Wet Tumbling Residue and Septic System

[pbairborne]

I'm thinking seriously about going to wet tumbling. But one thing concerns me and that is if I dump the residue from cleaning brass down the drain, it goes to my septic system. Will the residue cause any problems with a septic system. Anyone out there have first hand experience?

[mwray]

Pretty good chance the bacteria in the septic tank wouldn't like those chemicals. Lemme shine and septic no good. But if you had the bacteria overly healthy by feeding it buttermilk twice a year it may survive the battle. Just dump it in the neighbors yard


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[L3324temp]

Either way it would be going into the ground. May as well just bypass the septic.

[pbairborne]

Don't like the thought of lead residue going to the septic system. Maybe dumping in the neighbors' yard on a moonless night would be the way to go...

[Sarge]

I just ran it through a Britta filter and drank it

[jmorris]

If you live where you have a septic system just dump it in the grass.

[johnbu]

If  a person has septic, they probably have well water too. Dumping on the ground will contaminate the well water eventually.  I for one don't want my well water f-ed up !

 

Can't it be put in old milk jugs and put in the trash?

[jmorris]

I have septic here at home and out at our farm but water is piped in.   Water and power generally go hand an hand, they will come long before sewage or natural gas for example.

Its a dam good thing we don't use well water here at the house because the County now requires all new septic systems to be aerobic, so now you have a pump spraying the "water" from the second tank on the top of the ground. 

That said even a lateral line septic system leaches back into the ground, not unlike an outhouse just has better capacity.  If you ever watched a western where they had the outhouse near the water well, it was not "period correct".

 

 

Edited October 7, 2016 by jmorris

[noylj]

Per septic system directions:

Disinfectants/Cleaners: Use citric acid, chlorine, and/or other biodegradable cleaners according to the manufacturer’s recommendations. Products containing quaternary ammonia or pine‐oil based cleaners should not be used. Use drain cleaners as a last resort to unclog pipes. 

 

Why worry? Simply tumbling for 30 minutes in 20/40 corn produces cases as clean as needed.

[Foxbat]

On 10/10/2016 at 11:18 PM, noylj said:

Why worry? Simply tumbling for 30 minutes in 20/40 corn produces cases as clean as needed.

Well, dry tumbling produces plenty of lead-rich dust.

Since I am not a chemist, " Products containing quaternary ammonia or pine‐oil based cleaners " - does that cover what wet tumbling uses?

[Steve RA]

Pour it on weeds in the yard, that way they will have all the nutrients they desire.

[noylj]

>Since I am not a chemist, " Products containing quaternary ammonia or pine‐oil based cleaners " - does that cover what wet tumbling uses?

No, unless you use ammonia-based cleaners (Lysol) or some of the "green" cleaners (turpentine and pine-oil-based cleaners). You can get MSDS for all products so you'll know what is in them. You can do a Google search for the MSDS.

All you have wet tumbling is usually Dawn and citric acid, plus the residual powder (soot) and dirt the case picked up. If you use a commercial cleaning solution, again just check the label or do a search for the MSDS.

Here is what RCBS lists on the MSDS for their case cleaning solution:

Section 3. Composition/Information On Ingredients

Chemical Name	Common Name	CAS Number	Weight % Range
Citric Acid	Citric Acid	77-92-9	10-18%
Ammonium Hydroxide	Aqua Ammonia	1336-21-6	5-10%

This is NOT a quaternary ammonia cleaner, just NH3 dissolved in H20. To me, it sounds like ammonium citrate is their cleaning agent.

Here is from the Lysol MSDS:

3. Composition / Information on Ingredients

Ethanol  64-17-5    40 - 60%

Petroleum gases, liquefied, sweetened    68476-86-8    2.5 - 10% 

Quaternary ammonium compounds, benzyl-C12-18-alkyldimethyl, salts with 1,2-benzisothiazol-3(2H)-one 1,1-dioxide (1:1)    68989-01-5     0.1 - 1%

Edited October 18, 2016 by noylj