Septic--washing fleeces?
Karl Ottenstein
Hello all,
If you're on a city sewer system, you've probably not had to be concerned
with this...
Has anyone who washes quite a few fleeces each year had any problems draining
the washwater (with emolsified lanolin) into their septic system? Several other
sheep-raising friends and we are worried that we might be setting ourselves up
for a future clogged drainfield. Maybe the liquid enzyme stuff that you flush
down to help digest food grease will work on lanolin?
Any experience out there? (Hopefully, I haven't added to someone else's
worries--as happened when two of us asked a friend who washes her wool in
the kitchen sink...)
Thanks,
Karl
Joyce Roderick
Hi Karl
You haven't added to my worries. I started worrying about the crud going
down the drain as well as the huge volume of hot water draining into the
system when I first started processing my own mohair and wool. Most of
the people I know who process their own fibers in bulk have either some
kind of gray water system or dry well that is separate from the system for
the rest of the house. I have been thinking about doing this. The water
table in our area (Western Washington State) is so high during the winter
that I really don't like to pump that much water into my septic system.
Backed up toilets are no picnic. I hope that the enzyme stuff works
because I'm using it, and it isn't exactly cheap.
Karl Ottenstein <ka...@rand.nidlink.com> wrote:
>Has anyone who washes quite a few fleeces each year had any problems draining the washwater (with emolsified lanolin) into their se=
ptic system? Maybe the liquid enzyme stuff that you flush
Mary Knox
In article <31B521...@rand.nidlink.com>, Karl Ottenstein
<ka...@rand.nidlink.com> wrote:
> Has anyone who washes quite a few fleeces each year had any problems draining
> the washwater (with emolsified lanolin) into their septic system?
Several other
> sheep-raising friends and we are worried that we might be setting ourselves up
> for a future clogged drainfield.
Well, lanolin washes out of wool pretty easily in water so presumably it
will wash through the drainfield too. But it seems a waste of potential
nutrients. I soak my fleeces (and wool spun in the grease) in lukewarm
water first, with no detergent. Quite a bit of the lanolin, suint etc
comes out at that stage. That water goes on the garden, and the plants
seem to like it. I've been told it's particularly good for roses.
Mary
Jenny Kosarew
Mary Knox <fbmo...@actrix.gen.nz> wrote:
>Well, lanolin washes out of wool pretty easily in water so presumably it
>will wash through the drainfield too. But it seems a waste of potential
>nutrients. I soak my fleeces (and wool spun in the grease) in lukewarm
>water first, with no detergent. Quite a bit of the lanolin, suint etc
>comes out at that stage. That water goes on the garden, and the plants
>seem to like it. I've been told it's particularly good for roses.
Hmmm ... I've been intending to try soaking fleece in a borax solution
(no added detergent). The method has been recommended as an alternative
to spinning in the grease - it leaves some lanolin but the fleece is
less 'sticky' then unwashed fleece. As I understand it, the borax acts
as a water softener, allowing the suint to work better as a natural
detergent. We have hard water here, so I like that idea.
So, my question is - if I use the borax, will the water still be safe to
use on the garden? We sometimes have watering restrictions in summer,
so it would be nice to be able to re-use this water.
--
Jenny Kosarew jk...@escher.demon.co.uk
from Reading, England
Sharon Kosek
Our septic system became clogged quite badly after washing two fleeces last year.
The lines were actually clogged shut this past winter. Could have had something to do
with the cold weather (we live in Minnesota), but I have a strong feeling it was due to
the lanolin buildup freezing shut. We had to have someone out to clean out the pipe
from the floor drain to the tanks. I wouldn't suggest you try it unless you can afford
major cost. In the future I will send out any fleeces I purchase to have cleaned and
carded.
Mary Knox
In article <ngjWUBAV...@escher.demon.co.uk>, Jenny Kosarew
<jk...@escher.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> Hmmm ... I've been intending to try soaking fleece in a borax solution
(snip)
> So, my question is - if I use the borax, will the water still be safe to
> use on the garden?
Well, boron is supposed to be an essential trace element in soil, but it's
generally possible to have too much of a good thing. I suppose it depends
how much borax you use and how often. Any agricultural chemists out
there?
Mary
ber...@interlog.com
Just another example of how you never know just who will be lurking....
I am trained as a public health inspector, one specialty being septic systems.
I can tell you (almost definitively <G>) that lanolin would be *very* bad
for a septic system. Lanolin is a grease, much like the oils our own skin
produces. However, it is a very heavy grease.
Think of what you septic system normally handles; black water from the
toilets and grey water from the showers/bath and sinks. This is a little
organic material, which is not all that high in fat, mixed with *alot* of
water. The bacteria and other organisms that exist in your tank and tile
bed are much more adept at decomposing this material than a heavy grease.
This is why grease traps are often installed on home or businesses that
produce much grease, be they on a septic or a treatment facility (heavy
grease isn't good for the big plants either).
So, there you go, more info than you bargained for. ;-)
Personally, I like the idea of using the water separately and then
distributing it with accumulated solids on the garden or plants. Just make
sure you don't pour it over the tile bed, or you'll end up with the same
clogging that can happen in the tank itself.
Hope I helped and wasn't too windy. ;-)
Leslie
--
I'm holding this cat in my arms so it can sleep, and what more is there. -Hugh Prather 1970-
Leslie Bernard Nolan (Toronto)
ber...@interlog.com
Jules M.
Thank you, Leslie, for confirming what I already suspected. Juko
Yarnshop
>> Hmmm ... I've been intending to try soaking fleece in a borax solution
>(snip)
>> So, my question is - if I use the borax, will the water still be safe
to
>>use on the garden?
>Well, boron is supposed to be an essential trace element in soil, but
it's
>generally possible to have too much of a good thing. I suppose it
depends
>how much borax you use and how often. Any agricultural chemists out
>there?
Well, no, just a geoscientist, but I'll give it a try. Borax is an
aluminum salt with extremely high solubility. It is used as a water
softener (corrects the pH), and because of its high solubility, is
unlikely to cause problems in areas of high rainfall. Plants grown in
areas with borax in the soil are not toxic, but sufficient amounts of the
aluminum salt are hard on the plants(I think its the boron that's toxic).
Not to worry unless you're in a desert or semi-arid region where the wash
water may be the major source of water your plants see, and the net
groundwater contribution over a year is negative (water evaporates at the
surface and doesn't get into the groundwater). For those areas such as
England, I think you're perfectly fine. The borax salts will be out of
there and so diluted, that the plants will be happy to see it (all the
natural salts are pretty much leached out._
- Molly Mahaffy (yarn...@aol.com)
The Weaver's Loft