BioCycle unit - Does the power need to be on constantly?

Quin_Dub

Hi,

I have a question about Biocycle units.

I have a Biocycle unit in my house (House and unit are 4yrs old) and the unit is constantly running - as far as I know the power is running agitator type things in the unit which is buried in the egarden.

My question is - Do they need to be running all the time? - for example , could I fit a timer of some sort and only have the agitators come on for a few hours every night to save on electricity costs and also perhaps wear & tear on the unit itself?

I must confess to knowing absolutely nothing about how these units function - Unfortunately I got no documentation with the unit when it was installed, don't even know the brand or anything, so apologies if this is a really stupid question/idea.

Appreciate any info or recommendations from all..

Thanks in advance.

Access

We have one too for the past 7 years now and the unit only operate when the waste water level in the tank hits a certain height... (normally a little float switch). if its constantly running 24 hours a day, then the switch is faulty or it could just be a fact that there is a lot of waste water from the house going into the unit. (especially with the rain we are having at the moment.)


You can contact them on the below info, and if you email them, they will email you out the user manual.

Unit 107, Baldoyle Industrial Estate, Dublin 13, Ireland. | Tel: +353 1 8391000 | Fax: +353 1 8391998 | Email: info@biocycle.ie

Quin_Dub

Thanks for the response...

Having looked at the www.biocycle.ie site , I'm not certain that what I have is a "BioCycle" unit - I may be just using the name in a generic sense.

I had the unit emptied/cleaned the other day and the guy that did the job referred to it as a Biocycle system , but as i say , based on their website I'm pretty sure I don't have their system - I don't have any of the items they describe on the site...

Perhaps someone could help me identify what I have!!

I have not controls or switches at all - The only control I have is that i have a discreet breaker in the fuse box in the house.

There are no vents etc in the garden , all I have is a Green plastic disk , about 1M in diameter from which there is a constant drone of an electric motor - When it was opened for cleaning the guy lifted out a control box from the top of the unit and underneath the actual tank looked to be about 15' or so deep..

Any ideas on what type of unit this might be?

Thanks in advance

Clareman

Hi,

It definetly shouldn't be running 24/7, I would get it checked, if you're not sure who to contact then look up Bord na Mona, they normally service all treatment plants, as your unit over over 4 years old it's out of warrenty anyway. Having it going the whole time will have a huge impact on the pump, and if that goes you could have things go very messey very quickly

Quin_Dub

Thanks..

It's not a new phenomenon for it to be running continously...It's been like that since day 1 , so not sure if it's a fault or just the way it's setup...

Will look to find somebody to come and have a look at it - The guy that emptied it didn't seem to think that there was anything wrong with the system , but then he just empties them , he wasn't a service engineer.

I think that company also does Servicing...will give them a call and see what can be done..

If nothing else I'd like to know what type of system it is exactly so I can research properly myself..

ART6

It sounds like a Klargester Airflow type, since they have an air pump that can be either in the tank or some distance away from it. From what I remember they are very low powered since they don't move a great deal of air. If you take a look at the link below you might see if yours is a Klargester.
http://www.klargester.ie

Quin_Dub

Thanks for the info...

Looking at the Klargester site , it would appear that what I have is a BioDisc unit.

However , all of these units refer to a control panel of some kind - I have nothing at all...just the plastic cover in the garden..Are there variants where the controls are internal to the unit itself?

All the other descriptions etc would indicate that it is a BioDisc , but the absence of a control panel is throwing me off a little...

Ideas?

ART6

Quin_Dub wrote: »

Thanks for the info...

Looking at the Klargester site , it would appear that what I have is a BioDisc unit.

However , all of these units refer to a control panel of some kind - I have nothing at all...just the plastic cover in the garden..Are there variants where the controls are internal to the unit itself?

All the other descriptions etc would indicate that it is a BioDisc , but the absence of a control panel is throwing me off a little...

Ideas?

I can't help much with that I'm afraid. I am no expert on Klargesters, not having installed one for years. I suggested a look at their web site as your description sounded like a Klargester to me. Worth a phone call to them?

The other possibility of course is that the unit you have is a copy of a Klargester, and not a branded one.

ART6

My reply wasn't very helpful now I look at it again. I think the thing to realise is that the older types of septic tanks relied on anaerobic bacteria (ir, bacteria for which oxygen is toxic). Those systems had no moving parts - they were just a tank in the ground with a land drain system taking the treated liquids away and a vent to let gases out to the atmosphere. Unfortunately those gases were methane and hydrogen sulphide. The former is a greenhouse gas many times more effective than carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulphide is malodourours and toxic.

The modern systems, like the Klargester you mention, are aerobic, which means that the bugs need oxygen to survive. Then, the gas produces is only carbon dioxide, and since the sewage you produce results fro something you have recently eaten, and which was recently growing and absorbing carbon dioxide, then the effect is carbon and global warming neutral. However, aerobic systems need a continuous supply of oxygen, and that has to be supplied mechanically. That uses power that has to be on all of the time.

Some years ago my company supplied aerobic systems like that, but we stopped doing it when we found that too often users were turning off the power supply and then complaining that the water output was foul, even though the power demand was about equivalent to leaving a 100 Watt bulb on all the time.:(

So the answer to your original question is if you have an aerobic system then you must leave the power on all the time.

Kashkai

I've a Bord na Mona Puraflow system and I noticed that the pump (that sends the grey water from the septic tank to the peat treatment system) running constantly a few weeks ago. It required a new pump, float and switch that set me back €450. Its now running ok but would want to be at that price. People on main sewers have no idea how handy they have it. Septic tanks are the curse of the country dwellers with teh cost of emptying them and fixing them when they go wrong.