Filtering dirty brass wash water

[OnceFired]

Hi all

OK, I am continuing the experiment I mentioned previously - filtration of the dirty wash water used to tumble brass.

As mentioned previously, I am figuring out how best to clean up the water used to clean brass. The idea behind this is to keep the water at our location as clean as possible for as long as feasible and economically sensible. We'll be out rural where we depend more upon well water than anything else.

I have a 5-gallon bucket rigged up as a biosand filter. It *should* be doing a good job of filtering the water for impurities, but I am having difficulty with it.

Here's what I mean:

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/326/18154572153_4767142927_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/tEfVNH)
Water-comparison (https://flic.kr/p/tEfVNH) by OnceFiredLakeCityBrass (https://www.flickr.com/photos/93660723@N05/), on Flickr

Blue bucket = original state of water
Orange bucket = held same, but poured into the filter. What's in it now is after 2x rinse from the outdoor faucet.
Small white bucket = raw roof runoff captured in 55 gallon drum & sealed inside.
Big white bucket = filtered water originally in orange bucket (1x filter pass as of this photo) which has a murky/milky brown look to it.

I have shown the comparison to illustrate the level of brown in the water. Even with a bit of muck still in the orange bucket, faucet water is crystal clear by comparison, even side by side against the rain water in the smallest bucket.

Using the filter on the rain water, I usually get crystal-clear results like you see in the orange bucket now - even with all the crud from the roof that goes in there with it. Using the roof water alone (through a virgin filter) I would not hesitate to drink the filtered water if needed*** - with one caveat that I'll get back to in a minute.

That said, I certainly wouldn't want to drink the rain water as-is even if all containers were sterile, sealed, etc. And I wouldn't TOUCH the dirty brass water with a 10' pole for that purpose. The goal isn't to drink it, but to have it THAT good in terms of quality from the treatment process.

One big part of that perceived quality is the color of the water. I don't seem to be getting much of a color shift from the dirty brass wash water when sending it through the filter. Most of the color difference can be attributed to the bucket color difference.

So, I am specifically experimenting with # of passes through the filter to see if that makes a big enough difference.

I think the problem I am experiencing is that the biosand filter could be missing the "bio" part. I am not sure I have a substantial volume of the microorganisms in the filter that I need to make this work properly. I think I might just be purely getting physical size filtration at this point, which would probably explain the color issue. I have been using the filter for many weeks now, but I typically have been letting it run with the valve open, which would allow the water to exit from that top layer.

More photos throughout the day as I experiment.

[OnceFired]

OK, so the filter is working at least partially.

At one filtration....

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/326/18154572153_4767142927_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/tEfVNH)
Water-comparison (https://flic.kr/p/tEfVNH) by OnceFiredLakeCityBrass (https://www.flickr.com/photos/93660723@N05/), on Flickr

At 3x passes...

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/533/18593380790_1e26dea0c6_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/uk2WjS)
After 3 passes thru filter (https://flic.kr/p/uk2WjS) by OnceFiredLakeCityBrass (https://www.flickr.com/photos/93660723@N05/), on Flickr

I did replace the water in the orange bucket, because I used that to water the tree in my backyard. I kept the other two buckets identical, but I did move them around so as to not have shadows playing with how things are perceived.

The water is MUCH clearer now. It looks like strong iced tea instead of milky. It has lost quite a bit of the darker tint, as well.

I'll keep going with this.

I also took a soup can of the 2x-filtered brown water and made a makeshift water destiller from a plastic coke bottle.

I've got strong Texas sun today, although it is already 5pm. We'll see what I get.

OF

[OnceFired]

I've got the valve closed on the filter now, while it fills the remaining ~1.5-2 gallons of 3x filtered water in for filter pass #4.

Hopefully I can get a good photo of the bio layer.

OF

[MUSTANG]

Where are you disposing of the "Sand Filter"? There is an old saying: The solution to pollution is dilution. With your sand filter you are going the other way, concentrating the pollutants; with each filtering more pollutants are trapped in the sand. If you dump the sand somewhere, you are creating a highly saturated source of the pollutants you seek to control.

One might consider dumping into a sink or toilet if you have a home septic system. This would provide a dilution (and containment) since most septic systems are 500 to 2000 gallons. Depending on what is in your brew from cleaning brass, etc.. you could kill bacteria that is vital to the septic system operation. The solids in the brew will settle to the bottom of the tank along with toilet and sink/shower solids accumulated over time.

