Homeowners & End-Users

 As a homeowner and end-user, you want a wastewater treatment system that works almost invisibly. When you flush the toilet or pour something down the drain, you don't want to have to worry about where it goes.

And you won't have to, as long as you treat it like your other major home and building systems such as your heater or air conditioning unit. You need to provide routine service to the heater/cooling unit before turning them on so that it will last longer and provide more efficient use of gas or electricity. It's the same with your onsite sewage treatment system. To keep it performing efficiently, you need to provide occasional tank pump outs.

The second key to keeping your onsite sewage treatment system performing well is routine maintenance, such as that performed on your car when you change the oil. In order to keep your car running well, you need to know how often to change your oil. We recommend that an operation and maintenance contract be maintained for the life of your system by a qualified service provider. All FAST® distributors are required to offer extended service contracts after the initial 2 years that are included with the price of the unit and required by NSF.

You also know to properly dispose of the used oil rather than just dumping it and polluting the environment. Well, it's just the same with your onsite sewage treatment system. Just remember not to flush or pour toxic substances down the drain because they will directly and immediately impact the sewage treatment system.

Septic tanks, mounds, sand filters and even city sewage plants all rely on naturally occurring bacteria to break down the solids and waste in the sewage. Therefore, the homeowner or end-user must remember that anything they flush down the toilet or pour down the drain will directly and immediately impact their sewage treatment system - with toxic substances killing off the naturally occurring bacteria in any treatment system, thus interrupting or temporarily stopping the treatment process.

The FAST^® treatment technology creates an optimum environment for naturally occurring bacteria that treat the sewage. It was specifically designed for minimal operator attention and only one moving part - the blower. Our goal when developing the FAST^® treatment process was to improve small onsite treatment capability, while at the same time minimizing required operation and maintenance duties. This is seen in all of the FAST^® treatment products.

What's the cost to homeowners?

Homeowners often want to know the cost of a FAST^® system. Just like your air conditioning unit, a Smith & Loveless Representative or Bio-Microbics Distributor will need to work with you in determining the size of your home or building, how "cool" or to what level of treatment you will need to achieve, and a few other sizing questions. All of these factors and the type of discharge allowed will determine the cost of the unit.

After the initial purchase and installation of the unit, the remaining costs would be the power consumption of the FAST^® System's blower and the occasional solids pump-out cost. An important fact to remember is that when the homeowner purchases an onsite FAST^® System, they will not have a monthly sewage or wastewater bill. However, in several states, they are tightening regulations on all onsite units under 10,000 gallons per day(GPD) such as septic tanks, sand filters and advanced treatment technologies. Instead of the monthly sewage bill, many states require regular inspections and tests of the units. On these 10,000 GPD and under units not discharging direct to surface waters, each state varies on whether inspections and tests are required and the frequency of the inspections and tests. The best thing would be to ask your local Smith & Loveless Representative or Bio-Microbics Distributor what your local area requires.

Why can't my onsite system handle disinfectants like a city sewer line connection?

Dilution. Most onsite treatment systems handle only the residential-strength wastewater from a single household. What you flush or pour down the drain flows directly into your treatment system. If you pour a mixture of 90% bleach and 10% water down the drain, it is this 90% bleach mixture that hits the naturally occurring bacteria in your system.

However, when you pour that same 90% bleach, 10% water mixture into the city sewer line, it flows down the pipe to the treatment center mixing with other households wastewater that are 99% water and 1% organics. This all mixes together, so that by the time your bleach mixture reaches the biological treatment zone of the city sewer plant, it has been diluted to an insignificant amount. It may still kill off some of the bacteria, but it will not have the effect of a direct 90% toxic mixture attacking the bacteria.

Below you will find a list of substances that all homeowners and end-users should consider before flushing the toilet or pouring things down the drain - even on city sewer lines - but especially with ANY small onsite treatment system.

	Prohibited Substances	Limited Use Substances	Acceptable Substances
Plastic or Rubber Products
Petroleum Products (motor oil, paint thinner, paint, gasoline and solvents)
Non-biodegradable substances (sanitary napkins, condoms and disposable diapers)
Toxic Substances (strong disinfectants and large amounts of caustic drain cleaners)
Large amounts of paper products
Animal Fats
Pesticides or Herbicides
Laundry Bleach
Detergents with Bleach
Household Cleaners Containing Sodium Bactericides (pine oil, N-alkyl dichlorobenzyl ammonium chloride, sodium hydroxide, sodium dichloro-s-trazinetrione, and ortho-phenylphenol)
Laundry Detergents without Bleach
Dishwashing detergents without Bleach
Toilet Paper
Household Cleaners with Sodium Bicarbonate or Sodium Carbonate

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