Latest sewage & wastewater news

As a business R A Dalton is split into two main wastewater sectors, the installations and servicing teams. Whilst a lot goes on behind the scenes with more other departments ensuring the cogs are turning to handle the workload. Most of our blogs cover the work of our installation teams who install new sewage treatment plants, septic tanks, pump stations, drainage etc but you could easily argue the bread and butter of our business is the servicing and maintenance work.

Our servicing team cover a wide scope of works including but not limited to routine maintenance, call outs, remedials, emptying, CCTV surveys and jetting.

It is a vital part of your responsibility of being the proprietor of a sewage treatment plant to ensure that it is operating efficiently and compliantly. The easiest way to achieve this (providing the system is appropriately sized) is to adhere to the manufacturer’s guidelines on servicing and desludging frequency. This should be carried out by an experienced and competent wastewater servicing engineer.

Servicing not only allows the system to operate as designed but also check for wear and tear on any mechanical parts, if the servicing is not carried out regularly this can increase the pressure on the system and speed up the wear and tear process. This can mean remedial works may be required at a shorter frequency than a well-maintained unit.

However, it is not just the neglected and undersized sewage treatment plants that required remedial works like any mechanical system the parts can degrade to the point of requiring renewal. For example, even the most cautious of car drivers will eventually be required to change the brakes, it is the way you drive that can alter how soon these need to be changed.

This is a similar situation with your sewage treatment plant and as these systems operate 24/7 it is expected that some remedials will be required at some point down the line. It is also important that any breakdowns are logged with your maintenance provider as soon as they are noticed.

With due diligence you can go years without requiring any major repair works to take place but if/when that day comes you can rest assured R A Dalton will carry out the work to the highest of standards and limiting any additional unnecessary costs.

An example of the remedial works we can carry out was highlighted by a recent job our southern servicing team carried out. We were notified by an on-site maintenance team at a popular hotel in Northamptonshire that their aged commercial BioDisc was not operating and for some reason the discs were no longer turning.

A callout was logged, and the servicing team attended site to try and identify the cause of the issue at hand, after some investigations there were some parts that required to be replaced. Due to the age of the system measurements were taken for the shaft, bearings, and motor to ensure the right parts were ordered.

Due to the bespoke nature of the job and the size of the unit the motor was ordered immediately following the go ahead from the customer and two new bed plates were customised to suit the unusual size of the plant. As soon as these were delivered to us, we promptly scheduled the work in to get the system back up and running.

The remedial works were carried out by one of our teams of engineers who worked side by side to take out the old and replace with the new! However, this is not the finish line for this system and regular emptying and servicing will be vital to ensure efficiency, compliance and function!

For more information on the services we can carry out why not contact our offices no on 01388 537030.