I dump mine into the septic system at both the NV and MT houses with no ill benefits identified. Just seems better than dumping it on the ground. If you are dumping into a community/municipality sewage system they may frown on the act.

[lightload]

Leave finished product out to see if mosquitos will lay eggs there and if larvae will survive in it. Also you might place minnows in a container of various dilutions to see if they will survive. Disposing of dirty water in kitty litter media sold in parts places for oil spills might work. Let the wet litter stay in sun to promote evaporation. Then place in plastic bag for disposing in land fill.

[country gent]

The water filtration at a lot of cities is a very slow flow thru beds with a fine carpet type of filter on bottom. the water flows slowly and gently the "carpet" catches the contaminants as they drop out and holds them. Then to a filter of sand and one of charcoal. Alot of the ponds around here have a sand filter bed with sand points in it to filter pond water for animals and other uses. This set up gets alot of contaminants out and keeps alge and other growths from plugging things up. MAybe a couple inch layer of finely crushed charcoal under the sand would help out. We used paper filters at times for water they looked like a roll of paper towels with a screen center. Ends were sealed by housings caps and fluids flowed thru the roll of filter.

[Dan Cash]

Incomprehensible!

[bangerjim]

You are talking contaminates in the micron size particle, probably 2-3 or less. More of a "dye" than a particulate.

Best way to remove teeny weeny stuff is thru a flocculation process......a flocculant is added to the water which grabs onto stuff and makes it clump together so a filter can address it much more efficiently. Swimming pools use it to get rid of unfilterable unwanteds in the water. I get mine at Lowe's or Home Depot in the pool department. City water filtration plants us the stuff by the 55 gallon drum! I sell the metering pumps that meter the stuff into the untreated water.

I would be more worried about the heavy metals contaminations than the color! You have copper, zinc, and other metals in there from your cleaning. A filter will NOT remove those as they are on an ionic level, not a particulate level.

You have some potentially nasty water there with the metals contents and the # of cycles you are using to clean the brass. If you are worried about ground water contamination, you need to look much farther than a simple sand or media filter. You are creating a potentially toxic cocktail of heavy ionic metals. "Clear" water can have tons of toxic metals in it!!!!!!!! Check the conductivity!

BTW.......OMG just HOW MUCH brass are you cleaning anyway!!!!!! I just pour mine down the drain....less than 1/2 gallon mabe. This is for my PERSONAL use only and not reselling brass!

(Water purity and treatment are part of the company I own.)

banger

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

banger,
if you click on OnceFired's sig line link...well I'd guess he is buying brass by the pallet.

OnceFired,
I see you're in Texas, my suggestion is to let the sun do the work. buy the largest plastic kiddie pool you can get, evap the water out, add kitty litter to the slurry that's left, then to a landfill ...if they'll take it.

[OnceFired]

And it is as I suspected. No bio in my biosand filter.

With dirty brass water
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/274/18779481212_fe6b3076b8_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/uBtKuQ)
Filter with dirty brass water (https://flic.kr/p/uBtKuQ) by OnceFiredLakeCityBrass (https://www.flickr.com/photos/93660723@N05/), on Flickr

Somewhat drained out - so you can see fine sand.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/306/18596744810_6ee90c9abd_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/ukkbkd)
Filter drained down below sand level (https://flic.kr/p/ukkbkd) by OnceFiredLakeCityBrass (https://www.flickr.com/photos/93660723@N05/), on Flickr

So, there's no layer of schmutzdecke going on, as far as I can tell.

[mdi]

Commendable effort for the environment. But, exactly what are the pollutants in the water? Carbon in the soot, and burned powder residue? Infinitesimal amount of lead from primers? Soap?

[Spector]

Evap the liquid and put the resultant dried bad stuff into the 2 litre plastic screw top soft drink containers. Partially collapse the bottle and screw the lid on tight and that should keep the bad stuff out of the ground water once it's buried and away from UV light.

[Rory McCanuck]

Guys, the way I read it is, he's in an area with little water that is hard to get to.
I don't think this really has anything to do with hugging trees, just he's trying to conserve water by re-using it.
Minimizing enviromental impact is more a side benefit.

[gsdelong]

I am confused about the "bio" part. What biological active remnants are left from cleaning brass? I am pretty sure the bio parts works by organisms eating organic materials. Can somebody educate me?

[OnceFired]

The goal is a double benefit from recycling/re-using the water for a couple things.

