What Can Go Down Kitchen Sink?

[LandonFamily]

We'll be going away on Friday, and I'm hoping you all can give me some advice by then. What exactly can go down the kitchen sink?? I realize no solids, but must it be water only? What about leftover milk or juice, or what about the liquid drained from cans (olives, tomatoes, whatever)? What about excess oil or other grease? I don't want to put anything down there that will go rancid and make the gray water tank stink.

Has anyone had any experience in this area? Has anyone used the products that are out there for cleaning the gray water tank?

Thanks for your help!
Caroline

[RockyMtnRay]

My recommendation is that you limit it to water soluble liquids...so the liquid you drain off cans is ok as is leftover milk or juice (just make sure you dump the tank at least every couple of days).

But minimize as much as possible all oils & grease because they will indeed coat the walls of the tank where they will go rancid and eventually cause the tank level indicators to quit working. So, in general, don't drain grease from frying into the sink drain. However, if the grease is mixed with a substantial amount of dish detergent such that all the grease is emulsified and made fully water soluble, then the grease problem is pretty well controlled. So you can wash the residual grease out of skillets and pans as long as you use a healthy amount of detergent (lots of suds).

As for solids...definitely not. Tiny food particles from washing dishes are unavoidable...but I always wipe my plates and pans down with a paper towel first to remove as much clinging food before I put them in the sink for washing.

The goal here is to minimize what's left behind when you drain the grey water tank...cause if it gets left behind it will sooner or later decay and stink. Water soluble liquids, emulsified (dissolved) grease, and tiny food particles are much more likely to whoosh out the drain pipe when you open the drain valve than large food particles and undissolved grease. Those of us who don't usually camp in full-hookup campgrounds have a slight advantage here over those who do use the full-hookup places...the sloshing that occurs in the grey water tank on the way to the dump station significantly helps get the larger food particles back into suspension so they go out the drain.

I, too, am very careful about what goes down the drain. Like Ray, I wipe/scrape any loose food from dishes before washing them. When I am through washing dishes and am dumping the water from the dish pan, I pour very slowly. When it gets down to just a bit of water, and most of the food particles, I wipe out the dish pan.

For grease disposal, I always take an old glass jar with lid. Grease is poured into the jar. When the jar is full, or the camping trip is over, it gets tossed in the trash. I don't pour grease down the drain at home, so I'm not going to do it in the camper!

[LandonFamily]

Thanks for the great input. We had a great three days camping, but boy was it cold! There were no electrical hookups and we were trying to save the battery by not using the heater too much. Turns out the battery worked fantastic and we could easily have used the heater much much more. Before we left, my husband put took out the old battery and put in two 6v ones - wow! They were awesome!

Anyway, back to the point --

We were very careful about the sink. I wiped everything down with paper towels before washing and I also emptied the tub slowly and wiped it out before it was empty. I found some things harder to deal with than others. For instance, scrambled eggs. Well, no matter what you do, you can't completely wipe out the pan ahead of time, it just won't come clean without a soak. (I was missing my nonstick pans from home. I bought a set of nesting camping pots & pans from WalMart for the TM.) So that time I dumped my dishwater down the outside sewer drain instead of down the sink.

We think our level indicator might be off. We indicated a completely full gray water tank on the 2nd night of camping, and so dumped that evening (the site had water and sewer hookups, but no electric - go figure.) By the next evening we again showed a full tank. I was scared to use the sink that night! But before dumping the next day, we decided to test it by running the bathroom sink until water started coming up the tub, and it took quite a long time. So I guess the indicator may be broken. Has this happened to anyone else? Any way to fix it?

Thanks! Boy are we lovin' our TM! We're already talking about where to go next!

Caroline & Brett

C&B,

You have the right approach in limiting the solid pieces going into the sink as much as possible. I wouldn't worry about the scrambled eggs, or you can soak it in water and a little soak, and then use a paper towel to wipe it out after ten minutes or so, then wash normally.

The level indicator is something that can be touchy. It might be completely off, of just a small tilt of the trailer might throw it off. There is a lot of capacity in that holding tank, and even if you have a seasonal site as we do, and all take showers once a day, it should last two full days.

[B_and_D]

I think our holding tank indicator might be a bit overanxious as well. We haven't ever filled it up completely (we are still newbies as well), but after using it just to clean the TM up since our trip home with it, it is showing 1/2 full, but there's no way that it can have more than 3 or 4 gallons in it.

I vote for nonstick pans, and good-quality ones that will evenly distribute the heat from the burner. If you cook eggs in them, you can use the napkins/leftover paper towels from the meal you just had to wipe them out into the garbage bag (always recycling) and who needs all that work when you're camping!

After reading posts on this board and other websites about the dangers of using the drain like a garbage dispose-all, I found a nifty little screen wire basket that fits in the kitchen sink's drain. It catches anything bigger than a gnat so you can throw it away in the trash. Walmart has 'em in the little kitchen gadget section for about a buck. 8)

Oh goody!!!! Another excuse to go to WallyWorld!!!!!