How to deal with extended "off grid" camping. ie - WATER

[roaniecowpony]

Seems like you're focusing on the wrong crap.

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[Badweissenbier]

I can tell you we fill the 30 gal grey tank over 2/3 in a long weekend. That’s with taking wet,soap,rinse type showers and being as conservative as possible.
Around here dumping grey just anywhere in your camp is a no no. Our 30 gal Black tank hasn’t ever even hit 1/3 on the long weekenders.
A/C and microwave will take at least 3.5kw generator. I’d say your best bet is to find a long term full hookup site.

 

[Durango]

I think you'll do just fine - you're ahead of many people already, doing some research before you jump feet first. I have a big fifth wheel I move twice a year in and out of the same "campsite" and garage, a small Class B I use for day trips and overnight trips, and a big bus I travel in and use around the west in the summer mostly - so I have three sets of grey and black water tanks (and 4 toilets - the bus has 2) and I can say from experience that water use can very a lot dependent on small changes you make. A lot of that comes from experience - like how long a shower you take uses X-amount of water, and fills the grey Y-amount. Go to a full hookup CG first, to make sure everything works on the RV, and then to do some "testing" to see how much water you use and and how much fluid you collect and have to dump. A big factor in RV toilets is how much water you use with a #2 activity...some people are very good at using very little water, while others use a lot. I tend to not worry about how much I use or fill the holding tanks with in the fifth wheel as it doesn't go anywhere for months and it's easy to dump whenever I feel like it. The van on the other hand has small tanks, so I don't mind asking people who's house I might park in the driveway of, if I can shower in their house, and I only use the toilet when it's the middle of the night and I don't want to disturb anyone. In the bus I don't usually connect the sewer hose if I'm traveling since I only dump no more than once a week - but once I'm in one place for more than a week I connect it to make regular dumping easy.
Lots of options and ways to do things - talk to other campers and in a conversation you can usually get a sense of how they handle their "utility mgmt" - and try various things to come up with a way that works for you.
Two strong suggestions - be sure as another poster noted NOT to leave the black water valve open even when connected in a full hookup park - as noted, you'll eventually have a mountain of you-know-what piling up underneath where the toilet dumps into the black tank as all the liquid will run off without taking any solids with it. And - be careful dumping even grey water anywhere but an approved RV sewer dump - in some states, counties or cities, that's very illegal. Sure, if you use bio-degradable soap it's less of a concern, and I know of people with acreage who encourage their guests to dump grey water on their fields - but you may find the grey water smells worse than the black (yup) and that is not something you want to leave unsuspecting friends or businesses. (yes, I have been known to dump my grey into a storm sewer, but only in an emergency where I had no choice if I wanted to bathe - and I'm not proud of that nor have I done it in decades)
Best of luck! PM me with any questions you're not comfortable posing publicly...

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