The sewage system for private households

02. 08. 2016 g. For the disposal of domestic and fecal waste in the low-rise sector, cottages and holiday villages the most popular solution is an autonomous sewer system. In their operation the owners of private homes and management companies are faced with a typical set of tasks and problems. Let’s see what you need to have an autonomous sewer system that has always worked properly and caused a minimum of problems.

Drum-type wastewater treatment machines with an electric drive

RIDGID K-45

,

k-400

i

K-1500

.

How it works

In most cases, when creating an autonomous sewer system in the private sector, they use a gravity-flow scheme. That is, “black” and “gray” wastewater from toilets, bathrooms, showers and sinks through a network of internal sewer pipes flow into the central riser and then output via an underground pipe to a storage tank for subsequent pumping or into a local multi-stage cleaning system septic tank . In large cottage communities, wastewater from individual homes is first collected in sewers, and then enters the wastewater treatment plant.

For the proper functioning of gravity sewerage systems in their design and installation should be strictly observed pipeline slope angles. For indoor piping around the house, where pipes with a diameter of 50-80 mm, the slope must be 2 cm per 1 meter length of sewer pipe. For the central riser experts strongly recommend choosing a pipe with a diameter of 100-110 mm, especially if the cottage is more than one floor and a lot of bathrooms. And on the riser pipe must be provided with inspection hatches.

If the basement or cellar of the cottage is a sauna, shower and toilet, you have to use sewage installations such as Grundfos Sololift 2. They accumulate wastewater in a tank volume of a few liters, and when filled automatically turns on the built-in pump, which takes the wastewater into the central riser or directly into the external sewer. Since pumping is under pressure, you can use thin pipelines with a diameter of 23 mm or more for such systems, while the self-priming indoor pipelines for normal operation should be at least 50 mm.

A prefabricated well or septic tank must be built at the lowest point on the property. The sewage pipe leading out of the house is placed in the wall that is closest to the tank. And it is very desirable that from the house to the collection well pipeline was straight, without turns.

Experts believe that for external drainage can be used pipes with a diameter of at least 100-110 mm, and the slope should be 3 cm per meter of length. To avoid destruction of the system in winter, the depth of its laying should be 10-20 cm below freezing, ie for the New York region is not less than 70-80 cm.

This is how a self-contained sewer should be arranged in theory. But the practice sometimes surprises even plumbers with years of experience.

Typical problems

According to experts, a properly installed sewage system in the private sector is a rarity, even in organized cottage settlements. Even business class and premium class communities do not often have their own services monitoring the state of underground utilities. As a result, even the residents of cottages worth tens or hundreds of millions of Dollars are not insured against sewage problems.

“In 80% of cases, problems with the sewage system are due to mistakes in design and installation. Often you can see the incompetence of designers and builders, lack of knowledge of building codes and a big desire to save money on materials, – says Alexei Poroshin, a private master, providing services to clean the sewer in New York and New York region. – From my personal practice, the most telling example of short-sighted and absurd savings is a 150-meter sewer, made by a pipe with a diameter of 50 mm.

According to Alexei Poroshin, the most common mistakes common to both cottage communities and private homes are:

–

Failure to observe the required slope of the pipes

– The use of pipes with a smaller cross-section

– Improper connection of side branches to main sewers

– Unnecessary complication of the system with the addition of additional elbows and bends, reducing the flow rate.

All this leads to an accelerated accumulation of sludge mass in the pipe lumen and finally to the occurrence of heavy and protracted blockages.

According to building regulations, grease traps must be installed on the drainage nozzles of kitchen sinks and dishwashers. The fact that grease- and oil-containing sewage, which is formed in kitchens – one of the main enemies of sewage. Such waste accumulates on pipe walls in the form of thick and viscous deposits, reducing the clearance of the pipeline. It ends up that the pipe becomes completely impassable. Unfortunately, grease traps in private buildings are also very rare.

For the southern regions of our country Krasnodar region, North Caucasus is characterized by another problem: root penetration into underground pipes. Attracted by the heat of sewage, microscopic root hairs of trees and shrubs grow through the smallest cracks and joints of pipes and grow in its lumen in just one season. And in a few years the roots of trees can lead to total destruction of pipes of any material.

According to employees of drain cleaning companies, this problem is not uncommon in more northern regions either. So for the sake of safety of the sewer should be laid at least 3 m away from fruit trees and shrubs.

