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Thursday, July 7, 2011

Getting The Stink Out

Oh yes, the job everyone looks forward to with great anticipation...dumping the black tank.  If you read our blog regularly, you might remember my Robin Williams moment with an uncooperative sewer hose.


If you missed that "adventure", you can read it here.  Because of my hose also springing a leak, I went to my local RV shop to get a replacement.

I've been using  Valterra sewer hoses, (the red ones) for years and they've held up very well (except that one time).  I carry two 15 foot sections that can be used to make a single 30 foot length on the rare occasions that the sewer dump connection is too far away to be reached with a single 15 foot hose.

The RV dealer didn't have a Valterra 15 foot hose in stock, only a 10 foot and a 5 foot.  Being experienced (christened?) on having to deal with a hose coupling failure, I didn't want to have any more couplings than I had to.  So I bought a heavy duty 20 foot long sewer hose made by Camco.  I installed my Valterra couping ends and  thought I was good to go.

On our very next outing, no the hose didn't come off, there was no disastrous spill again (you weren't hoping, were you?). But when I hooked up the hose I had all kinds of trouble with it.  I tested the hook up with some grey tank water, the couplings were weeping water and the hose sagged between the legs of my slinky hose support.  Totally unacceptable and another smelly disaster waiting to happen.

After that outing, I went looking for another Valterra set up, but was unsuccessful in finding what I wanted.  Fortunately, I found a better product that I've now tested and found even better than the Valterra set up.


It is the Rhino Flex sewer kit.


The hose is not just heavy duty, but it can expand and collapse to different lengths and is stiff enough to be bent into a shape and retain that shape.  Also the couplings screw into the hose and have a locking ring collar that screws into the coupling and locks it tightly in place.

On the end that connects to the sewer dump, there are several threaded sized that will adapt to most any sewer dump pipe.


  The elbow that fits into the threaded connection has little tangs to lock it in place.


Another feature that I like is that the couplings on both ends swivel, so the hose will assume a relaxed position instead of getting twisted.

The couplings interchange with the couplings on my other Valterra hose, but they work even better, they lock together with an audible "click", ensuring a solid connection, music to my ears. :c)

The hose collapses to a small size when stowing and it fits easily into the Journey's wet bay, no more wrestling with a sewer hose to get it put away.


The 15 foot Rhino Flex sewer hose kit cost me $44.00 at my RV dealer, you might find it a little cheaper on line.  I am very pleased with it and am sure it will give me good service for a long time.

Now my Robin Williams disasters are a thing of the past (knock wood!).

Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave a comment.


12 comments:

  1. You will like the Rhino hose. We started using them last year when we went fulltime. I even ran over it and it still collapses okay and no leaks!

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  2. We use the Sewer Solution instead of a regular sewer hose and have been very happy with it.

    Rick's RV moment was at the very beginning of the movie when Robin Williams was trying to fasten his seatbelt. It just wouldn't come out far enough! I finally had to unbuckle mine and go help him :) Thank goodness it wasn't as messy as the sewer hose caper!

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  3. dumping is all part of the rv lifestyle..and a rhino hose sure makes it easier!!!

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  4. Putting that on our list! I still have only seen RV in bits & pieces on TNT or some such channel. Must rent it or buy!

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  5. The Rhino system sounds good. We have been using the Blue Line system for almost four years and happy with it, but might give this one a try.

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  6. Good choise and glad you didn't have another, ummmm spill...lol. We just bought the same set up and it's working well for us.

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  7. Pretty sure Rhino is what Howard swears by. Thanks for the primer on sewer hoses. I'm glad someone looks into this S*#@ for me.

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  8. One more item to add to the motorhome we are filling with stuff before we buy it ;o))

    Thanks for all the great info!!

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  9. Thought I'd stop by to say HI!!! And lucky me...MY kind of post! :)

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  10. Even though I read your account of the black water mishap before, I had to click back to it again. It's still just as funny.

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  11. I don't have an RV yet so I have not had my first dreaded SPILL. I have marked Rhino Flex as the item to buy. I wonder if you can pay someone to dump and flush the DREADED BW tank for you??? :>)

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  12. Yep. Rhino is worth the extra bucks. Anything that helps make that part of rving better.
    Syl

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