Home workshops and septic tanks?

[CliffordK]

What do most of you do with home workshops and septic tanks? Auto waste?

I'm planning on building a new workshop, and doing some auto restoration, generally just me working. Probably some painting. No floor drain (except the shower). Maybe a utility sink, and bathroom sink. However, the goal is to avoid large amounts of shop waste of ending up in the septic. The dump should have chemical disposal.

I could have oily wash water. Washing rags?

I don't really know if there is anything else I can do.

What about power washing outside? Or should I take any vehicle to a commercial car wash? Sand blasting?

I don't know how much liquid waste I'll have. I could build a float tank that could do basic separation of water and oils, although detergents would cause greater mixing.

 

[edgarrian]

I work at an excavating company and when im not in the field. Im in the shop. They are on city sewer so oily stuff does go down the drain a bit. I would think at a shop with a septic system it would be fine. With e a septic tank you just dont want to kill the bacteria that eats the solids. Thats really the only thing to worry about. For washing you could have that just stay on the surface. Plenty of people wash there cars in the garage as I do or on the garage entrance or on the street of the subdivision. My garage has a drain in the floor that leads out to the yard. Detergents never cause any harm to the grass.

Dont over think this. Use common sense.

 

[paulsharvey]

Plumb the floor drain down hill to the outside or if you have a trench drain at the door, plumb it to same place, no need for that stuff to go to your septic.

 

[etpm]

What do most of you do with home workshops and septic tanks? Auto waste?

I'm planning on building a new workshop, and doing some auto restoration, generally just me working. Probably some painting. No floor drain (except the shower). Maybe a utility sink, and bathroom sink. However, the goal is to avoid large amounts of shop waste of ending up in the septic. The dump should have chemical disposal.

I could have oily wash water. Washing rags?

I don't really know if there is anything else I can do.

What about power washing outside? Or should I take any vehicle to a commercial car wash? Sand blasting?

I don't know how much liquid waste I'll have. I could build a float tank that could do basic separation of water and oils, although detergents would cause greater mixing.

If you are washing a particularly oily vehicle then take it to a car wash. They have the proper facilities to deal all the oil. Otherwise use your utility sink with common sense. Don't be dumping a bunch of oily waste in it. And don't use cleaners that kill the bacteria in your septic tank. So don't use chlorine containing products, anything with bleach is out. If you do get some bleach running down the drain now and then it's not that big of a deal and your septic tank will recover just fine. But don't use a lot. There are lots of septic safe cleaners that you can use on your car parts. I have had my machine shop for about 25 years and it is on septic. I made sure to use non-toxic cutting oils and lubricants in my shop. And I used septic safe cleaners too. Stuff similar to Simple Green, but without the perfume. Every time I have had my tank pumped I asked the guys how it looked and they always said it was fine. Really, common sense and looking at labels.
Eric

 

[ericm979]

Washing rags?

When I was a broke teen working on motorcycles I washed some rags in the family washing machine. When I took them out I found there was a scum of oil in the washer. I cleaned it up before Mom discovered it or it messed up clothes.

Since then I use up the rags and throw them out. When they're too oily for wiping hands or parts they get used to wipe up spills on the floor.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

At my garage I had a small septic tank installed with drain lines going out parallel to my existing house drain field. It works great.
The bathroom has a room in back (laundry), so I can wash dirty clothes and shop rags there instead of house. As others said shop rags really greasy get thrown out, not worth washing. Good for cleaning up paint spills.
Same as my stretched out underwear!
What with elastic? When they get so they end up around my knees they're the new shop rags!

 

[oosik]

I wash my vehicles, tractors, ATV - out in an open area - next to my yard. This has never been a problem. I use terry cloth shop rags. Any that get oily or greasy - into the burn barrel. I've operated in this manner for 40+ years without any problems.

I make a VERY CONCERTED EFFORT to not have any oil, grease, cooking oil, etc go into my septic system.

I have thirty years of experience in the environmental health field. I've witnessed MANY septic systems that were totally ruined from oils, greases and cooking oils.

 

[mikester]

Try to add a floor drain to your building plan and tell the building inspector what you are planning to do. Have fun!

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

When I was a broke teen working on motorcycles I washed some rags in the family washing machine. When I took them out I found there was a scum of oil in the washer. I cleaned it up before Mom discovered it or it messed up clothes.

