By Sara Geer
Editor’s Note: For our first-ever “Chairman’s Choice” feature, we are proud to highlight two projects selected by Greg Stratis, president of Shea Concrete Products and newly elected NPCA Chairman of the Board. “Chairman’s Choice” will be an annual feature of Precast Inc. magazine.
Woodstock Inn Station and Brewery – North Woodstock, N.H.
Craft Precast
Water is an essential ingredient for brewing beer – on average, it takes 296 gallons of water to make one gallon of beer (1). With the use of such a large volume of water comes an equally large volume of wastewater, and often the need for a system that can handle the extra wastewater intake.
Photo courtesy of Stephen Chmieleski.
Such was the case with the Woodstock Inn Station and Brewery in North Woodstock, N.H. Thanks to a significant increase in size, the brewery now distributes products throughout the eastern United States, with future plans to deliver nationally. But the brewery’s expansion caused its wastewater output to double, inundating the Woodstock Wastewater Treatment plant. The town had to remove the extra waste via trucks and started charging the brewery about $8,000 a month for the associated fees. Desperate to find a solution, Scott Rice, brewery owner, contacted Septic Preservation Services. The company worked with Shea Concrete Products, headquartered in Wilmington, Mass., to design and manufacture a precast concrete wastewater treatment system to fix the problem.
A phenomenal solution
Jim Boucher, regional operations manager of Septic Preservation Services, said the company is often contacted to assist in emergency situations like this one.
“There are microbreweries popping up everywhere and many don’t take into account wastewater,” he said. “What happens is they start on a septic system, but in a short time kill it. It’s becoming a big part of our business.”
The company typically works with a local precaster to design a system that cleans up waste and establishes a particular waste strength level and pH level as designated by the city and state. For Woodstock Inn Station and Brewery, the solution was three 10,000-gallon precast tanks. The tanks store waste so bacteria can clean the water before it enters the wastewater treatment plant. According to Boucher, Shea Concrete helped design and build the custom tanks in a way that had never been done before.
“These tanks needed to be installed at different elevations, which is a very difficult thing to do and get done right,” he said. “But Shea Concrete Products was able to cast the outlet elevations within the tanks so we could excavate a flat, large hole and place these all at the same level.
“I’ve never seen it done this way before and it worked out phenomenally. I don’t think I’ll do this any other way now.”
Teamwork prevails
Jerry Mailloux, operations manager of Shea Concrete’s plant in Nottingham, N.H., said the design department had limited information at the start, but worked closely with Boucher and the contractor, Rex Caulder of Caulder Construction LLC, to make the final plans for the system.
Manufacturing the precast products took less than two weeks. The tanks are 10 feet long, 17 feet wide and 12 feet high. They consist of 15 different pieces that needed to be modified for the project requirements.
Shea Concrete worked closely with Septic Preservation Services to develop a new approach for the design and installation of Woodstock Inn Station’s precast tanks. Photo courtesy of Stephen Chmieleski.
Caulder was an existing customer and knew Shea Concrete could deliver all products on time, preventing unnecessary costs such as having the crane on site for an extended period. The project was completed within a week between the brewery’s two busiest weekends – Labor Day and the start of the Highland Games at Loon Mountain Resort.
“Shea Concrete transported all the of the pieces to the site,” Mailloux said. “The crane was ready at 8 a.m. and the last truck left at 11:30 a.m. with the tanks fully assembled. The trucks were staged at a New Hampshire Department of Transportation wayside area and were dispatched to the site as one was unloaded.”
Caulder said Shea Concrete was a tremendous partner for the project.
“They were right there when they said they would be – no waiting,” he said. “Precast concrete is the way to go. It takes up less room than a fiberglass tank and is easy and accessible for inspection.”
To learn more about Shea Concrete Products, visit sheaconcrete.com.
Sara Geer is NPCA’s internal communication and web manager, and is managing editor of Precast Inc.
Resources
(1) huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/13/food-water-footprint_n_5952862.html
Visit http://precast.org/ to read the full story.
Visit www.septicpreservation.com for all your septic needs.
Septic Preservation Services have a safety meeting this morning in their Norton, MA offices. Employees from Attleboro, Sharon, Easton, Cumberland, MA and Smithfield, Warwick and North Kingstown, RI will attend and employees in the Biddeford, Maine office will attend via conference. Septic Preservation Services makes the safety of it employees and customers a priority. We consequently have monthly safety meetings that cover many aspects of the business including safety procedures, job processes and training to ensure that when we are hired for a Septic Repair, Septic Cleaning, Title 5 Septic Inspection, Septic Pumping, Septic Functional Inspection, Septic First Maintenance Inspection, Remediation of Septic Systems, Overboard Discharge Repair, Overboard Discharge Service or any other related job we can do it professionally and safely. Please call us at 877-378-4279 or visit www.septicpreservation.com with all your septic needs.
The New Year is here and the holidays are over. How did your septic system survive? Holidays can put a strain on your septic system with extra guests and water usage. Things may accidentally get flushed which shouldn’t, or food products are put down the sink such as fats and grease. You may need to catch up on laundry or cleaning. Now may be a good time to pump out your system if it’s been awhile since you last had it pumped. Three to five years is a general rule of thumb but usage may dictate whether you pump more frequently.
Many homeowners may feel that septic systems basically take care of themselves if left alone. You may be one of the lucky few that breezes through home ownership with a problem free septic system but this is generally not the “norm”.
