Gray Water Drain

All photos are thumbnails, click on a picture to see a larger version

As with all great modifications, there has to be inspiration to get it going. I admit it, for this one I left tall the inspiration as well as planning to other folks. This was completely plagiarized from ozandus, a regular contributor on many web boards devoted to pop up camping The reason behind it is simple, most pop ups come equipped with a drain that is 1 1/2 inches, the the manufacturers supply an adaptor to change that large opening down to the size of a garden hose. Let me tell you, without pressure behind it water flows very slowly in a garden hose using only gravity to make it move.

	Here was my first attempt to get the water moving a little quicker. Putting a "Y" at the adaptor this configuration allows air into the system making the water flow a little easaier.
	Here is my new system. The smallest pipe I now use is 1" PVC.
	The parts for the trailer end of the new hose are: 1 1/2" PVC fitting (female thread on one side and smooth on the other side. The threaded side screws onto the drain fitting on the side of the pop up A 90 degree "street elbow" On one side of this elbow it fits into the smooth side of the first adaptor A reducing fitting from 1 1/2" to 1" PVC. This is inserted into the bottom of the street elbow. A 4" section of 1" PVC pipe. This is inserted into the reducing fitting. Corrugated sump pump hose cut down to about 4 feet. This hose is held on the PVC with a pipe strap.
	The parts at the gray water container end are: The other end of the corrugated sump pump hose. A 4" section of 1" PVC pipe inserted into the sump pump hose. A reducing fitting from 1 1/2" to 1" PVC. The 1" PVC is inserted into this fitting. A 1 1/2" male threaded adaptor. The reducing fitting is inserted into this adaptor. A 4" sewer/gray water cap. This is a standard RV part. The one I chose has a standard garden hose fitting offset to one side of the cap. Barker manufacturing makes a water level indicator for my 22 gallon gray water tank and I insert that indicator here.

The next part of this project will be to connect the shower drain that is on the rear of the pop up to the sink drain shown here. This will allow me to use the 22 gallon gray water tank for both drains as well as move the tank around to the rear of the pop up. But, I assume I will always need several configurations of drain hoses to account for differences in campgrounds and/or the ground I find a a camp site.

Revised: May 08, 2007

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