1. We are doing this on a commercial level, so there is substantially more water involved than an occasional 5 gallon session.

2. We want to be self-sufficient on-site as much as possible. Since this is commercial we can be liable for clean-up, so the idea is do what we can from the start to be very effective at minimizing impact, in addition to minimizing well water use.

A secondary effect we are hoping to incorporate is using the water (dirty/clean) as thermal mass for cooling the warehouse area. Doing that with cleaned water will be far lower risk.

[OnceFired]

The bio part is just coming from this method of filtration. My understanding is biosand filtration is also highly effective at removing heavy metals in addition to organics. It is also faster per unit volume than alternatives - taking far less space.

We are also considering solar distillation. The biosand method has the benefit of being self contained in a better way, more portable, etc than distillation.

[gsdelong]

Wouldn't most of the solids settle? Maybe make a 55 gallon drum with a way to drain the top 75% let it settle and skim off the top and repeat. How many of these products actually go into solution?

[MaryB]

Get a filter housing to hold one of these https://www.filtersfast.com/P-Watts-1-Micron-Pleated-10-Sediment-Filter.asp?kpid=WPC1-975&kpid=WPC1-975&gclid=CPHE7e3hkMYCFQEdaQodRwYAqw and pump your water through it. 1 micron will catch a lot including suspended metal particles. Dissolved metals could be plated out with electrodes by experimentation...

[mdi]

For a commercial operation and a home made unit, I think I'd construct a filter approx. 20 ft. tall and 3' in diameter. From the bottom up, activated charcoal, and varying filter materials (mesh filters, sand, up to coarse sand/gravel) to the top. Pour/pipe dirty water in the top, tap clean water near bottom...

[bhn22]

Are you using anything as a primary filter before pouring the water into the sand? With the filters I buy for hiking, it is recommended that you first let the water settle, then pour the clear water through a paper filter to keep your main filter from plugging up. Also, the online plans for water filters show using sand as a coarse filter, then using a layer of activated charcoal to remove the fine contaminants. Your issue could simply be that you're not using a long enough sand filter, and that the sand filter is coarse enough that the fine particulates aren't removed.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I see what you are trying to accomplish however if you were to water plants on your property with once used water I see no appreciable amount of pollution here.

Exactly how much water per day are we talking about? 100 gallons, 200 gallons? More? Less? I could dump that much water on my lawns and not even saturate them fully. IN fact my sprinkler system sues more water than that every time it runs.

Let the dirt filter the bad stuff out.

If you dump it on a lawn, and it kills the lawn then maybe you have a problem,,,

Otherwise recycle by using the water for irrigation. You could disperse the water thru perforated pipes like used in a Septic System. That way the water would be distributed over a large area. In fact a dedicated septic system might be in order if your volume is big enough.

Another way would be to centrifuge the water. This will remove all particulates quickly and much better than any filtration system.

There are plenty of De Laval Centrifuges on the used machinery market. They remove any particle that has any mass whatsoever. They are usually used for recycling motor oil.

You're in Texas and I know there is no shortage of water there right now. In fact I just heard on the new a few minutes ago( 11:30 AM PDT, 6/15/2015) you were about to get another round of Flash Flooding.

Randy

[mold maker]

If this is a commercial venture, It might be to your advantage to have a sample tested for release in non potable water. Knowing exactly what the baddies are will tell you how to meet standards. States have a way of strangling small businesses with red tape after huge investments have already been made.
What us town folks can just pour down the drain, could be cause for a huge fine, and clean up elsewhere. Our output is diluted by a huge factor just because of the size of the system.
The OP is trying to be responsible, and is dealing with unknowns, on his home property.
My personal experience involves reclaiming silver from a nitrate system, and was more geared toward recovery of precious metal, than treating the output. In our case the dilution involved in the flocked and salt treated process, was sufficient to meet city codes. In order to avoid future penalties we paid to have the treated water hauled away by a disposal co. They got paid to pump it into a truck, that later legally dumped it into a huge municipal sewer system. Problem solved
Come to find out, the city water had contents that weren't legal in sewer, but were OK for water supply. Go figure.

