Department of Technical Education

Andhra Pradesh
Name : P. Suryanarayana Reddy
Designation : HCES
Branch : Civil Engineering
Institute : Government Polytechnic
Anantapur
Semester : VI Semester
Subject : Maintenance of Building
Subject code : C 606C
Topic : Understand maintenance
problems in buildings services
Duration : 100 minutes
Sub topic : State the building services for
septic tanks and soak pits
Teaching Aids : PPT, Sketches &Animation
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 Objectives

On completion of this period, you will be able to

• State the building services for septic tanks and soak pits

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 Recap

In the last class, we have discussed about

• State the building services for septic tanks and soak pits

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 Maintenance of Septic Tank

• In a septic tank the organic substances in the sewage are

broken down by anaerobic bacterial action
• The system is toxic in nature
• It is required to be handled carefully so that it does not
become a health hazard

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Maintenance of septic tank (contd…)

Points to be seen
(i) Integrity of tank

• Septic tanks are many times made of reinforced

cement concrete

• During the process sewage digestion, hydrogen

sulphide is released

• This can form a weak sulphuric acid and the

reinforcement is attacked
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Maintenance of septic tank (contd…)

Hence check for

• Cracks in the walls, the distress in the septic tank top

• Presence of luxuriant vegetation is an indication of the

leakage
• The distress in plaster

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Maintenance of septic tank (contd…)

ii Check whether tank is receiving sewage

• Many times the sanitary line leading to septic tank is

blocked, sunk, broken etc. thus the septic does not receive

the raw sewage where as drain system overflows

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Maintenance of septic tank (contd…)

iii Check whether tank is over loaded with sewage

• The size of septic tank would indicate the population

which is supposed to cater

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Maintenance of septic tank (contd…)
iv Check when was septic tank cleaned last

• For its proper function, septic tank is required to be

cleaned periodically and sludge and scum removed

• Frequency of cleaning would depending up on adequacy

of capacity

• Normally tanks designed required cleaning once in a year

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Maintenance of septic tank (contd…)

• Criteria for undertaking cleaning operations is when

the bottom of the scum is within 75 mm of the bottom of

the outlet of the tank

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Maintenance of septic tank (contd…)

• Large accumulation of sludge reduces the effective

capacity of the tank

• There are no known chemicals ,yeast, bacteria etc.

which are capable of eliminating or reducing the solids and

scum so that periodically cleaning is un necessary

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Maintenance of septic tank (contd…)

v. Check the absorption field for digested sewage

• The absorption area should be free of weeds, grass

etc. the clogged absorption field can very seldom be

cleaned

• A clogged field is required to be abandoned

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Maintenance of septic tank (contd…)

vi. Cleaning of septic tank

• Manual cleaning should be avoided due to dangers of

infection to the workers
• Toxic materials and gases also exist
• The tank should be emptied through a mechanical
sludge pump

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Maintenance of septic tank (contd…)

vii. Adequacy of ventilation

• Inflammable gases like methane, etc. are produced

during the process of digestion

• There should be adequate ventilation of the tank and

no smoking or naked fire be allowed near the tank

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Maintenance of septic tank (contd…)

viii. Flooding

• Septic tank should not be allowed to get flooded with

storm water

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Maintenance of septic tank (contd…)

ix. Care in severe winter

• Where winter temperatures go down to near about

freezing of water, the anaerobic action gets almost

completely stopped

• Hot water should be poured in the tank to raise the

temperature before such situation arises

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Maintenance of septic tank (contd…)

x. Starting a new tank or old tanks to be restarted after

cleaning

• The tank is to be seeded with bacteria by emptying two

or three big buckets of fluid from a working septic tank

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Maintenance of septic tank (contd…)

Operation Troubles

1. Floating sludge

The cause of floating sludge is its decomposition,

solution lies in removing sludge completely more

frequently

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Maintenance of septic tank (contd…)

2. Contents of tank blackish and mal odorous

• Activated sludge has a golden brown colour

• Blackish colour is on account of the sewage turning septic

• Chlorination and pre-aeration helps to reduce septic action

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Maintenance of septic tank (contd…)

3. Excessive sedimentation

• Increase velocity of fluid in the tank

4. Fouling

• Remove sewage solids and plant growth

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Maintenance of septic tank (contd…)

5. Sludge hard to remove

• This is due to high content of grit clay, etc. reduce

grit content etc. by having trash screen and grit
chamber

6. Rotor paddles

• Rotor paddles should not be loose broken, etc

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Maintenance of septic tank (contd…)

7. Insufficient aeration

• Use rotor paddles for longer period

8. Rotor shaft and bearing

• Rotor shaft and bearing require greasing and other

maintenance on account of sewage

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Maintenance of septic tank (contd…)

9. Riding sludge in secondary tanks

• This is due to denitrification

• The solution lies in removing the settled sludge faster

out of the secondary setting tanks

• Denitrification can be reduced by reducing aeration

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 Frequently Asked Questions

1. Explain about maintenance of septic tank?

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THANK YOU!

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