How Lift Stations Control Odor

Trying to address sewer odor is definitely stinky business and more than that – it can be challenging for everyone who has to deal with it – from the homeowners themselves to the service technicians like ourselves. Controlling odor can become an ongoing issue and that’s why many sewer or septic systems have lift stations.

Today, we’re going to talk a little bit about how waste water lift odor control systems work and why they’re important – as well as how they go about controlling odors from getting out. Let’s jump right in. 

What to know

There are basically two types of lift stations: a dry well lift station and a wet well lift station.

Dry wells have their pumps located somewhere else. That’s usually well underground or in some sort of other, separate chamber. Wet wells on the other hand, use mounted motors that get submerged in the wastewater itself. Most professionals prefer wetwells to dry wells just because it mitigates a lot of maintenance issues. When the pump isn’t physically present in the dry well itself, it can get difficult to diagnose the problem. 

Both of these lift stations however – can suffer from severe odor issues – and they’re mostly addressed by the following:

How they control odor

Just like the two types of lift stations – there are essentially two ways a lift station manages sewage odor and they do so by classifying those options as either passive or chemical. Passive lift stations are centered on tackling the odor from the air that finds its way outside of the lift station. Chemical feed lift stations pump chemicals into the wastewater itself in order to prevent any wastewater or sewage from becoming septic in the first place – thus cutting off the odors from the outside. 

Also a new technology has formed recently called an advanced oxidation process system that is a solution that connects right to a lift station’s vent. It essentially scrubs odors and prevents corrosion to many of the components within the lift station itself – giving the client the added benefit of less wear and tear on their system -but the significant benefit of not having to use chemicals or enormous amounts of electricity to do it. 

Today odor control has become an essential component of any lift station maintenance program, so if you want to know more about how you can leverage new and existing technology to make your lift station and the odors it produces more manageable, give us a call today and we’ll be happy to provide you with a free consultation. Until then, good luck!