Washdown Separators

Why are Washdown Separator Tanks Needed?

 If you operate a commercial or private washdown facility for cars, trucks, transportation vehicles and heavy equipment, the water-based effluent contains road film, brake dust, oil & grease and dirty rock particles. These are all considered pollutants by the UK Environment Agency.

These contaminants need to be processed to remove silt and free oils before being allowed to be discharged into the foul water drain or surface drains. A brand new range of tanks and accessories has been introduced to help with this treatment process – Washdown Separators.

Who Are These Separator Tanks For?

Our tanks in this range are relevant for operators of pressure-washing facilities that spray and clean cars, trucks, truck wheel washing, transport vehicles, heavy equipment and even sports ground maintenance equipment.

What Do They Do?

The tanks drain dirty water from washdown operations. The tanks remove, separate and retain silt and undissolved oils contained in the dirty water. Water processed by the separator tanks then drains into the foul water drainage system subject to your permit from your local water company.

Silt Separator Tank function:  The tanks work by allowing silt, sediments, dirt and road grime to settle at the tank’s bottom beneath an outlet pipe. The outlet pipe has an elbow and a long downpipe. This means that the contaminated water level is always above the outlet pipe’s opening when in use. Waste water then flows out to the drain, leaving all the sediment at the bottom of the tank and stopping contaminants from entering the drainage system.

Oil Separator Tank function: Conversely, hydrocarbon pollutants are lighter than water and float on the surface of the dirty water in our separator tanks. Petroleum contaminants such as petrol sheens, oil, grease etc are kept on the surface of the water in the tank. The internal downpipe length of the outlet pipe means that the separator tank only drains from the middle layer of water free from both silt at the bottom and oil at the top. Note that use of detergents during washdown will dissolve all or most of the free oils which may mean that further treatment or use of a separate sealed system is required.

Why Buy Washdown Separator Tanks from Atlantis Tanks?

There are 10 clear reasons why you should buy from Atlantis:

1. Comprehensive Range of Sizes. We can supply you with a 1800 litre single separator tank all the way up to a double-staged tank with a joint 20,000 litre capacity. Needless to say, we have a variety of single and multi stage units that can be combined in various configurations.
   
2. Bespoke Separator Solutions. Versatility of tank options result in a design to suit your particular site footprint and intended usage.
3. Shallow Dig Depth means our tanks are easier and cheaper to install and to maintain.
4. Manufactured from high-strength polyethylene in a rotational moulded process. This produces a strong, unstressed tank in a single piece.
5. Long warranty for our high quality separator tanks at 12 years.
6. Legendary Delivery Our own HIAB crane trucks can carefully place all plastic separator tanks up to 5000 litre capacity wherever you need them, so long as site access is straightforward.
7. Proudly Made in the UK. Support British manufacturers
8. High Tech Accessories such as Silt Level alarms and Hydrocarbon alarms
9. Competitive Trade Pricing – Substantial trade discounts are available. Our prices include our swift and legendary delivery service.
10. 1% Cashback on all online purchases from Atlantis registered merchants and installers.
    

When Do I Need to Clean Out My Washdown Separator Tank?

Washdown Separators can easily silt up and their ability to remove oil or silt contaminants can become severely compromised. This is why we offer a silt alarm and hydrocarbon alarm that warn when levels of either climb above acceptable levels.

Then contaminants can be removed from the washdown separators tanks by a registered waste carrier to a licensed treatment facility.

Legislation affecting Business Washdown Facilities

The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 came into force on 2nd October 2023. This superseded the Environmental Agency’s “PPG13: prevent pollution” guidance on vehicle washing and cleaning which has now been officially withdrawn.

The new governmental guidance “Pollution Prevention for Businesses” affecting this sector can be found here:  https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pollution-prevention-for-businesses

The Environment Agency expects that businesses seeking to discharge washdown waste water into surface water or foul water drains, seek a permit to do so from the local water company.

Examples of Legal Enforcement

In our blog post here: Washdown Separator Tanks: A Cleaner Cleaning Environment , we identify 3 examples of recent action taken by the UK’s Environment Agency against washdown facilities that have neither the necessary permitting nor the treatment of washdown waste water.