Device support

Septic System

Innoclair NG6 Whole property

What do you need help with?

✎ Added by your host This is an Innoclair NG6 micro-station — a small on-site treatment system for the whole house, not a mains sewer connection. It runs itself and needs nothing from you day to day. If the grey control box won't stop beeping, or anything seems seriously wrong, message us rather than opening it up.

What can go down the drains

This house treats its own wastewater on site, using living bacteria in a tank outside — not a connection to mains sewers. Wipes and harsh chemicals either clog the system or kill the bacteria that keep it running, so a few things matter more here than in a normal house.

Never — bin these instead

  • Wipes of any kind — even ones labelled "flushable" or "biodegradable"
  • Sanitary pads, tampons, cotton buds, or other hygiene products
  • Condoms or anything rubber
  • Cooking oil, fat, paint, solvents, or drain-unblocking/caustic products
  • White vinegar — surprising, since it's a common natural cleaner, but it kills the bacteria this system depends on
  • Anything that isn't human waste or toilet paper — cigarette butts, nappies, food scraps, and so on

Use sparingly

  • Bleach — an occasional splash is fine, but avoid pouring in large amounts
  • Powder laundry detergent — liquid detergent is easier on the system
  • Strong disinfectant or antibacterial cleaning products, used often

Totally fine

  • Ordinary toilet paper
  • Everyday shower, sink, and washing machine water
  • Normal amounts of hand soap, shampoo, and dish soap

The alarm is beeping

A steady, intermittent beep means the system has flagged a fault — most often a tripped breaker or a brief power interruption. It's designed to keep treating wastewater safely while it does this.

Please don't open the large bolted lid or go near the tank itself — that's for trained technicians only. The small grey control box is the only part meant for anyone else to touch.
  1. Find the small grey control box — it's mounted separately from the tank, usually on a nearby wall or post, with a display and a few labelled buttons.
  2. Press the button marked ESC or showing a bell icon — this silences the beeping right away. A fault light may stay on, and that's expected; it just means the underlying issue is still there.
  3. Open the small door on the box and check whether one of the switches (breakers) has flipped to the middle or "off" position. If one has, flip it back up — this is the single most common cause.
  4. Wait a minute or two. If the beeping doesn't come back, the system has picked back up on its own.

Has it gone quiet and stayed that way?

All quiet

The system's back to running itself — nothing else to do.

Unusual smell outside

A faint earthy smell right by the unit outside is normal sometimes, especially on warm days — it's a live biological system doing its job.

  1. If it's mild and only noticeable standing right next to the unit, that's expected — no action needed.
  2. If it's strong, new, or noticeable indoors, think back — has anything from the "never flush" list gone down a drain recently (wipes, bleach, other chemicals)? That's the most common cause.
  3. Check the small vent openings on the cover outside aren't blocked by leaves, snow, or anything sitting on top of it.

Better now?

Should be back to normal

Glad that sorted it.

Draining slowly or backing up

This is almost always a normal, local blockage in one fixture — not the treatment system itself.

Please don't use any drain-unblocking liquid or powder — it's fine for an ordinary drain, but this house treats its own wastewater on site, and those products can permanently harm the bacteria the whole property relies on.
  1. Try a plunger on the one fixture that's slow — the normal way you would with any ordinary blocked sink or toilet.
  2. Give it a minute after plunging — slow drains sometimes clear gradually rather than all at once.
  3. Check whether it's really just the one fixture. If every sink, shower and toilet in the house is slow at the same time, that points to the shared system rather than a local clog — worth flagging to your host straight away.

Running freely again?

Cleared

Glad that sorted it.

Nothing to switch off

Short answer: there's genuinely nothing to do here. This system runs itself, all day and all night — there's no switch to flip, on or off.

  • It runs continuously in the background — no daily on/off, no settings to adjust.
  • Nothing to prepare or check before you check out.
Please don't switch off or unplug its power, even for a night away — the bacteria that treat the wastewater need a constant air supply, and cutting power, even briefly, can set the whole system back.

Something else

Type what's going on in your own words and we'll point you to the right fix.