| Author | Message | ||
| RJmule (Rjmule)
Registered Member Username: Rjmule Post Number: 122 Registered: 2-2007 Posted From: 75.51.73.91 Rating: N/A |
I worked for a motor home company while in high school and we work exclusively on Cortez motor homes. My question is !! Is it still legal to run your septic tank waste thru your exhaust ??? Cortez did it and it seemed to work well,except of course when you needed to replace the exhaust  This was legal back then and just wanted to know if it still is. My presumption is the waste would burn up while going thru the exhaust, Sounds logical to me, RJmule Randall | ||
| Michael Sheldon (Msheldon)
Registered Member Username: Msheldon Post Number: 46 Registered: 10-2006 Posted From: 68.230.115.166 Rating: N/A |
Sounds to me like a good way to slowly restrict your exhaust with burned residue. | ||
| Austin Scott Davis (Zimtok)
Registered Member Username: Zimtok Post Number: 159 Registered: 9-2006 Posted From: 216.37.73.226 Rating: N/A |
I'm not sure I'd like to be following a motorhome with that set-up. Were the Cortez Motorhomes with this feature Deisel or Gas? Seems to me that the Gas powered ones would have hotter exhaust and better at burning the waste. . | ||
| David Dulmage (Daved)
Registered Member Username: Daved Post Number: 172 Registered: 12-2003 Posted From: 142.46.199.30 Rating: N/A |
If I recall correctly, some might have been powered by the venerable Chrysler 225 c.i.d slant six. DaveD | ||
| Pete/RTS Daytona (Pete_rtsdaytona)
Registered Member Username: Pete_rtsdaytona Post Number: 378 Registered: 1-2005 Posted From: 208.118.14.253 Rating: N/A |
hi Thermasan source - Henry Davis (Classic GMC M/H'er) GMC offered an option for the motor home that incinerated waste from the holding tank when conditions were right. The exhaust provided the heat and the exhaust pipe flushed the ash out the tail pipe. Click for one of Thermasan's patents that describes this system.... Thermasan was part of Thetford Industries but closed in 1980 due to the reduced demand for RVs. All of the people who knew about the Thermasan system have left the company. Thanks to folks on the GMCnet ... also see--> http://www.henry-davis.com/GMC/thermasan.htm http://www.amphicar.net/library/thermasan/thermasan.html http://www.gmcgreatlakers.org/GMCGreatLakers/Technical/Livingarea/Thermasan-System/Pages79 5-800%20from%20X7425.pdf | ||
| RJmule (Rjmule)
Registered Member Username: Rjmule Post Number: 123 Registered: 2-2007 Posted From: 75.51.73.91 Rating: N/A |
THE ORIGINAL CORTEZ WERE 225 SLANT SIX THEN THEY INTRODUCED THE LARGER CHRYSLERS, THEY WERE ALL FRONT WHEEL DRIVE. THEY LATER ON PUT THE TORANADO 455 ?? IN THEM AND WHEN THE ENGINES WERE BUILT RIGHT THEY HAD SOME AWESOME POWER,THE CO I WORKED FOR PUT THE B&M TRICK SHIFT WITH B&M TRANSMISSION AND YOU COULD GET THE FRONT WHEELS TO SPIN IN 1ST GEAR ALOT OF POWER FOR A 30' ALL STEEL MOTORHOME. YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT DAY !!! RJMULE | ||
| Christopher Goodwin (Cgoodwin)
Registered Member Username: Cgoodwin Post Number: 110 Registered: 10-2005 Posted From: 71.212.78.253 Rating: N/A |
While the idea seems disgusting at first, it is quite interesting when you read through the systems function. Since a vehicle speed of at least 35mph and an exhaust temp of 1000F are both requirements for the system to operate I can not see how anything more than steam and carbon would result. Not a system I would like to repair should a fault occure though. It seems to me that a simple pickup with a screen, a pump set to deliver 2 gallons every hour at 35 mph or 4 gallons an hour at 60mph would be all that would be required to attempt to recreate this system. The ability to incenerate 4 gallons an hour of waste could be pretty attractive.... My stock toilet already uses the waste to flush the toilet, or so it seems. There is a pump and a pickup screen in the "honey bucket" and with a little work I could rig it to "flush" into the exhaust through an restricted orifice. I suppose the connecting line would need to be Viton to handle the heat at the exhaust connection... | ||
| John MC9 (John_mc9)
Registered Member Username: John_mc9 Post Number: 481 Registered: 7-2006 Posted From: 66.217.108.33 Rating: N/A |
It's not so much the human waste, as it is the human products, like toilet paper, that may cause havoc with the system..... (Not to mention the occasional Tampax, that would appear to be a poor innocent incinerated rat, to the guy behind you) (quick, get me the number to PETA.) | ||
| RJmule (Rjmule)
Registered Member Username: Rjmule Post Number: 124 Registered: 2-2007 Posted From: 75.51.73.91 Rating: N/A |
IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY, THE BIGGEST PROBLEM WE HAD WITH THE SYSTEM WAS THE SCREEN/FILTER CLOGGING AND IT WAS NOT A FUN JOB TO FIX. BUT THE SYSTEM DID WORK GREAT, THIS IS WHY I WAS WONDERING WHY NO ONE WAS USING THEM ON THERE BUSSES. CONSIDER A 3000 MI TRIP WITH 3-5 PEOPLE IN YOUR BUS AT THE END OF THE JOURNEY YOUR TANK WAS STILL EMPTY. NOT BAD I WOULD THINK. THANKS PETE FOR THE RESOURCES. RJmule. Randall | ||
| Jim Wilke (Pd41044039)
Registered Member Username: Pd41044039 Post Number: 162 Registered: 2-2001 Posted From: 68.187.183.190 Rating: N/A |
We had a 1978 Holiday Rambler that had this system. I say "had" because when we bought it, the system hadn't worked in some time & we didn't fix it. But there were more users than just the Cortez. I would think this system would work much better on the grey water tank anyway there's about 3 times as much grey as black water. | ||
| Kyle Brandt (Kyle4501)
Registered Member Username: Kyle4501 Post Number: 355 Registered: 9-2004 Posted From: 65.23.106.193 Rating: N/A |
I thought normal exhaust temps were in the 500 to 900 F range for diesels. Above that will reduce efficiency - or so I've heard. I know that as the temps rise above that for an extended time, coolant temp rises above the thermostat rating (one example is a pusher 330 CAT in a freightliner chasis motor home & the other is a 575 CAT in a 2000 Peterbuilt). Seems 1000F is not so easy to maintain & the maintence required to keep the system operating make other options more popular. I wonder what this system would do for the EPA emissions? | ||
| Christopher Goodwin (Cgoodwin)
Registered Member Username: Cgoodwin Post Number: 125 Registered: 10-2005 Posted From: 71.212.70.132 Rating: N/A |
"I wonder what this system would do for the EPA emissions?" Well Mercedes is injecting uric acid into the exhaust to lower emissions and water injection lowers NOX so the pee in the tail pipe might just help emissions considerably. |