reclaim odor

[diamond joe]

Hello, I have a 5 ss/iba car wash and have been chasing foul smelling reclaim for some time.I have 3 1500g tanks with a bubbler in the final draw tank.As the weather gets warmer the odor of my reclaim can be bad enough to get comments from my customers.I have added about 5 g of bleach and it solves the problem for about a week.Bio tabs had no effect at all. help! it smells like @#$%^!
All my chems are from Kleen-Rite

 

[JGinther]

It depends on what type of system you have, but I would guess that you are growing the anaerobic bacteria in the first and second tanks overnight when the wash is slow. If your system doesn't already do it, I would look into adding a control to circulate the water in the underground tanks - whether it is by activating the pump, or by adding a recirculation line. I would also look into the "reclaim friendliness" of the chemicals you are using. Certain organic surfactants make excellent food for stinky bacteria, while others aren't as bad. Also, since it sounds like you have a friction machine, you may want to look into turning down the soap a little, turning up the RO delivery pressure (volume) and routing the RO reject to the reclaim holding tank. Its also a good idea to make sure that no bums are "using the facility" at night. Turds don't work well with reclaim systems. If you think that I must be joking, you should see some of the DVR footage I have....

Good Luck

 

[MEP001]

Some older posts recommend pumping it through a simple sprinkler head in the tank to help aerate the water better.

 

[Dean Taylor]

Aeration simply isn't enough to kill off the bacteria causing odor. I would suggest an ozone re-circulation system. Ozone is the most powerful biocide known to man. A good system will kill those odors overnight.

 

[Danny]

This is all very good advice. As mentioned earlier look into your chemicals as they can be a source of trouble, also usually the best and easiest solution. Another option, if changing chemicals doesn't help, is to use the bleach (which is killing the bacteria off initially) and then check with chemical suppliers for a maintenance chemical to keep the bacteria from reestablishing itself.

 

[oleshep]

I have a Exterior Tunnel Wash with the same problem. I tried all kind of chemicals that just masked the odor. In 2004 while walking through the ICA show I came across a new vendor, AREA, they specialiized in aeration. I gave them the dimensions of my tanks. A couple of days after I got back their engineer called with a system for me. It is still working . Plus, I have not had to use any chemicals or ozone. Even on the hottest of days there is not any odor. You can check them out at " www.areainc.com".
Hope this might you.

 

[mac]

This is one of those things where it will be difficult to get an answer that is right for you. The problem is there are so many variables that can affect the water quality. Location is probably the biggest one. If you are in a southern state, the odor issue gets real serious this time of year. For these locations I've found an ozone system is the least painful way to go. Aeriation systems do work in some cases, as oleshep has found out. They also have concerns though. If you are using your compressor to pump the air, you may be putting a lot more work on it than it can handle.

 

[oleshep]

No air compressor needed. The system comes with a 1/3 horse power motor. You will only pump from 3 to 5 psi into the tank.