design center

Free Site Audits & Bench Testing

See the Real Problem. See the Real Opportunity. Then Decide.

Talk to an Expert

Before You Fix Anything, You Need to Understand Everything.

Most plants live with unnecessary waste because no one has taken the time—or had the expertise—to analyze where performance is failing and where money is leaking out the back door. Operators inherit problems. Engineers inherit legacy designs. Managers inherit budgets that hide thousands of dollars in avoidable operational bleed.

Mercer’s Free Site Audit is the first step toward breaking that cycle.
We show you what is actually happening inside your separator, your tank, your flow path and your operating budget. We identify risk, waste, and missed opportunities. And if we cannot deliver meaningful improvement, we will tell you up front.

This is not a sales visit.
This is a diagnostic. A reality check. A roadmap.

Why We Audit Before We Recommend Anything

A site audit answers the two questions no one ever asks:

  1. Is your current system even capable of meeting its requirements?
    (Most are not. Many never worked a day in their life.)
  2. What is the cost of continuing with “good enough”?
    (Often far more than the cost of fixing the actual problem.)

Most people want to jump straight to equipment. Mercer refuses to guess. A correct solution starts with correct information.

How it works

We offer Two ways to run a “Free Site Audit” (without slowing your facility down)
Most “audits” are a phone call and a guess. Mercer’s is data-driven — and you can choose how we collect it:

Option A — Confidence Kit (no site visit required)

  • Sample collection + lab/JAR testing to confirm what’s actually in your water (not what someone hopes is in it)
  • Leave-behind inline oil (TOG) and solids (TSS)monitoring (plug-in / temporary) to capture trends and spikes over ~30 days
  • We review the results with you and define the separation target, risk, and the real-world operating window

Option B — On-site audit (when the application is complex)

  • Mercer (or our field team) comes to you to verify flows, constraints, tie-ins, access for cleaning, and operational realities
  • We confirm what can work before anyone starts spending money on the wrong hardware
  • Most times this includes on site jar testing, and a leave behind monitoring device that aggregates worst case scenario data points over a few weeks time.

Either way: you get a clear path forward — spec guidance, configuration direction, and what it takes to prove performance.

CLEAR DIFFERENTIATION

Who We Aren’t

We Are Not a “Good Enough” Separator Company

The industry is full of equipment that only works in lab conditions, relies on optimistic sizing assumptions, or requires excessive operator intervention to stay online. That is not Mercer.

Application Review and Pre-Visit Homework

We do not show up blind.
Before we arrive, we ask for:

  • Wastewater characteristics and process description
  • Flows, surges, and solids loading
  • Current separator details and condition
  • Historical compliance and effluent limits
  • Photos of the system and surrounding layout

This pre-work ensures that when we step on site, we can start solving instead of learning.


Application Review and Pre-Visit Homework

During the audit, we evaluate:

  • Existing separator internals and condition
  • Hydraulic imbalances, channeling, turbulence, dead zones
  • Inlet/outlet distribution issues
  • Sludge accumulation and solids behavior
  • Media inefficiencies (especially plastic packs that are clogged or collapsed)
  • Cleaning frequency, downtime, and staffing burden
  • API tanks with no enhanced gravity internals
  • Concrete, steel, or fiberglass tanks that should be performing but are not

We look past symptoms and find root causes.


Identify Your “Buckets of Waste”

This is where the value starts to compound.

Most plants spend real money every year simply to survive bad equipment. Mercer helps quantify that waste so you can understand your ROI long before any capital conversation begins.

We help you map:

  • Hauling costs
  • Filter replacements
  • Chemical and DAF expenditures
  • Pump-out and cleaning frequency
  • Fines and permit risk
  • Man-hours lost to babysitting equipment
  • Solids handling inefficiencies

These “buckets of waste” often represent enough savings to fully offset a Mercer solution—whether purchased outright or funded as Separation As A Service.

“Nobody ever got fired for doing the same damn thing,” as Andre puts it.
But that does not mean the old way is smart, or sustainable.


