GMC made a motorhome that pumped sewage through its exhaust on purpose

https://www.thedrive.com/news/culture/gmc-made-a-motorhome-that-pumped-sewage-through-its-exhaust-on-purpose

by cebert • 2 years ago

67 63 2 years ago

thedrive.com

christophilus• 2 years ago

Driving behind that thing must be exhausting.

cellularmitosis• 2 years ago

Tailpipe “emissions” indeed.

dzhiurgis• 2 years ago

Modern cars with HEPA eliminate all smell

wannacboatmovie• 2 years ago

That explains why all those motorhomes illegally parked in Seattle neighborhoods are dumping raw sewage into the streets. I always assumed it was a bug, not a feature.

shiroiushi3• 2 years ago

According to the article, the system only pumps waste into the exhaust when the exhaust temperature is 900F and the vehicle is moving at least 35mph. So just dumping sewage onto the streets isn't how they work at all, unlike they're broken I guess. Also, this system apparently wasn't common, since it was just on one model, in one year, right before the oil embargo caused the entire RV industry to mostly die out for a while.

Honestly, this thing doesn't sound like a bad idea at all. It would be interesting to see how it really affects tailpipe emissions with some modern testing (when it's working properly, of course).

mjevans2• 2 years ago

It sounds slightly less bad than dried horse dung on the streets.

Seriously the savings to the RVs for polluting the commons are probably pennies on the dollar for all the issues this could cause others on the roads and near them.

antonvs2• 2 years ago

That explains why all those motorhomes illegally parked in Seattle neighborhoods are dumping raw sewage into the streets.

What else did you imagine might happen? Motorhomes are designed to be parked in RV/trailer parks where there are sewage hookups. Without that, the number of possible outcomes is pretty limited.

kragen4• 2 years ago

sounds like somebody's got an education coming up!

with a cassette toilet, you can take out the cassette, roll it down the sidewalk to someplace with a conventional bathroom, and dump the cassette into the conventional bathroom's toilet; then flush. then you walk back to the rv. some people have tote bags for their cassettes to keep this subtle. this is needed a few times a month

blackwater tanks last a great deal longer, months, but at that point yeah you need to go somewhere with an rv dump station. better get the engine running by then. this is one reason blackwater-tank rvs are practically unknown many places

with a composting toilet, your dried poop and composting medium is just another trash bag to take out, about once or twice a week. if you've never used one, you'd assume it stinks, but generally it doesn't. (pee goes in a separate bottle, which you need to empty every day or two.) logistically this is a little bit more work (you have to get the composting medium from somewhere, and if you gather it in the forest, you need to make sure it isn't going to hatch ten thousand crickets to greet you the next time you have to poop) but it's a great deal less risky than having a bottle of raw sewage

fortran77• 2 years ago

Trains used to dump waste, without incinerating it. Which is why there's this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyiMYI4oQTU

snvzz• 2 years ago

I remember an old train's toilet just being an outright hole to the area between both tracks.

No processing whatsoever, you could look down and see your train zooming through the granite.

Scoundreller2• 2 years ago

The “do not use in station” is a really important sign to follow.

taneq• 2 years ago

Reminds me of a river cruise I went on in India back in '96. The toilet was a seat over a length of poly pipe going directly into the river. At one point we stopped around lunchtime and some British tourists on the cruise had a lovely lunch with locally caught fish... after which they were mysteriously rather unwell.

GJim• 2 years ago

"Toimii kuin junan vessa"

A Finnish saying "Works like a train toilet" meaning something that works with utter reliability.

This is because old Finnish trains simply had a flap in the toilet to dump the shit out onto the tracks. However, if it broke, it would invariably break in the open position, meaning it still worked.

carlob• 2 years ago

There are still quite a few of those in circulation in Italy.

cozzyd• 2 years ago

And then there's the Dave Matthews Band (and I don't mean what is spewed on stage).

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Matthews_Band_Chicago_R...

NikkiA2• 2 years ago

Last time I was on a virgin west coast train (which should highlight how long ago we're talking since they've not had the franchise for like 15 years), they still did, only into the bathroom, the bathroom with a incorrectly functioning automatic door.

trte9343r42• 2 years ago

the raw sewage, which accumulates in an onboard tank

Misleading. RVs have separate tanks for toilets or use chemical toilets. "Sewage" is water from shovers or washing dishes.

mikestew• 2 years ago

Black water (from the toilet) is most definitely sewage. Where did you get the idea that it isn’t? Grey water can be sewage, too.

oaththrowaway• 2 years ago

My RV doesn't have separate tanks or a chemical toilet.

Johnny555• 2 years ago

Most modern RV's have separate grey and blackwater tanks, but many older units (including the 1973 GMC RV) had a single combined tank.

You sometimes still still a combined tank on modern units, usually smaller ones.

I don't know what you mean by "chemical toilets", I put digesting/deodorizing chemicals in my RV's black tank, does that make it a "chemical toilet"? Either way, the liquid I drain from the black tank is definitely what I would call "sewage".

rhyperior• 2 years ago

Some RVs have separate black water tanks (toilet specifically) and grey water tanks (shower, sinks). Not all do. Sewage is definitely black water and not grey.

consp• 2 years ago

Considering people take a leak in the shower and stuck excrement can get lose during showering I would argue gray water has various shades of gray up to black.

Animats• 2 years ago

It's not a fundamentally stupid idea. There are incinerating toilets. 900F will kill anything biological. Getting rid of ammonia is a pain, though.

m4632• 2 years ago

Getting rid of ammonia is a pain, though.

There are systems that can do that too... blue ice from airplanes?

or DEF:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_exhaust_fluid

kragen4• 2 years ago

def is the opposite; it gets rid of nitrogen oxides, which are strong oxidizers, not ammonia, which is a relatively strong reducer. in fact, def is made of urea, so if you heat it up enough, it will emit ammonia

hexo• 2 years ago

what is 900F?

defrost• 2 years ago

482 Celsius

kazinator• 2 years ago

Apparently, urea and ammonia in the waste went untreated

Of course not; these are not germs that are killed by a hot exhaust pipe.

m4632• 2 years ago

funny enough, I think diesel trucks are required by law to burn a form of this with diesel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_exhaust_fluid

nullc• 2 years ago

Apparently, urea and ammonia in the waste went untreated,

Ahead of the curve on DEF!

ramon156• 2 years ago

Took exhaust a bit too literal

elcaro• 2 years ago

First thing I thought of

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4g4WBo-5fc

evansj• 2 years ago

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OMG

cainxinth• 2 years ago

Hey, I recognize that thing. It’s the EM-50 Urban Assault Vehicle!

GMC made a motorhome that pumped sewage through its exhaust on purpose

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