Thread: Grey Water System Odours

Had this problem when I bought this place 5 years ago, septic system really stank. I forget who told me, but was told to stick a few packets of bi-carbonated soda (baking powder) in the septic tank and seal the lid with silicone, which we did and sure enough the stink went away. Just bought the stuff you get in your local super market. We still get that once in a while whiff but on the whole, no smell.

Originally Posted by Cliff Rogers

Any particular flavour?

Any flavour as far as I'm concerned Cliff - It should all end up there! ( then again I suppose it does - just not via my digestive system)

Originally Posted by Cliff Rogers

Beauty, sling him in the back of the ute & kick him out the next time you are past my way.

Sorry, don't do takeaway You'll have to come and pick it up.

Mick

Hey what happened to my thread!

You go and install a couple of RCDs and people forget all about your grey water question....

Anyway...Our septic system is separate to our grey water system. The septic was pumped out recently as it stank badly too! I guess it was masking the grey water smell! At any rate, The grey water goes into what would appear to be a about a 1000 litre Everhard concrete underground tank. In the middle of the tanks in a valve - it looks like an overgrown version of the master cylinder in your toilet. When its covered in water - it drains the water out.

All three bathrooms and the laundry feed directly into it. There is a grease trap some 20 metres before the grey water tank feeding off teh kitchen - there are no solids in the tank. Although there is plenty of crusty looking stuff growing on the sides.

It has a solid iron access plate. When the water reaches the certain level it leaves the botton of the tanks and goes into a smaller tank about 50 litres and then from there into 50mm agg pipe and is dispersed to the backyard.....

When the septic stank the activezym from bunnings worked fine.......

I was considering getting the gurney out and blasting the crusty mouldy looking stuff off the walls and then scooping it out to see if that made any difference....

Originally Posted by spartan

Hey what happened to my thread!....
Anyway...Our septic system is separate to our grey water system. ....

Yeap, sorry.

From the reading I did today, your grey water will become septic & start to smell if it is left to stand for more than 4 hours.

Looks like you will have to work out a way to get it to empty out sooner or try SilentC's air pump idea.

Originally Posted by silentC

Grey water systems seem to either use bacteria or chemicals to do the business. Ours uses bacteria and the only thing that will make it pong is if it isn't getting enough aeration for the bacteria to do their thing. The water is aerated with an air pump - it used to be a sump pump but that was costing too much to run. Have either of you got this type of set up?

Silent, at the risk of hijacking this thread (?), could you give some more details about the air pump.

I am using a 750W sump pump (Davey D40VA) and you're right the running costs add up.

Originally Posted by spartan

We are getting the sulphur dioxide type smells in the bathroom closest to the tank.

Is the smell coming up the pipes? If so you probably need to fit a p-trap to your floor waste or shower because the water sitting in the trap should stop the smell. We have a biosystems setup that has the aerator and sump pump for pump out. With ours you can add the bacteria to the poo side and drop some chlorine tablets in the clean water (pump out chamber) if the smell is coming from there.

However if the dog runs past and rips the cord out of the power point thus disabling all pumps and alarms, you are just screwed - real poor design as far as I am concerened - this happened last week, I smelt it when it got to the top of the tank, shyte everywhere . Pumped it down and now we have to start all over with balancing the different parts of the tank again

Originally Posted by Big Shed

Silent, at the risk of hijacking this thread (?), could you give some more details about the air pump.

I am using a 750W sump pump (Davey D40VA) and you're right the running costs add up.

Our blower is a Medo brand, designed specificly for aerobic sewerage treatment systems. Air from the blower is piped into the water via several 20mm pvc pipes.

Originally Posted by woodcutta

When it started to smell a few weeks ago we contacted the service company and they advised us to pour a large tub of yoghurt in the toilet and flush it down. Within 4 hours - no more smell

woodcutta

Originally Posted by journeyman Mick

In this case you can fix it by tipping a tin (or a few cups of dry) dog food in. This gives the bacteria something to feed on.

Mick

Maybe this should be moved to the cooking section..?

Al

Spartan
Sounds like a typical greywater tank ... should have no bacterial action (either aerobic or anaerobic) ... of course it will o some degree. You're right on with the gurney as I used to blast out mine at the beginning and later in summer as that's when the scum seems to build up and smell.

A blast and a light sprinkling of lime (don't want to kill the plants that it gets pumped onto) should get rid of the smell immediately ... unlike a septic ... keep it clean as you can.

Originally Posted by Burnsy

Is the smell coming up the pipes? If so you probably need to fit a p-trap to your floor waste or shower because the water sitting in the trap should stop the smell.

Ok, I'm interested......

Although I can't quite picture what you are referring to.

The smell appears to be coming from the pipes....but with slab on ground construction is this p - trap thingy still possible?

I notice that the bottom of the pipe in the shower is about 700mm down...and there is usually some water in it....

Originally Posted by spartan

Ok, I'm interested......

Although I can't quite picture what you are referring to.

The smell appears to be coming from the pipes....but with slab on ground construction is this p - trap thingy still possible?

I notice that the bottom of the pipe in the shower is about 700mm down...and there is usually some water in it....

P-trap is the s bend that holds water in it, so if you can see water down the pipe then you have them fitted, they are a legal requirement so you should have them, can't retro fit to pipe in concrete without major works

There should be no smell coming up the pipe as the water in the p-tap stops the air movement between the tank and the floor waste, try putting some draino or bleach down your wastes that smell. Sometimes if wastes are not regularly used and threfore flushed out they can get smelly.

Best way to stop a septic stinking is to get a bucket of crap from your neighbours septic and tip it in yours, gives the bacteria a nice little kick along.

Well there is a different version 'of going next door to borrow a cup of sugar.'