I use the clorox solution to spray down everything..."I didn't give sanitation much thought until I watched the guy next door wash out his sewer hose using the fresh water spigot. I suddenly got cold chills thinking about what would likely happen when the next camper hooked up to that same spigot. It was then that I started using a spray bottle of Clorox! 1 Likes
Re: Black/Gray Tank clean procedure Reply #4 – August 26, 2019, 09:29:27 am Kent,That is almost exactly what I do. I was trying to keep my 'steps' simple. The place were most all 'untrained' folk make mistakes is in the glove removal process. The order of putting on and removal of gloves seems simple. A person must be thinking ahead and not be worried about stopping the whole process so they can maintain a 'clean' process. There seems to be a bit of social pressure at the dump station to get in and out as quickly as possible. I get that. But as I told my students -- the only person that will suffer is you if you make a mistake. glen 1 Likes