Sewer Lift Station Cleaning

Hello all! I have been reading posts on the site for some time but this is my first post.

I have a 26 unit property with a lift station for sewer and waste water. After another expensive pump out due to improper grease disposal I am searching for a product or service that will assist in keeping the pit clean and the grease to a minimum. The best place I could think for advice is right here.

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions regarding products that are effective in breaking up grease and maintaining the sewer system?

Thanks in advance for the help!

Austin

I had a couple of complexes with lift stations and it is an ongoing problem. Of course the textbook answer is to "not" pour grease down the sink, but we all know that is not going to happen. The garbage disposal is a manager's worst enemy. Tenants think they are trash cans. Mix up some coffee grounds and grease, and you have a recipe for disaster. I never found anything including bacteria chemicals that will do any good. I switched to a cast iron pump in one of the lifts and it did last a long time. The cast iron pumps can be cleaned where the aluminum ones cannot.

Like my wife always says "Send that letter around again"!!! At least remind everyone of the problem your having. Tenants don't like in-op flushing and brushing but it is NEVER their fault!!! LOL

Have you considered contracting with someone to provide regular maintenance service on it? I know that is not inexpensive, but it may be an option, especially if you have a lot of call outs for back-ups, etc. I know I have done that for one property. I also have the city's Sanitation and Water Department come out to a city property (we experience sewer back-ups due to being on a shared line and it all converges on this one site) every six months to pump and shoot/clear the lines. Took quite a bit of negotiation to get them to agree to it.... but I am happy with this scheduled maintenance service.

First let me tell you the story of my crash course in sewer lift stations. I had been on site for about a year. I'd seen the station but not knowing what it was ASSUMED it belonged to the county and never messed with it. One day I notice there is "stuff" coming out of one of the covers. No one on my site or in corp. really new what the station was so I called the county. They came out took a look and promptly called DEQ (Dept. Environmental Quality). Turns out raw sewage had been leaking out for some time. Not only that, but my community bordered a protected reservoir and wildlife sanctuary. The inspector gave me 24 hours to get the area cleaned up and if not I, ME, THE MANAGER, would be arrested and fined starting at $15,000 (yes that’s 3 zero’s)!! We immediately call in the first company we can find to do the clean up and then asked for a price for routine maintenance. They did a good job with the clean up, but the maintenance contract was more than we thought it should be and after getting a few more prices we decided to go with another company. One week later I see the same seepage happening again. When our new contractor came out they discovered the lock on the fence had been cut and someone had thrown BRICKS in the pit. To this day I think it was the company who did the initial clean up. Anyway we installed a camera in the station and never had another problem.
So to answer your question I would strongly suggest you hire a company to maintain the station. It may be costly but I promise it's cheaper than the alternative!

Thank you all for your responses thus far. I was hoping someone had a magic pill that I could drop in the pit and it would eat the grease! It seems with pump stations, the only way to learn is in a crunch! Out of site, out of mind... Please continue with input if you have more. I am researching bacterias that break down grease as well as maintenance options at this point.Unfortunately, this property is in small town South Carolina so all contractors will have to travel to perform maintenance. This is the only property in our portfolio with a lift station...what a pain!

Does anyone have experience with Microblock(tm) or any similar bacterias/nutrients that fight grease build up?

I don't about that, and I am wondering if your lift station isn't regulated by the County laws regarding you being able to do any additives. Since it affects an environmental entity, I was told I could not do this. We were relegated to maintaining the apartments themselves, meaning strict guidelines on what can be placed in a disposal. This can open up a can of marketing worms in HUD properties: if you advertise/market that garbage disposals are provided then you can't yank them when Residents continuously misuse them. I once told a Resident (not a HUD property) that I was going to have Maintenance remove the disposal because of all her clogs of grease and noodles. Undeterred, she simply began pouring cans full of melted cooking grease out the window - kid you not - which badly damaged the siding on the building.

Luckily, these units do not have disposals. I still cannot believe the things that turn up in the pump pit!!! And we also have an issue with hot grease on the side of the buildings...I will check into regulations regarding environmental cleaning agents. Thanks!

Apartment lift stations due tend to be the collection point for accumulated grease, debris (female) and wipes. The pumps are becoming very expensive to replace with repair time delays prohibiting a pump extraction.

Obviously, a scheduled maintenance program is the best solution, together with sustained tenant education, but human nature tends to ignore or understand what's not seen. .