Australia's Science Forum

Labbie said that most DET schools have a storage Pit for Chemicals .
viewtopic.php?p=46717#p46717

I remembered seeing something under our building so went had another look .

I was surprised. There certainly was a tank , but it was connected to the floor drains in our Chem store only .
Strange thing is that this tank is just that .....a tank with a lid screwed in it . it has no connection to the rest of the Plumbing .

So I guess if ever I needed to run water down the Chem store floor drain that eventually (I guess about 200Liters ) it will be full and need to have someone come pump it out . LOL I still don't know if we have a Chem Pit .

WOW bigmack

I'm not 100% sure Bigmack but I think the idea is that it does drain into the sewer, it is just held there (through some sort of black magic) until it is diluted down. So it shouldn't just be a holding tank with no exit. I thought that all sinks from Science should be draining into it??
Sorry, really vague on this.

You would think so wouldn't you Merilyn .
Being the curious type ,I double checked , and yup , its just a box sitting on a concrete slab .( lifted it up and looked underneath it ).
Our labs are fairly new ...read 20 years old .
I might check with the GA if there are any plans around.

I think Sydney Water customers have to have the chemical pit, so maybe your council has other ideas?

We have a chemical sump pit. Contractors come twice a year to pump it out.

We have sump/pit don't think anyone has ever pumped it out since I've been here 25 years it's connected to the Art rooms.

We had the local councils turn up here about 15 years back demanding to inspect them. Someone along the street had disposed of something they shouldn't have down the sewer. When questioned what I did with our chemical waste I told them I followed Sydney Waste water as per the CSIS manual they laughed saying this is not Sydney. My reply if you can come up with something as comprehensive as Sydneys I'll follow, I've never heard back lol

Science sump was fine, all they found in the Art Department end was blocked up with paint brushes.

macca wrote: ↑06 Nov 2020, 12:24
Science sump was fine, all they found in the Art Department end was blocked up with paint brushes.

Haa Macca , sounds like what ends up in the Lab sink S-bends

I understood all our drainage went through a settling pit with marble chips in it. Don't know if that is still the case.