Sewage treatment plant and water softeners

[Bart1664]

We're going to be having a new sewage treatment plant fitted in the new year (Biopure 1) however, we live in a hard water area so does anyone have any insight into whether a water softener will affect the treatment plant itself/bacteria or the final effluent quality?

There are a few articles in good old Google but they largely give conflicting advice.

 

Thanks 

[Gone West]

12 hours ago, Bart1664 said:

We're going to be having a new sewage treatment plant fitted in the new year (Biopure 1) however, we live in a hard water area so does anyone have any insight into whether a water softener will affect the treatment plant itself/bacteria or the final effluent quality?

There are a few articles in good old Google but they largely give conflicting advice.

 

Thanks 

We have a sewage treatment plant that has been running for nearly eleven years and we have used a water softener all that time. We haven't found any problems.

[Bart1664]

Thanks Peter.

Have you had the effluent tested in that time to confirm?

[Onoff]

41 minutes ago, Bart1664 said:

Thanks Peter.

Have you had the effluent tested in that time to confirm?

 

If it's not clogging up over quickly then isn't a case the enzymes or whatever are doing their thing? 

 

It took me 18 years here to actually find out where my cess pit is and that's only because the loos were backing up. A pink toothbrush seemed to be the culprit getting wedged sideways and acting as a wet wipe magnet. I had it emptied anyway when I found the access hatch but left a good slug in the bottom in the advice of the chap who said you don't want to lose all the "good stuff". 

[Gone West]

1 hour ago, Bart1664 said:

Thanks Peter.

Have you had the effluent tested in that time to confirm?

No, it's never been checked. I just use the nose test. There's no smell with the lid off then I'm happy. There is a huge difference between the old septic tank and the treatment plant in that respect.

[ToughButterCup]

15 hours ago, Bart1664 said:

...

does anyone have any insight into whether a water softener will affect the treatment plant itself/bacteria or the final effluent quality?

...

 

I have a BioPure . Whenever I had a question, it was always promptly answered by the manufacturers. Here's their contact page

I very much doubt whether water softner in domestic quantities will do anything to damage or slow down the general oxidation process. If you are fitting the same system we have, the oxygenation process is aided by the air pump: the trickle  (so called) of air from the pump causes a 'full-rolling-boil' type action in the tank. Its very strong indeed

[jamieled]

Some treatment tank manufacturers will not guarantee/warranty the performance if a softener is discharged into it.

The quantity of salts discharged into the treatment tank will widely vary between softener and operation and the size of the treatment tank is also relevant in understanding the dilution factor. As mentioned above, in a normal domestic setting it's probably not a problem but it does have the potential to reduce the tank performance in certain circumstances.

[Bart1664]

4 hours ago, ToughButterCup said:

 

I have a BioPure . Whenever I had a question, it was always promptly answered by the manufacturers. Here's their contact page

I very much doubt whether water softner in domestic quantities will do anything to damage or slow down the general oxidation process. If you are fitting the same system we have, the oxygenation process is aided by the air pump: the trickle  (so called) of air from the pump causes a 'full-rolling-boil' type action in the tank. Its very strong indeed

Thank you.

Yes, we've settled on the Biopure too but I haven't asked them the question about water softener.

[Bart1664]

4 hours ago, jamieled said:

Some treatment tank manufacturers will not guarantee/warranty the performance if a softener is discharged into it.

The quantity of salts discharged into the treatment tank will widely vary between softener and operation and the size of the treatment tank is also relevant in understanding the dilution factor. As mentioned above, in a normal domestic setting it's probably not a problem but it does have the potential to reduce the tank performance in certain circumstances.

Thanks Jamie

I'll have to ask Biopure what they think on Monday then.

[Bart1664]

4 hours ago, ToughButterCup said:

 

I have a BioPure . Whenever I had a question, it was always promptly answered by the manufacturers. Here's their contact page

I very much doubt whether water softner in domestic quantities will do anything to damage or slow down the general oxidation process. If you are fitting the same system we have, the oxygenation process is aided by the air pump: the trickle  (so called) of air from the pump causes a 'full-rolling-boil' type action in the tank. Its very strong indeed

Which model do you have?