Since then I use up the rags and throw them out. When they're too oily for wiping hands or parts they get used to wipe up spills on the floor.

I use them for shop rags. Then I use for grease rags. After that, I use wire to keep them wrapped around a stick and use them for arson. Really, setting brush piles on fire. Greasy rags make a good torch.

My brother had an old heavy duty jacket that was past it's usefulness. Finally ended up hung on wall beside grease guns. Wiped grease on that jacket until there was no place left to wipe any. He put it in the trash can with a stick, it was so bad. I got it out and took it home. Wiped it down with hand cleaner. Put in a trash bag, dropped it all in a 5 gal bucket, left it a week or so. Made me a little trip to the car wash. Cuffs were half torn off each wrist, got mother to sew back on. Put some clear PVC pipe glue on frayed areas. I got me a good work jacket out of that deal.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

If you have oily cloth items like good rags or cloth gloves, put them in a bucket with some gas in it. Take a stick and move it around ever so often. Then take them out, wring and hang to let dry, then put in some hot soapy water to get the gas out. Stir with a stick. Rinse, they'll come clean. I don't put those things in a washing machine.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

What do most of you do with home workshops and septic tanks? Auto waste?

I'm planning on building a new workshop, and doing some auto restoration, generally just me working. Probably some painting. No floor drain (except the shower). Maybe a utility sink, and bathroom sink. However, the goal is to avoid large amounts of shop waste of ending up in the septic. The dump should have chemical disposal.

I could have oily wash water. Washing rags?

I don't really know if there is anything else I can do.

What about power washing outside? Or should I take any vehicle to a commercial car wash? Sand blasting?

I don't know how much liquid waste I'll have. I could build a float tank that could do basic separation of water and oils, although detergents would cause greater mixing.

We've had a shop with a septic for 28 years. This is at a commercial farm. Floor drain goes outside, not in tank. Oil spills get sawdust or floor dry. We don't intentionally wash oil down the drain. Where the drain runs out, looks good. We have spilled gallons of oil at times. Hydraulic blow outs. Fuel leaks.

 

[dfkrug]

When I was a broke teen working on motorcycles I washed some rags in the family washing machine. When I took them out I found there was a scum of oil in the washer. I cleaned it up before Mom discovered it or it messed up clothes.

Since then I use up the rags and throw them out. When they're too oily for wiping hands or parts they get used to wipe up spills on the floor.

Yeah, in the old days folks would buy those reddish shop towels, then wash them in the clothes washer. I still know one old dude (older than I am) who does that. I never do, as that makes no sense, and I have plenty of clean rags that get burned when too far gone.

 

[4570Man]

You shouldn’t put any wash water down a septic besides what dirt washes off your body when you’re showering.

 

[not2old]

Try to add a floor drain to your building plan and tell the building inspector what you are planning to do. Have fun!

I had a floor drain roughed in under 40" of fill for my shop. After talking to the building inspector I capped it and left it under the cement floor. no way was I going to install what they wanted. Oddly enough, I have floor drains in my garage that were installed before current regulations and I wish they weren't there.

 

[ponytug]

I'm with @oosik.

I do my vehicle washing at a car wash; it just isn't worth the chemical / oil waste issues at home. I try not to wash the tractor for the same reason. If I need to clean something for a repair, I put an oil drain pan under it and use non-chlorinated brake cleaner (acetone) to clean it, and capture the run off.

All the oils, coolant, chemicals go to a hazardous waste disposal site. If I don't want to eventually drink it, it gets captured and disposed of off site.

I wouldn't put a drain in the shop.

I'm in the "leave it nicer than you found it camp".

Weird hazardous waste story: A few years back while walking the pasture, I found an intact glass mercury switch 200' uphill from the house in the pasture. No idea how it got there. Pack rat? Magpie? Nothing on the ranch in recent memory would have had a switch anywhere near there. No power for one reason.

All the best,

Peter

 

[edgarrian]

Car washes aren't worth it. Thats why I have a drain in my garage. Soap isn't going to hurt anything. I can wash my truck in the winter or the summer. Its great. I really dont understand why you wouldn't have a drain in the garage or shop. Seems like a no brainer