The ugliest part about RV ownership is not water leaks or wood rot, it’s taking a dump. Regardless if you use a cassette or a tank, it has to be emptied into a hole at a dump station at some point, and it’s a process that can make even the hardest people gag. Apparently, there’s a way to make dumping your fecal matter even worse. One RV owner in Colorado just dumped their RV’s waste tank, not into a dump station, but into a gas station’s diesel fuel supply.
This story comes to us from Wyoming’s Cowboy State Daily newspaper. The newspaper reports that, on the Monday of Memorial Day this week, a motorhome rolled up to a Maverik fuel station in Montrose, Colorado. The RV owner then hooked up their waste tank to a dump station and let the coach relieve itself, presumably of the dozens of gallons of waste that motorhomes can hold. There was only one problem, as the “dump station” was actually the fuel station’s inlet for its diesel tank.
It’s a story that sounds too stupid to be true. Why was an RV dumping its tanks at a gas station? How did the RV owner get the wrong hole? Yet, according to Cowboy State Daily, the station confirmed that the mishap did actually happen. I think I also see how the motorhome owner made the mistake. The image below is of the subject fuel station and the area of the station where the incident occurred, but not the offending motorhome:
The Worst Part About RVing
A lot of Autopian readers aren’t RV owners, so I’ll just start with the rather disgusting process of dumping RV tanks. When I perform a tank release, I roll up to a dump station, then don some gloves and a mask. Then, I yank out the waste hose, assemble it onto the end of the tank valve, and put the other end into the dump station.
The dump stations I’ve used tend to be holes in the ground surrounded by concrete. These send your waste right into the sanitary system so you can wash your hands of the bile, literally. Some of the fancy ones I’ve been to have sprayers to clean your hoses out or to connect to your tanks to flush those out.
I’ve also seen dump sites with large rocks or bricks at them to hold the end of your waste hose in the dump station hole. Trust me, you don’t want the hose to come out of the hole while you’re dumping. I had that happen to me in 2024, and it wasn’t far off from that funny scene from the film RV.
Anyway, I dump the black tank first, and when that runs dry, I then unleash the gray tank. The wastes in the gray tank tend to be old shower water and old sink water. Not stuff you’d want to drink, but not as terrible as what came out of the black tank. I use the gray tank dump to help clean the dump hose out before I attack it with a garden hose.
Dump stations can usually be found at improved campgrounds, RV dealers, RV storage facilities, and truck stops. However, some gas stations with dedicated truck and RV pumps also have them. This is the case with the Maverik in Montrose, Colorado. Even better, Maverik advertises free water and dump stations for RVs.
Some gas stations place their dump stations at the edge of their parking lots. At Maverik in Montrose, the freshwater hose is located between Pumps 11 and 12, while the dump station is at Pump 30. The dump station is right there in that concrete pit ahead of the pump in the photo below:
In theory, all the RV owner had to do was pull up and dump. They did that, but somehow, they dumped into the fuel station’s underground storage tank for diesel.
When I was studying this Maverik station, I noticed that, on one side of Pump 30, there is the RV dump station. On the other side of Pump 30 are the covers for the station’s underground storage tanks (UST). Apparently, the RV owner popped off one of these covers, removed the cap covering the tank, and unloaded their waste tank. Here’s what a UST looks like with its covers taken off:
Here’s what a UST looks like with its cap taken off. In this image, the spill bucket appears to be full:
As you can see, they aren’t really similar to an RV dump station. You sort of have to deliberately remove the cover and then the cap, somehow get zero clues that this isn’t a dump station, and then commit to dumping waste into it. Apparently, the caps can be locked on to prevent shenanigans with the fuel station’s supply (one of the images above shows a locked UST), but from what I’ve been able to find, it’s also common for the caps to be totally unlocked. That’s likely what happened here.
