What the station does
Trucks arrive with septic tank waste or portable toilet waste. The driver opens the valve. The load hits a screen instead of a bare tank or a sewer.
Trash stays back. Liquid goes on. The station takes the truck, protects the next step, and gives you a pad you control.
Automated screen
The Muckraker is an automated screening machine. Dual motors shake a perforated basket. An auger moves and compacts the solids.
You do not rake the face for the whole unload. The basket is rated up to 400 gallons per minute. Openings are 3/16 inch.
Parts a station needs
U.S. EPA receiving-station guidance lists five parts. They are a dump point, screening, grit removal, storage, and odor control.
The Muckraker is the dump point, the screen, and the compaction. Trucks unload into the feed box. Grit removal, a holding tank, and odor control are separate.
Complete septage receiving system
A septic receiving system includes a screen, a way to deal with grit, compaction, and controls.
Complete septage receiving systems include those same parts. The Muckraker is the screen and the compaction step: a vibrating perforated basket and an auger. A rock trap or a grit chamber is a different machine.
Setup includes a hood safety switch. The videos also show a waste gate.
Rock and grit
Septage can carry grit and rocks. They settle in tanks and wear pumps. The basket holds debris larger than 3/16 inch.
A rock trap or a grit chamber is a different machine. Plan one if your loads carry a lot of sand or rock.
Compaction and the paint filter test
An auger compresses what the basket catches. Water goes back to the tank or the next step. Water weighs over 8 pounds a gallon, so drier solids are lighter to haul.
Landfills that ban free liquid use the paint filter liquids test. That test is EPA Method 9095B. The solids can meet it when the unit is run properly. The landfill still accepts or rejects the load.
Permits and agencies
A screen does not replace a permit. Limits stay with you and the utility. Land application of domestic septage also sits under 40 CFR Part 503. Screening alone does not meet that rule.
In Arkansas, the Division of Environmental Quality handles many water and land-application permits. Local health units handle septic system permits. Your state may use other names. VibraWaste does not issue those permits.
Hauler connection and controls
Trucks unload into the feed box. Setup includes a hood safety switch. The videos also show a waste gate.
On a manual bar screen, the person with the rake can be there for as long as two hours.
Screen types
Stations use a bar screen, a drum screen, or a vibrating screen. A bar screen is coarse and usually needs a rake. A drum screen rotates. A vibrating screen shakes a perforated plate.
The Muckraker is the vibrating perforated basket.
Sizing by gallons per minute
Match the screen to the fastest discharge you expect, in gallons per minute. Also match it to how many trucks arrive on a busy day.
The Muckraker is rated up to 400 gallons per minute. Tank size, crew, and the next step all change how many trucks a pad can take in a day.
Power
The Muckraker plugs into a single-phase 240V RV outlet. The receptacle is a NEMA 14-50R.
Many electric stations are built for three-phase 480V. That service is hard to bring in outside industrial zones.
FOG and grease
Grease trap waste is fats, oils, and grease. It is not the same as septic tank septage. Fats can mat a fine screen.
Cold weather
Freezing can stop a valve, a hose, or water left in a screen. Cold sites usually need a drain-down, heat, or a building.
Hauler access and unloading
Give the truck a straight approach and a firm surface. Leave room to open the valve without standing in the stream. Trucks dump into the feed box.
Trucks unload in 10-15 minutes (up to 400 GPM) on the Muckraker. Two hours is the manual rake on a bar screen, not this machine.
Footprint and install
Setup on a prepared pad takes about an hour from unload to the first truck. A forklift or telehandler sets the unit. The auger slides in and locks.
You pull four travel locks, fit the hood safety switch, and plug into a 240V NEMA 14-50R. Site prep is your job. The steps are in the Pre-Delivery Installation Prep Guide, October 2026.
The unit is 12' x 12' (20' x 20' work area) on a level concrete or gravel pad, or 6x6 / 8x8 treated timbers.
Cost
Pricing as of October 2026: $140,000 Muckraker equipment price, for pickup at our Oklahoma fabrication shop. Sales tax, freight and your site costs are extra. Pricing subject to change. The Muckraker vs conventional septage receiving stations comparison covers cost, install, footprint and mobility. Financing may be available through DealerDog, subject to credit approval.
A setup walkthrough is on the videos page.