Ideas for Shower drain water diverter

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Ideas for Shower drain water diverter

January 02, 2024, 03:35:31 am

We are looking for ideas for diverting shower drain water from not entering the gray tank and to be diverted to the outside of our LD 98~MB, maybe to the ground if water is clean and area is plausible or to a external tank on the ground that is more mobile? With this setup we can shower more with less trips for gray water dump. This could be done with a valve diverter that is cut into the shower drain pipe somewhere before it enters the gray tank. Access may not be the best for a 98~MB? I was also considering cutting a new drain in the shower pan that would directly drain outside of the LD to a point of your choosing? Then you would simply unplug the drain hole in the shower where you wanted the water to go. Also done this way you would not have to vent this pipe but might figure an ext plug for times when you were not using it? We have thought about an external shower but there are those times when you want to be in your bathroom? What have people done with their LD to get their gray water extended?

Karen~Liam
98 ~ MB
NinA

Re: Ideas for Shower drain water diverter

Reply #1 – January 02, 2024, 09:22:14 am

"What have people done with their LD to get their gray water extended?"

1. Put a plastic basin in the kitchen sink. Every night, empty it outside (where legal and feasible, of course). Do this well away from the rig--that water contains food particles and could attract animals.

2. Shower less often. Use body wipes instead, three days out of four (or more).

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Re: Ideas for Shower drain water diverter

Reply #2 – January 02, 2024, 09:43:33 am

Pretty much what Andy said. If you have the resources in the campground, an external tank on wheels to dump the gray tank occasionally and then wheel to the dump or authorized gray water disposal site should do it. Camping stores have a selection of those.
We carry a portable fresh water container we can use to top off our fresh tank without a hose, a few gallons at a time (made by Igloo - 6 gallons with a spout).

Steve

Re: Ideas for Shower drain water diverter

Reply #3 – January 02, 2024, 09:52:06 am

P.s. : We also bath sink wash-up; have a high-rise bar faucet that pivots out of the way; boiling hot water from the stove stored in a 2-liter Zojirushi thermos to warm up a small amount of cold in the sink; a very absorptive bathmat in front of the sink - and we have our tolerable sponge-bath setup...

Steve

Re: Ideas for Shower drain water diverter

Reply #4 – January 02, 2024, 01:35:36 pm

Thank You for all of the water conservation solutions. We are no strangers to many of those methods since we use to have many VW vans and our old itaska which had 5gal black and 12 gal gray required conservation when out for a week more. I was hoping for some thoughts or solutions along the plumbing side of the LD? I wondered if anyone out there had accessed the drain under the shower pan? I have seen many modifications to LD here on LDO, there is a Great Knowledge base out here!

   Karen~Liam
   98 ~ MB
   NinA

Re: Ideas for Shower drain water diverter

Reply #5 – January 02, 2024, 02:46:02 pm

I guess our curiosity here is why you would want to drain say 10 gallons directly from your shower as opposed to the gray tank if you are collecting it to dump rather than letting it hit the ground directly under the shower? Why plumb something extra when the plumbing to collect and dispose of it is already built-in? Larry has plumbed a line with a pump between the gray and black tanks to move out excess gray, but that limits your black reservoir.

Steve

Re: Ideas for Shower drain water diverter

Reply #6 – January 02, 2024, 06:05:55 pm

Exactly! The current LD plumbing runs the gray water into the gray tank thus filling it. This gives you 25 gallons you can store. We want shower water which is relatively clean to skip the gray tank and go out on to the ground or be collected to be dumped further away and not puddle under the LD. Then only sink water goes into the gray tank. For us showers have been the largest contributors to our gray water.

Karen~Liam
98 ~ MB
NinA

Re: Ideas for Shower drain water diverter

Reply #7 – January 02, 2024, 06:12:58 pm

There isn’t much of a difference between shower and dish water, assuming you wipe things off before washing. Actually, shower water is more unsanitary than dish water.
As Steve pointed out, your rig is already plumbed to do what you want.

Larry
Yuma, A

Re: Ideas for Shower drain water diverter

Reply #8 – January 02, 2024, 07:31:50 pm

I have a Valterra cap on my gray tank valve that accepts a 3/4 inch hose. Depending on the length of the hose, I can release the gray water where I choose away from my LD.

I'll try to take a pic tomorrow, it's too dark and rainy right now.

Amazon.com: Valterra T1020-1 Waste Valve Cap - 3" with Capped 3/4" GHT,...

