Those of you who use an Auto-Pumpout

[Shawn Forsythe]

If using an APO (Auto-pumpout system on your TM or portable.....
Where do you guys as a first choice, choose to expel your accumulated foul carpet excrement?

 

[Nate The Great]

I put toilet. Sometimes a laundry sink if in reach. Rarely ever on the grass as people b!tch about it.

I've heard stories about other cleaners using the bath tub. :shock:

 

[-JB-]

I use the dirty watat and give myself an enema to rehydrate on long hot days. You MUSt do anything you can to stay hydrated, IF you wanna make it home alive!

 

[ronbeatty]

I will not dump into anything other than a sanitary sewer clean out stand pipe. I would never ask a customer if I could drain in there house or business. Just my opinion, but after draining dirty water tanks for 32 years wouldn't want somebody dumping in my house. somewhat amus

 

[Johnny]

Should be more than one option.

I can usually hold it till I get home to my own sewer riser, but if I must go at the customer's place the most common is laundry sink or drain, sewer riser, terlet rarely.

 

[steve frasier]

when I had a pump out

I would look for the sewer cleanout or ask the customer where it is, sometimes they would then mention to just use the toilet

but a lot of times I would just take a trip home and dump it down my own sewer cleanout

 

[floorguy]

lucky bastards

we dont have cleanouts readily handy...

though i think the newer houses are getting there

 

[Luis Gomez]

Clean-out drain, laundry room, toilet or behind a bush. In that order, county code is 3 feet from a street sewer but every city is different.

 

[rotovacguy]

I remember doing a double wide on an Indian reservation just outside of Green Bay last year, this place was an absolute dump. Without doubt, the filthiest shack I've done to date.


Anyway, I ran my dump hose to the toilet, and was just damn glad I brought my extra thick rubber gloves due to the filth and stench. As I was wrapping my stuff up, the guy comes over and tells me that he knows my stuff did a killer job on his carpet, because it even brightened up his crapper!! :shock:


I have a pretty tolerable stomach to gross things, but have to admit, even I darn near tossed my cookies when going in that bathroom. Of course the bill got padded due to the horrible working conditions and then having to sterilize my equipment afterwards. Went through quite a lot of Sporicidin from that job.

 

[Jose Smith]

When I worked at Stanley Steemer in the early 90's, we had a special "dump hose". It was a flat hose that had slits cut on one side about every two feet. It was connected to a standard garden hose which was then connected to the pump out.

The hose would squirt out a few ounces every minute into the grass, never enough to cause a mess so it wasn't ever noticed.

I'm sure with the attorneys SS has (I worked for a corporate-owned branch), it was legal. When I became the manager of Coit, we copied what they did.

Now, I have a large enough dump tank that I don't have to worry about a APO.

Jose Smith

 

[mirf]

Hold the water till I get home, then use sewer clean out

 

[rwcarpet]

Most houses have a garage drain to the sanitary. I carry extra hose to make runs to a cleanout or close-by toilet, or I just dump it on the property if not near a water body. Never down the drive to the storm drain.

 

[Jimmy L]

LIARS ALL!

 

[Shawn Forsythe]

Clean-out drain, laundry room, toilet or behind a bush. In that order, county code is 3 feet from a street sewer but every city is different.

You are in California, Luis. Prop 65 trumps all those old city/county ordinances.

In California, you are in violation of state law to dump ANYWHERE but in a treated sewer system. That means all curbs that drain to storm drain or ocean are also out. When you say "Street Sewer", are you actually talking popping street manhole covers for actual sewage lines? When referrring to curb drains, "Street Sewer" is a misnomer. I have yet to see a curb that goes to a waste-water treatment plant.

 

[ACE]

When I worked at Stanley Steemer in the early 90's, we had a special "dump hose". It was a flat hose that had slits cut on one side about every two feet. It was connected to a standard garden hose which was then connected to the pump out.

The hose would squirt out a few ounces every minute into the grass, never enough to cause a mess so it wasn't ever noticed.

I'm sure with the attorneys SS has (I worked for a corporate-owned branch), it was legal. When I became the manager of Coit, we copied what they did.

Now, I have a large enough dump tank that I don't have to worry about a APO.

Jose Smith

I never see the SS rolling when it gets cold here. I think the all but close up shop in the cold months. They have no fresh water tanks and only a 10 gal recovery tank. That’s no way to set up a truckmount if you want any winter work in the cold states.

 

[boazcan]

Uh, how about the ground? It makes the grass greener everytime. NO extra charge for the fertilizer........ 8)

 

[Mike Draper]

I really don't like to dump in my custy's bathroom. I prefer to go at home on my own toilet. shiteatinggrin

 

[Lee Stockwell]

I once paid to dig up and pump a customer's septic tank after dumping in a sanitary cleanout next to the driveway. Don't think their problem was MY fault, but wasn't worth the potential drama for him and his neighbors who were also my customers.

A bigger waste tank allows more discretion in dumping options.

Thanks,
Lee

 

[-JB-]

A bigger waste tank allows more discretion in dumping options.

How eloquently stated! LOL!

 

[Chris A]

Be careful on the garage drains, some have a sump and only drain when they reach a certain level, so it can make some nasty type of stink if that's the case. I have about 80 usable gallons, so I only hook up the apo about once a day, and usually just run it to the yard where its not going to pool.

 

[Bob Savage]

In California, you are in violation of state law to dump ANYWHERE but in a treated sewer system. That means all curbs that drain to storm drain or ocean are also out. When you say "Street Sewer", are you actually talking popping street manhole covers for actual sewage lines? When referrring to curb drains, "Street Sewer" is a misnomer. I have yet to see a curb that goes to a waste-water treatment plant.

The "street curb openings" do NOT go to any sanitary sewer pipes, as Shawn pointed out. They are there to collect and disburse rain water, snow melt (depending on climate), into man made creeks (streams - ditches), which allows this water runoff a controlled exit from our cities, where eventually this runoff ends up in our natural streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans. They are referred to as "storm sewer drains", not to be confused with the sanitary sewer drains that actually go to the local waste water treatment plant.

We use an APO (30 GPM rated). It uses a standard garden hose and has a very subtle discharge (not that that is necessary). Here, we are permitted to discharge that waste water onto the ground, providing it is far enough away from any driveways, sidewalks, or parking lots (can't go into the fish population), and providing the discharge hose is NOT over a septic leach field.

In the almost 10 years of using an APO, no customer has ever said anything to me about using the APO.

Our regs also say that waste water also can't be on the same ground area all the time, but since we are always cleaning at different locations all day long, that is NEVER a problem.

Our APO filters out the lint, fuzz, and crud that are picked up when HWE cleaning so all we are discharging is dirty waste water.

It's amazing how much time is saved when cleaning and using a reliable APO, not to mention we don't haul around hundreds of pounds of dirty water all day long.