Garage oil & water separator
dustin_7022224
| Posted in General Questions on
I am working on the design for floor drains in my garage. The effluent will mix with the french drain and run out to a pond. I want to include some sort of oil water separator to minimize contamination to the pond.
The few I have found online are very large and pricey. I have found one article where a gentleman made his own with a small cast concrete vault. https://www.aneclecticmind.com/2014/08/01/the-oilwater-separator/
Any other advice?
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Replies
What he has made looks to me much like a commercial grease trap that you see in restaurants, rather than a dedicated oil-interceptor. If that will do, (and I think it would as the principles are similar) I wouldn't bother DIYing it as small grease traps are available on Amazon for about $100.
Your choice of the word effluent implies sewage has been treated with a septic tank that will have removed the solids and the fats. Is that true?
If you only want to treat the runoff from a garage you may want to look for a restaurant type grease trap or a small septic tank.
https://www.amazon.com/WentWorth-Gallons-Interceptor-Restaurant-Kitchen/dp/B0084785A8
Walta
If you look for parts online, be careful with your terminology: a “water separator” is something usually used in diesel fuel systems, and will be much too small for use on a drain line (they usually have filters in them too).
A “grease trap” is commonly used on drain lines from places like restaurants to catch greasy stuff before it goes out into the sewer. The basic principle is the same, usually something like a small tank with a drain line going out that had an elbow on top pointed down. The water drains off the bottom while the oily/greasy goop floats to the top and stays there until the trap is pumped out.
I don’t see why you couldn’t DIY such a device, but it’s probably easier to just purchase a small one as Malcolm suggested. You may have regulatory things you need to comply with too, which may be difficult to do with something you built yourself.
Bill
Separating oil from water is generally easier that grease, because the grease keeps changing from liquid to solid and back depending on the temperature of the surrounding water. Grease traps in restaurants often prove ineffective because the commercial dishwashers discharge their waste water at a high temperature.
If you have oil leaking from your car, I would have that checked first. Perhaps a simpler idea would be to put some type of filter inside the drain.