Dumper Doug

There are three methods in use today for dumping human waste from an RV. The first method is the system (well not really a system) currently supplied by the RV manufacturer. Oh, sorry but most RV manufacturers leave it up to the RV owner to figure out what to buy at a retail RV accessories store. If you were to buy an RV that has a �starter kit� for hook ups they are not suppose to be actually used, they are supplied by the mfg. or the dealer to give you the feeling they are concerned about you having a �safe and sanitary method of removing waste from your RV. The fact is this kit should be tossed in the trash because it WILL cause you to have a bad first experience. Assuming you didn�t get this kit, you need to buy a sewer hose or two, three or four choices here depending on the store. All the sewer hoses available are made of vinyl or in one case �polyolefin� which a material is used for shrink wrap applications. The method of construction is most important here and all sewer hoses for sales through retail stores (with a couple of exceptions) are made the same. The wire inside the hose is sandwiched between a layer of material. Drag the hose on the ground and chances are really good that you will see the wire which means you have a leak. Time for a new hose. Now for the fittings both at the RV and the sewer inlet. The bayonet style fittings are the most commonly used and are simply poorly engineered for the application. You push the fitting on to the receiving fitting after removing the cap, and then twist the unit which causes the seal to distort. If not immediately over time you will get a drip of the nasty. If all goes well and you have successfully transferred your waste from the RV to an approved sewer inlet, you must disconnect the hose from the RV, clean the inside (to avoid unpleasant odors) and find a suitable space to store the unit. Try doing this without spilling any water on the ground around the site. One would think after 30 plus years the RV manufacturers would have designed a system that would protect you as well as the environment from this nasty but necessary task. The second method used by some is a macerator pump system. These can be purchased in RV accessory stores as well as an option by a couple of RV manufacturers. The first question I have is if this is so good why do the high end bus style converters not use them? They can buy and install any system because cost is not a factor. The reason is that they have in the past used them but the difficulty of use by the average RVer coupled with the maintenance required, the energy needed to run and the time it takes to dump the tanks makes no sense. What drives people to use these pumps are two fold; one they have not had a durable long lasting 3� sewer hose and the proper fittings to do the job: Two they need to use a pump when at home to pump uphill to the clean out. Ninety nine percent of the time the pump is not needed so why go to the expense and time to do a simple task? The third method is a system called Waste Master. This system comes in about 6 or 8 different configurations depending on the RV it is being installed on. The premise for the system is the result of identifying the problems associated with the transfer of waste itself. Above all the disconnecting and cleaning of the 3� hose is the real pain without mention of the mess left of others to deal with and the mark it leave in our environment. The second problem is the components used to do the transfer which are not suited to stand up to the initial pressure when the dump valve is opened. In addition the fitting going into the sewer inlet has no way of being shut off if a leak is detected. The only place to stop the flow is back at the dump valve. Needless to say, the mess left after and accident is embarrassing as well as contaminating the space we all come to enjoy the great outdoors. The solution it turns out is very simple. It starts with having the tools used to transfer waste up to the job. With that in mind we went in search of the best hose suited for the job. The Sewer Master hose is made out of the right material and constructed in such a way that it is extremely durable. Next we designed a nozzle for the approved sewer inlet with a handle, as swivel, a compression donut to hold it in the sewer hole and a lever to stop the flow if necessary. In addition when the nozzle is in the store or closed position no drips or fumes can escape. Next comes the coach connection. We decided that if the hose is connected to the RV at all times it would not need to be cleaned so we found industrial grade 3� threaded fittings and the proper hose barbs to insure a leak, drip free connection between the fitting and the hose. Installed on any RV the end user simply picks up the nozzle and walks it to the approved sewer inlet, wedges the compression donut on the nozzle into the hole and when he/she is satisfied all is well, open the nozzle valve. They go back to the coach and open the Black valve by pushing a button and the transfer begins. Time now to dump the Grey water which cleans out any Black water contaminates. The holding tanks can be flushed as well if the RV has sprayers for this purpose. When the task is complete and the hose is empty (it can have up to � gallon of water left in the hose) simply close the nozzle valve, lift the nozzle out of the sewer hole (replacing the sewer hole cap) and return it to the RV. The task is complete and you have not soiled the environment or yourself. In addition the dumping process took less than 5 minuets. A pump system would have taken 2 to 3 times as long. Remember I said in some cases you may need to use a pump, in which case you simply remove the compression donut from the nozzle and connect the pump using an adaptor, open the valve on the nozzle, open the dump valve, turn on the pump, wait until the pump sounds much louder than it did, turn it off, close the dump valves then the nozzle valve, remove the adaptor, clean the adaptor and pump as well as the small hose and, well you get the idea. If you have any questions or would like to discuss this topic simply go to your web site www.wastemaster.net and write to me, Dumper Doug using our forum.