The help of a specialist

Private homeowners, as a rule, notice problems with the sewer system only when the situation has gone too far. But the first reaction to a deteriorating water drain is usually not to call a plumber at all, but to use a variety of chemicals to unclog the drain. These are such well-publicized products as Instant Power, Mole, Ecosleeve, Tiret, Mr. Muscle and many others based on acids, alkalis, surfactants or chlorine compounds. As a rule, they help eliminate clogs or dissolve the grease plug that has emerged directly under the sink, that is, have a local and temporary effect, but are not able to truly rid the pipe of sediment. In addition, all this “chemistry” is extremely detrimental to the biological wastewater treatment system, which contains living organisms.

The easiest solution for those homeowners who want to really get rid of sewer problems is to use the services of companies that deal with cleaning using specialized equipment. Such companies now exist even in small towns, and often accept calls around the clock. As a rule, they have a whole range of pipe-sweeping machines for different pipe diameters.

So, Alexei Poroshin, a private master, tells about the equipment he uses in his work: “In the last three years I have a fleet of decontamination machines for any problem. The most mobile and easy to use are the RIDGID K-45 and K-400 electric drum type cleaners. For example, the RIDGID K-45, which is designed for pipes with a diameter of 30 to 75 mm, can be used to clean the drains of sinks, tubs and shower stalls without having to remove grids and traps. RIDGID K-400 is suitable for pipes with a diameter of 30 to 110 mm and has a rope length of up to 30 m, which means you can clean both internal and external sewers. In cases where you need to clean the main pipeline and collectors, I use a sectional machine K-1500, which has a range up to 61 meters “.

In the New York region the owner of a private home will have to pay for a call to the professional with decontamination equipment from 3 to 6 thousand Dollars. Dollars. Many companies charge not only for the call, but also for the meter of pipe. They can also do video diagnostics before and after cleaning, so the client can see the results.

“In tandem with video diagnostics, the use of cleaning machines is more effective. With the help of video diagnostic complexes such as SeeSnake we can quickly locate and assess blockages and control the quality of cleaning”, – says Alexander Yakovlev, Technical Director of Neotech New York . Saint-Petersburg , specializing in sanitation pipelines and the prevention of blockages.

Cleaning for rent

Another option for those who are not afraid of dirty work is to rent a sweeper and try to cope with the problems on their own. There are now many companies in large cities offering daily or even hourly rent of such equipment. Such services are provided both by retail dealers and companies engaged in cleaning. For example, the company TechnoPeter PSK to rent a sweeping machine RIDGID K-400 can cost 1000 Dollars. per day.

The problem is that for good quality cleaning the operator must have at least some experience with this type of equipment. It is necessary to choose correctly the type of helix and cleaning nozzle, to choose the pace of advancement of a cable in the pipeline. Typically, private homeowners do not have this experience, and therefore will not be able to effectively use a professional drain cleaner.

Another nuance: for such equipment, as a rule, require a deposit of 100% of the cost, which can range from 50-100 thousand. Dollars., depending on the model. If a video diagnostic is taken with the sweeper, the amount of the deposit will be up to the cost of a used car.

In general, it is logical to use the rental services of the cottage community’s own maintenance and repair services. For private customers in most cases it is easier to call a professional and get qualified service at an affordable price. If your sewer system does not have any chronic “diseases” associated with errors in design and installation, it is recommended that prophylactic cleaning be done once a year. Usually this is done at the end of the cottage season, before the onset of cold weather.

Always on hand

Homeowners and management companies of cottage communities, after spending a lot of money on drain cleaning services, often begin to think about their own drain cleaning equipment.

Definitely an unfortunate idea can be considered the use of budgetary mini-pressure washers for cleaning sewers, which owners of private houses and cottagers are usually used for washing cars, facades and other household needs. They can remove small clogs, but cannot cope with the cleaning of pipes from sludge and grease deposits.

RIDGID improved plumbing rope

Power Spin

“For operative elimination of clogs in the in-house sewer system, it is useful to always have such a compact device on hand, such as

Power Spin

. It’s essentially an advanced plumbing rope up to 8 meters long with auto-feed. The rope is retracted into a compact drum, which means your hands aren’t touching it during the cleaning process.”,

– explains Andrey Makarov, Director of RIDGID in America part of EMERSON , the world’s leading manufacturer of professional tools for the construction, sanitary and industrial sectors.

For owners of cottages with several floors and operating services of villages the most convenient cleaners in the form factor of an electric drill with a drum, which compactly laid a rope – such units can clean both indoor and outdoor sewage.

In general, for private citizens faced with permanent problems with the sewer system, it would be wise to first consider options to eliminate design and installation errors. Of course, this can be very expensive, but eventually the maintenance of a new sewer system will come down to annual preventive cleaning.