We installed one of the A&A wormfarm systems 3 years ago. Spoke to a number of people before who had the worm system and other hi-tech systems as well, and the worms one came out on top. We had the space for the reuse of the water and could not afford the biolytix system (seems to be the best). Great the way the A&A include installation in the price!
Reasons we went for the worms: 2 year ongoing inspection period, and negligible power use - only occasional pump operation to empty sump for ours. If you have good fall, there can be no power use, i.e. use gravity.
The tech water treatment systems friends have require minimum quarterly inspections by councils/EPA, and high power use - so looking at $2-300 per quarter minimum for inspections/chemicals and power.
When you use a reuse system the one factor that doesnt show much in discussions is SALT in detergents. While a reuse system with water going to gardens/trees/lawns can handle P, the salt is a long term killer of soils and plants. Some low P detergents still have high salt/sodium loads so choose your detergent carefully. We use low P, low salt detergents and they still get everything as clean as others in a front loader.
Our worm farm system is going really well - the worms and other invertebrates that are now in there will eat anything organic - even citrus, paper, cardboard, cotton clothing, garden weeds/pruning, kitchen waste etc as well as blackwater contents. In fact we have to remember to give them some paper regularly if it is all green and liquid going in. Great for bills etc - extra bonus is the guarantee nobody will access your personal information from the worm farm even if they get there soon enough!
Also - less pong than the old septic- but I think it was old and stuffed - was certainly stuffed with tree roots.
The only negative - we put the wastewater to subsurface irrigation under a lawn thinking we would have a lovely green lawn all summer, rather than trees. Council insisted we have 200m of pipes (approx 200 m sq) for the system, while the installer reckoned we would only need 50 m sq. In late summer a family of four appears to only be irrigating about 30-40m of pipe (4 green stripes and the rest of the lawn dry). Other locals put their wastewater from the worms to trees/fruit trees and enjoy fantastic crops.
Ours handles regular changes with visitors bringing occupants from 4 to 6-8 without any noticable difference, problems or pong.
Two worm systems nearby were installed by retirees who leave for the winter - so long periods of nil use, and the worms seem to handle this without any problem. One told us they were away for four months, came back and had visitors so 6 people in the house immediately and the worms were going again quickly. Another family, with an aerator technology treatment system says theirs has major issues every time they have guests which increases the throughput suddenly.
All the other people we know with worm systems all reckon they are great. Ours is certainly doing everything we wanted. Once going, it is amazing how much the worms can eat. We get lots of frosts, and it does not seem to have any impact on worm activity - with the tank buried it seems to stay constant temperature.
Our council prefer reuse systems to septics - and now have a 10 year maximum life on septic drainfields depending on soils - before requiring replacement. Dont have this on reuse systems targeted to trees/gardens. Had to do the full absorption rate tests for the area where the water was going so they could figure out the max area.
Sorry, no idea what will happen with heavy rainfall. We used to have high rainfall winters but not anymore. Mind you this year was good rainfall and we had no problems with saturation. Most reuse systems direct the water to trees or gardens, so there is normally a higher water use regime in place compared to septic drainfields.
Probably the biggest risk with the worm based ones is that since the tank is buried (modified poly septic tank)and most of the time is empty of fluid, there is a risk in really long heavy rainfall of the surrounding soil getting saturated and lifting the tank out of the ground - ours has a drain and pump at the base to prevent this. That and floods that fill the tank - but they stuff septics as well.
Posted Wednesday 11 Nov 2009 @ 2:38:21 am from IP
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