When the Power Goes Out

In this episode, we break down what really happens to on-site wastewater systems when the power goes out and why some setups are more vulnerable than others. We explore the differences between gravity systems, pumped systems, and grinder systems, and then share practical steps homeowners can take to protect their systems during outages.   

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Transcript

00:08

Hello and welcome to Make It Clear, a conversational podcast about all things related to water and wastewater.  I'm your host, Angela Bounds, and I'm joined by my co-host, Shawn Rapp.  In each episode, we'll tackle a relevant topic with facts and expert opinions and make things clear. 

Angela: Hello and thank you for joining us again. Today, Shawn and I are going to talk about power outages.  So it used to be...

00:37

when I was a kid, my recollection was that power outages predominantly happened in the winter with downed power lines that would happen during storms.  Where we're at in the Pacific Northwest when we were kids, we would get wind.  The wind would cause power outages because it would whip through the valley.

01:08

Now we experience power outages mostly just due to snow or in the summer when thunder and lightning come through the valley and the, what are they, the governors on the transfer stations are set to turn the power off so as to

01:37

not or attempt to prevent forest fires. (Shawn: Yes.) Or fires in general. But if you have a pump on your system, on your septic system, see, I'm going to bring it back around.  If you have a pump on your septic system, it can be affected. (Shawn: Yes.) And so it's a good idea. I mean, we lose power a couple of times a year, at least.  You hear of rolling blackouts sometimes to conserve

02:07

energy during heat waves. So what can you do?  What do you do if you are on a septic system and you lose power?  Let's talk about what that looks like. So if you have a gravity system, right, no pump, all just mechanical process.  Goes in, goes out, usually not affected.  Your water usage is going to go down because your appliances

02:36

aren't running, but there's not really an effect on your septic system necessarily. 

Shawn: For the most part, gravity systems, it comes in, it goes right back out the other side and into your drain field and you're good to go.  So not much to worry about during a power outage in that situation. 

Angela: Right. But if your tank does have a pump, whether that is one of our

03:05

high head pumps or if you have a grinder system, more so if you have a grinder system, it can be greatly affected by power outages.  

Shawn: Yeah, it can affect you a lot. 

Angela: Yeah. You run the risk of overloading drain fields again at restart, right? So stuff's going to start pumping out and your drain field can handle it at first.  Typically, it's made to handle it. But

03:35

In a grinder situation that can get a little tricky. 

Shawn: It's a bit different. Yeah. 

Angela: Yeah.  

Shawn: One thing to keep in mind is that typically if you're on an actual septic tank and not on a grinder with a basin, then you have, should have some emergency storage in your tank and that'll get you by short term.  Typically for a couple of days, especially since you're not using the washing machine or the dishwasher, those kinds of things.

04:02

Your water usage goes way down, which means that it's going to take longer for you to fill up that emergency storage area. (Angela: Yeah.) So, I mean, you might be good for several days to a week. (Angela: Yes.) If for some reason, though, you're on a grinder system, you don't have that luxury because grinders typically sit in a basin that has almost no capacity for emergency storage. (Angela: Correct. Yeah,) So you might be in a different situation in that case, in which case, if you are on a grinder system and you experience a power outage that lasts longer than

04:32

several hours, you may want to get in contact with your service provider. 

Angela: Yes.  Yes.  And community systems are a little bit different.  I should actually go back and say, once your system restarts and everything is or should be seemingly back to normal, if you notice anything, like we've talked about the things that you can look for.

05:00

If you notice an odor in your house, if your system starts alarming and continues to alarm. So it might alarm at first, but it should pump down.  If it continues alarming, probably want to call your service provider. 

Shawn: Yeah. And you're going to notice things too. If you start, if your system is filled up or filling up rapidly, you're going to start getting back up or into your house, which is not what you want.

05:29

So if you start noticing sewage coming up into your bathtub or somewhere, something like that h in a downstairs bathroom or, you know, when you're in your, if you have a one story, of course that's irrelevant. But if you notice sewage backing up into your bathtub, that's going to be a great indication that your system is probably full.  Something's very wrong.  

Angela: You should call your service provider. (Shawn: Yeah.) Community systems are going to be similar.

05:58

Because typically they'll have a septic tank on site. If you have a septic tank with a high head or low head pump, they generally have the capacity that we were talking about. Especially with reduced use, you should be okay for a little bit. Usually the power outages don't last too terribly long. But again, when it kicks back on, you might hear that alarm.

06:27

Cause it's in a high level condition. It should self-correct.  If it does not self-correct you need to call your service provider. 

Shawn: It may take some time if the lines are… the discharge lines are full because everybody is pumping at that moment. So just, it just really depends. So it may take a little bit of time for a system to correct itself, but it will eventually correct itself as the capacity in the line eases and it allows more volume to go through. 

Angela: So what are some...

