Treatment plant desludging

[ProDave]

I thought I would post my experience of getting out treatment plant desludged today, with some local knowledge for those in the Highlands.

 

Previously we ad used Sureclean in Alness. They got taken over by another company last year who promptly closed down the Alness branch.  Shame as they used to charge us about £150 each time, i price I now find was astonishingly cheap.

 

So time to find some others.

 

Euroloo wanted about £450 Ouch.  Scottish Water and Hielan Loos both wanted about £250 but had long waiting lists.

 

Eventually we landed with Denholm Macnamee in Invergordon, formerly MSIS.  They could do it today (booked last Friday)  They charge by the tanker hour and per 1000 litres of waste.

 

So today our treatment plant, and the septic tank at our old house down the road were both done.  £518 for the pair.

 

Our treatment plant has been running 4 years now, longer than it should, but last year we could not get anyone to do it as everyone was on Furlough (I argued at the time why was an outdoor job that you do on your own shut down)  the guy did say it was overdue and we should not leave it as long until next time.  We will try 2 years for the next pump out.

 

The Septic tank down the road never gives any problems though he did notice a lot of fat / oil so we need to have words with the tenant.  There was a lump of fat half blocking the inlet pipe which I had to clear.

[Thedreamer]

Good to know, on the local facebook pages there often seems to be lengthy delays for Scottish water, often people seem to need to group together for a different wagon to come out.

 

We are pretty careful with what goes in, but I was hopeful of three year empty cycle. 

[ProDave]

I think what surprised me was the septic tank, also at 4 years did not seem to be an issue other than the fat, yet he was adamant that our treatment plant was well over due.

 

So for some reason I am sure someone else will explain, a treatment plant is less forgiving if you don't desludge it often enough.

[Onoff]

6 minutes ago, ProDave said:

I think what surprised me was the septic tank, also at 4 years did not seem to be an issue other than the fat, yet he was adamant that our treatment plant was well over due.

 

So for some reason I am sure someone else will explain, a treatment plant is less forgiving if you don't desludge it often enough.

 

I think the holes knocked in the bottom of the septic tank help! ?

[Ralph]

None of my neighbours can recall ever getting their septic tanks emptied. I thought treatment plants tended to recommend it yearly.

[ProDave]

2 minutes ago, Ralph said:

None of my neighbours can recall ever getting their septic tanks emptied. I thought treatment plants tended to recommend it yearly.

Yes, I have a relative who boasts at how long since his tank was emptied.

 

It seems counter intuitive to me that a treatment plant with all it's working bits does not "digest" the waste better.

 

It's almost as if the cleaner effluent from a treatment plant demonstrates that it is better at separating the liquid and the consequence is it leaves more solids behind so need desludging more often.

 

I am pretty sure a treatment plant would not go "forever" without desludging.

 

We will try 2 years next time and see what the verdict is from the tanker driver.

[SuperJohnG]

1 hour ago, ProDave said:

It's almost as if the cleaner effluent from a treatment plant demonstrates that it is better at separating the liquid and the consequence is it leaves more solids behind so need desludging more often.

Its likely exactly that. The septic tank will just be flowing worse effluent into the environment. 

 

We used to have two septic tanks one old concrete one then it flowed into a newer plastic one. I only recall it ever being emptied once in the 21 years I lived in that house...might have been done more and I didn't see but sure it didn't happen often. 

 

I'm due to purchase my treatment plant but wondering if its worth the extra cost to oversize to minimise desludging.

[joe90]

Is there any way to “measure” the sludge?, long stick???

[dpmiller]

I think part of the problem will be the aeration diffuser at the bottom getting too deeply buried. Did anyone look closely at the diffuser on their plant during install? Not sure if there are many shapes or types. The bigger the holes, the slower the airflow and the more chance of blocking I'd reckon.

[Redoctober]

We had ours emptied just last week after a 2 year period. Driver said it was in "good shape" as I thought we had let it go too long. Perhaps I could have squeezed an extra 6 months out of it but I wouldn't have wanted to leave it any longer.

 

The Treatment plant we use is a Bio pure - and they "suggest" a 3-5 year emptying cycle! 

 

Anyway, like @ProDave we shopped around and found SW to be "reasonable" but with a long wait. We ended up going with a company called "SERIOUS" I think they are UK wide and the people we dealt with, operated out of Perth. The driver mentioned he is often going to the Highlands and Islands.

 

They charged me a straight £250 and I would certainly recommend them. Good communications, trackable driver when on route and all round good service.

