Oil water separator cleaning services near me

What Is A Oil-Water Separator?

An oil water separator (OWS) is a piece of equipment used to separate oil and water mixtures into their separate components. There are many different types of oil-water separator. Each has different oil separation capability and are used in different industries. Oil water separators are designed and selected after consideration of oil separation performance parameters and life cycle cost considerations. “Oil” can be taken to mean mineral, vegetable and animal oils, and the many different hydrocarbons.

Why Do You Need To Clean it?

Many industrial facilities rely on oil water separators to prevent petroleum contamination of surface and ground water and to meet municipal discharge standards. Dirty oil-water separators endanger the environment and subject operators to fines from violations.

ECR environmental professionals perform oil water separator cleaning service, to include:

Pump out liquid from the separator tank

Clean out sludge and solids from bottom with hi-rail vacuum trucks

Rinse out filter packs and clean baffle systems

Jet the lines coming into separator using a pressure washer with jetter chip

Reassemble and recharge the system

Dispose of waste materials in accordance with state and federal regulations*

Table of Contents Show

What Is A Oil-Water Separator?
Why Do You Need To Clean it?
How often should you do it, and how should you maintain it between services?
How often should you do it, and how should you maintain it between services?
How often should I service my oil water separator?
How do I service my oil water separator?
Common issues
Maintenance between services
What happens when things go wrong?
Contact Cleanawater for more information about oil separators
How often should oil water separators be cleaned?
How do I clean my oil water separator?
Is a grease trap the same as an oil water separator?
What is OCM in oily water separator?

Oil water separators can be located in ground or above ground and come in countless sizes and configurations. Russell Reid has the expertise and experience to evaluate oil water separator systems and supply efficient cleaning and responsible disposal.

Oily wastewater, grit and sludge is removed from the separator using vacuum trucks, and if necessary high pressure water jetting may be included to scour and clean the inlet, outlet, and other separator components. Wastewater is transported to an appropriate oily wastewater treatment facility for recycling. To view this process click here

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How often should you do it, and how should you maintain it between services?

An oil water separator is a significant financial investment, and a critical piece of equipment in terms of regulatory compliance with local water authorities.

Companies which use oil water separators absolutely must maintain and schedule routine services. By doing so, they'll be reducing the risk of expensive repairs, and ensure the machinery is performing to specification by local water authority by-laws.

Servicing your car can save you from an expensive repair. In the same way, industrial equipment needs regular servicing too. Cleanawater specialises in oil water separators — find out more about the different types of oil water separators, and how to service them.

How often should I service my oil water separator?

Most water authorities require a written service contract to be in place when an oil separator is installed onsite. Typical service intervals are between three and six months depending on the type of separator, the volume of water being processed and the amount of oil and sludge being removed.

If you're still unsure, ask a specialist in oil water separators to help you with your service and maintenance schedule.

How do I service my oil water separator?

Although it is advisable to have specialised contractors service your oil water separator, it is possible to service the equipment in-house by following the manufacturers manual. These manuals normally contain principles of operation, and detailed instructions including drawings of parts and connections.

If you have a hydrocyclone oil water separator, you'll need to check the:

Floating skimmer is working properly, and there is no damage to the interconnecting hose, as well as no obstructions to the skimmer port
Automatic operation of pump and level switches
Debris strainer, cyclone, waste oil tank, and oil separator liner itself
Valves and pressure gauges

For a coalescing separator, you'll need to check:

Water flow and build-up of oil
Operation of pump including level switches

You'll need to check and clean the waste oil tank and separator to remove sludge and waste. You'll also need to drain the separator and remove the media packs before cleaning these with a high-pressure washer.

Common issues

Based on years of experience with oil water separators in many diverse applications, these are some of the things that can go wrong and potentially affect your unit:

Build up of sludge in the separator can eventually extend into the oleophilic plates or cones and block the flow of water. This reduces the efficiency of the separator and can eventually plug it up completely.
If the waste oil drum becomes full, the oil can no longer be skimmed off the surface of the separator, and the high levels of oil inside the separator will eventually migrate out with the effluent water causing environmental incidents.
Skimmers can become blocked with solid waste that enters with the water. That's why it's so important for strainers to be in place and cleaned regularly.
The float may become snagged on debris, submerged in sludge, or clogged with oil and stop working. This can cause a pump to fail until the correct parts of the pump are changed.

Maintenance between services

Many sites create standard operating procedures and checklists to ensure that a regular inspection is done on the oil water separator, and its performance.

This way, a potential problem can be picked up early, and repairs actioned or preventative measures put in place to prevent an environmental incident.

Create a maintenance checklist

Using the common issues named above may be a useful starting point to create a checklist. Name some of the parts you should check, and note any 'danger' signs of overflow or performance failure. Some of the parts you should include in your checklist are:

Sludge levels
Pipes and pump seals
Waste oil drum levels
The float
The oil skimmer
Strainers

Regular and routine performance checks can keep an oil water separator operating as per design between services. This keeps effluent water clean and reputations intact.

What happens when things go wrong?

The Australian Environmental Protection Authority issued a fine to a rail-based coal haulage company in Wollongong for a spill of 500 litres of oily water into a wetland area.

The magnitude of the fine (which totalled $100,000) is a stark reality check for the implications of environmental incidents. In this case, an obsolete oil water separator — which had been out of service for some time — released the effluent via a stormwater connection.

Regular cleaning and emptying of the waste oil tank and the separator itself, as well as a formal decommissioning procedure to remove all liquid from the equipment, could have prevented this incident — and saved the company a lot of money.

Contact Cleanawater for more information about oil separators

Cleanawater's servicing and maintenance guarantee will ensure your equipment achieves increased efficiency, reduced running costs, and (most importantly) meets water authority standards. We know that hassle-free equipment maintenance is valuable to your operation.

Contact our expert team to arrange a service for your oil water separator to keep compliant with regulations, or find out more about the different oil water separator devices.

How often should oil water separators be cleaned?

6. All oil/water separators must be cleaned out at least annually and documentation of the cleanout should be maintained.

How do I clean my oil water separator?

Oil Water Separator Maintenance.

Turn off the influent water to the unit..

Open the unit cover..

Remove any oil and dispose of it in a way that complies with company and legal procedures..

Drain the water from the separator..

Measure the depth of the leftover solids and write it down. ... .

If necessary, dispose of the solids..

Is a grease trap the same as an oil water separator?

Grease interceptors have a primary function of removing fatty solids from wastewater. They are most often used in commercial kitchens or similar applications. Oil separators have a primary function of removing liquid oil from wastewater. They are most often used in manufacturing or industrial applications.

What is OCM in oily water separator?

An OWS needs to be fitted with an oil content meter (OCM) that samples the OWS overboard discharge water for oil content. If the oil content is less than 15 ppm, the OCM allows the water to be discharged overboard.

oil water separator cleaning services