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Re: Ideas for Shower drain water diverter

Reply #9 – January 02, 2024, 08:58:04 pm

Don’t know if this will help, but when we went from a LD mid Bath, to a Travato, to keep the gray, ridiculously small tanks in a class B from filling up too fast, we would put on swimsuits, soap up inside, and step out, and rinse off, using the exterior shower. 🚿 It worked for us 👍

Re: Ideas for Shower drain water diverter

Reply #10 – January 03, 2024, 11:04:46 am

I’d like to acknowledge Karen & Liam for asking a question that as far as I can tell, have NEVER been asked in the history of the LDOF. And that’s quite an accomplishment IMO. 👍

Re: Ideas for Shower drain water diverter

Reply #11 – January 03, 2024, 12:04:21 pm

Hi Liam; as Ed and Margee said, a unique question!   My idea would be to separate the gray water stream from sinks and shower, so that shower water from the main gray tank could more easily be dumped away from the motorhome, by way of a hose, on the ground. The kitchen sink and bathroom sink could have a separate tank, designated as a 'not as clean as shower water' tank. It could be combined with the black water tank, or used to flush out the black water dump piping. A lot depends on the size and location of your present tanks, and whether there is room to add another tank. If for instance, your black water tank was under utilized, then there could be some shifting of what went where.
Weight wise if you didn't travel with the shower water tank loaded up, it could lighten your load. Even more complex alterations; you could use the 'sinks' tank to flush the toilet, saving a bit of fresh water. These alterations would be a complex change, not the simple thing you are aiming for!
More extremely, the toilet could be changed to composting, the black tank reserved for 'sinks' water. The gray water, with some filtering and disinfection (UV'C' LED's, enzyme treatment), could be more safely dumped on the surrounding ground in less developed (or less ecologically sensitive) areas.
   The 'Overlanding Movement' to get away from developed campground areas, must be leaving some types of 'waste' in less populated locations, or be packing it around somehow.
   I remember in 'olden days' that gray water could be sprayed onto engine manifolds to vaporize it (and hopefully sanitize it) to reduce how much was in your tanks. Today with massive solar and LiF battery arrays, the Incinolet idea could be more viable as a solution. The Hot Poop on the Cinderella Incinerating Toilet    RonB

Re: Ideas for Shower drain water diverter

Reply #12 – January 03, 2024, 12:18:26 pm

Am I missing something, or is this just brainstorming about creative ways to feel better about dumping grey water on the ground, which is illegal pretty much everywhere?

Rich

Re: Ideas for Shower drain water diverter

Reply #13 – January 03, 2024, 12:40:43 pm

"...so that shower water from the main gray tank could more easily be dumped away from the motorhome, by way of a hose, on the ground. "

Since the dump valves on my 30' are separate and each feeds a single outlet I used a termination cap with a hose bib built in. That way I could connect a hose and drain the grey tank independent of the other.

Problem is that rules say no dumping on ground! Over the years I've only encountered one USFS location where that was permitted!

Re: Ideas for Shower drain water diverter

Reply #14 – January 03, 2024, 12:41:10 pm

What made life easy with our kids and our '84 itaska 12 gallon gray tank was the ability to divert shower water from our gray tank to a hose that we could dump under our camper or away from it or place a bucket under to collect it. All of those methods depended on where we were camping. If we were on the beach we dumped it right under the camper and it absorbed into the ground. If we had campers right near us and they were concerned about "leaky water" we used a bucked to catch the water. When camping some places we found that the water would not absorb into the ground so we used a hose to direct it away. We have a Camco dump cover with a hose bib but the minute that water passes through a empty gray tank it is changed and we don't want to dump it out near us. Any time we were using that tank to store some gray water in it would take away that pass through method. Our boys needed to be washed from "time to time" thus became a test of the system and it worked great and allowed us to stay longer. I would like to apply the same methodology to our 98~MB and extend our stays.

   Karen~Liam
   98 ~ MB
   NinA

Re: Ideas for Shower drain water diverter

Reply #15 – January 03, 2024, 04:34:53 pm

Here is the pic of the short hose I use. I also have a longer hose.

I am on private property, so I can drain my gray water (as well as dishwater from a tub) in the yard. It was actually helpful to the grass during the summer drought. :-) I go to a nearby State Park once a week to do a full dump for my black and gray tanks (they never charge me and all know my rig when I roll up).

I have never drained in a campground or on BM land.

Re: Ideas for Shower drain water diverter

Reply #16 – January 03, 2024, 06:55:39 pm

I have never seen a diverter valve that would accommodate this plumbing requirement. The simplest solution might be to install a second drain and valve with the fitting for a hose, such as is used to drain the water tank.

Steve

Re: Ideas for Shower drain water diverter

Reply #17 – January 03, 2024, 09:08:17 pm

On my previous trailer prior to my LD I had installed an auxiliary water pump that would pump water from my grey tank to the flush valve on my toilet on demand. There was a valve and switch that I could switch over to city water when in a park. This helped with the space in my gray tank, and also made my freshwater supply last longer as I didn't use it to flush the toilet. Probably didn't create the kind of space in the gray tank you are looking for though.