When the RV owner dumped their tanks into this hole, they sent dozens of gallons of waste into the station’s diesel holding tank. Upon learning of the mistake, the station shut down its diesel pumps. According to chatter on the Montrose Message Board on Facebook, the station might have just gotten a fresh load of diesel just that day, which only adds insult to injury. Here’s what the other side of the gas station looks like:
Fuel stations use separate tanks for major fuel grades like regular and premium, as well as for different fuels like diesel. These tanks could hold anywhere between 10,000 gallons and 20,000 gallons each. A few dozen gallons of waste from an RV is practically a rounding error. However, tank contamination is taken seriously, and the gas station will have to pump the diesel out of its UST and have the tank cleaned before it can be put into use again. Usually, these pump-out events are the result of water contamination or a mishap where the wrong fuel gets put into the wrong tank during delivery.
I have one major question: who pays for the screw-up? In the event of a misdelivery of fuel (where the wrong fuel gets put into the wrong UST), insurance companies tend to get involved. My wife and attorney, Sheryl, says it’s possible that the station or its carrier could go after the RV owner, but that would be after the tank is cleaned and refilled. I reached out to Maverik for a statement. Also, I know you’re curious, so here’s what a UST can look like:
It’s Not Even The First Time
Amazingly, this isn’t even the first time a mishap like this has happened. Back in 2020, CBC News reported that an RV driver rolled up to a fuel station in Canada’s Grand Falls-Windsor, then proceeded to dump their black tank into the station’s Regular gasoline supply. That station was forced to shut down its pumps for regular gasoline and serve only premium.
Honestly, that fact blows my mind. At least two completely different people saw the covers on the ground at a fuel station, and their minds went straight to thinking it was a dump station. I can only imagine how many times this has happened and wasn’t reported in a local newspaper.
If anything, let this story be a reminder to pay attention to your surroundings. In flight training, I learned the “three ‘D’s of safety.” Basically, I need to look out for things that are dumb, dangerous, or different. Ideally, you need to avoid dumb situations entirely, limit dangers as much as possible, and don’t become complacent during an unfamiliar situation.
In this case, the RV owner should have paid attention to the clues that they weren’t opening up a dump station. They should have confirmed the exact location of the dump station. It was just a few feet from where they actually dumped their tanks. Worst case, there’s no harm in just asking someone at the station for help.
At any rate, I must say that I didn’t have “RV owner dumps fecal matter into gas station’s diesel supply” on my bingo sheet for this year. It’s somehow equal parts hilarious and terrifying, and I hope the RV owner learned a lesson. I also hope that the gas station turned off the pumps before anyone managed to get some bile diesel into their tanks.
Top graphic image: DepositPhotos.com
I use Walex Bio-packs from Walmart and honestly that stuff breaks up the poo and deodorizes it so well I’ve had to check to make sure it was the black tank I was emptying. It 100% removes the sewer smell, turns the solid waste into something looking like coffee grounds, and makes the water more clear than not.
The only other trick is to use RV grade toilet paper, as regular stuff doesn’t dissolve and clogs up everything.
with all that said, I can totally see this happening. Many gas stations put their dump stations in such bad places with so little marking that it’s hard to tell where it is. I once had to get a semi to move because he was blocking the access I just paid for.
Use our station for fill ups! Best special blend diesel in town!
*side effects from rolling coal may include coughing, oders, and pink eye
“At least two completely different people saw the covers on the ground at a fuel station, and their minds went straight to thinking it was a dump station.”
How do we know it wasn’t the same person? Maybe they’re just fond of biodiesel.
OK, I thought when I saw this is was stupid, but now I’ll testify for the defense (RV owner) and an engineer:
In considering the risk of a set up or design, one has to consider intentional misuse.
For example, Suing Campbells soup because you cut your hand trying to open a can of chicken noodle with a steak knife, won’t go anywhere, nor would suing the steak knife company. This is a case of intentional misuse. However, if the can design leaves you little or reasonably little choice but to grab the opened lid in a way that cuts your hand, you’re in court. Hench why several designs of both can opener and cans have been made to reduce this risk and liability.
In this case, the gas station, should have foreseen the risk that the “RV” gas pump with advertised “dumping” and its proximity to the storage tanks fillers, and applied mitigation techniques, in highest to lowest order:
Engineering: Locate the fillers outside the range of a dump hose/RV. Probably difficult, maybe even impossible, so next.
