Black Tank Emptying Map

[ceejayt]

Hi

You may have seen the map I do for parking larger motorhomes at National Trust sites ( click here to view the map )

I have another map which up to now has shown all the C and CC and CAMC sites with motorhome service points. I now want to extend this to start adding any locations where simple 'to the ground' black tank emptying is available. Just popped the first one on the map as it is where I am tonight in France - these will be the white markers on the map.

So, if anyone would like to contribute locations I can add to this resource which is available to anyone to use then please keep them coming just like you have with the National Trust and Heritage sites

The black tank map as it stands now with 226 entries just click HERE

Thanks!

 

[HKF]

Sorry for sounding thick but what do you mean by a 'to the ground' emptying point? And this is as opposed to what, please? Thanks

 

[ceejayt]

rather Than a cassette point which is off the ground I am looking for a grate or drain I can drive over and ‘let it go’

make sense?

 

[HKF]

rather Than a cassette point which is off the ground I am looking for a grate or drain I can drive over and ‘let it go’

make sense?

Well, Park4Night shows this pic at Richebourg (which is on your map) but I thought these grates were only for Grey water? Are they really for Black water, too? Sorry if I'm being dim!!

 

[Jofang]

I have a black tank system on my Hymer here in France but nowhere in France to use it. All the french aires have service points set up on concrete plinths, so I'm considering installing a grid with a cover at my home in France. Please keep adding to your map list and I'll update you of any I find in France.

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[ceejayt]

Well, Park4Night shows this pic at Richebourg (which is on your map) but I thought these grates were only for Grey water? Are they really for Black water, too? Sorry if I'm being dim!!

I believe so.

 

[HKF]

I believe so.

I'm not so sure. I'm sure they're only for Grey water.

 

[olley]

Generally sites will lift a drain cover for you if they don't have a proper ground level black dump.
Salisbury CCC did that for me a few weeks ago.

 

[ceejayt]

Grey and black all end up in the same place for treatment

 

[funflair]

Grey and black all end up in the same place for treatment

I had a long conversation with a site owner who was wanting to attract larger motorhomes most of which would have black tanks, he had just set up a ground level "grey water" drain but when I asked about black bumping he said he didn't want it there and only had the cassette point which was around the back of a building and not accessible, cutting a long story short his grey drain went to his new sewage treatment plant exactly as the cassette point did, his only reason for not wanting me to dump black was his fear of wet wipes and paper blocking the grid as his pump filters at the treatment were forever getting clogged with the afore mentioned wet wipes etc, after several explanations of how a macerator and black tank work and the fact that it is not possible to discharge said wet wipes and paper I eventually dumped just to show him how clean and simple the process is.

I understand that this might read as if I was insisting on doing something that the site owner didn't want but actually he wanted to learn about black tanks as his MORELO had a cassette system, he finished by saying "I wish we had had this conversation before I put the grid in" the problem with the grid was that it was 12 inches wide and raised above the ground rather than slightly lower so you needed to be a good shot.

Most if not all club sites with a drive over grate "for grey only" will be connected to the sewage treatment system but they all have this same fear of nasty things being left behind on the grid after a black tank has dumped over it.

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[ceejayt]

After maceration there shouldn’t be a problem. We only use 2ply paper and nothing else goes down. Always flush with water and despite not being necessary use green as well. Once drained I run the grey water out as part of the cleaning process and then hose if necessary. No smell and no mess.

 

[TDub49]

Boats have had black tanks for years and the simple rule is "if you haven't eaten it, don't flush it".

 

[olley]

Palencia aire opposite the petrol station, black dump not quite ground level, on a concrete plinth about 4" high. https://goo.gl/maps/ykUDVTZpwRaWMboAA
Lisbon Camping, each pitch has a service station with a 4" pipe sticking out the side low down. https://goo.gl/maps/6mabq2GGpJ1KAfKx7
Area Malaga Beach, huge concrete pad with two ground level black dumps. https://goo.gl/maps/n7hrPMiCw4d8WPSZ8
Camper area Campello Beach Alicante. Drive over black dump, site is tight for large vehicles. https://goo.gl/maps/78XfCuUJkFmrHELFA
Camping Larrouleta, drive over black dump but on a slope so you can't fully empty tanks. https://goo.gl/maps/MQExR7DJ8xNbduTGA
La Palmyre aire, black dump in the base of the service point. https://goo.gl/maps/CbRbpjxro5CcJHGj8
Camping Club La Cote Sauvage, ground level black dump but impossible for me to access in 2009 because of low branches, RV is 3.7m high. https://goo.gl/maps/QdvQKhz3rZbEop62A
Parc Verger, designed originally with RV's in mind so their is a low level black dump, but its long time since I have been there and I can't remember what. https://goo.gl/maps/t2FZAvN3R527xxpcA
Marina De Venezia, drive over black dump. https://goo.gl/maps/RjB7pnaTbM9LU33a7
Reisemobilpark Trevris Trier. Drive over black dump. https://goo.gl/maps/jkfwaUddcML1HxjG9
Vogelzanglaan Antwerpen, got told to lift a roadside drain cover at the bottom of the site and dump there. https://goo.gl/maps/dwmhDbHiabUmANUUA

 

[ChrisL]

I have a black tank system on my Hymer here in France but nowhere in France to use it. All the french aires have service points set up on concrete plinths, so I'm considering installing a grid with a cover at my home in France. Please keep adding to your map list and I'll update you of any I find in France.

