Well, yesterday it was three weeks that we've been here at the campground. We work five days a week so only in the rig a few hours at night and our days off so our black tank doesn't get a lot of use. That's a good thing since we don't have sewer hookups at our site. Is also why we picked a spot as close to the sewer dump as we could get. We figured that if we were going to be here for any length of time beyond three weeks, that would be the point where we'd need to buy a macerator pump. Many of the Mini U locations, where we will be able to park our rig, have water and electric but no sewer. There are sewer cleanouts and rest rooms but all of the locations have different configurations so never sure how close a rest room might be to our rig.
So, when we found out last week that we're going to be here another couple of weeks, I went ahead and ordered a macerator off Ebay. Less than $200 and we get reimbursed by our employer...how cool is that ! I had researched different ones and Flo-jet is the one I wanted to go with for our particular needs. Other similar devices use only water pressure(and no electric motor) to push the waste to a dumping point. This one came with a wiring harness that connects an on/off switch from the motor to a 12v power source. The motor has a whirling propeller that cuts up any solids into tiny pieces so that the final product is sent out a garden hose to a sewer cleanout, dump station (like in our situation), nearby toilet, etc. I bought 6' of 12 gauge wire at Lowes and made the hookup long enough to reach our battery compartment, which is next to the door going into the rig. Strung the wires through the basement and when I get time I will staple the wires up along the wall running across the basement so they are orderly and out of the way.
Saturday night when we got back to the rig, I decided to hook it up and dump our tanks. I had gotten all the wiring done the night before so I'd be ready to go when I was ready to use it. My biggest decision came on the power source to use for the Flo-jet. At first I thought I'd buy a small battery I could keep in the basement and just pull it out to sit alongside the macerator and not have to buy extra wire, as I ultimately did. But I thought, why buy another battery when I already have two on the rig so that is why I bought wire and rigged up a longer wiring harness.
The other thing I thought might be a problem was hooking the macerator up to our valve. If you recall we have the Pivot Ez sewer hookup where the sewer valve has an attachment on it with the sewer hose already attached inside a 4" PVC container. After looking it over, I could see that the short "elbow" piece of sewer hose that allowed the Pivot Ez to pivot was on with a twist type adapter. There is a black metal band that wrapped around the coupling so I loosened that and was able to twist off the sewer hose on the valve where I need to twist on the macerator. There wasn't enough clearance to get the macerator on there so I needed to unhook the other end of the elbow too and then I was in business.
Two garden hoses attach to the macerator....as you look at the picture here...the hose that goes on the port where you see blue is for the water hose to flush the tanks and macerator when done....the small black connection (mid way back, just below the label) is what will carry the waste to the dumping point after it passes through the whirling, slicing, dicing veggiematic.
Linda helped me by running the garden hose over to the sewer dump (70' feet away)and watching it so I could tell when things were empty. This first time it seemed a little awkward...looking at instructions...on with the motor....open the black valve...off with the motor...open the grey valve....on with the motor....on again...off again....rinse...flush..cha cha cha...The Black Water Waltz...hard to learn the steps at first but after a few times we'll be pros at it. It was great though !! After about 10 minutes, both tanks were empty and we can now shower in OUR air conditioned rig and not in the 90 degree, mildewy shower stalls at the RV park AND we don't have to worry about pulling out to go dump somewhere. As long as there is a dump station or toilet within 120' of us, we are good to go !! Ya know....It's the little things in life that make the difference....
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