Administrative: as mentioned locks or tags, cheap and easy, would at the least lead someone to ask for the key, and get redirected to the correct dump port.
Procedural: The weakest one, basically paint “NOT FOR RV DUMPIN’!” on the surfaces near the fillers. Relies on people paying attention, and litericy.
This doesn’t excuse the RV owner entirely, but reduces their liability for the resulting cost. I mean a reasonable person opening the lid to an RV dump tank would expect to be greeted not by the petrochemical perfume, but dat stank… however is it that prominent in either case, and am i even correct a reasonable person would know the difference? That’s for the jury, I’m just an engineer.
When you’re filling up with gas
And it really smells like ass
Diarrhea, Diarrhea
When the Diesel in your tank
Has got a certain stank
Diarrhea, Diarrhea
When the odor at the pump
Is like a two day old dump
Diarrhea, Diarrhea
When the diesel at the pump
Still has a few chunks
Diarrhea, Diarrhea
Dave Matthews is at it again!
I’ve heard of having “oh sh*t” realizations, and had a few myself, but never so literally.
Part of me thinks that RV had to be a rental. The other part of me thinks I’m trying to give the guy too much credit.
I’ve done plenty of “WTH was I thinking” things in my life, but as far as I know none of them have cost someone else thousands of dollars. Yikes.
I don’t know how this kind of thing happens. I kinda doubt this was petty vengeance for getting smoked by a Cummins Ram, (although it did cross my mind) but maybe this was a new owner who had never emptied the tanks before, and no one told them how to do it.
MERRY CHRISTMAS! Shitter was full
Have you checked our shitters lately?
Now I have the image of an old man in a bad Toupee covered in burns saluting as a group of plastic Reindeer fly off into the sunset and his ancient wife sings the Star Spangled Banner.
I have owned one camper I had to dump. Never again. I will tent camp or sleep in a converted van and use rest stops. Black and grey water systems are just more stuff to go bad and leak.
I got into watching narrowboaters in England during Covid. Looked like a cool way to do life.
Most of them when with cassette toilets. As one guy said “I’ve never seen a pump out of the septic tank without some form of leakage and when it does, the entire marina knows.”
Even the cassette toilets looked to be horrific. Basically, the world’s worse carry on luggage.
i prefer stationary campers . . . IIRC, they are called hotels.
The number of hotel rooms for the price of a camper and pick up truck is wild. I talked to some RV people about that and they are either creeped out by sleeping on hotel sheets or have too many kids/dogs for hotels.
That gas station need to start selling bumper stickers.
“My diesel will run on anything, including poop”
Now not only are they rolling coal, now its ultra stinky rolling coal.
I’ll stick with dumping mine over grated bridges 🙁
I understood that reference.
Alternatively, you could have one of those classic RVs that, instead of requiring you to dump your waste into a sanitation system, it would simply dribble it into the exhaust and let everyone behind you deal with it in their own way.
Yeah, this just continues to reenforce my desire to never own or operate an RV. Went on vacation to the U.P. last week and visited a zoo, their bathrooms were literal pits with a plastic seat over top. That was bad enough.
That’s…….not how biodiesel is made.
It is now.
Doesn’t that just make it Bio-Diesel?
About 20 years ago now, I had a supervisor give permission for a contractor to park their camper behind an old dining facility building and hook up to the septic there while they were working on the property. A few weeks later, he stormed into my office yelling about the camper and demanding to know who told them they could hook up there. I reminded him that he did, at which point, he clarified that he said they could hook into septic, not the old, decommissioned grease trap. That turned into a problem, because our septic service wouldn’t touch a grease trap, and the company that handled our dining facilities wouldn’t touch feces, so the maintenance department just dumped lye in it and put the cover back on.
Most surprising is that the general public has access to the diesel tank at all, and it’s not secured more thoroughly.
This is pretty typical for fuel tanks at most gas stations
After my last fill up, the truck has been running sh*tty.
Brings new meaning to the term “Sh*t-for-brains”!
Thanks for yet another wonderful Autopian article about poop. 🙂