Pretty much all the service points at aires in France that I have found, have a flap that you lift at the bottom where you empty your cassette, this is usually lower then the black tank drain point on your van so should be okay to use, though I don't have a black tank myself so can't speak from experience.,

 

[Jim]

Great work Nice to know where such service points are.

That said, with 15 years of owning vans with marine tanks, I never hunted drive over disposal out. it's never worried me how I might dump the waste. Drive over gravity dumps are a bonus, but in the absence of one, just peeling the waste off into another container and then emptying conventionally is very little hassle. I would never choose a site on the basis of such a point.

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[olley]

Grey and black all end up in the same place for treatment

Thats not always the case. We had this discussion sometime ago on here, Eddie of Vanbitz who owns a campsite said the black goes into a tank and is classed as "hazardous" he has to pay for a tanker to remove it, the grey goes straight into the main sewer.

 

[funflair]

Great work Nice to know where such service points are.

That said, with 15 years of owning vans with marine tanks, I never hunted drive over disposal out. it's never worried me how I might dump the waste. Drive over gravity dumps are a bonus, but in the absence of one, just peeling the waste off into another container and then emptying conventionally is very little hassle. I would never choose a site on the basis of such a point.

You most likely had a half decent sized tank anyway Jim but some vans have smaller black tanks, we can do a few sites without the facilities as we have capacity and the payload to take it to the next lucky recipient, or even home if we are out for a couple of weeks.

 

[funflair]

Thats not always the case. We had this discussion sometime ago on here, Eddie of Vanbitz who owns a campsite said the black goes into a tank and is classed as "hazardous" he has to pay for a tanker to remove it, the grey goes straight into the main sewer.

But surely that must be something to do with people putting smelly blue stuff in their cassette, untreated black tank is sewage so surely goes down the sewer.

 

[olley]

Yes I think that's the likely reason.
At Bagwell campsite near Weymouth you get a 4" connection on the pitch but they tell you grey waste only, black is down the bottom of the site.

 

[olley]

Just found Eddie's post and I was wrong he's not on mains drainage.
Here it is:

We have no mains drainage at Cornish Farm Touring Park

We have two dedicated black waste points, each going into a holding tank (cess pit) both of which have to be emptied by a specialist carrier, as it is deemed hazardous waste.

All other waste water including grey water goes through our chemical treatment unit, and pumped out into a huge gravel soak away, as directed by the environment agency when they granted our licence to discharge

We are unusual in this, so everyone is right, as if we were on mains drainage we could just dump black and grey together

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[ceejayt]

Yes, Cess Pit is a different matter entirely - and not at all common

 

[PrettyandFluffy]

Yes, Cess Pit is a different matter entirely - and not at all common

That depends on where in the country you are. Cess pits are very common in Kent on farms and homes outside main towns; it's not unusual for whole villages to have no mains drainage.

 

[funflair]

That depends on where in the country you are. Cess pits are very common in Kent on farms and homes outside main towns; it's not unusual for whole villages to have no mains drainage.

Wouldn’t most have a septic tank rather than a cess pit?

 

[ceejayt]

Palencia aire opposite the petrol station, black dump not quite ground level, on a concrete plinth about 4" high. https://goo.gl/maps/ykUDVTZpwRaWMboAA
Lisbon Camping, each pitch has a service station with a 4" pipe sticking out the side low down. https://goo.gl/maps/6mabq2GGpJ1KAfKx7
Area Malaga .........
Reisemobilpark Trevris Trier. Drive over black dump. https://goo.gl/maps/jkfwaUddcML1HxjG9
Vogelzanglaan Antwerpen, got told to lift a roadside drain cover at the bottom of the site and dump there. https://goo.gl/maps/dwmhDbHiabUmANUUA

Thanks - I have added all these to THE MAP

Which now looks like this....

 

[ceejayt]

Great work Nice to know where such service points are.

That said, with 15 years of owning vans with marine tanks, I never hunted drive over disposal out. it's never worried me how I might dump the waste. Drive over gravity dumps are a bonus, but in the absence of one, just peeling the waste off into another container and then emptying conventionally is very little hassle. I would never choose a site on the basis of such a point.

I wouldn't go specifically but if nearby then great - my motto is to empty at every opportunity and then never get caught short. I have a wheelbase dump tank but have never had to use it so far

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[PrettyandFluffy]

Wouldn’t most have a septic tank rather than a cess pit?

Depends where you live in terms of the aquifer, how old the property is and whether it was built for agricultural use. We had one house with a cess pit and one with a septic tank. Both are more expensive than mains drainage, it's just a question of degree.

 

[Kim H]

Calais

Aire de Camping-Car Rue d'Asfeld​

Campercontact: 52972

50.95947 1.83275

Four drive over ground level dumps outside the aire and campsite, always available (unless some FLT parks over one of them ... it happens)

 

[ceejayt]

Will add it to the map. Thanks

 

[ceejayt]

Calais

Aire de Camping-Car Rue d'Asfeld​

Campercontact: 52972

50.95947 1.83275

Four drive over ground level dumps outside the aire and campsite, always available (unless some FLT parks over one of them ... it happens)

Added to THE MAP

Thanks again - keep them coming preferably with decimal degrees references or a link to a google map so I can get the reference

 

[ceejayt]

I have added an additional feature at the bottom of the map you can now select what you want to look for - this also shortens the list if you have that displayed - see this at the bottom of the map...

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