As some of you know, we have purchased a fixer-upper house on five acres of land in southern Arizona. It is the next grand adventure! And an adventure it has become! From a disappearing contractor that removed a 30’ support wall, to widening the driveway, clearing land for a utility trailer, to a well pump that quit, it has become a much more difficult adventure than imagined. But at least we have our trusty RV and can live on the land until we find a new contractor and can actually move in. Whew!
Living in the RV again
We are so grateful for our RV, and for the amazing electrician who installed a 50/30/20 RV box so we have power. The well pump works again, so we have water. Now we just need sewer hookups…
Sewer hookup
The septic clean out/pump out is way below ground and requires a lot of digging, not just to find it, but to get down to it. There is another septic clean-out close to the house, but no sewer hose would make it over the four-foot block wall.
Our RVing friends to the rescue! They showed us their RV macerator. I had heard of a macerator but never seen one or actually considered it.
RV macerator? Think poop grinder
It really is like a poop grinder on steroids. It looks like the inside of a garbage disposal and works in a similar manner, but with a pump attached. The pump allows up to a 10-foot lift, and as the lift we required was only four feet, we decided to try that before having a sewer dump installed.
How it’s supposed to work
A macerator basically grinds everything up and pumps it out through a garden hose. I read hundreds of reviews on Amazon and picked the one that looked best. It runs on 12 volts—either on a battery or a 12-volt-type outlet. So I needed to get a long enough extension to reach one of the two 12-volt outlets on the RV. I added this 26-foot 12V extension cord to our Amazon order along with the macerator.
Then, I purchased a 100-foot contractor’s 3/4-inch garden hose at a big box store to pump the sewage through. I also need a water hose to supply rinse water to the gray and black tanks, the pump, and the garden dump hose.
Did it work?
A resounding yes! I read the directions and followed them exactly, particularly the order of connecting to our sewer hose, turning on the rinse water, turning on the pump, and opening and closing the sewer valves.
First, I opened the black water tank valve, turned on the pump, and could watch what was coming out in a clear tube, so I knew when to turn off the pump.
They suggested leaving the black valve open to let the gray water flush out the black tank and then filling both with rinse water. I would not do that again. I want to keep the gray and black tanks separate and flush them individually in the future.
It was a bit of a hassle, but…
This totally solved our full tank issue, and it is a good solution for now, without adding yet another expense on top of our already unexpectedly expensive remodel. It was not messy either—just keep the discharge hose in the clean out until fully emptied and rinsed!
I happily bought the macerator and 12-volt extension cord on Amazon.
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RVT1235
Another benefit of a macerator is it gives you the ability to dump into a vault toilet when you’re out in the wild and no RV dump for miles. The lil critters are happiest when you feed them lottsa water while dumping.
I bought two pumps before I installed an actual toilet in my shop at the ranch; I always used the travel trailer for #2. The problem I found with the pumps is that they don’t create the volume or velocity to remove everything from the tanks. All three tank after pumping empty started to read (the sensors) 1/3 full. I think it was the scum left on the sides of the tanks that normally would be washed with the faster emptying. Yes I tried filling the tanks with fresh water and pumping again with no change. Now before I get blasted I think the pumps are great for a short period of time but not as a long term solution. JMHO
I agree. Macerators do significantly slow the flow. My motorhome has both dump options and when I have sewer at the site I always use the normal stinky slinky connection for that very reason.
Another use is when you are at a site without sewer hookup and don’t want to pull that tiny-wheeled portable poop tank behind your truck to the dump station, especially when the station is quite some distance away. I leave the portable tank in the pickup bed and use the macerator to pump up and into it. Filling it on the ground makes it too heavy to lift. Then simply drive to the dump station, leave the portable tank in the pickup bed, hook up the normal stinky slinky from portable tank to the dump station and let ‘er rip.
Because we often stay in public parks with just water/electric, I have used this method frequently and it beats very slowly pulling that tank to the dump station.
Exactly how I use our macerator. Is it just me, or does any article related to our black tanks seem like “must read” articles? I don’t get it, but I read ’em!
Bought our 1st macerator as a used unit during Covid. Our daughter just gave birth. Her family lives in a small house. To isolate as much as possible from the outside world, we parked our small camper in their drive as a bedroom with toilet. 20A AC, water from the outside tap and replaced the sewer cleanout cap with a garden hose fitting. Groceries delivered to the front porch.
I now routinely use a better made macerator at our house following a trip rather than a public dump station. Hint: Regularly spray the impeller with a plastic safe PFTE product to prevent seizing.
Our motorhome has an OEM macerator pump, but it’s for the gray tank, not the black tank. The black tank sits in front of the rear axle, the gray tank behind the axle. The black tank is attached directly to the dump valve and empties by gravity flow. But the gray tank must be pumped over the rear axle to the dump valve, so cannot drain by gravity. Yes, it seems backward from most uses of a macerator pump, but it provides for only one sewer hookup, which is definitely a plus! And it basically serves the same purpose as Nanci’s–to pump waste water over an intervening obstacle to the sewer outlet.
Is the clean water input necessary to run the pump, or just for flushing the equipment?
We carry a macerator, haven’t had to use but one never knows
Welcome to the poop grinder club.
We are snowbirds, spending winters in Mexico, and now Texas. Returning home in the Spring is aways a problem as there are no campgrounds open in April and very few places to dump. None of those are convenient to us. I use the macerator to clear the tanks, running 2 50 foot garden hoses to the main floor powder room toilet. My wife watches the toilet with two-way radio in hand, just in case something dire happens. It never does. After clearing out the motorhome of our food and clothes, the motorhome is driven to the storage lot, 45 minutes away.
I have only known RV life with a macerator. I haven’t used the sewer line and after 10 years no issues. Replaced a few macerator hoses that have dragged behind the RV but I think I have that solved now.