I live in Texas where septic systems are pretty well governed. They require that the aerator systems be adequately chlorinated... which I am grateful I don't have to smell my neighbors discharge. However, I am becoming annoyed at spending $180+ every year for chlorine tablets when I understand liquid bleach dispensers are also allowed by law. However, these dispensers typically run $300 and look like PVC pipes I could get from my local home supply stores. I want to try and do it myself and save the $300 equipment/installation cost and start using household bleach.
Question 1) Can anyone point me to plans how to build my own? Question 2) From my research, it appears ~1 gallon/month is the typical bleach usage. Does this sound correct to people who already use/know about bleach dispensers? Question 3) Absent any plans, and believing the usage is ~1 gallon/ month, I believe I could cap a PVC pipe to hold some bleach and integrate an IV drip dispenser. According to my math (which I won't go into here unless requested), I figure I can set the IV drip on a 60 drop/ml to 1 drop every 11.4 seconds to dispense ~1 gallon of bleach/ month. By placing this dispenser between my two tanks (where I currently drop the chlorine tablets) I expect I would achieve approximately the same mixing effect as I do with tablets. The end effect of this is for
Having worked as a chemist in industry, I can tell you that continuous processes require continuous monitoring. I would prefer a system that did not always need my attention.
Not knowing how your existing system is set-up, your main problem will be to regulate the chlorine to the flow. Generally with tablets, the higher the flow, the faster they dissolve. If your system does not batch discharge, you will want to regulate the chlorine so that more (or rather faster drop rate) is injected during peak flow periods in order to achieve proper disinfection (and odor control). You want to keep the chlorine at about 1.0 PPM to 4.0 PPM to achieve disinfection (closer to 1.0 PPM is better). You need to base your usage (volume required) calculation on flow and usage as opposed to an average of 1 gallon/month. The other problem you have to deal with is that liquid chlorine injection systems do have a tendancy to clog under certain circumstances. You will still have to conduct maintainence of the system on a regular basis. Don't know any plans offhand but try googling it might just work.
Just so you understand................Household bleach is 1/2 the concentration of liquid pool shock or tablets. Thus you will need twice the amount of liquid household bleach to achieve the same as what your tablets are doing. Bubba
Could be much worse, around here being connected to the public sewer system costs twice what you're paying for tablets, maybe more.
I don't have any kind of picture of what you're driving at, but a few questions pop to mind.
Is this stuff located outside? What do you do about freezing? And will a gallon of bleach in this thing hold onto the chlorine or will the chlorine evaporate off, leaving you carefully dripping water into your system. And lastly, since you say septic systems are pretty well governed, what are the legal requirements? Would doing something like this mean you are installing a proprietary treatment system that needs to be tested and licensed? Will something like this require you to have a maintenance contract, or get training from a licensed installer?
I thought there were exacting requirements for what the chlorine does - something like kill 99% of bacteria in the effluent within a stated period of time. It's a bit of a stretch to think that a drop of bleach every 11 seconds will do that.
For the most part, at least in texas, there are two types of septic systems. The original is a totally in ground system that requires very little attention besides dropping some additives down the sink or toilet every once in a while to keep things alive and eating the bad stuff in there, then every so msny years have the tank sucked clean.
The second is the aerobic system. This is typically for areas that dont have very much earth depth or you lack proper yard space to have a leech field. I have an aerobic system, unfortunately, but have enough space to have a conventional, it was already here when I bought the place.
The chlorine type tablets that we use (NOT pool tabs!) are getting stupid expensive. Ten years ago a bucket was like 50 bucks,now its over 80!! Insanity! Its a rape price for a standard, cheap chemical. Aerobic systems are 'regulated' if you want to call it that. You have to get a maintenance contract, but there is no maintenance, preventative or otherwise, going on! They come out, test to make sure the pump works and the alarm sounds properly, check for tabs and look to see if ants are into anything and that is it.
They come out quarterly I think, and I get written up off and on for not having tablets in the drop chute. ...but heres the deal with that... If I kept them in there constantly it would EASILY go through an entire bucket in less than a month. Just doing laundry and showers goes through them like crazy, so I meter them out every so often and will drop in three. Even the amount I put in is overkill, you can poke your head in the tank and it smells way worse than a shocked swimming pool!! If they were doing their job, which they dont, they would do a water test when they dont see tabs in the tank. ...but that would take too long and they would have to do their job! (Heaven forbid) ...they dont even clean the air filter!
The city is just as bad, they'll send me a letter for something that happened six months ago and is already fixed, which they would know if they looked at current records,meanwhile the guy a couple houses down across the street has an in ground septic with a busted leech field pipe that is flooding the back pasture with sewage. His neighbor has bitched to the city and they do nothing (because they dont like him) ...for years! He finally called the EPA and they came out this weekend, heh.
I'm going to build a liquid bleach dispenser myself, I've seen pictures of numerous brands, ALL made out of nothing but PVC and clear tubing. The design I think Ive settled on not only has a sort of drip but has a suction line tied into the sprinkler head line, so that when the sprinkler comes on it injects bleach into the sprinkler line AND injects bleach down into the main tank. The reservoir for the bleach is heavy sched bury PVC, 4 to 6" and is set down into the tank, though you could make small ones, Im going to make a nice 8' Tall one that sits in the tank so I can load it up with at least ten gallons of bleach. I expect the usage, just for me and my wife, to be more than the one gallon a month I see being listed. Ill adjust the flow rate a bit high. Im not going to use injector nipples either, Im going to use shutoff ball valves so I have nice control over the flow/pull rate.
replying to Anthony, Km wrote: I just bought one. They are cheap to buy considering they will pay for themselves in a short time. I made a short video on how I installed mine. I bought mine made by LBC.
replying to Km, Kevin Withers wrote: Not sure why anyone would pay the 200 bucks they want for these system. Just make your own venturi that is all you are paying for. You can test how effective it is using a fish tank pump and air. It is the concept they are using and sell for 200+ dollars. I like this idea of putting the holding reservoir inside the tank so you don't have dig out a trench for it.
replying to Anthony, Charley wrote: Anthony - were you able to build a liquid dispenser? Would you mind sharing your experience along with any parts used? Thanks
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