Black Water Disposal

[Rick@62]

Hi all, this may seem a bit of a rookie question, but does anyone know of any motorway service areas that have a black water disposal point?

Given the proliferation of motor homing over recent years it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect such a thing but do any actually exist?

Rick.

 

[funflair]

You could have a read through this thread, https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/black-tank-emptying-map.266490/page-3#post-5193646

Or just go to any post by ceejayt and check at the bottom there will be a link to his map of ground level dump point, note that these are not cassette points but specifically for black tanks.

 

[Lenny HB]

Cobham services on M25 has, I think it's a £5 charge.

 

[Rick@62]

Thanks for the info, especially that there is a map of disposal points.
My MH has a thetford cassette and have stuck to proper sites so far. I fancy trying a few days off grid but have concerns about the availability regarding the legal disposal of the cassette contents.
Don’t want to be a scumbag and pour it into a ditch.

 

[Lenny HB]

We always carry a spare cassette.

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[bigtwin]

My MH has a thetford cassette and have had stuck to sites so far. I fancy trying a few days off grid but have concerns about the cassette contents disposal.

You can always empty when you get home.

Ian

 

[Lizbiebrowne]

We always carry a spare cassette.

Me too.

 

[Landy Andy]

An idea of area may help responses.

 

[Rick@62]

You can always empty when you get home.

Ian

Yep, that’s what I’ve been doing so far.

 

[Rick@62]

An idea of area may help responses.

Hi Andy. No specific areas, I was just wondering if, nationally , the motorway service areas catered for this.

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[Rick@62]

We always carry a spare cassette.

Ok, but where do you carry / store the “full up” one! wouldn’t fancy a loaded cassette in the rear garage no matter how much you could secure it from moving! It only takes the blade to open a fraction of an inch and…..

 

[JockandRita]

Ok, but where do you carry / store the “full up” one! wouldn’t fancy a loaded cassette in the rear garage no matter how much you could secure it from moving! It only takes the blade to open a fraction of an inch and…..

I'm with you, ie, I don't relish the thought of carrying 5 x gallons of human effluent in the carpeted garage space.

Despite carrying a spare cassette for a few years now, we've never had to swap them over..........thankfully.

ceejayt's list of locations is probably the best info available for now.

Black Tank Emptying

Some C and CC sites offer a 3 hour service stop over for use of facilities including emptying of black tanks (you must be a member to make use of this facility). The map shows locations of those sites which have Motorhome Service Points. Not all these sites can be guaranteed to have easy...

www.zeemaps.com

Cheers,

Jock.

 

[Lenny HB]

Ok, but where do you carry / store the “full up” one! wouldn’t fancy a loaded cassette in the rear garage no matter how much you could secure it from moving! It only takes the blade to open a fraction of an inch and…..

Carry it in a plastic container, and change over before it gets completely brimmed.
One place you really need a spare is Greece, when wilding can be a challenge emptying sometimes.

 

[jerryz]

The local clowncil offices letter box is always a good starting point for contents of cassette ,, or parking enforcement ..

 

[nicholsong]

We always carry a spare cassette.

We carry two spare cassettes, mainly for Greece but not had to use both yet.

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[Geistguy]

We carry a strong black plastic "grey water" waste container, the sort tuggers put under their waste pipe, and "decant" the cassette contents into it when necessary. It has a good wide screw top and never leaked. Cost less than £20.

 

[Rick@62]

One place you really need a spare is Greece, when wilding can be a challenge emptying sometimes.

Cheers Lenny, Greece is one place on my "things to do list"........... spend a few months Greek Island hopping in my MH.

 

[AdrianChen]

When we had cassettes on our previous van we carried a spare, with care they can last a long time before it becomes an urgent job. Never had the stored one leak, but then when dragging it along a rough bumpy path, it never leaked either.

We now have a holding tank, which because it is a macerator toilet uses more water, so actually we haven't gained much from having the 120l tank except weight. We also have the original spare cassette from the old van, which serves to extend the time a bit, and also helps if there is no ground level dump.