[ProDave]

Looks like when this rain stops I will be going and checking the air blower is working and blowing bubbles properly........

[dpmiller]

can you hoist the aerator out easily for a look-see?

[Thorfun]

20 hours ago, ProDave said:

There was a lump of fat half blocking the inlet pipe which I had to clear.

?

[ProDave]

Well I have been and checked.  The air blower is blowing and you can see and hear the contents sloshing about agitated by the air bubbles, so all appears to be working correctly.  It was just that it was over due a service.

[joe90]

Mine is still bubbling away, the Vortex has two bubble stages, large bubbles to beak up “matter” and small bubbles to drive further treatment. Might just get a long stick and see how much “sludge” resides at the bottom.

[Thedreamer]

It shames that they cannot design a tank that just deals with the sludge. It would not work in an urban environment but I could deal with the occasional sludge if it came out like compost.

 

 

[Thedreamer]

Plenty around here that have septic tank that have never been emptied. Sometimes the use of fence post in a concrete tank to ease things along.

 

Would a treatment tank essentially become a septic tank if the air blower stopped working?

[ProDave]

I wonder if an air blower treatment plant can only cope with a small amount of sludge before the blower outlet gets blocked and then the build up will be rapid?

[dpmiller]

...back to the diffuser. the fine bubble/ membrane variety are self-cleaning and burst through the sludge every time the blower starts.The holes are so small they're in essence closed when the blower is off. The large bubble type are a different kettle of fish.

[JamesP]

2 hours ago, ProDave said:

I wonder if an air blower treatment plant can only cope with a small amount of sludge before the blower outlet gets blocked and then the build up will be rapid?

We have a Vortex and recently the settled sludge return became blocked. Not quite sure why, possibly a power cut might have not helped.

 Had to spend bit of time with a pressure washer to clear it.

[joe90]

51 minutes ago, JamesP said:

We have a Vortex and recently the settled sludge return became blocked. Not quite sure why, possibly a power cut might have not helped.

 Had to spend bit of time with a pressure washer to clear it.

But did you need it emptied?

[JamesP]

12 hours ago, joe90 said:

But did you need it emptied?

I am not sure if it needed to be emptied as its only been in use less than a year. Using a long batten it does not seem heavy at the bottom of the tank.

I wish I had taken some photos of the interior before I fitted it as very little clear information from WTE on their site.

[Stones]

We have our Biopure pumped out every 2 years, by SW at a cost of £183.  No issues at all and tanker driver seemed happy and said it all looked fine.  Whether we drop to a 3 yearly empty when the kids depart, I'm not sure.

[Roger440]

On 27/04/2021 at 22:57, JamesP said:

We have a Vortex and recently the settled sludge return became blocked. Not quite sure why, possibly a power cut might have not helped.

 Had to spend bit of time with a pressure washer to clear it.

 

Id suggest this is the vortex's achillies heel.

 

It is hyper sensitive. Yours was probably set to low on the return. As mine was. Eventually it gets blocked. The easy way to unblock is to disconnect the airline that goes to it and connect to a hose pipe.

 

If you turn it up more, which ensures it cant get blocked, you end up moving too much water and the quality of the effluent drops. You can judge this just by looking to see how far into the murk you can see. I believe ive found the sweet spot now.

 

Bear in mind, if you make ANY adjustments to the other funtions, it will affect the air supplied to the settled sludge return.

 

Ive no experience of other plants, but im not sure its really as good as they claim.

 

Costs us £150 to empty here in the sunny southest.

 

 

[JamesP]

5 hours ago, Roger440 said:

 

Id suggest this is the vortex's achillies heel.

 

It is hyper sensitive. Yours was probably set to low on the return. As mine was. Eventually it gets blocked. The easy way to unblock is to disconnect the airline that goes to it and connect to a hose pipe.

 

If you turn it up more, which ensures it cant get blocked, you end up moving too much water and the quality of the effluent drops. You can judge this just by looking to see how far into the murk you can see. I believe ive found the sweet spot now.

 

Bear in mind, if you make ANY adjustments to the other funtions, it will affect the air supplied to the settled sludge return.

 

Ive no experience of other plants, but im not sure its really as good as they claim.

 

Costs us £150 to empty here in the sunny southest.

 

 

Inclined to agree with your comment. I enclose a picture of where I removed the waste pipes and then shoved a pressure hose down the vertical to clear the SSR.

Wish I had paid a bit more attention to the design of the internals before filling. 

If and when emptied I will throughly clean out and take note of internal parts.