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How to deal with a noisy sewerage treatment plant


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Well our Vortex treatment plant is in and working, I am having it commissioned properly by a local firm next week ( which may tweak the settings) . We live in a very quiet place but the plant when running produces a low hum and water turbulence can be heard at all times. We love to sit outside and listen to the birds and wildlife that surrounds us but it’s detracting ( a bit like a computer humming away in a quiet room). As mass is good for absorbing sounds I stacked bricks on the lid ( plus the lid acts like a drum I believe) but it’s not done much good and the lid is beginning to bow with the weight. Eventually the plant will be surrounded by dense bushes/shrubs to hide it.

 

I think the next plan is accoustic foam ( closed cell/ waterproof) stuck to the inside of the lid and the inside of the box on top that contains the air pump. Any suggestions will be very welcome ( plus good supplier for said foam)

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@joe90

Like you, our build is in a very quiet spot. Our own sewage treatment plant is a Bio Pure 1 and I've located the Secoh JDK-S-60 air pump in a separate brick built housing away from the actual treatment plant and there's absolutely no noise from the pump however we still get the noise of the bubbling air/water from the plant.

Edited by Ian
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I guess this is one of the advantages of remote mounting the pump?

 

I will be interested to hear how you get on.  Ours too emits a low hum. Some form of accoustic mounts would probably help because with ours if you just pick up the pump and hold it in your hand it is fairly quiet. Most of the noise comes from standing the pump on the base of it's chamber which acts like a drum.

 

This is a "to do later" project for me so I will be following your findings. SWMBO has already noticed our garden "hums"

 

This does not seem unique to one or 2 makes. There is a general lack of care I believe.  I wired a Graff treatment plant a year ago and when powered up almost sounded like a knackered old lawnmower.  2 bits of the casing were vibrating together. Just putting your foot on it stopped the noise. That clearly needed some attention to detail in the design.

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Yes Dave, ours is not loud but a constant hum. We are not able to remotely mount the pump as it has a timer built in and two air pipes to the inside ( produces large bubbles for a time then small bubbles for a time) but like you if you lift the air pump it’s quieter, perhaps foam under the pump. Actually, if I extend the pipes a little I could mount the pump next to the unit on a concrete slab which would stop the plant lid acting as a drum!

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Just an update, had the plant commissioned yesterday and I asked if it was possible to move the pump housing onto a concrete slab next to the tank ( to lesson the noise as the tank top acted like a drum) and was told the latest model do this anyway. After he adjusted it ( properly?) it is now a bit quieter ( less water noise as he set it for two people not the full blown 6 it maxes out at). He mentioned that he had a vortex as he thought it was one of the best on the market ( well it is his day job after all) so I was pleased with my choice. I mentioned closed cell ( water proof) sound insulation under the lid and he thought it a good idea, in fact he may do the same himself with his.

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  • 2 weeks later...

As an update, I have moved the blower housing on to a concrete pad next to the unit, lined the whole lid with acoustic foam, lined the blower housing with it as well and the unit is a lot quieter, job well done.

4C5A0C5B-85FE-402B-B92F-1F95C2126DA6.jpeg

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7 hours ago, joe90 said:

As an update, I have moved the blower housing on to a concrete pad next to the unit, lined the whole lid with acoustic foam, lined the blower housing with it as well and the unit is a lot quieter, job well done.

4C5A0C5B-85FE-402B-B92F-1F95C2126DA6.jpeg

 

Are those hoses UV stabilised ..?? Assuming this is supposed to live below the lid, you may want to cover them with some sort of conduit. 

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Yes Peter, they will go In  Conduit, they were outside the box anyway before they went down into the “ sauna” ( as my son calls it my “poo sauna”.?) even my wife commented when we were having tea outside “ are you sure it’s working?”.

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  • 2 months later...

Right. The noise is still an issue as during the past weeks with lovely evenings we enjoy sitting outside listening to the birdsong, it is a very quiet area. Although initially very pleased with my “soundproofing” we do find it a little annoying during our quiet time (during the day it’s not a problem). Question, is there any harm in switching it off for short periods, say an hour, or maybe two?

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  • 2 weeks later...

My blower treatment plant is in a holiday home and I was told by the manufacturer to put it on a timer - 2 hours on/2 hours off

 

BTW - are you getting more noise from the chamber or from the pump? With us, the pump is housed in a separate brick built housing on a concrete base (it's about 10m from the treatment plant). The pump has rubber feet and it is almost silent in use with the door shut. I get more noise from the treatment plant itself but even with that you have to be standing within 3 or 4 metres of it to hear it.

Edited by Ian
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15 minutes ago, joe90 said:

It’s the pump, which you will see from the pic above is next to the plant but now on a concrete pad, rubber mounted and lined with accounting foam.

You'll have no problems if you just want to switch the pump off for an hour or so while you're sitting outside. 

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On 11/06/2018 at 20:38, joe90 said:

Yes Peter, they will go In  Conduit, they were outside the box anyway before they went down into the “ sauna” ( as my son calls it my “poo sauna”.?) even my wife commented when we were having tea outside “ are you sure it’s working?”.

A poo sauna, how about an UFH water pre heat chamber!

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  • 1 month later...

I'm interested to know whether you have solved the problem of your sewage treatment plant humming. We have just had a Tricel plant for 12 people installed at the bottom of the garden which is 50m from the house and the humming is very noticeable and annoying. The guy who installed it has simply said this is normal as it has electrical moving parts, but we were not expecting this level of noise and would not have agree to the system had we known. Is Tricel a bad make for noise? Friends nearby have a Klargester which you can only hear if you stand right next to it and even then it's almost inaudible. I can see from google research that there are non-electric silent makes such as Biorock and Clearwater,we are thinking of getting ours changed for one of these. The Tricel seems a waste of money!

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Hi @mnt , yes and no, the noise is a lot less but still annoying at times as it’s very quiet here. I plan to build a brick “house” for the pump housing but I have a thousand and one jobs to complete first. (90% finished, only 90% to go!) Others have said “mass” I.e. concrete/brick is best for sound absorption so I will try that. Mine is only about 15 meters from my house so a ,lot closer than yours. 

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Be careful with the silent ones as they need maintenance too - it’s just a slightly more smelly sort of maintenance. 

 

Looking at the Tricel it seems to have the air pump mounted in the tank top - that is part of the issue with these units and moving the air pump to a separate unit with a hard and heavy base may help. 

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