Re: Ideas for Shower drain water diverter

Reply #18 – January 04, 2024, 10:10:12 am

Quote from: Steve - January 03, 2024, 06:55:39 pm

I have never seen a diverter valve that would accommodate this plumbing requirement. The simplest solution might be to install a second drain and valve with the fitting for a hose, such as is used to drain the water tank.

Steve

In my sleepiness, I neglected to specify the second drain fitting to be drilled and mounted to the floor of the shower, near enough to the first to be at the bottom of the slope.

Re: Ideas for Shower drain water diverter

Reply #19 – January 04, 2024, 01:38:30 pm

Hi Rich; Yes, this is 'brainstorming' about possible 'more elegant' solutions to reduce limitations to gray water storage. While I'm sure it may be illegal in most states, people do dump on the ground. I've seen a lot of desert, disbursed areas essentially unpopulated wild areas, that wouldn't care about some extra water. I wouldn't want some trailer ten feet away to discharge 150 gallons of stinky water next to me, just before they drove away. That external shower in your MB drains onto the ground, yes? Lots of truck campers and vans have external showers intended for people to use. I've heard that some persons have arranged for 'slight' leaks in the gray tank valve area, so that when they arrive at their next destination, have considerably less gray water in their tanks.
It would bother me to put in an extra drain hole in my shower pan. I would prefer a modified plumbing arrangement invisible to average eyes. A way to do that is to put a small gate valve on the outlet of the 'p'-trap, and drill a small hole (3/8" fitting) on the side of the tailstock coming out of the shower, leading to a valve and hose attachment. My 'TK shower trap is open to the world underneath the floor. RonB

Re: Ideas for Shower drain water diverter

Reply #20 – January 04, 2024, 02:02:57 pm

"I've heard that some persons have arranged for 'slight' leaks in the gray tank valve area, so that when they arrive at their next destination, have considerably less gray water in their tanks."

Yes, I have witnessed that very thing! Open the grey water valve by a very slight amount and while you drive to your next destination gravity and motion will magically empty the tank onto the road.

Re: Ideas for Shower drain water diverter

Reply #21 – January 04, 2024, 02:23:56 pm

I know it happens. More now than ever with the RV, overland, live off grid boom.

I also think it's the kind of behavior that is going to result in even more areas being closed to camping.

I know people do it, and will continue to do it. I think we're doing a disservice to our newer readers by not pointing out that it's illegal just about everywhere (not just in campgrounds or national parks, or national forest lands - pretty much everywhere).

Rich

Re: Ideas for Shower drain water diverter

Reply #22 – January 04, 2024, 03:24:07 pm

"Lots of truck campers and vans have external showers intended for people to use."

My little Trillium trailer had the sink drain (the trailer's only source of gray water) plumbed to a garden hose fitting on the outside of the rig. One was intended to attach a hose to it and lead the water away to flow out onto the ground. I wasn't happy with that idea, so I re-plumbed the sink drain to flow into a three-gallon water carrier under the sink. That was my improvised gray tank. I managed to fit a spare carrier under there as well, so I could swap them.

When the carrier filled, I'd swap in the empty one, then carry the full one to a dump station and empty it there. I wasn't going to dump three gallons of waste water in one place in the desert. I have, however, dumped a quart or less from the plastic sink tub I mentioned... out in the desert, far away from any campsites.

Of course I would never dump black tank contents on the ground. In the Trillium I had a three-gallon Porta-Potti, and I'd take its cassette to a dump station when necessary. But sad to say, I have seen places where RVers did dump sewage on the ground, polluting campsites for years to come. 😖 Vandwellers seem prone to doing this, presumably because they generally don't have indoor plumbing.

Re: Ideas for Shower drain water diverter

Reply #23 – January 04, 2024, 04:43:18 pm

We have stayed in our itaska (B-5gal, G-12gal)on the Black Rock Desert playa in Nevada for two weeks at a time without moving. We used the camco dumpcover with hose bib to dump all of our gray water into 5 gallon buckets to be dumped later somewhere else. That hose bib opening restricted the gray water at a rate that made it easy to stop the fill. We carried our extra fresh water in those buckets beforehand and when they were empty they would get that gray water. The limit to all of this was the 5 gallon black tank, so when that was full we were at our limit! Fortunately the WC in that itaska was directly above and connected directly to the black tank so little water was needed to use it by experienced users. When we built our son's tiniHouse which has fresh water, gray and black tanks we used that same method of WC above 80gal black tank which could last a while!

   Karen~Liam
   98 ~ MB
   NinA

Re: Ideas for Shower drain water diverter

Reply #24 – January 04, 2024, 10:06:09 pm

Is the shower’s drain plumbing or is the shower pan located over the grey tank?

Larry

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