city hook up for water

toni

Hi all!  We will be going camping shortly with electricity and water hookups.  We are not used to that, we usually dry camp.  My question is about the city water... I do have a regulator for the spigot to control the water pressure, no problem there. 
We will be camping in a California state park.  My question is do I leave my grey water valve open so I have unlimited water available to me or should I keep it closed and limit myself to the 11 gallon grey water storage tank?  THANKS!

Sharon_is_SAM

It is recommended to leave both grey and black tank valves closed and allow your tanks to fill at least 2/3 - 3/4 before emptying.  The thought is there is less chance of "things" sticking to the sides of the tank by letting fluid accumulate.  Also, I have read reports of critters invading RV tanks - best to leave the valve closed.  BTW, my experience has been that the fresh water tank monitor runs high, so make sure you have a good 50% level before showering - unless you are ultra conservative.  Have fun!

toni

I'm sorry, I should have mentioned we don't have a bathroom.  We only have grey water tank.

Dalehelman

After 40+ years of RVing I have always left the gray water valve open. Black  valve closed till tank is nearly full otherwise liquids will drain immediately but solids will collect in tank. Gray water is not an issue. Otherwise you may find yourself taking a shower and standing ankle deep in gray water before you are done. 

Sharon_is_SAM

Dale, now how else are we supposed to soak our feet after a long day at camp???

Dalehelman

SAM said:

Dale, now how else are we supposed to soak our feet after a long day at camp???

Good point.

AMac

Not sure I understand, are y'all saying you let the gray water just discharge directly onto the ground at your campsite when you have a water hookup? Do campgrounds allow this? If so, that's not necessarily ok from the perspective of potential impacts to water quality to any nearby streams, lakes, etc. (Obviously, effects would depend on what's going into the gray water, as well as cumulative volume from multiple RV'ers...)

Sharon_is_SAM

toni - do you have a sewer hookup at your campsite or a dump station?  

Dalehelman

All water drained must go into a proper sewer drain not on the ground.

toni

Right.  I am not sure if the site has a grey/black water drain.  I do know we have electricity and city water.  I will find out when we get there.  I will either use a  provided drain at the campsite or limit my water usage if there is no drain.  After all gray water storage is pretty limited in the T@B. 

Dalehelman

Many campgrounds have gray water only dump sites. If so You  can use a bucket to transport your gray water as needed.

ChrisandAlexis

@toni, if the campground you are staying at has a dump station then you can use a portable storage tank to empty your gray water tank if it gets close to full. Here is a discussion about that https://tab-rv.vanillaforums.com/discussion/comment/78833#Comment_78833
 When our gray water tank gets to 60% I empty it into the portable tank and take a trip to the dump station and we can go back to using water without having to worry about soaking our feet as @SAM mentioned when taking a shower.