stereliser & sewage treatment plants

[Sudds]

Don't know if any one else has this problem but as we're miles from any main sewage we have a small treatment plant which discharges into a small burn.When we installed it the manual gave a whole list of things that cannot be used including bleach, biological washing powders & pretty much any disinfectant or anti-bac.The surface water system also discharges into the burn (beck or stream take your pick)& as we've got newts & toads living there I don't want to kill off their habitat & have SEPA come hunt me down. That leaves me two choices, empty the sterilisation solution over the paving flags (cleans them off but run off doesn't do the grass much good) or lug it round the house to an area of gravel (or chuckies as they call 'em up here) which admittedly does help keep it all weed free. All in all it's not a problem with a 1 gallon bottle but its getting to be a real pain with 5 gallon plus barrels & the dustbin I use for sterilising bottles & equipment.

 

[ACBEV]

I tip mine onto my garden path and give a little hose off. Not noticed any ill effects on the grass!

 

[Clint]

Use pure oxi for cleaning...this can be tipped into your drain as the by products are oxygen and soda ash. The sterilise with a spray gun of starsan...which is no rinse.
I see the problem with larger volumes of sanitiser...have you a municipal dump where you could take it once a month?

 

[Sudds]

I'm thinking of altering the closest path to the kitchen with paving slabs surrounded with pea gravel. That way when I empty a drum on to the slab it won't wash all the chippings away but will at least keep the moss away. Not risking pouring it into the treatment plant as it will kill off the working bacteria (specifically no antibacterial soaps etc)

 

[MyQul]

You could always sterilise with boiling water. Then you can chuck it where ever you like

 

[Dutto]

Domestic Septic Tanks and small Treatment Plants are anaerobic systems (i.e. they are operated without the presence of oxygen) that rely on anaerobic bacteria to digest the solids that finish up in the tank.

The digested liquids are usually discharged into a soak-away which allows them to leach out into the surrounding soil and oxygenate before the cleaned liquids are discharged into a local water course.

ANYTHING that will kill bacteria should NEVER be flushed into a septic tank. In my home in Scotland (where everything was fed into a septic tank) the following was banned from the house and/or NEVER flushed down a sink or the toilets:

• Bleach and bleach products.
• Disinfectants such as Dettol or Jeyes Fluid.
• Sanitary towels, nappies and (so-called) 'flushable' wipes.
• ALL fats, oils and chemicals.

The ban on Biological Washing Powder is actually a ban on high-phosphate detergents because they are detrimental to the bacteria that carries out the anaerobic digestion. We used zero phosphate laundry tablets such as this one ...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B071J9MR93/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

... and they make a sanitiser as well.

So, with careful attention to what goes down your sink or toilet it is possible to keep on brewing AND not kill everything in your local stream.

BTW:

1. If your system isn't doing what it should do I recommend that you pick up a dead rabbit off the side of the road and sling it into the digester. The grass and stuff in a rabbits gut make a great "starter" for a septic tank.
2. If you can't find a dead rabbit, it is possible to purchase this product ... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00695D278/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20 ... as a similar form of treatment.
3. I once had to rod out the inlet to our septic tank after we had been visited by one of our French friends. I convinced Danielle that it MUST have been her fault because the sanitary towel I removed had French writing on it! A gullible lass is our Danielle. She didn't twig that she was the only female visitor we had who was young enough to need such a product!

Enjoy!

 

[Cwrw666]

I use washing soda for cleaning which goes straight into our septic tank, no problem as it's just a bit of alkali. Boiling water for sterilising.

 

[Sudds]

Agree with everything in your reply Dutto, we've never had a problem with our plant since installing but our neighbours weren't quite so vigilant about what they put down the system & theirs has had to be de-sludged & re-started repeatedly. Very impressed with the Vortex plant no problems so far & no smells at all, we also installed a grease trap between it & the kitchen which helps. Soakaways don't work round here - clay on granite - you can forget any percolation test even the local Building Standards officers don't bother with them. On the plus side my paving slabsare always going to be moss free.