[sdcitizen]

I work in industrial wastewater treatment. We remove all sorts of toxic things from water, including metals. Bangerjim was on the right track for what you might have in your water. The contaminants to worry about in the wastewater are likely lead and zinc. The carbon residue will actually be a help to you. A bio filter is merely a home for bacteria that use contaminants as a food source. They use carbon to convert ionic metals to an inert state. The bacteria that do this need a water pH of 6.5-8.5, and no oxygen in the water with a temperature above 65 F. After that all it takes is sufficient contact time and a little extra bio-available carbon to do the job. Carbon can be anything from glucose and sucrose, to alcohols or hydrocarbon fuels. In the testing that we have done, the contact time is on the level of hours to remove heavy metals, but we have a lot of other things in the water that need to be removed first.

[OnceFired]

The filter I have currently is a 5-gallon bucket, filled with layers of increasingly fine gravel & sand. All told, there is approximately 3"-4" of space at the top of the bucket - the rest is filled with filtering material.

River rock 1" gravel from big-box home improvement store
Medium gravel 1/2" gravel, same
Small gravel <1/4" size, same
Medium sand 50# silica sand, same (not all of it used!)
Fine sand 2# bag from aquarium supply store

The predominant material in the filter is the medium sand, by far.

The filter is doing an EXCELLENT job at eliminating particulate matter. The water is the color of iced-tea, but otherwise sparkling in nature. Absolutely nothing floating it it that I can see. I have read research that the heavy metal content of the water is actually filtered quite well with a biosand filter. That said, I am not getting the "bio" part of the biosand filter so the filtration I am getting is definitely sub-par at the moment.

I think the water color will also be addressed as I get the biological layer in place. I am getting similar results now with the brass water as I did with tap water with black food coloring mixed in. That's a dye, and is much harder to filter out.

The first bucket (on top of the main filter) has window screen duct taped to the mouth, so that is functioning as a big chunk filter. I can add a paint strainer to clean up more of that stuff. But frankly the water coming out of the cement mixer after washing the brass doesn't have too much chunky bits in it anyway. The rain water on the other hand, gets LOTS of dirt in it from the roof.

I think my next step is to grab a bucket of water from the local lake to put that in to jump-start the biologicals.

As for the longer term goal, this is the idea I had in mind:

1) 55-gallon drums filled with water will help cool the warehouse / factory floor area (thermal mass & fans)
2) Some of those drums could perform double-duty filtering the brass wash water (closed loop, separated from others)
3) Keeping the filtration going through a drum allows for nearly-sealed hands-off collection of disposable material when it comes time

I think what I could do is add #4...

4) After one or more passes through biosand filter, pump the water outdoors for Texas Sunshine Destillation, then back in when it's clean again.

This minimizes contact with the materials, minimizes area of impact, and allows them to be portable.

In addition, all of these things will last FAR longer than any store-bought filters that have to be replaced constantly.

That was the idea: self-sufficiency in economical form.

[sdcitizen]

The bacteria you want are in soil, a scoop of dirt, some sugar or molasses, and dirty water are all they need to get growing. The upper temp limit for them to function is about 95 F, and a slow steady recirculation of water through the sand is the best way to get them to work. Once you get to a 55 gallon drum of sand size, you could put in small amounts of dirty cleaning solvent (non-chlorinated) to feed the bugs the carbon they need. Time is your friend here.

[kfarm]

I'm sorry, if water was that limited I'd move. Better yet just use a dry method.

[Walter Laich]

Some folks see a challenge in things and want to solve it.
.
Keep it up OnceFired.

--from a guy that is standing in water outside, again--"but they said it will go down..."

[W.R.Buchanan]

How much water are we talking about per day?

Randy

[EDG]

I once worked in a company that had a captive chromic acid chem film process.

When the chromic acid needed to be changed it was buffered with a base. The tank was allowed to sit until all of the chromates had precipitated out of the solution. The neutralized water went down the drain. The chromate sludge was scraped out of the bottom of the tank and was sent to an EPA approved landfill.

[jmorris]

I too would likely stick with dry methods before adding even more work to the wet process but...

I would be interested to see how a DE pool filter would work in your process. They are good for a large amount of water (thousands of gallons) for a long time.

[dudel]

I'm sorry, if water was that limited I'd move. Better yet just use a dry method.

Dry has issues as well if you're trying to control pollutants. Lots of lead dust coming off of the dry method. I suspect a good dust collector might help control it though.

[OnceFired]

So here's my thinking on the whole dry vs wet route...

