Clearwater treatment plant / Cess pit

[pmanson]

Hi,

Moved in to our house about a year ago and are having a bit of an issue with sewage/grey water.

Current configuration is:

House -> Cesspit -> Clearwater treatment plant -> Soakaway

What looks to be happening is the level of water in the treatment plant is getting to ground level, which is then backing up the drains around the house.

At the end of last summer we noticed that the fuse for the water treatment plant was tripping (cable at fault which we've since had replaced), we have no controller on the treatment plant (it looks to have previously been removed) so the only control we have is by flipping the trip switch on/off

From looking at the house plans, it looks to me that the water treatment plant outputs to a soakaway which being in clay soil near a stream and installed in the 1980s, we're assuming is blocked.

So my *very* basic questions for you;

1) Should we leave the treatment plant running 24/7 or look to have a timer installed on it
2) What water level should we expect to see in there? (i'm assuming below ground level)
3) Is it worth having a new soakaway installed (we're likely to have a digger here over the summer installing a new garage base)
4) Would ground water levels be affecting it?

I've written those questions out and they feel like things I should know the answer too but i've never used one of these before!

Cheers,
Phill

[Lotobear]

The fact that it had a cess pit and then (subsequently?) a treatment plant and soakaway was installed suggest to me that the difficulties in achieving percolation in clay soil were recognised at the outset. A cess pit is the default option where you can't have a soakway.

As a general principle soakways do not work in clay soil so I'd be looking at that first. The soakaway has either become 'blinded' or else has never really worked and/or a rising water table has impacted on it.

[normalbloke]

Also check surface water isn’t getting in, and simply overwhelming the plant.

[Happy Jim]

And the treatment plant would normally be powered 24/7 so that aeration can occur effectively

Jim

[pmanson]

Happy Jim said:

And the treatment plant would normally be powered 24/7 so that aeration can occur effectively

Jim

Thank you

[pmanson]

normalbloke said:

Also check surface water isn’t getting in, and simply overwhelming the plant.

That’s our concern!

[silentbrown]

Aren't package treatment plants allowed to discharge directly into a watercourse? Not sure why you'd need a soakaway if it's working well.

[normalbloke]

pmanson said:

normalbloke said:

Also check surface water isn’t getting in, and simply overwhelming the plant.

That’s our concern!

I can’t picture your set up, but we have a private sewage treatment plant, not a cesspit. It all works via gravity, and the only power required is for the aeration pump( as mentioned earlier) This runs 24/7. If you’re getting surface water into it, the plant becomes overwhelmed, and the dirty settling tank, overflows and surcharges clean end, effectively stopping the process dead. It’s one of the warning that come from the manufacturer. Do you know who yours is manufactured by, or have some images of the set up?

[bennno]

Clay soil won’t drain, cesspit is perhaps to be emptied in winter when ground is saturated. Ours gets emptied every 3 weeks.

[WelshRich]

Pedantry matters, but I think you’re describing a septic tank rather than a cesspit - The former allows a degree of settling of the solids with the liquids flowing out into a soak away. If the soak away is working properly and not close to a watercourse you shouldn’t need a treatment plant.

A cesspit is just a storage tank and needs to be emptied regularly, we’ve had our septic tank emptied once in the time we’ve lived here but may get it done again this summer (some people never bother).

We don’t have a treatment plant but we do have a kind of overflow from the septic tank with a float arrangement that trips a pump to send the liquid to the soak away once the overflow is full (our garden is fairly flat so gravity isn’t sufficient) - are you sure that this isn’t what you have? It’s a large manhole cover which when lifted exposes a sump/pit with a float and pump. Leave it switched on 24/7 because it’ll only actually operate when the liquid level requires it…

[bennno]

WelshRich said:

Pedantry matters, but I think you’re describing a septic tank rather than a cesspit - The former allows a degree of settling of the solids with the liquids flowing out into a soak away. If the soak away is working properly and not close to a watercourse you shouldn’t need a treatment plant.

A cesspit is just a storage tank and needs to be emptied regularly, we’ve had our septic tank emptied once in the time we’ve lived here but may get it done again this summer (some people never bother).

We don’t have a treatment plant but we do have a kind of overflow from the septic tank with a float arrangement that trips a pump to send the liquid to the soak away once the overflow is full (our garden is fairly flat so gravity isn’t sufficient) - are you sure that this isn’t what you have? It’s a large manhole cover which when lifted exposes a sump/pit with a float and pump. Leave it switched on 24/7 because it’ll only actually operate when the liquid level requires it…

If he’s in clay there’s a good chance it started off as a cesspit, perhaps former owners added a treatment plant and soakaways as it’s expensive to empty a cesspit.

