Category: Treatment Plants

We therefore opted for a ‘pumped outlet’ whereby the effluent is pumped uphill and then discharges into the stream at the very top, and away from the level of the stream down below.

We started the work in September, but the weather wasn’t great, so we brought track mats to site, to move the plant about the garden without causing too much damage to the grass. We excavated for the Treatment Plant first, and installed it on a concrete slab, with full concrete surround. The plant was installed in order that the inlet was low enough for the existing foul drainage system to be able to discharge into it. This put the plant about 250mm below the existing grass, so we needed a riser fitting to the plant, which was supplied to us by the manufacturer, Marsh Industries. We’ve been working with Marsh for nearly 20 years and always install their Treatment Plants, which are made to order.

With the plant installed, we excavated for and lay the outlet pipe, this was a black 32mm MDPE pipe. This was laid to within 3m of the stream, and then put into a 110mm underground drainage pipe. The pipe was surrounded with ‘fill’ sand, and warning tape laid above, and then the trench backfilled and the grass reinstated.

We then excavated for the electric feed to the plant, this was laid in a black 63mm duct. The electric feed was taken from one of the outhouses, with an isolator fitted, as per Building Regs. We instructed an electrician, who connected up by the ‘blower’ which blows oxygen into the plant, and also the pump which pumps the effluent out to the stream, when the effluent in the plant gets to a certain level.

We then excavated for and made the switchover from the old system to the new system, which included fitting a new manhole where the old pipework met our new pipework. All systems were tested, and the remainder of the garden and gravel driveway reinstated.

The work took a bit more than a week, and as with an install of any Treatment Plant, it’s good to see a satisfied customer, and no longer with the worry of a non-compliant septic tank. 

The plant was conveniently located adjacent to a double garage, with full electrics. This was ideal for connecting the plant up to. We excavated for and laid a 63mm black electric duct to the outside of the garage. The duct was surrounded in sand with electric warning tape to cover, the trench backfilled and the grass reinstated. Our customer appointed their own electrician, but we liaised with him as to what was required. As per building regs, a treatment plant needs its own isolator, which the electrician sited on the inside of the garage. Quite often they are sited outside, but either is acceptable.

We then had to divert the existing drainage from the old septic tank, to the new treatment plant. We excavated for all the pipework first before making the switchover. With everything dug out ready for the final piece of pipework, we ‘bunged’ the pipework from the house and switched the pipework over. This way, our customer was able to continue to flush their toilets and carry on using the system throughout.

The existing septic tank was quite extensive and the customer asked that we fill this huge void underneath their driveway, with some of the spoil that had been generated from the excavation for the new treatment plant. To enable us to do this, we asked the customer to have the septic tank emptied one last time after the switchover had been done. This enabled us to fill it with the excavated material. We compacted it best we could on top, and reinstated with grass, getting rid of all the old manhole covers on the top of the septic tank.

With the electrical connection done by the customer’s electrician we checked the new system over and everything was working great. We reinstated some tarmac on the edge of the driveway, but most of the reinstatement was in grass. We managed to salvage most of the turf that we had taken up and put this back, which just left a few gaps here and there, which we filled with fine-grade topsoil and grass seed.