1) Texas has a dust & wind issue
2) Texas does not have an excessive water issue (usually) and in fact typically has a too-little water issue

Any dry method of disposing of these elements is harder to control. Water passed through an otherwise sealed container is MUCH better than dealing with dust which is frankly a pain in the butt, and far more expensive. Ever look at airborne mold cleanup? I'm sure the EPA could come up with something regarding lead dust, if they haven't already.

So, the idea is to keep things wet & contained. If we have a spill, it's not a big deal as it will largely evaporate, and its likelihood to be ingested/inhaled is very low.

Overall, the plan is to use the treated water back on the grounds in some limited form. For landscaping, etc. We aren't planning on watering a golf course with it, but we may as well use it for as many purposes as we economically can.

In terms of volume, that's a good question.

Figure 5 gallons of 223 brass (roughly 80 lbs) needs about 5 gallons of water. If we process 1000 lbs of 223 brass = 200 gallons of water, roughly speaking. How often that occurs is the real question. If we do 1,000 lbs per week that's roughly 800 gallons of water per month.

Our plans are for MUCH more than this. Call that 73,000 cases a week, or 1/4 million per month. We want 4x that per caliber to start on rifle, more on pistol. That's at least 3200 gallons per caliber per month.

Hence the desire to recycle the water. When you're on city water, it's less of an issue. But pulling 3200 gallons of water per month out of a well X the number of calibers gets onerous. In Texas, in what are typical drought conditions, it translates directly into cash we save. The deeper our well needs to be, the more it will cost us.

And of course we could be putting nearly 100% of that back into the ground pretty much as good as how we got it out AFTER we've used it many times.

But I don't trust the EPA on things like this.

Consider the following info I found on the EPA site today while writing this.

http://www.epa.gov/WaterSense/pubs/outdoor.html
http://www.epa.gov/WaterSense/pubs/indoor.html

The EPA apparently cannot agree with itself on how much water the typical US family uses per day. One source says 320 gallons per day, the other says 400. They both agree it's about 30% outdoor, 70% indoor.

The idea of this business being able to claim, and prove, it is having a lesser impact on the environment than a single average US household is enormously useful. But math alone doesn't give the statement the power, as sad as that is. SHOWING it happen, along with the math, is what people respond to.

[W.R.Buchanan]

OF:: I hear you on the Enviro stuff. However I think you are over estimating the impact of your water usage. 3200 gallons a month is nothing 10 times that is really nothing. The average .25 Car Wash uses more than 3200 gallons a day!

If you were to get a water sample and have it tested to find out exactly what is in it and how harmful it could be, you could decide better what to do with it. If you can safely use it for irrigation right out of the tumbler then it is being recycled directly back into your aquifer and the dirt will purify it. This is by far the cheapest and easiest solution to your problem. I seriously doubt you are going to suck your well dry using that much water, and especially if you are dumping it right back on the ground after use. Even if you have to deepen your well it would be cheaper to do that than buy all the equipment to filter and recycle your used water continuously.

If you have stuff in it that must be neutralized then I would suggest consulting outfits that purify water on a large scale on site. Outfits like Power Companies that use Cooling Towers can show you what they do and you can scale it down to your size requirements. In fact an internet search should be able to turn up enough information on water purification for you to make an informed decision. The stuff doesn't need to be drinkable it just needs to not kill anything.

Keep in mind that all filtration systems with reusable filters of any kind must be back flushed to clean the filters. This usually takes nearly as much water as you filtered in the first place. You could go directly to an RO System, which I can guarantee will make nearly perfect water out of raw sewage, however you still have to back flush that system and then you have to deal with that contaminated water after the fact. That would be a problem as that water will be super concentrated!

However none of this is relevant until you sample your effluent water and find out what is in it that is bad, and how much is there. IE Parts Per Million.

Lots to consider here and I just hope you see fit to ramp this operation up in small increments so that if you find out you can't supply your operation with brass for some reason, or find out you can't sell as much as you think you can, you will not have created a large facility that is basically useless and a severe financial burden that will bankrupt you.

In this endeavor there are many political things that could put you out business. And the people who would create them probably don't live in Texas and won't given damn about your loss. IE; Hildegard!

Randy

PS Hillary's real name is Hildegard! Feel free to disseminate this far and wide. She can't be allowed to insult all of us with out some battle scars!

[MaryB]

I grow this plant to eat but it is supposed to also be a good plant for heavy metal remediation because it sucks them from the ground https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brassica_juncea



So here's my thinking on the whole dry vs wet route...