RV WASTE SYSTEMS - DID YOU KNOW?

By Doug Swarts The subject of waste removal from an RV is always a subject that stirs an emotional response. Most serious RVers as well as newbie�s have had an unpleasant experience while dumping waste from their RVs. More patents have been issued for �better ideas� related to dumping holding tanks than any other area of RVing. Why would that be? We began looking into this and found some surprising answers. The minimum standard by which RV manufacturers are governed by is the National Fire Protection Associations (NFPA) Standard on Recreational Vehicles 2005 Edition is the industry bible, if they belong to the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA). In reading the section on holding tanks and associated waste removal items covering direction of flow, pipe sizing, venting I found Section 7.5.7 Drain Outlets. Interestingly enough the standard stops at the termination cap! Have you ever wondered why there are so many choices at an RV accessory store relative to transferring waste from the RV to an approved sewer inlet? The reason is that RV manufacturers are not responsible �after the cap�. Quick to observe this gap, a few accessory manufacturers began to design interface products and sell them to aftermarket stores. Until recently R V mfgs. did not supply any method for the consumer to transfer waste from the RV to an approved sewer inlet. On rare occasion when they did, the sewer hose and fittings would be the most cost effective they could find and mostly not fit to use for the intended purpose. Under the NFPA 1192 Standard the RV mfgs. have to supply the RV with an approved electrical power cord and plug, Underwriters Laboratory (UL) approved. If they supply a fresh water hose it must be approved for use with potable water approved by National Standards Foundation (NSF) Surprisingly, no testing or listing standard exists for the safe and sanitary transfer of human waste from an RV to an approved sewer inlet. None of the fittings or hoses you buy are tested or listed to any standard at all. No wonder they are �Exclusive� to the RV industry aftermarket. No other type of business uses these fittings and hoses yet we as the consumer must use these products to remove the human waste from our RVs which carry diseases harmful to our health. When a fitting drips or the hose leaks during the dumping process an unsanitary condition at the site is created. Having to clean the inside of the sewer hose after dumping creates a mess at the RV site. The next occupant has to deal with insects such as flies, mosquitoes and rodents all of which carry disease and viruses harmful to humans. Whenever I discover a problem I make it a practice to find a workable solution prior to telling others about the issue. Don�t you dislike the person that finds fault with something and does not have a method to resolve it? The solUtion in my opinion is simple; 1 Have the sewer hose connected to the RV at all times after the termination valves using a threaded fitting to insure the interface from solid pipe to flexable hose is secure. 2 Use a sewer transfer hose that is built to a testing specification to insure the hose can stand up to the environment in which it will be subjected to. 3 The sewer inlet fitting must fit securely in the ground inlet and have a shut off valve to isolate the end user from the liquid inside the hose. With a shut off valve on the business end of the hose the environment will not be soiled and the hose will not need to be cleaned prior to storage. Interestingly all other industries that transport liquids of any kind take full responsibility for the transfer process, only the RV industry does not. The challenge it seems is a good solution or a cost effective solution but how do we get the RV manufacturers to adopt this as a standard feature?

Dumper Doug

Doug's background is in the semiconductor capital equipment industry. His engineering and business management background lead him to found three companies, invented numerous production products, related to reducing contamination in clean rooms and increasing semiconductor production yields. He founded his 4th company Phase Four Industries in 1998 specializing in RV waste management.

Camping was their family's method of enjoying the great outdoors beginning in tents and graduating to a Class A motorhome 2 years before retiring. Doug an inventor by nature decided very quickly that dumping holding tanks on RVs was in need of a better method. After retiring in 1991 he and his wife of 30 years began full time RVing in a bus conversion. As they traveled Doug continued to educate himself on the best method of transferring waste from RVs to a sewer inlet. He spent a lot of time talking with other RVers as well as watching folks dump their tanks at RV sites and dump stations.

He discovered that everyone had his/her own variation of how to do this task without getting ---- on themselves or on the ground around them. More often than not during the dumping process some liquid from the holding tanks would end up on the ground around the dump inlet. Sometimes it was during hose and fitting cleaning prior to storage, other times it was due to hose failure or fitting leaks.

Having full time RVed for 9 plus years and dumped his own tanks hundreds of times with a focus on �a better method� to make this unsanitary necessity of the RV lifestyle he joined the Technical Plumbing Subcommittee with the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA) to help create standards for RV manufacturers to provide a system that eliminates this negative aspect to a great lifestyle. RV manufacturers use the National Fire Protection Association, NFPA 1192 Standard on Recreational Vehicles 2005 Edition as their standard by which they build RVs of all kinds.

Doug has done seminars at most retail RV shows across the country, trained sales and service technicians at RV manufacturers and dealerships on the dumping process. He is available to directly answer questions related to dumping holding tanks in a new forum aptly titled �Ask Dumper Doug�.

SEWER GASES AND FECAL CONTAMINANTS

Having full time RVed for 8 plus years, it shocked me when I saw a fellow RVer dumping their holding tanks without using rubber gloves or taking any precautions to insure the process of dumping would be sanitary. The fact is, there are 2 factors that can affect your health. SEWER GASES AND FECAL CONTAMINANTS
We need a better RV waste system ...
by Doug Swarts

Having full time RVed for 8 plus years, it shocked me when I saw a fellow RVer dumping their holding tanks without using rubber gloves or taking any precautions to insure the process of dumping would be sanitary.� The fact is, there are 2 factors that can affect your health.�

The health effects of sewer gases
The fecal contaminants around the RV site before during and after the dumping process

SEWER GASSES
Rule of thumb, �If it can explode, it should not be breathed."

These gases are sometimes present during the dumping of holding tanks coming from your own black holding tank or from the sewer system in the park. Sewer gas is a generic name for a complex mixture if gases and airborne agents that result from the natural process of the decomposition of organic materials in sewage. Most common gases include hydrogen sulfide (H2S), ammonia (NH3), methane (CH4), and carbon dioxide (CO2). Sewer gas also contains carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxides (NOx), biological organisms and water vapor. The major adverse health effects from exposure to sewer gasses include 1. Poisoning from hydrogen sulfide gas; 2. Fatigue do to reduced oxygen levels (from CO2 and CH4); 3. Diseases from airborne pathogens, bacteria, viruses etc; 4. Explosions from methane gas.�� And all this from something you do not physically come in contact with.�

FECAL CONTAMINANTS

The direct contact with Human faecal waste contains pathogens (disease carrying bacteria, viruses, protozoa (single cell organisms), parasites and some fungi which can cause disease in humans. This disease spread can by direct contact, ingestion or inhalation.�

THE DANGERS

If you look at the water bay in most RVs you will see the fresh water inlet very close to the sewer cap outlet. Think about the vapor gases coming from the sewer outlet when you remove the cap. Where does the vapor and gas go besides up your nose? This has the potential to cause minor and major health problems over time. Some RVers use the same rubber gloves over and over. They might as well use their bare hands because they store the soiled gloves in the same compartment as the fresh water inlet. RV manufacturers could design a system where you would never come in contact with the waste and isolate the waste from gas contact with the fresh water input.��

The benefit to a system like this goes beyond the individual health aspects (which are very important) it also helps the EPA attain it's Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) which ensures we have safe drinking water in the future. How many times have you found a mess left by others at your site? This ground water contamination can be stopped if a system was included with the RV to prevent spills and the necessity to clean the hose and fittings before storage.