Operational and Financial Impact Summary

After the audit, you receive a clear read on:

  • What is actually failing
  • What it is costing you
  • How much improvement is possible
  • What the ROI scenarios look like
  • Whether piloting makes sense
  • Whether your system qualifies for a guaranteed test

This is your factual basis for making an informed decision.

What a Free Site Audit Includes

Application Review and Pre-Visit Homework

We do not show up blind.
Before we arrive, we ask for:

  • Wastewater characteristics and process description
  • Flows, surges, and solids loading
  • Current separator details and condition
  • Historical compliance and effluent limits
  • Photos of the system and surrounding layout

This pre-work ensures that when we step on site, we can start solving instead of learning.

On-Site Inspection and Performance Assessment

During the audit, we evaluate:

  • Existing separator internals and condition
  • Hydraulic imbalances, channeling, turbulence, dead zones
  • Inlet/outlet distribution issues
  • Sludge accumulation and solids behavior
  • Media inefficiencies (especially plastic packs that are clogged or collapsed)
  • Cleaning frequency, downtime, and staffing burden
  • API tanks with no enhanced gravity internals
  • Concrete, steel, or fiberglass tanks that should be performing but are not

We look past symptoms and find root causes.

A Mercer Site Audit (either path) can include:

If Mercer can’t help, we’ll tell you immediately.
If we can, this audit becomes the foundation for a tested solution and a performance guarantee.

Learn more

Engineering & Design

This Is Where the Magic Happens — And Why Our Systems Work.

Mercer is not a tank fabricator.
Mercer is a process design company rooted in fluid dynamics, solids behavior, and API-421 math.

Every engineered design includes:

This is the difference between “should work” and will work.

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Test for Free, Then We Guarantee

We Put Our Money Where Our Mouth Is.

Before you spend capital, Mercer can deploy a Proof of Performance Pilot — a real, physical Mercer system in your wastewater under your flow conditions.

You get real data, not theoretical promises.

If it works, we guarantee the full-scale design will work.
If it doesn’t — you don’t move forward, and you don’t get surprised.

This is how serious engineering organizations make serious decisions.

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After-Sales Support & Training

Buying the Best Equipment Isn’t Enough. You Need the Best Start-Up.

A separator is only as good as:

  • How it’s installed
  • How it’s started
  • How your operators are trained

Mercer provides:

  • On-site supervisory start-up
  • Operator training
  • Troubleshooting guidance
  • Best practices based on 40+ years of field knowledge
  • Performance verification after installation

This is why Mercer systems have one of the highest repeat-customer rates in the industry.

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Maintenance Contracts & Warranty Programs

Performance Only Lasts If Someone Owns It.

Poor maintenance destroys more separators than poor design.

Mercer offers optional programs that remove the burden from operators:

Everything that keeps a Mercer system running like the day it was installed — without the “babysitting” other systems demand.

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SAAS — Separation As A Service

Guaranteed Separation. Zero Capital. Zero Guesswork.

When capital is blocked, but the risk and pain are real, Mercer’s most powerful offering steps in:

SAAS (Separation As A Service)

You don’t buy the separator.
Mercer owns it, maintains it, optimizes it, repairs it, and guarantees its performance — all for a predictable monthly fee.

SAAS includes:

Your operators stop fighting the system.
Your plant stops absorbing risk.
Your separator finally becomes someone else’s problem — and someone else’s responsibility.

Learn more

How These Services Work Together

Mercer’s service platform isn’t a menu.
It’s a lifecycle, designed to eliminate risk at each stage:

  1. See It Clearly — Free Site Audit
  2. Design It Correctly — Engineering & Design
  3. Prove It Works — Test for Free, Then We Guarantee
  4. Install It Right — After-Sales Support & Training
  5. Keep It Performing — Maintenance Contracts & Upgrades
  6. Or Let Us Own It — SAAS
  7. Eco H2O Rapid Response – Temporary Fixes Before the Long-Term Solutions

Most customers use several of these services together.
Some use all of them.
Every one of them reduces your risk and increases performance.

 Free testing and evaluation are included.

If testing shows Mercer’s solution will not deliver meaningful improvement, we will tell you before you commit to anything.

Let’s talk