1) Texas has a dust & wind issue
2) Texas does not have an excessive water issue (usually) and in fact typically has a too-little water issue

Any dry method of disposing of these elements is harder to control. Water passed through an otherwise sealed container is MUCH better than dealing with dust which is frankly a pain in the butt, and far more expensive. Ever look at airborne mold cleanup? I'm sure the EPA could come up with something regarding lead dust, if they haven't already.

So, the idea is to keep things wet & contained. If we have a spill, it's not a big deal as it will largely evaporate, and its likelihood to be ingested/inhaled is very low.

Overall, the plan is to use the treated water back on the grounds in some limited form. For landscaping, etc. We aren't planning on watering a golf course with it, but we may as well use it for as many purposes as we economically can.

In terms of volume, that's a good question.

Figure 5 gallons of 223 brass (roughly 80 lbs) needs about 5 gallons of water. If we process 1000 lbs of 223 brass = 200 gallons of water, roughly speaking. How often that occurs is the real question. If we do 1,000 lbs per week that's roughly 800 gallons of water per month.

Our plans are for MUCH more than this. Call that 73,000 cases a week, or 1/4 million per month. We want 4x that per caliber to start on rifle, more on pistol. That's at least 3200 gallons per caliber per month.

Hence the desire to recycle the water. When you're on city water, it's less of an issue. But pulling 3200 gallons of water per month out of a well X the number of calibers gets onerous. In Texas, in what are typical drought conditions, it translates directly into cash we save. The deeper our well needs to be, the more it will cost us.

And of course we could be putting nearly 100% of that back into the ground pretty much as good as how we got it out AFTER we've used it many times.

But I don't trust the EPA on things like this.

Consider the following info I found on the EPA site today while writing this.

http://www.epa.gov/WaterSense/pubs/outdoor.html
http://www.epa.gov/WaterSense/pubs/indoor.html

The EPA apparently cannot agree with itself on how much water the typical US family uses per day. One source says 320 gallons per day, the other says 400. They both agree it's about 30% outdoor, 70% indoor.

The idea of this business being able to claim, and prove, it is having a lesser impact on the environment than a single average US household is enormously useful. But math alone doesn't give the statement the power, as sad as that is. SHOWING it happen, along with the math, is what people respond to.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Surprisingly I was driving along the 101 today listening to Fox News on Sirius XM(114) and there was a commercial I have heard many times before but this thread was fresh in my mind and it finally hit home.

It was for an outfit named "Rain For Rent". They advertise that if you Recycle Water, Pump Water, Filter Water, or Store Water in Tanks, they are your goto outfit.

This sounds like a one stop shop for your brass cleaning needs. http://www.rainforrent.com/

Just happens to be branches in 11 cities in Texas!

I think this may solve all your problems.

Randy

[jmorris]

So here's my thinking on the whole dry vs wet route...

1) Texas has a dust & wind issue
2) Texas does not have an excessive water issue (usually) and in fact typically has a too-little water issue

Any dry method of disposing of these elements is harder to control. Water passed through an otherwise sealed container is MUCH better than dealing with dust which is frankly a pain in the butt, and far more expensive. Ever look at airborne mold cleanup? I'm sure the EPA could come up with something regarding lead dust, if they haven't already.


I know businesses that do both dry and wet on large scales and have even built some very large wet tumblers for one, the other has a room full of cement mixers and uses corncob.

Corncob lasts for a lot more than one batch of brass and water cleans them faster. Either way, I don't think I would send a sample of you water into the EPA for testing. They just might come out to see what your doing, would be a real PITA if they forced you to treat your water as a HAZMAT.

[W.R.Buchanan]

When I said get the water tested I damn sure didn't mean send it to the EPA.

I hope you are smarter than that !

If you open that can of worms I doubt you would be able to close it back up and your whole enterprise would go down the drain,,, not to be cornfused with the drain your water should be going down.

You would get it tested by a local independent lab and the results would be FYI only. Then you could decide what to do.

Randy

[edler7]

Get yourself a small above ground swimming pool with a pump and sand filter. Wally World has some pretty small ones. Dump the waste into the pool and circulate through the filter.

You out can also get metal sequestrants for pool water. They won't remove the metals, but they will keep it "bound up".

[jmorris]

This is one of the wet tumbler setups I built before the drums were "ringed" and slots were added for water into and out of the drums a DE or fiber filter could just be plumed into and out of the large tank itself.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlZOYjmAnO0