Waste water treatment system

B

beefy2003

Registered User
Messages
22
In the process of building a new home and I have been told by the county council that my site is unsuitable for a septic tank and that a have install a waste water treatment system. I have heard stories of people with these systems that they have to get them emptied every few months and they smell. Can anybody give me advice on what is the best system to get?
 
Check the septc tanks and water treatment topics in the sticky at the top of this forum. Some good discussion there.

i have a puriflow from bord na mona but i'm sure there are better systems out there. it does need to be emtpied from time to time ( they all do) but it does not smell. a lot depends on the size of your site and the drainage capability of the soil.
 
I was in the same situation only worse, in that I needed a raised bed perculation area. After a lot of research I went with this crowd.. [broken link removed]
They supply Balmoral tank and advise on perculation area. There sales man was very good and actually wanted the job as he got back to me quickly with quotes, questions etc...
 
npgallag, can I ask (roughly even) how much the Balmoral system cost. Also, from reading the owners manual on the website, it requires twice yearly maintenance, a six month check, and 12 month + emptying every 12 months. It also has a compressor pump that runs nonstop. Therefore, I am wondering what the annual running costs of such a system are?
Thanks,
Dj.
 
The demand on electricity must be stated at any product using electricity. The unit is Watt. If the compressor uses for example 1 kW per hour then it would cost you around 15 cents/hour at current prices. Most likely this compressor uses much less. Phone the company and simply ask.Your electrician must know so as well, he has to lay the cable and fuse it with the apropiate fuse.
 
Beefy, you better have your wits about you if you're trying to buy a waste water treatment system! I see npgallag went with a supplier partly because of how good the sales man was. I did the same, but it turned out to be a big mistake!

I used a crowd down in Cork about 5 years back when I built my house. The salesman promised me the sun, moon and stars. In the end I went with this particular system because it was cheaper than the rest and because of how well he sold it. Apart from the problems I had physically trying to put the system and percolation area in, the thing never ever worked! It stank to high heaven from day one and I had ponding of sh--e all over my garden! There was no support from the supplier. I got all the usual responses, blaming the guy who did the percolation tests, blaming the builder for putting it in wrong, etc. After only 2 years I had to have the tank emptied 8 times, which was costing me an arm and a leg. For the sake of my sanity I decided to replace the unit.

Using the old saying "once bitten, twice shy" I went about things differently. I wanted a system that I would rarely, if ever, have to empty because the costs for this are so high! (I was handing over about €380 each time to have the tank emptied), I wanted the supplier to put in the tank and percolation area, and I wanted guarantees and insurances for everything! After doning alot of shopping around, I ended up putting in a biocycle system. It was more expensive than alot of the others out there, bit has turned out to be far cheaper to run. It's been in 3 years now and I haven't had a problem with it (touch wood!). I haven't had to have it emptied yet, and am told by biocycle that I won't have to get it emptied for about another 3 years.

I know this is a long response, but I'd hate to see someone get fleeced the way I did. I had no satisfaction from the first crowd I dealt with, and strangely enough, they went belly-up! If I knew then what I know now! Hindsight is always 20-20!
 
There are loads of small one man companies out there offering waste treatment plants. I would advise sticking with a firm that has plenty of experience and will not go bust in a few years. Envirocare are big as are Klargester - both owned by Kingspan. Biocycle are another major player.
 
Jambi,

Full credit to you. This type of info is exactly what we all need to hear. Self build is a trcky business and I am trying to do as much research as possible before making a decision.
If you don't mind could you let me know the cost incl vat? Also if you could abreakdown of what thy did and what you had to do for them so that they could fit the unit. Would really appreciate it
 
Will do AJL. I'll dust off the old file tonight and should have some info posted tomorrow.
 
AJL,

The system cost €6,750 + VAT with delivery to Cork costing €600 + VAT, but that was 3 years ago, so it may have changed. The tank itself was much larger than I expected. It was about 5 times the size of the tank I was replacing and was made of concrete, but the delivery price included for lifting the tank off the truck and placing it in the hole. Biocycle’s installation engineers were pretty much on site from start to finish.

Before they arrived, though, I had to dig out the hole for the tank and bring the sewer and the power cable out to the tank and build the percolation area with soil and clean stone, based on the design they sent me.

The biocycle engineers installed the tank in the ground, connected the sewer into the tank, installed the pump in the tank, ran the pipe from the pump out to the percolation area, laid the percolation piping, put AJs into the percolation area and put in a terram membrane.

All that was left was to put a bit topsoil down over the terram and to wire the unit up and put the alarm panel, that biocycle supplied, in the house. I did the electrical work myself (I’m an electrician), so that saved a few quid.

I don’t know was it down to the fact that I was getting good at putting these things in, but it all went without a hitch, apart from the weather that is! The information I was sent out before the actual tank arrived was easy to follow and probably made things my end a bit easier.

All in all, it cost me in or around €10,000 including VAT. This wasn’t bad at all, considering the tank I had to replace cost about €5,500 to put in. When I add on the emptying costs (about €3,040), it comes to approx €8,500, which isn’t a million miles off the cost of the biocycle and the ground works involved. I’m kicking myself now for not putting in a right system from day one, but you live and learn.

The main problem that I see with putting in a waste water treatment system is that there are a massive amount of systems and suppliers out there. They all claim to do the same thing and they pretty much all have Agrement Certificates (these are building product certificates). I went through all of these certs with a fine tooth comb my second time around and came to the conclusion that they weren’t worth much! All of the treatment plants seem to work based on similar principles, yet some are about 3 cubic metres in size and others are 12 cubic metres in size, with all plants supposedly treating the sewage to the same quality! Something didn't make sense, so I decided to err on the side of caution this time!

If you shop around and do some calculations, remember that the emptying cost is the big one. I got shafted with my original tank because I was told that once a year was enough to empty it, but I ended up having to do it 4 times a year. When I was getting the new one I made sure I got one that would need very little emptying. I’m told once every 7 to 10 years is enough, but we’ll see! It’s 3 years in and so far so good. I’ve already saved about €4,500 on the first tank I put in.

Also, my advice is to deal with a company that can stand over their design and installation. If you can get the company to put it in not only the tank, but the percolation area as well, it’s definitely worth it! That way, if anything goes wrong, they’ll have to stand over it! You won’t get fobbed off then by being told “you put it in, so you must have made a balls of it!”

Keep a file of all the paperwork to do with your percolation tests, the tank and percolation area design, installation certificates, etc. so if anything goes wrong you’ll at least have a starting point. It’s also vital to make sure the company you’re dealing with has insurance cover for the work they’re doing. Ask for an insurance cert! Again, this is a mistake that I made first time around, and paid the price.

Hope this has been of use!

J
 
Hi Jambi,

Thanks a million for that. Very informative. it is on the pricey side was expecting to pay no more than 5000. I am building where a new housing estate is going to be put in and they will have to bring the mains sewage in. Probably makes sense to me to put in a cheaper system even if it takes emptying once a year.
DO you have alot of members in your house? Did you put in a larger system as I might be able to get a biocycle system that is smaller and cheaper.
 
AJL,

It's just myself and my wife living in the house, which was why I was furious with having to empty the first system we had in as often as we did!

I put in the standard biocycle system. It's a big tank, but has worked out far cheaper to run than the smaller one. There are no smells and I've had no problems (touch wood!).

J
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top