Oil Interceptors & Oil Separator Alarms

What is an Oil Interceptor?

Rainwater run-off from car parks, petrol stations, car washes, roads and vehicle storage units is contaminated by oil or petrol. This oil must be prevented from entering the water system to stop environmental pollution. An oil interceptor (or oil separator) is a trap designed to catch and hold any oil residue before it reaches the storm drainage system.

It is recommended that interceptors are cleaned annually to remove and dispose of the accumulated oil and silt. There are, however, problems with this approach.

Firstly, oil separators are generally unmonitored, and a site manager would never know if too much oil had settled within the interceptor and escaped into the drainage system. An oil escape into a local watercourse will result in hefty Environmental Agency fines, clean-up costs and negative press for your business.

The second issue with this approach is that, quite often, an annual clean is not necessary as there is not enough waste accumulated to warrant emptying the interceptor. This leads to unnecessary site visits and waste disposal costs for your company.

Oil Separator Alarms

To fix the problem of unmonitored interceptors, you can fit an oil separator alarm that monitors the oil level around the clock. When the oil reaches a set level, it will trigger an alert. 

We can install oil separator alarms to any new or existing on-site oil interceptor. 

An oil separator alarm works as an early warning system to highlight a problem, such as a blockage, or that the interceptor needs emptying. It is not an emergency alarm to tell you that pollution has already occurred. 

By fitting an alarm to your oil interceptor, you should no longer require annual interceptor cleaning as a matter of course, as the alarm will tell you when the interceptor needs clearing. This will reduce the amount of contaminated waste removed from your site.

Which Oil Separator Alarm is Best?

We offer two systems. The lower cost option is a basic oil separator alarm which, when triggered, alarms via a buzzer. This type of alarm, however, still requires a regular on-site inspection to ensure it is functioning correctly. The site of the alarm itself also needs careful consideration – an alert is no use if it’s sited where no-one can hear it. 

Our second system is a Smart Oil Separator Alarm. This combines an alarm with a built-in GSM modem which transmits data to a cloud-based, smart monitoring system unique to County Drains. When an alarm is triggered you have the option of receiving alerts by email, text or phone call (or all if you choose) so you never miss a problem.

The smart monitoring system gives our clients a web-based dashboard which shows the alarm’s location and contains a complete history of alerts and system checks. The system allows for documents to be uploaded and includes a section for you add comments whenever an alarm is activated. 

When waste is removed, or a service is completed, the documentation can be uploaded to the system to correspond with the correct date/alarm. This provides full traceability and environmental document control for environmental inspections or ISO certifications.

What are the Benefits of a Smart Oil Separator Alarm?

• Prevents environmental accidents (with associated unlimited EA fines)
• Reduces your company’s carbon footprint by reducing the volume of waste removal
• Reduces the cost of waste removal
• Never miss an alarm with text, email and phone alerts
• At-a-glance overview of all monitored interceptors
• Allows full traceability and environmental document control

To find out more about how our Smart Oil Separator Alarms can help your business, call us on 01530 510571.