treatment plant

perry stanley

Can anyone tell me what the procedure is with a treatment plant. My niece has moved into a house with one and there is no leaflet etc for it. Is the unit left switched on. What sort of maintenance does it get /need? Thanks for any help

my3cents

Don't worry most people know nothing about them and don't care.

Might be an idea to get it emptied and get some advice from the guy that empties it.

What I would do is open it up and see how much sludge and crust is in it. Basically all you need is a long stick with a small off cut nailed on one end to make T. You push the T end through the crust (if there is one it may be soft) and then down trough the liquid and the T helps you "feel" where the sludge starts then keep pushing to see how deep it is. If the depth of the crust plus the depth of the sludge is over 1/3 of the depth of the tank (2/3 liquid)) its time to pump it out.

Now, you have a treatment plant but at best that is a septic tank with some extra bells and whistles to make the septic action work quicker. Often air pumped into the bottom and a mesh layer at the top to increase surface area for bacterial action.

Don't empty more than necessary often every couple of years but don't leave it too long because if left eventually you end up messing up the leach field that drains away the liquid and that can't be normally be repaired only replaced.

Hence if you start with a clean you may get some good advice from the guy who cleans the tank and will start off "fresh" so you can work out how often you will need to clean the tank by occasionally checking the amount of crud in it.

One point to shout out is this isn't a main drainage system you can dump anything down. Avoid lots of bleach (some is fine) and biological washing powders. Toilet ducks and anything that kills the bacterial action of the tank are to be avoided (toilet ducks are also a no 1 cause of blocked drains). Plenty online about whats good and not good for a septic tank.

If you want to describe what controls you have we might be able to tell you more about the system.

Edit> Forgot to say you normally leave them on all the time.

IRCA

Really need to know what kind of treatment plan you're talking about.

For a septic tank there is usually a secondary treatment "bed" (e.g. Bord na Mona filter beds) and the waste gets pumped into this when it reaches a certain level by a submersible pump. This pump only kicks in when a float valve triggers it. So it should be always switched on at the mains, but it will only kick in when needed.

You may have something like a BioCycle unit which is a completely self contained system and again, it should be turned on at the mains and it will kick in as needed.

Hope this helps

perry stanley

Yes back again and it is a treatment plant , not septic tank, with a sump pump in it (near the top) . I managed to ascertain that it keeps cutting out (overheat protection). Further checking it is the pump (not float switch). what a dose trying to get support etc from any of the treatment plant companies. The good news is I found a compatible replacment and should be here soon. Thanks

IRCA

Glad to hear you got sorted... been down the road of trying to get support myself for a failed sump pump (at a reasonable price) - replaced it myself in the end - amazing what you can learn on the Google yoke!

my3cents

perry stanley wrote: »

Yes back again and it is a treatment plant , not septic tank, with a sump pump in it (near the top) . I managed to ascertain that it keeps cutting out (overheat protection). Further checking it is the pump (not float switch). what a dose trying to get support etc from any of the treatment plant companies. The good news is I found a compatible replacment and should be here soon. Thanks

Have you checked the obvious, that the sump pump isn't having to pump slurry or solids instead or liquid and that there is nothing wrapped around the impeller?

perry stanley

impellor etc fine . had the pump set up in a 45 gal drum and it cut out (o/heat protection). further checks confirmed pump motor tired .
replacing it with a compatible.