Years ago when we installed septic tanks in the Lakes we always chucked in a bit of road kill or a dead hen to get them going.

 

[Dutto]

The grease trap is a great idea - but training SWMBO and the kids is even better!

Two examples of "Win One - Lose One".

WIN

I once got free winter parking for my caravan from a campsite down near Poole.

The EA were threatening to shut the site down due to the Klargister Unit not working so I was told I may have to move my caravan. I asked why and then did an investigation of my own with the following results:

1. The man chlorinated the site Swimming Pool by letting it overflow into the Klargister Unit until he had the right numbers on his analyser!
2. The site had only a single emptying point for Chemical Toilets and no warnings to NOT pour Thetford toilet cassettes down the ordinary toilets; which were obviously routed into the Klargister.

Just changing his Swimming Pool cleaning method, plus adding half a dozen signs (total cost less than £20) saved the owner of the site nearly a years income!

So, he got a bargain and I got a free winter on his site!

LOSE

I thought that owning a house with a septic tank system and all the warnings associated with it, was sufficient training for SWMBO - wrong!

The boat was moored alongside the quay in a town called Moissac on the Canal du Midi when I noticed that we appeared to be floating in a sea of milk!

SWMBO had been painting the stern cabin with white gloss paint so I kind of knew what the problem was.

Yes, SWMBO had cleaned the brush in the galley sink, removed the plug and let everything flow into the canal.

Within seconds, I had filled up a garden spray bottle with a mixture of Washing-Up Liquid and water and was hung over the side spraying the film that surrounded the boat. I probably killed a few dozen fish and many thousands of fresh-water insects, ...

... but at least I dispersed the slick before we got the fine that we deserved! aunsure....

 

[Clint]

Sudds...long cross hammered...detectorist??

 

[MyQul]

Sudds...long cross hammered...detectorist??

Are you talking in code Clint?

 

[Dutto]

Sudds...long cross hammered...detectorist??

Now we know why he doesn't drink on nights!

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I think it's cryptic code

I don't have the cypher.

 

[simon12]

From when I was 9 to about 20 we had a septic tank and i'm sure we just used all the standard cleaning chemicals without knowing we shouldn't.

 

[Clint]

Sudds...long cross hammered...detectorist??

Sudds avatar..it's a medieval coin,made of hammered,rather than milled,silver...the side shows a "long" cross..the arms of the cross reach to the outside of the coin. This was to deter clipping of the coin to remove silver an act punished with castration or death. Is perhaps it's a play on words...

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Clint you are a mine of information and not all of it is useless.

 

[Dutto]

Sudds avatar..it's a medieval coin,made of hammered,rather than milled,silver...the side shows a "long" cross..the arms of the cross reach to the outside of the coin. This was to deter clipping of the coin to remove silver an act punished with castration or death. Is perhaps it's a play on words...

Great to know ...

... now get to bed 'cos there's still one night to go!

 

[strange-steve]

Sudds avatar..it's a medieval coin,

I thought it was an Oreo.

 

[Sudds]

Yes, for my sins I am a detectorist when I get the chance. That coin I think is an Edward I penny (long shanks) found near Aberdeen. I've been up here 8 years & still not found a Scottish silver coin yet my detecting buddy back in Cumbria has found two down there in the last couple of years. Doh! (Still seems strange referring to Cumbria as down south)

 

[Dutto]

....... That coin I think is an Edward I penny (long shanks) found near Aberdeen. I've been up here 8 years & still not found a Scottish silver coin ..........

That is a genuine "No **** Sherlock!" statement. There may very well be a reason why you could be a very old man before you find a Scottish silver coin in Aberdeenshire.

How about the Aberdonian who dropped a 50p piece. When he stooped to pick it up, it hit him on the back of his head.

Or the Aberdonian pervert who went up to the little girl and said "Do you want to buy a bag of sweeties?"

I rest my case!