Better tunnel trench cleaning alternative?

[DippyFresh]

So it's costing us about 6k every 3 months to empty our tunnel trench and reclaim pits. We call Safety Kleen to come over and pump all the mud and sludge out and solids cost quite a bit to pump. Is this just kind of how it is, or is there a solution to this that I'm not thinking of? Only minor cost effective solution I found was renting my own pump to keep the liquids off of the bill in the reclaim pit and just having the vac guy grab the solids.

Thanks,
Dip

 

[MEP001]

That sounds like a lot. I paid 32¢/gallon last time. Is Safety Kleen a general waste company or do they specialize in car washes? I know that if I call Roto Rooter I can get the same service but it costs three times as much.

 

[MC3033]

What’s the pit design? Does anything stop you from digging it yourself and trashing it? Alternatively dumping it into the larger reclaim tank?

Based on the price you posted you are paying for a lot of extra labor (and still overpaying a bit) or you are just way overpaying.

Depending on the volume of the wash, saturation of the vehicles and state laws much of this can change

 

[DippyFresh]

What’s the pit design? Does anything stop you from digging it yourself and trashing it? Alternatively dumping it into the larger reclaim tank?

Based on the price you posted you are paying for a lot of extra labor (and still overpaying a bit) or you are just way overpaying.

Depending on the volume of the wash, saturation of the vehicles and state laws much of this can change

It's a 120' long pit with a starting depth of 2' and then it slopes down to about 5' 5~" a little past the center where you get to the PVC pipes that go to the reclaim tanks (image attached of drain going off side of tunnel trench, 3 tiered reclaim tank underground). Then it slopes back up to that 2' to the end.

This is mudding country in Florida off of a beach town as well, this trench/pit fills with mud an sand within that 3 months. Enough to fill a Safety Kleen truck up every visit (3200 Gal of solids and liquids)

What stops us from doing it ourselves is that we have barely anyone to do it and nowhere to put the mud after (in bags was the worst idea lol, lots of broken bags). We actually used to shovel it out back when we didn't have such a high volume. We could just do a bit every day until it's all gone, but then the question of where to put the mud comes up. If we open the manhole and just put it in the reclaim pit, we're still going to have to pump it out anyway.

 

[MC3033]

Most quotes I’ve had have always charged quite a bit extra for pumping out of the trench. It’s always seemed to be 4x.

Depending on the state you may be able to just put the sludge in the dumpster. It’s a bit of a mess and you can only do so much at once but will save a fortune.

Lastly, the highest I’ve ever seen is $2500 for a single load on a 3200gal truck (and that was with jet rodding an an expensive vendor).

I’d look far and wide for a new pumper. Maybe talk to local operators. Some excavators and plumbers have these vac trucks as well and may be willing to do it cheap