[pmanson]

WelshRich said:

Pedantry matters, but I think you’re describing a septic tank rather than a cesspit - The former allows a degree of settling of the solids with the liquids flowing out into a soak away. If the soak away is working properly and not close to a watercourse you shouldn’t need a treatment plant.

A cesspit is just a storage tank and needs to be emptied regularly, we’ve had our septic tank emptied once in the time we’ve lived here but may get it done again this summer (some people never bother).

We don’t have a treatment plant but we do have a kind of overflow from the septic tank with a float arrangement that trips a pump to send the liquid to the soak away once the overflow is full (our garden is fairly flat so gravity isn’t sufficient) - are you sure that this isn’t what you have? It’s a large manhole cover which when lifted exposes a sump/pit with a float and pump. Leave it switched on 24/7 because it’ll only actually operate when the liquid level requires it…

Apologises I think you're correct, i've gone off what the fuses were called on the board. Looking at some plans for a garage that wasn't ever installed we have the following:

House -> Septic tank -> Water Treatment plant and then what looks to be a pipe out that isn't defined

A little bit of a site plan.

Blue - Stream
Red - Drains
Purple - septic tank
Orange - water treatment plant

[bennno]

pmanson said:

Apologises I think you're correct, i've gone off what the fuses were called on the board. Looking at some plans for a garage that wasn't ever installed we have the following:

House -> Septic tank -> Water Treatment plant and then what looks to be a pipe out that isn't defined

A little bit of a site plan.

Blue - Stream
Red - Drains
Purple - septic tank
Orange - water treatment plant

So if you have an approved sewage treatment plant you can discharge directly in to the stream.

Who services the system annually, can they guide?

[pmanson]

bennno said:

So if you have an approved sewage treatment plant you can discharge directly in to the stream.

Who services the system annually, can they guide?

We've been here a year and don't have any details. We have had the septic tank pumped a couple of times (when the drains backed up)

I think a new exit from the water treatment plan may be in order but i'll leave it a week or so with the pump running 24/7 and see what impact that has first (if any).

[silentbrown]

pmanson said:

We've been here a year and don't have any details.

Did you get a proper survey when buying? That should tell you more.

Also, solicitors are usually on the ball about drains during conveyancing. It's on the "Fittings and Contents" form that the seller completes, and there's also usually requests for plan drawings of same.

A cesspit/tank *before* the treatment plant makes no sense to me. Either it's a relic from before the treatment plant was installed, or it's after the treatment plant, with a pump to raise the treatment discharge into a shallow field drain.

Edited by silentbrown on Thursday 23 March 09:53

[normalbloke]

pmanson said:

bennno said:

So if you have an approved sewage treatment plant you can discharge directly in to the stream.

Who services the system annually, can they guide?

We've been here a year and don't have any details. We have had the septic tank pumped a couple of times (when the drains backed up)

I think a new exit from the water treatment plan may be in order but i'll leave it a week or so with the pump running 24/7 and see what impact that has first (if any).

Where are you based, roughly? I can possibly recommend a very good company who can help you find out what you have, and what it should be doing, if needed.

[pmanson]

normalbloke said:

pmanson said:

bennno said:

So if you have an approved sewage treatment plant you can discharge directly in to the stream.

Who services the system annually, can they guide?

We've been here a year and don't have any details. We have had the septic tank pumped a couple of times (when the drains backed up)

I think a new exit from the water treatment plan may be in order but i'll leave it a week or so with the pump running 24/7 and see what impact that has first (if any).

Where are you based, roughly? I can possibly recommend a very good company who can help you find out what you have, and what it should be doing, if needed.

Newton Longville, Bucks

[normalbloke]

pmanson said:

normalbloke said:

pmanson said:

bennno said:

So if you have an approved sewage treatment plant you can discharge directly in to the stream.

Who services the system annually, can they guide?

We've been here a year and don't have any details. We have had the septic tank pumped a couple of times (when the drains backed up)

I think a new exit from the water treatment plan may be in order but i'll leave it a week or so with the pump running 24/7 and see what impact that has first (if any).

Where are you based, roughly? I can possibly recommend a very good company who can help you find out what you have, and what it should be doing, if needed.

Newton Longville, Bucks

Have a word with Andrew Boxall of Boxall Ward. They ought to be able to assist.

[pmanson]

normalbloke said:

Have a word with Andrew Boxall of Boxall Ward. They ought to be able to assist.

Much appreciated

[pmanson]

Just as update, emailed a few companies who couldn’t help but did recommend someone.

New pump and control panel installed today which will hopefully solve part of our issue

However when they emptied the water treatment tank it was refilling from the outlet. So we’re going to have to have a new outlet installed to the stream