We've been recommended the Biopure 1 as we have a 3 bed 

[Roundtuit]

We've got a biopure 2; my understanding is that its important to be consistent with the inputs (no.s 1&2 taken as read) i.e same detergents etc, so you gradually build up a tank full of bugs tolerant to your lifestyle.  Can't see a water softener having any significant impact tbh.

[PeterW]

15 minutes ago, Roundtuit said:

We've got a biopure 2; my understanding is that its important to be consistent with the inputs (no.s 1&2 taken as read) i.e same detergents etc, so you gradually build up a tank full of bugs tolerant to your lifestyle.  Can't see a water softener having any significant impact tbh.

High salt content does cause issues with some treatment plants but it’s in much larger quantities than a domestic unit will put out. The biofilm doesn’t respond to different brands detergents - that is an old rumour. The levels of detergent do cause the problems and they say you should try not to do a “wash day” where you dump 5 or 6 loads of washing through the system and instead spread it over a week as it can both dilute the tank and also increase chemical levels. 

[Roundtuit]

15 minutes ago, PeterW said:

 The biofilm doesn’t respond to different brands detergents - that is an old rumour.

 

You may be correct, but that's still the manufacturers formal advice.

 

[PeterW]

Do they actually document that ..??! 

[Roundtuit]

8 hours ago, PeterW said:

Do they actually document that ..??! 

Hi.  Yes, its on their website, and page 11 of the user guide.We-Build-It-A5-Manuals.pdf

[ToughButterCup]

15 hours ago, Bart1664 said:

Which model do you have?

We've been recommended the Biopure 1 as we have a 3 bed 

Biopure  3

(2.7m deep hole I seem to remember )

[PeterW]

26 minutes ago, Roundtuit said:Hi.  Yes, its on their website, and page 11 of the user guide.We-Build-It-A5-Manuals.pdf

That’s a do’s and dont’s list, that becomes incorrect further down when it talks about pouring buckets of water down “external drains” as they aren’t connected to the system.

 

Firstly, they could be open gullies and are connected to the system; 

Secondly, you should not be pouring anything containing cleaning chemicals into rainwater soakaways ..!

 

A giveaway that they have borrowed that list is the last one referring to “faucets”, an American term not a U.K. one, and I would never ever install a system that states the following in its Do’s and Don’ts list (which apparently is part of their warranty..??!?)

 

Allow anti-bacterial substances, (hand wash, dettox, etc) to enter the unit. These will KILL the unit. Wipe your hands first with a paper towel and throw this in the bin, then wash your hands in the sink as this will remove most of the anti-bacteria hand wash before it enters the sewage treatment plant

 

That wins the bull5h!t of the year award for being utter rubbish ..!! I can clean my toilet with Ecover Toilet Cleaner which is septic safe (but anti bacterial...) but can’t wash my hands with anti bacterial soap..??!!  I think you will struggle to find common liquid hand soap now that isn’t anti bacterial...?? 
 

I’ve installed sewage treatment systems where the influent was from kitchens using commercial dishwashers and multiple anti bac hand sanitiser stations along with other surface cleaner and they have never killed the tanks. These are systems that are also monitored for effluent quality. 
 

British Water produce a very good guide that explains in more detail what you should and shouldn’t do - the comment about changing products is included but is more correct in its statement that it reduces efficiency for a while, not that it causes the systems to stop working. 
 

Well worth a read by anyone with a sewage treatment plant. 
 

 

But in terms of the BioPure, it’s another one off the specifier list ... WPL do a very similar product without the ridiculous warranty terms, so I would look elsewhere. 
 

 

 

 

[Bart1664]

Just thought I'd add for completeness (in case anyone is interested) that I've had written confirmation from the manufacture of Biopure (the system we went with) that a water softener on this system will have no adverse effects.