Advice on Pit Cleaning

[Noob]

I'm trying to figure out the best way to dispose of pit waste. Im in TN. I checked with the our state environmental agency. They told me that pit mud could be disposed of at a class 1 landfill as long as it passes the "paint filter" test. I believe just means that the mud has dried and is free of liquid.
My question is can I use a dump trailer or clam style ring o matic to hold the mud until it dries out enough to take to a landfill? Has anyone does this? To have all of my pits pumped is going to be about 10k. Trying to find a better option.

 

[AnalyticWash]

To have all of my pits pumped is going to be about 10k. Trying to find a better option.

Keep shopping around. Find someone that works with other car washes.

 

[Noob]

I got 2 or 3 quotes. All were about the same. My pits are somewhat large.

 

[MudMoney]

Holy Hannah 10k to pump sumps. I used a ring-a-matic for 30 years, got to old to wrestle with the hose. Hired construction company with Vac truck. My pits are 750 to 1000 gallons charged $ 233 a pit includes disposal fee too. Shop around for better deal.

 

[Noob]

Maybe my memory is wrong. Will get some more pricing.

 

[Car_Wash_Guy]

Do you have an area to dry it out?? If so.....Get a clam shell Ring O Matic. Call someone to take away the dry fill dirt for next to nothing or free

 

[Noob]

I don’t have anywhere to really dry it. That’s another question I have. For you guys that are drying it and then disposing of it how/where are you drying it?

 

[Overachiever]

I'm pretty cheap, and still young, so I shovel it out with a handiclam, dump it in an unused bay to dry, bag it, and throw it in the dumpster. The waste disposal company told me I had to bag the stuff, super annoying. The EPA approved this process for me (customer called them on me once, and they came out to see what I was doing).

 

[Overachiever]

I don’t have anywhere to really dry it. That’s another question I have. For you guys that are drying it and then disposing of it how/where are you drying it?

You need to dry it on an impermeable surface around here... so concrete where the water can drain back into the pit is the easiest way.

 

[Noob]

How long does it take to dry? How big are your pits? Mine measure 8x3x3 which is around 525 gallons of mud. I’m not sure I could do more than 1 pit at a time if due to the volume of the mud.

 

[Overachiever]

How long does it take to dry? How big are your pits? Mine measure 8x3x3 which is around 525 gallons of mud. I’m not sure I could do more than 1 pit at a time if due to the volume of the mud.

My pits are huge, the blueprints say they are 1000 gallon. I only clean them out when they stop draining properly, so never doing more than one at a time.

Takes a while to dry, especially if its in a spot not getting hit by the sun. I'm not really sure what the definition of dry is, if it rains and gets wet again, is it not dry now? Since I just have an extra bay I can put it I let it sit around in there for a couple weeks (or sometimes I do this in winter and let it sit there all winter). Then I start bagging it and getting rid of it a little at a time, like 20x5 gallon pails worth per week, because it would suck to make the dumpster either too heavy or damage the truck.

 

[Keno]

If you are doing yourself, you don't have to clean all the pits completely out, can do a little every week like a lot of tunnels do. And they don't really need complete empty ever if doing yourself, halfway empty will usually buy a good amount of time before having to be done again.

I personally wouldn't dry on site, that stuff doesn't smell good and it stinks up the whole site

 

[Overachiever]

Also Noob, couldn't you pump all the water out and reduce your costs? lol... I'd just pump the water into a different bays pit have them take the mud only.

 

[MudMoney]

My experience with only going say half way down pit ,bottom half overtime gets really compacted like cement. Takes a tooth bucket to break it loose. If you think that your " never " going to pump all the way to bottom, that day will arrive.

 

[Cwajciec]

I cleaned mine this winter for the first time. I borrowed a small backhoe (Kubota BX) and dumped the scoops into another tractor bucket. Dumped on the grass out back and 4 months later it disappeared under the grass. Did 6 pits each around 500 Gal. All were full to the top. I did pump the water out to get the mud as dry as possible. Seemed to work and th mud is not toxic.