Help with Settling Tank

[Binkspot]

Amazon "Biodiesel Filter Bags"

[Northland]

here is a system we have been using for about 6 years. built for less than $75.00
mooseman

Hey Mooseman....simplicity is a thing of beauty.

....although I have to mention, this looks like a code violation. If I'm seeing it correctly, there's no trap to prevent sewer gas from spilling onto the space.

[screenprintguy]

Amazon "Biodiesel Filter Bags"

thanks brother.  Found a company local with the blue drums for ten bucks a piece.  Going to see if we can put this thing together this week

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

here is a system we have been using for about 6 years. built for less than $75.00
mooseman

Hey Mooseman....simplicity is a thing of beauty.

....although I have to mention, this looks like a code violation. If I'm seeing it correctly, there's no trap to prevent sewer gas from spilling onto the space.

I'm willing to bet the floor drain has a trap in it. Mine do.

I had a floor drain blockage one morning a month or so ago, and had about 20 gallons of water from my washout booth all over the floor before I knew it. It took til noon to get it open, with all the emulsion, ink and assorted buildup that had collected over the years. And yes, there was a trap in the floor, so it was tough to "rod" out without having to hire a rotary rooting service.

[jvanick]

I just had to clear a gravity drain tile at my house this past weekend... we've been calling Rotor-rooter in every few years to do the work and this time I said, "I've had enough of the $250-$300 fees"...

I rented a rotary rooter at the local rental store (cost me $47).

.. watched the video they provided the link to.. and went at it.

about an hour later, the drain tile is flushing better than it ever has...  (our house is on an underground spring).

the rotor-rooter guys would only run the machine in once.. I ran it 4 times... each time I got progressively more junk out of the pipe... 

(just something to keep in mind for next time)

[GKitson]

DIY is the way to go, unless it's not 

Remote start install project on my daughters college car, simple DIY right?

Bought the kit, watched the video, drilled right where the video told me to, punctured the heat exchanger for the AC, total cost of replacing/recharging about $500, then I paid the guy $100 bucks to finish the install of the remote start?   Lesson learned, don't use a 3" drill bit when you don't have to.

My daughter has been out of college for 10 years and I have a great relationship with my favorite auto mechanic, he does not print shirts and I don't work on my cars!

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

Yeah Greg, but you were just unlucky on that project.  I've been in your shop. There are DIY's lurking within that are Top Shelf! You just let the '76 Pink Maverick outsmart you, this one time.

@ Jason, the $47 would have been a MUCH better option for me, but my drain is in an.....um.....closet-like affair, with about 70-80 coated screens in storage. I would have had to relocate all those screens in other light-safe storage. I was "penny-wise but pound-foolish" with my time, and decided to leave the screens alone. I just worked around them, which would NOT have been possible with a commercial type rooter.

If I had Professor Moosey's Settling Tank, I likely wouldn't even have had the problem.

I use polyester air filter material cut up in circles to fit in the drain from my washout booth. That's all, and it is apparently insufficient as demonstrated by my recently flooded floor.

Mooseman to the rescue, yet again.

I just have to find time to fab something similar, but right now I've got a DIY'ed Vacuum Platen in queue, monopolizing my Skunkwerks Department. That, and frequent naps.

[Binkspot]

The big problem with emulsion in the drain is it stays in a gummy state which renders the rooter or snake pretty much useless. Best to keep it out of the drain to begin with.

[mooseman]

Amazon "Biodiesel Filter Bags"

thanks brother.  Found a company local with the blue drums for ten bucks a piece.  Going to see if we can put this thing together this week

Actually this is a very old building, at least 90 years and many years ago someone poured a foundation wall within a foundation wall, it is about 16 inches thick i know because I have had to install a water line through that mass of rock. sweet in the summer because it stays cool down there all day long with all that cold bank stored in the massive concrete wall.
Out in the street in the middle of the sidewalk in front of my building there is , and you guessed it brother Its a Little Crooked, a trap cleanout.
i do not have any issues with gas in my drain piping that is. Trust me I have soldered, torched, and otherwise moosegoldberged in the basement for years and would have blown myself sky high long ago if there were back up gas issues.
the only thing that really stinks down there is the muck and mud that builds up in the bottom of my settling tank. Not a pretty job when it comes to clean out time.
mooseman
 

[Gilligan]

...
If I had Professor Moosey's Settling Tank, I likely wouldn't even have had the problem.

I use polyester air filter material cut up in circles to fit in the drain from my washout booth. That's all, and it is apparently insufficient as demonstrated by my recently flooded floor.

Mooseman to the rescue, yet again.
...

I have a Mooseman settling tank and it's great.  We did recently have our P trap clog up, luckily for us it's right there and it's a screw connection and we just pulled it out and got it cleaned up.

This did cause a VERY minor flood and it is possibly due to slack job of carding off ink as I think that is what was all in the P trap.  I instructed them to do a better job carding off ink... probably the better trick would be to put some sort of screen material after the settling.  Ideally I'd like to to be the entire surface of the tank so it would likely still settle but if it clogged up it would back flood into the booth and not the floor!