06:57

some key things that you can do to safeguard your home.  And the first one is something that I had never, I'd never really considered it until the big snows that we have had.  And that is installing battery backup or a generator of some sort for critical operations.  In the winter that could be heat in your septic system. Right? Or hot water. 

07:26

Shawn: Yeah, and that option may not be practical for every installation. (Angela: Right.) But where it is practical, it's… it's a good backup alternative to make sure your system continues to work.  

Angela: Yes.  You can add check valves and backflow prevention on your sewer lines to stop them from flowing backwards.  

Shawn: Coming back up in the bathtub?

Angela: Yeah, to back stop them from backing up into the bathtubs in your home or your kitchen sink.

07:55

That would not be pleasant.  Use high water alarms.  So... 

Shawn: Battery powered ones. 

Angela: Battery powered ones. Yes.  So you can be alerted when, when things are backing up. (Shawn: Yes.) Or when things are starting to fill up, should say, not backing up. 

Shawn: But getting, getting to a critical point. 

Angela: Getting to critical points so that you can maybe conserve even more and make sure… 

08:24

It's so funny because there are things that we say over and over and over again. And I think I've actually said this before that, you know, we talked, we've talked about tanks since the inception of the company and how to size them properly and what's necessary and all the things, emergency capacity necessities and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like we've talked about that ad nauseam since the inception of the organization.  And there was a

08:52

point in the early 2000s where people were like, we don't want to talk about tanks anymore. Like we've talked about them so much.  (Shawn: Right.) And that only lasted, I want to say about two years before you started to hear, they don't even know how to size a tank properly. Like what's going on? Like people aren't talking about properly sized tanks anymore. And I'm like, yeah, that's because like you have to keep educating. So

09:22

size your tank properly for the size of your home and ensure that you have appropriate emergency storage in that tank. (Shawn: Yes.) And then some safeguards for communities, right? 

Shawn: Yeah, if you've got a community system, some things that if you design for community systems, these are some things that you might want to keep in mind. 

Angela: Yeah, like an uninterruptible power supply.  a UPS in the large PLC

09:52

control panel that is telemetry based and controlling your community systems.  Make sure that they have battery power at all times that can't be interrupted. Automatic transfer switches and oversized generators can also help so that everything just works seamlessly.

Shawn: Yeah, you'll see that a lot in

10:20

community systems where they use big pipe, where they have lift stations.  You'll see at the lift station, they'll have a backup generator typically with a power switch. 

Angela: And then surge protectors and voltage monitors to prevent any damage from happening when the electricity comes back on. (Shawn: Yeah.) So when power is restored, it can cause damage as well.

10:49

There could be surges that occur both on-site and on-site systems and in community systems.  So you really just want to make sure that you've got surge protection if you can. So just the guidelines for homeowners, like what they can really do is conserve water.  Don't use too much, don't use up that emergency storage unless you are certain that the power is going to come back on soon. (Shawn: Right.) Right? Which none of us are ever certain of.

11:19

Shawn: Exactly.

Angela: I mean, there were people during snowmageddon who were out of power for a week.  And that is a very long time to go without power. (Shawn: Yes.) Turn off your pump breakers while the power is out. 

Shawn: That's a really good one. 

Angela: Yeah. To avoid the auto restart floods that can happen.  Dose manually at first. You could do that.  Run the pump just for two to five minutes every four to six hours.

11:47

Give everything a chance to settle.  That way you're dispersing the liquid onto the drain field at a slower rate, giving the drain field a chance to absorb it and then rehydrate. You know, it's like we don't all drink a gallon of water at one time, right? We drink it over the day. (Shawn: Yes.) hydrate and then we wait and then we hydrate and then we wait.

12:16

So you need to make sure that you're stocked up on PPE. So gloves, goggles, if you're going to be servicing your system and inspecting it, if you're going to take that lid off and run the risk of something splashing in your face because it's super high, just make sure you're protected.  Trust me when I say you don't want that in your eye. 

Shawn: Yeah. If for some reason your yard is flooded and you suspect it might contain

12:43

effluent from your septic system.  You want to be wearing gloves so that you aren't, you have to something up or whatever out of the yard, you don't want to be touching that with your hands.  

Angela: You don't want to play in that puddle and you don't want your children playing in that puddle either. 

Shawn: Nope. That is not fun.  

Angela: No. All right. Is there anything else you can think of? 

Shawn: No, I think that pretty much covers it. I mean, power outages are fairly simple as long as you follow some basic rules and some basic common sense things. 

Angela: Yes.

13:13

Shawn: And just kind of make sure that you're conserving water and keeping yourself safe. 

Angela: Yes, absolutely. Keep yourself safe and conserve water. All right. Well, thank you, Shawn, for talking about this with me today. (Shawn: You bet.) And thank you all for listening.  

We want to thank you again for joining us today.  Before you go, don't forget to subscribe where you listen to podcasts so you're notified when new episodes are posted. Also, you can leave your comments or suggestions through the contact link on our website,  www.orenco.com.  Until next time, have a great day!