Controlling Air blower for waste water treatment system

[mfmcdonagh]

We have a Klargester BioFicient+ waste water treatment system, It has an air blower attached to it, between the treatment system and the air blower there is a solenoid which regulates the air going to the system, every 60 minutes it allows air into the tank for 60 seconds. However for the other 59 minutes of the hour the air blower is operational but doing nothing as the solenoid is blocking the air. This is my understanding of how it all fits together ! pls correct me if I'm wrong.

 

I was wondering if i could remove the solenoid, and attach the blower to a smart socket which would come on for a minute every hour hence controlling how much air is going to the tank, but also meaning the air blower is not running 24hours a days. The blower is a bit noisy hence my preference for it not to be running 24hours a day.

[nod]

12 minutes ago, mfmcdonagh said:

We have a Klargester BioFicient+ waste water treatment system, It has an air blower attached to it, between the treatment system and the air blower there is a solenoid which regulates the air going to the system, every 60 minutes it allows air into the tank for 60 seconds. However for the other 59 minutes of the hour the air blower is operational but doing nothing as the solenoid is blocking the air. This is my understanding of how it all fits together ! pls correct me if I'm wrong.

 

I was wondering if i could remove the solenoid, and attach the blower to a smart socket which would come on for a minute every hour hence controlling how much air is going to the tank, but also meaning the air blower is not running 24hours a days. The blower is a bit noisy hence my preference for it not to be running 24hours a day.

I’ve the same setup and mine blows 24 7 

[Jeremy Harris]

 

 

Welcome.

 

There are certainly some treatment plants around that switch the air pump on and off, mainly to save energy.  There are other considerations, though, and the design of any timer control system needs to match the type of pump used.  Some low pressure pumps may not switch on against a higher than expected pressure head, even though they will deliver that pressure once running.  Some types of pump may also fail prematurely if they are run with a closed off outlet.  From your description, I'm not sure whether the air pump outlet is actually blocked for 59 minutes, or if it discharges to the air during this off time.

 

I'm not familiar with the way the particular model you have works, but it may be possible to change the air pump system for one that's more energy efficient, less noisy and which still allows the unit to meet the statutory requirements (the latter are becoming more critical, as all treatment plants are subject to periodic physical inspection to ensure compliance with the regulations from next January, I believe).

 

 

[joe90]

Our Vortex has a timer and I think it pumps into two different places and this can be adjusted (note to self, get the chap who commissioned it to do a 12month health check).

[Jeremy Harris]

Just had another thought.  I wonder if the solenoid valve is there to prevent sludge flowing back down into the air diffuser and pipework during the off period?  There has to be a very good reason for Klargester to have made the design more complicated than might seem necessary, as doing this makes the thing more costly to manufacture.  If the valve closes off the air supply, then my guess is that the diffuser and supply pipework will remain at the static pressure that prevails at the base of the tank, which may be enough to keep sludge out.  There are certainly known problems when sludge builds up and increases the pressure at the pump with some diaphragm pumps; it tends to cause the rubber diaphragm(s) to fail prematurely.

 

 

 

[mfmcdonagh]

Thanks for the quick replies.

 

The air pump outlet is blocked for the 59 minutes.

 

Its a HIBLOW XP80 airpump.

 

Jeremy the solenoid could indeed be preventing the sludge from coming back up the pipework, I hadn't thought of that

[ProDave]

That seems very strange timing. I can't think only having the air blowing for 1 minute each hour does much.  The only one I have seen that came with a manufacturers timing system was a Graff, and that turns the pump on and off roughly 50% duty cycle over a 15 minute period.

 

Does it state 1 minute per hour in the instructions or is that just what you observe?

[dpmiller]

there isn't a second hose by any chance? An airlift to discharge clean water?

[Gone West]

The Klargester BioFicient+ system is a lot more sophisticated than my 10 year old WPL system. The air pump spec. indicates it's rated at 58W  for 80l/min which is much better than mine and that it produces 36dBA which is lower than mine. I can't hear mine unless I'm very close to it, but mine is in a semi-buried housing. It could be that yours is noisy because of something else vibrating inside the pump housing. Looking at their video I was wondering whether the air is diverted at intervals to different parts of the system.

 

 

[Jeremy Harris]

Another reason for noise could be that a diaphragm is on the way out. perhaps? 

[mfmcdonagh]

Thanks again for the replies,  and thanks for your patience with me on this matter. I'm a novice on these matters.

 

I have attached a picture from the manual on the solenoid configuration.

 

I have been able to reduce the noise by moving to a hiblow pump, and also using a different housing than the one supplied.

 

from reading the threads it does seem as though the solenoid is needed.

[ProDave]

If I am understanding that correctly, two hoses exit the blower housing, and the solenoid switches beteween them.  So is spends 1 minute blowing down one hose followed by 59 minutes blowing down the other.

[Jeremy Harris]

That's useful, as it does seem as if there are two air feeds to the tank and the valve just activates one of them once an hour, with the other one being fed continuously via the lower hose in that photo.  The Secoh pump you have is one of the quietest ones, if ours is anything to go by.

Edited November 4, 2019 by Jeremy Harris
Posted at the same time as ProDave

[Gone West]

13 minutes ago, mfmcdonagh said:

I have been able to reduce the noise by moving to a hiblow pump, and also using a different housing than the one supplied.

It's surprising that changing from a Secoh pump to a Hiblow has reduced the noise level. Your Hiblow is quieter than my Secoh but mine is rated at 100l/min and is their old design, the new Secoh JDK models are less noisy than the old Secoh EL series. As I said earlier it looks as though the air is diverted for one minute in an hour so it wouldn't be a good idea to turn it off for some of the time.