Curious as to how many of you have your own "sewage treatment plant" in your own backyard. I don't want to bore the board with a bunch of...crap...if it doesn't apply to anyone here.
I'm quickly becoming knowledgeable about septic tank systems. If anyone is interested I'll tell my story...the good, the bad and the stinky. Also, a little how-does-it-work (an on-going learning experience for me) and some recommended maintenance to get the longest life from your system.
If septic tank systems don't apply to anyone here, there's no need for me to continue. I won't be offended as I wouldn't be in the least bit interested in this subject if I were on city sewer.
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#4290638 - 08/25/1611:25 PMRe: How many of you have a septic tank?
[Re: MarkG]
Homes in the Philippines usually have their own septic tanks, which are then drained out by "specialists" as needed. I remember when my family's house was being built, I thought we were going to have a swimming pool! About 6-8 feet deep, can't really remember the other dimensions though. I'm also not sure if it's connected to any of the city's drains, but in one other house I saw, the septic tank wasn't connected to anything and was quite small so had to be drained yearly. As for my family's house, I don't ever remember it being drained. Maybe my parents just had it done when we were out of the house?
- Ice
#4290658 - 08/26/1601:15 AMRe: How many of you have a septic tank?
[Re: MarkG]
we have several at our local Scout camp. some campsites have holding tanks because the rocky soil won't drain, and they get pumped. the others have drain fields, of several various types.
Have you seen the Arrow? WWW
#4290660 - 08/26/1601:24 AMRe: How many of you have a septic tank?
[Re: MarkG]
Cool. I'll get back to this with a long post and pics.
The rusty wire that holds the cork that keeps the anger in Gives way and suddenly it’s day again The sun is in the east Even though the day is done Two suns in the sunset, hmph Could be the human race is run
#4290662 - 08/26/1601:33 AMRe: How many of you have a septic tank?
[Re: MarkG]
Joined: Jun 2001 Posts: 10,790Weasel_Keeper SimHQ Forums Manager
I live in the country and have my own well and septic system.
Since I had lived here for 6-7 years already I thought I should get it pumped out. Dudes came over, dug up the cover, opened it, and it was perfectly fine. I have a very old system and I drop bacteria (RID-X) down the toilet every couple of months to eat the poo and stuff better. My runoff goes underground through a pipe for about 200 yards and into a drainage ditch. As long as I don't have to get a new system then I'll never have to follow current code...heh. The code was fine when it was originally installed so it's grandfathered.
place i work at has a septic tank as its not connect to the mains, they get it pumped out every now and again by some company that specializes in them.
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Living out here in the sticks....I have a 1000 gallon septic tank with a 650 Sq foot drain field, and deep (200') well, along with propane heat, all independent of any city systems.
I had a filter put on the septic tank, leading to the drain field, as 'that' is what is hard to replace, the drain field. When the tiles get plugged up, your in big trouble, and need a new drain field, better hope it 'perks', or you have to have it pumped up to higher ground, a very costly move. But installing the filter means I need to clean it out every year. That means calling the septic guy and having it pumped out every year, so he can reach down and pull up the PVC style filter (just a bunch of holes in a 8"X3' tube) and hose it down, cleaning out the holes. It catches all the cloth and fibers from the washing machine, things that plug up your drain field tiles. Costs me about $150 a year, but well worth it. I could probably go two years without cleaning the filter, but why take the chance of it plugging up in winter.....
I had to have a dozen trees bulldozed away, and the sand brought in, to build the drain field here in the forest. Then had the septic tank put in at the same time, just after they drilled the well. It was back when I had money.
I have photos.....it was quite a project. Relatively cheap at the time, very...very expensive, if I had to do it now.
Yeah, I was thinking about you Mark, and the flood, and what it was probably doing to your septic and drain field. Really bad news I'm betting. But hope not....
"Murphy's Law"
#4290682 - 08/26/1604:45 AMRe: How many of you have a septic tank?
[Re: MarkG]
We're on one. We seem to go for quite a few years before it needs a pumping. So If we get enough rain and the ground is completely saturated and covered in standing water, the toilets won't flush. There's also an old abandoned one somewhere beneath the house that a plumber couldn't find. He tried finding it with a snake and he said he didn't know, only that for some reason it seems to drop underneath the house and then disappears. We have another one in the front yard off the kitchen. Its one of those grey water tanks but it gets used as a septic tank for another bathroom nearby.
My Dad's rental property down the street where my sister now lives has one. Its a new one but before it was an old one and that proved to be an ongoing problem and experience over the years. My Dad and I renovated that house about nine years ago. One day I drove my truck into the back yard to haul demolished block away. It used to be on a well and had a large holding tank but my Dad went to city water for renting it out. So hauling that broken up tank away, one day not knowing exactly where the septic tank was, I accidentally cracked the concrete lid to it. So we had to pour a new lid cover but before doing so, we figured we'd really get in there because of all the poor drainage issues and look at it and clean it out. So we got it pumped out and then I spent a few days inside of it cleaning it and patching cracks and stuff sloshing around in piss water getting into my rubber boots and all kinds of loveliness. Eventually we just had to uncover it to see what was going on because it never drained right and was getting worse and now there were renters in! We eventually found that the line going out of the bathroom to the tank was the old terracotta pipe and it had been broken in several areas and had roots growing into them. So my Dad had a plumber replace it all with PVC. Later I dug out the back to see where it was draining from the tank and the line coming out of it I discovered not only didn't have any drainage holes in it, it was totally capped in the back? I'm not sure about that but my Dad finally had to get the whole thing replace several years ago. So its one of these crazy things with its own pumps and such. I'm not sure how it works but its nice. Unfortunately because of the replacement septic tank, that also meant being up to code and all of our stuff was probably 50 years old. So now in the back yard which isn't that big, there's a huge mound. You can stand on it and look right down into the neighbor's yards lol. Hate that.
