Treatment plant bye bye????

cabledude

Hi All.

Built 6.5 years ago. Planning at the time stipulated that we needed a treatment plant. I cannot go into what system we installed for site charter reasons, suffice to say - It's been a nightmare.

I need the system repaired. I've got a few quotes for this work.

The type of system I have at the minute is an SBR system with pump, aerator and computer control panel.

Depending on how much is wrong, I may be looking at the following costs.
1) New aerator and service call. €485 (best case)
ii) New aerator, control panel and service call. €985 (medium worst)
iii) New system €1810 ( worst)

Or change to a new type of BAF system.

2) Cost of this retrofit of the existing tank would be €1500 euro. Advantages of this newer type of system are that it is low cost to run, maintenance free (almost) and all components are above ground. Unlike the existing system that I currently have all components are in the sludge.

3) Or I could go nuclear and take the current system up out of the tank, throw it in the skip and spend €250 on a discharge pump to pump untreated sewage directly into percolation system. Feck the environment and all that. Possible disadvantages with this option is that the percolation system I currently have is designed for a treatment system so may not be big enough for a standard septic tank.

Can any of you think of any pros/cons/repercussions I may encounter if I move away from treatment system to standard septic tank?

PaleRider

The aeration pumps tend to last seven years. If you have a discharge pump - they tend to last five years. That is my general understanding.

I don't advice straying from what the EPA standards.

Servicing the system is important. It is Necessary.

You may have a secondary treatment plant recommended even though your soil may be capable of treating ST Septic Tank Effluent.

Inspections are here and depending were you are - this may happen.

Keep with your planning. Treatment Plant Recommend. .

Can any of you think of any pros/cons/repercussions I may encounter if I move away from treatment system to standard septic tank?


1. Planning - 2. Could be problems selling house. 3. Environment. Co Council/EPA Inspections.

Check with your planning office.

cabledude

PaleRider wrote: »

The aeration pumps tend to last seven years. If you have a discharge pump - they tend to last five years. That is my general understanding.

I don't advice straying from what the EPA standards.

Servicing the system is important. It is Necessary.

You may have a secondary treatment plant recommended even though your soil may be capable of treating ST Septic Tank Effluent.

Inspections are here and depending were you are - this may happen.

Keep with your planning. Treatment Plant Recommend. .

Can any of you think of any pros/cons/repercussions I may encounter if I move away from treatment system to standard septic tank?


1. Planning - 2. Could be problems selling house. 3. Environment. Co Council/EPA Inspections.

Check with your planning office.

Thanks for the reply.

Can I ask what you mean by this

You may have a secondary treatment plant recommended even though your soil may be capable of treating ST Septic Tank Effluent.

What type of surveillance exists for septic tanks/treatment plants in Ireland.

My main concern is not the possibility of the council engineers coming out and looking into my system. My worry is that I have 65M linear of percolation area specified for the original system. Would this be sufficient for a septic tank set up.

PaleRider

If you live in an area with good soil conditions - Loose gravely soil - sandy soil. Then a Septic should be fine. Some times Treatment Plants are recommend were ST would be fine.

Normally minimum 100 / 200m2 for septic tanks is required.

But again this depends on number of people in house.

Maybe check with local Planning Office - Get the name of Site Assessor.

There are solutions for most sites.

This advice is just general.

65 linear meters? Normally percolation pipes go in max 18m lengths for ST. And 10m for Treatment Plant.

cabledude

PaleRider wrote: »

If you live in an area with good soil conditions - Loose gravely soil - sandy soil. Then a Septic should be fine. Some times Treatment Plants are recommend were ST would be fine.

Normally minimum 100 / 200m2 for septic tanks is required.

But again this depends on number of people in house.

Maybe check with local Planning Office - Get the name of Site Assessor.

There are solutions for most sites.

This advice is just general.

65 linear meters? Normally percolation pipes go in max 18m lengths for ST. And 10m for Treatment Plant.

We have 3 lengths of percolation trenching. 22 odd metres each. This is the way the engineer wanted it done.

realboss

Were is the Control Box ?

Have the ground a high water table ? or is it just heavy ground ?

Have you a raised bed for the percolation area ?

Are you sure the air blower is gone ?

The biggest problems with pumps is 1. The pump under pressure pumping to percolation area.

2 Excess water going into tank putting the pump under pressure is the man hole build of blocks is the water seeping through this you should see this if you opened the cover ?

3 non dissolving stuff also would get stuck in the pumps and blocking them causing the tank to back up.

Check it out ??

cabledude

realboss wrote: »

Were is the Control Box ?

Alongside the tank access. Stuck into the ground using unistrut.

Have you a raised bed for the percolation area ?

No.

Are you sure the air blower is gone ?

Its not a blower. Its an agitator. It is funked. Every time it attempts to go into its run cycle, it trips out.

The biggest problems with pumps is 1. The pump under pressure pumping to percolation area.

Nothing wrong with the discharge pump.

3 non dissolving stuff also would get stuck in the pumps and blocking them causing the tank to back up.

The tank is not backing up. I am getting constant alarms due to the aerator/agitator tripping out. My effluent is not getting agitated. Why have a treatment system with the contents not getting agitated.

I am leaning towards the BAF system. This is where there are no motors and pumps to worry about. A small compressor sits on top of the tank and delivers compressed air into the effluent using a sparger pipe system.

Total cost of retrofit would be 1400. I think it is the way to go.....

I am afraid of my life that the percolation area will get blocked up over time and I'll have to dig it all up and re-lay it. That would probably cost more than the 1400 it would now cost me to put in an aeration system.

Spend the money today and have a hassle free life. Or spend the money at some point in the future after the system failing and all the trouble that goes with that scenario.

realboss

its sounds like something is shorting, can you try and running it from extension lead, and see does it trip out, if not there is something wrong with the cable lead,
what message does it say on the control box, can you open the control box,
is it the sbr with pumps in the centre,

cabledude

realboss wrote: »

its sounds like something is shorting, can you try and running it from extension lead, and see does it trip out, if not there is something wrong with the cable lead,
what message does it say on the control box, can you open the control box,
is it the sbr with pumps in the centre,

The message I'm getting it high water level.

What I do then is -

Cancel the alarm.
Go into manual mode.
Try and run the aerator motor on its own. I get a message here telling me that the aerator is protected.
I then go into alarms and reset all alarms.
I then try again to run the aerator motor in manual mode. It should run, in normal circumstances, at around 1.4 - 2.0 Amps. It is climbing up to 5A and cutting out. I have also done this procedure whilst the whole unit is out of the effluent - therefore no load on the aerator impeller. Same result.

I'm fairly certain that the aerator motor is past it. Maybe its just brushes. I don't know.

cabledude

realboss wrote: »

its sounds like something is shorting, can you try and running it from extension lead, and see does it trip out, if not there is something wrong with the cable lead,
what message does it say on the control box, can you open the control box,
is it the sbr with pumps in the centre,

I can't put up a link to the specific unit. But, this unit has both the clearwater pump and aerator motor on the bottom of the unit. The unit tapers in width from the top to the bottom.