We tried a big 80l waste tote - used once in Scotland where the van didn't fit into the space near the dump point, bloody heavy, and now stored at home. Plus a 40l wastemaster (used for grey once in a blue moon) so shortly to be stored at home as well. We do have an old macerator pump and hose which can pump uphill for 200ft, never used.

The point being the extra cassette has been the most useful thing we have.

 

[Manic]

To make the cassette last a little longer don’t put paper in there, we have a small bin with nappy sack in for the paper.

 

[scotzsue]

To make the cassette last a little longer don’t put paper in there, we have a small bin with nappy sack in for the paper.

Ditto

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[Lenny HB]

To make the cassette last a little longer don’t put paper in there, we have a small bin with nappy sack in for the paper.

And use a spray bottle for flushing.

 

[peterc10]

We have a spare in the garage. I measured the cassette and bought a clear plastic box and lid that you can buy in hardware shops or on line. Fits well and no smells.

 

[leggings]

Thanks for the info, especially that there is a map of disposal points.
My MH has a thetford cassette and have stuck to proper sites so far. I fancy trying a few days off grid but have concerns about the availability regarding the legal disposal of the cassette contents.
Don’t want to be a scumbag and pour it into a ditch.

Water companies dump it in rivers and we pay them for it.

 

[Rick@62]

Thanks everyone for all the info, tips and tricks. Maybe it is time the motoring organisations started to lean on the motorway service providers to start incorporating these facilities into their sites.

 

[cyberyacht]

I've found that garage/rest areas in Spain have facilities for fresh/grey and black. Not sure if it's universal or just the one's I've stopped at.

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[funflair]

When we had cassettes on our previous van we carried a spare, with care they can last a long time before it becomes an urgent job. Never had the stored one leak, but then when dragging it along a rough bumpy path, it never leaked either.

We now have a holding tank, which because it is a macerator toilet uses more water, so actually we haven't gained much from having the 120l tank except weight. We also have the original spare cassette from the old van, which serves to extend the time a bit, and also helps if there is no ground level dump.

We tried a big 80l waste tote - used once in Scotland where the van didn't fit into the space near the dump point, bloody heavy, and now stored at home. Plus a 40l wastemaster (used for grey once in a blue moon) so shortly to be stored at home as well. We do have an old macerator pump and hose which can pump uphill for 200ft, never used.

The point being the extra cassette has been the most useful thing we have.

We have the holding tank and macerator and just had 7 night in the lakes, tank is 250 litres though and was showing 25% when we dumped as we were leaving anyway, another week would have been no problem I wouldn't want to go back to cassette.

 

[jerryz]

Water companies dump it in rivers and we pay them for it.

Another option then , put it in their letterbox instead of Clowncil

 

[ChrisL]

Ok, but where do you carry / store the “full up” one! wouldn’t fancy a loaded cassette in the rear garage no matter how much you could secure it from moving! It only takes the blade to open a fraction of an inch and…..

I have two cassettes, as it's only me using it, it generally takes a week to fill one cassette, the full one goes into the garage, the full one that was in the garage goes to the disposal point and then goes back into the toilet empty plus a little water and toilet fluid, the reason I do this is so the fùll cassette in the garage has more time for the contents to breakdown avoiding "lumps" when disposing of the contents, i've never had a leak or any odour in the garage. However I would say that if you have an open vent like for a SOG I wouldn't use this method.

 

[125BEER]

Anyone fitted a composting toilet?

Yamas

 

[AdrianChen]

We have the holding tank and macerator and just had 7 night in the lakes, tank is 250 litres though and was showing 25% when we dumped as we were leaving anyway, another week would have been no problem I wouldn't want to go back to cassette.

Interesting - I think our Tecma is set so it uses a lot of flush water - I need to get to the trim tab on the back of the control, but I think they've used double sided tape, and its glass! We can do around 10days being careful I guess, but whilst the gauge is consistent it's isnt that accurate, so I tend to chicken out! Wouldn't bother with a tank less than 250l in future. The boat had 160l, but also an ocean - easily good for 10days on anchor before we had to go offshore.....

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