I also helped my neighbor who I worked for 12 or so years ago redo his drain field. I pretty much dug the whole thing myself by hand and lugged in all the rocks. Hard work but its great helping to fix something, especially of that nature that hasn't been working well for years. I think we forget that its a blessing just to be able to flush our toilets.
Last edited by Coot; 08/26/1604:48 AM.
John 10:1-30 Romans 10:1-13
#4290755 - 08/26/1601:01 PMRe: How many of you have a septic tank?
[Re: MarkG]
It's all a bit overwhelming at the moment, but we’re most likely looking at a total septic system replacement (new tank and drain/leach field). Haven't gotten estimates yet, but we know we're looking at several thousands. Makes buying a new washer and now mower repairs (Gravely zero-turn) a non-issue. When it rain, it truly pours!
Fortunately we had a little set aside, mainly for my starting college next year, that'll have to wait now. But hey, I'm only 49 (in 5 days), there's plenty of time for school!
I'll get to the details later, but the biggest problem is that tank (non-recommended steel type, we believe 1200 gallons) is rusting out and has collapsed onto itself to the point that the crushed top was blocking the feeder pipe. So at the very least we're looking at total tank replacement (16 years old, premature even for steel tank), going to go with concrete this time.
#4290756 - 08/26/1601:10 PMRe: How many of you have a septic tank?
[Re: MarkG]
Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 22,405letterboy1
(Heterosexual)Tchaikovsky Ballet Fan
letterboy1
(Heterosexual)Tchaikovsky Ballet Fan
Lifer
I just had a new house built (on the old property) and even though the existing septic system never gave problems, it was so far out of code that I had to get a complete new system installed. About $26,000 later I have a brand new system that pretty much takes up the whole yard..complete with some ugly vents and electrical posts sticking up. The new system has two tanks and a pump system while the old one was just gravity.
Long system spec sig follows:
PowerSpec G436 Lian Li ATX 205 MSI Z490 Plus Motherboard Intel Core i7 10700K 3.8 GHz 32 GB RAM DDR4 1600 Nvidia RTX3070
There was only 16 squadrons of RAF fighters that used 100 octane during the BoB. The Fw190A could not fly with the outer cannon removed. There was no Fw190A-8s flying with the JGs in 1945.
#4290770 - 08/26/1602:13 PMRe: How many of you have a septic tank?
[Re: MarkG]
Is that like 'his and hers' side-by-side sinks you see in some bathrooms? How romantic.
$26k Recluse??? Yeah, that can put a dent in the family budget! I do know that new more stringent codes have driven up the price.
A Parish Health Unit Inspector came out to the house in January, 'sniffing' around to see who was polluting a pond or creek or some water around the area they'd tested poorly. Wasn't us, but he did review the last permit for our system (2009, when we bought the house) and gave us a "Passed Inspection" paper, while recommending that we get a newer alarm-type aerator (toaster looking thingy that pumps oxygen into the tank) and above grade access.
#4290776 - 08/26/1602:28 PMRe: How many of you have a septic tank?
[Re: MarkG]
When we bought our house we were told we were on city sewer. Turns out we were on a septic tank and after about 10 years of no maintenance (because we didnt know it was even there) the tank died and we had to pay to be connected to city sewer. (actually looking back I think what killed the tank was a city utility truck drover over the top of it and cracked it.)
I had to come in and take a break from the heat and lovebugs.
We (father and I) dug out and removed the top of tank. Most of the sludge is in the smaller chamber on the drain field end of tank (bottom of pic). Bad, bad, bad. Most solids should be settled in the larger chamber (open horizontal pipe feeds from house) but the separating baffle is destroyed. My leach field may be seriously compromised from sludge (only liquids should drain into corrugated leach field piping).
What's left of the top (grade riser still attached).
More accurate measurements, we think: 7' x 4' x 4' (only ~840 gallons).
We're going to cut and cover it temporarily with a metal sheet, and then start looking for experts.
When this is all done, my 1/8th mile walking path is going to need a little repairing.
#4290842 - 08/26/1606:11 PMRe: How many of you have a septic tank?
[Re: MarkG]
Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 5,600Recluse
Mediocrity Above All!
Is that like 'his and hers' side-by-side sinks you see in some bathrooms? How romantic.
$26k Recluse??? Yeah, that can put a dent in the family budget! I do know that new more stringent codes have driven up the price.
I had sort of prepared myself for it as the new house was 4 Bedrooms and the old septic rated for 3. We were going to play some games with 3 bedrooms + a Den if the old septic passed, but since it was declared no good, we went for the whole new 4 Bedroom system. Would have had to do it for resale anyway someday..
Long system spec sig follows:
PowerSpec G436 Lian Li ATX 205 MSI Z490 Plus Motherboard Intel Core i7 10700K 3.8 GHz 32 GB RAM DDR4 1600 Nvidia RTX3070
#4290857 - 08/26/1607:21 PMRe: How many of you have a septic tank?
[Re: MarkG]
Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 24,712Dart
Measured in Llamathrusts
Dart
Measured in Llamathrusts
Lifer
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 24,712
Alabaster, AL USA
Oooh, flashbacks to the summer of '81, when I cleaned ours and re-dug the drain field with buckets, a shovel, and gravel re-purposed from an abandoned parking area next to our house.
Bucketing out a septic tank in July in Alabama.
Good times, good times....
The opinions of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.