Into Every Life Some Poop Eventually Blows

2013 August 11

Into Every Life Some Poop Eventually Blows

I've been so smug. Oh, yes, I've heard the stories. Major poop storm due to some equipment failure. But, we are careful. We pay attention. That will never happen to us. Ha! Can't say that anymore!

This morning, I was doing dishes when the smell of gray water, distinctive as it is began to assault my sensitive nose. Raymond offered to take care of the dumping responsibilities, since I had done it the last time. Deal. As he knelt down, I yelled out the window to let me know when he opened the gray, so I could run some rinse water through from the shower where the water had begun to back up, hence the odor. Then, I remembered that when I emptied the tanks by myself last week, I had wished for a second set of hands, because of the weird angle the hose has toward the sewer connection. With that in mind, I went out to offer my assistance.

Raymond was at the connection to the RV, I was a small distance away at the end of the hose connected to the sewer site. The connection to the sewer requires the hose to make a curve upward and then downward, which means that when dumping, gravity only works until that end J curve becomes full. Then, it becomes necessary to lift the hose and move the sludge along, a bit at a time.

Now, before all the experienced folks jump in with suggestions, let me say that we do have the plastic ramp, which we choose not to use this time for a couple of reasons. For one, the connectors which allow the plastic ramp to accordion fold have come apart and I have been too lazy to reconnect them. For another, the connection to the actual sewer is so high, as to make gravity work against us if we were to use the ramp. 

Anyway, I digress. 

As I was helping the poop sludge along, and paying no attention to what Raymond and the connection to the RV were doing, I suddenly became aware of a failure. We had a spill! Raymond quickly got the valve closed, but not before getting a small poop bath. We got everything reconnected, managed to dump both the black and  gray water tanks. Then we were faced with the daunting task of cleaning up the spill!

Raymond volunteered to clean up the ground of any bits & pieces. I hosed the area with massive amounts of clean water. Then we covered the spill area with baking soda, in an attempt to neutralize the odor. Lysol also offered some hope of disinfectant. 

We are grateful that the spill was minor, that it was outside, and that none of our immediate neighbors are in residence this weekend. We are sobered by how quickly it happened and promise to never again be smug about any camper's mishaps. And we want to know if anyone has any suggestions as to what we can do to minimize the odor, other than what we have already done? We are also grateful for the weather today, as there is a nice breeze, low humidity, which can only help.

Lest you think the smell is super bad, it's not. Right now, there is only an occasional wafting of scent reminiscent of being down on the farm, so we are hopeful it will be nonexistent fairly soon, but God forbid this would ever happen again, what suggestions can you other campers offer?