Weight on Septic Leach Lines

[kemary]

This may seem like a dumb question, but how much weight is too much for septic leach lines. I built a new house last year and the leach lines are the easy flow tube. This system uses a 4" leach pipe inside a 10" sock filled with styrofoam packing peanuts, no gravel. The trenches were dug with a 12" bucket, the easy flow tube dropped in, cover with paper and backfilled. Here in Ohio the current septic rules only allow the trenches to be 18" deep. So with 10" of pipe, there is only 8" of cover fill. I'm a little paranoid about driving my tractor over the leach lines when I mow. I mow with a Yanmar YM 2500 and a Woods 72" RFM. The tractor weighs approximately 2400lbs and the mower weighs about 500lbs. So far I have stayed off of the leach lines and mowed them with a Cub Cadet 12 hp and 38" deck. Am I being overly conservative? Also, I do have turf tires on the Yanmar. The rears are 14" wide and the fronts are 8" wide. Thanks Jack.

 

[Hooked_on_HP]

I think you ars being overly cautious. What size machine did they use to backfill the lines. That should tell you how much weight they will take.
Bill

 

[kemary]

The leach lines were backfilled by the trackhoe as he went but the area was finish graded with a grading dozer that had very wide tracks. The dozer operator claimed that he could run over an egg buried flush with the surface and not break it!! Maybe he meant hard boiled!!

 

[polo1665]

This may seem like a dumb question, but how much weight is too much for septic leach lines. I built a new house last year and the leach lines are the easy flow tube. This system uses a 4" leach pipe inside a 10" sock filled with styrofoam packing peanuts, no gravel. The trenches were dug with a 12" bucket, the easy flow tube dropped in, cover with paper and backfilled. Here in Ohio the current septic rules only allow the trenches to be 18" deep. So with 10" of pipe, there is only 8" of cover fill. I'm a little paranoid about driving my tractor over the leach lines when I mow. I mow with a Yanmar YM 2500 and a Woods 72" RFM. The tractor weighs approximately 2400lbs and the mower weighs about 500lbs. So far I have stayed off of the leach lines and mowed them with a Cub Cadet 12 hp and 38" deck. Am I being overly conservative? Also, I do have turf tires on the Yanmar. The rears are 14" wide and the fronts are 8" wide. Thanks Jack.

Here is an older thread that addresses your concerns. I've heard arguments both ways. I keep my 3,500 lb tractor off of the leach field. I mow it with a garden tractor with a 60" deck. Probably takes less time with the garden tractor.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...eptic-well-systems.html?highlight=leach+field


Mark

 

[bearmtnmartin]

driving over your drainfield can cause two problems. First is the obvious, damage to components, and the other is compaction, which reduces oxygen transfer, and causes the drainfield to be more anaerobic. Oxygen transfer is why we install them so shallow now. EZ flows are H10 rated with a foot of cover, I think. So thats around 8000 pounds per square foot. So I guess what I'm saying is that you probably won't damage the pipes. but if you regularly drive over the drainfield with your 3500 pound tractor, especially in wet weather, you will shorten the lifespan of your drainfield. Oh, also, if you have a distribution box, they can't usually take any weight at all, and you stand a good chance of either crushing the lid, or causing it to settle unevenly, which can seriously damage your drainfield. I just replaced a D box on a 5 year old house that the landscapers destroyed. It was 2 feet down, but they managed to cave the lid in, tilt the box by 4 inches, and ruin one third of the drainfield.

 

[CurlyDave]

driving over your drainfield can cause two problems. First is the obvious, damage to components, and the other is compaction, which reduces oxygen transfer, and causes the drainfield to be more anaerobic...

I completely agree with this.

I don't have lawn over my drainfield, and I won't let anyone drive anything on it. Only walk.

 

[Wis Bang]

The leach lines were backfilled by the trackhoe as he went but the area was finish graded with a grading dozer that had very wide tracks. The dozer operator claimed that he could run over an egg buried flush with the surface and not break it!! Maybe he meant hard boiled!!

That was a LGP [low ground pressure] machine and he wasn't talking hard boiled. Unlike a tire, the weight is spread out over the whole surface area of the track surface on the ground while your tractor is concentrated on the footprint of the 4 tires. Kinda' like how snowshoes work in deep snow.

 

[kemary]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I guess I'll just keep using the cub cadet over this area. Jack.

 

[PILOON]

We were told that vegetation helped the evaporation process of a drainage field.
When questioned, an expert agreed that flower beds over a fiels would indeed aid the process as would vegatable gardens.
The concencus was that leafy vegies and shrubs would aide and not deter a field.

That being the case we have some of the nicest salad greens and showiest flowers in the area.

And this on a field that is close to 30 years old!

The grass is not necessalily greaner on the other side of the fence unless there is a drainage field under it!

 

[polo1665]

We were told that vegetation helped the evaporation process of a drainage field.
When questioned, an expert agreed that flower beds over a fiels would indeed aid the process as would vegatable gardens.
The concencus was that leafy vegies and shrubs would aide and not deter a field.

That being the case we have some of the nicest salad greens and showiest flowers in the area.

And this on a field that is close to 30 years old!

The grass is not necessalily greaner on the other side of the fence unless there is a drainage field under it!

Uh, I've also read that one should be very careful growing a vegetable garden over a septic leach field.
Septic Drain Field Gardening

Mark

 

[bearmtnmartin]

shallow rooting gardens are fine on leachfields that are in good working condition. If you are having high water events you are probably going to ingest a few pathogens along with your juicy strawberries.

 

[rutwad]

I would say alot depends on your soil. For the 3 septic systems on my property, we have never taken extra precaution for driving over the lines. Backhoe, truck, tractor, and else have all been across them and we have never had any trouble.

 

[IslandTractor]

shallow rooting gardens are fine on leachfields that are in good working condition. If you are having high water events you are probably going to ingest a few pathogens along with your juicy strawberries.

It would be more of a concern to ingest your neighbor's leach field strawberries than those grown over your own leach field. Everyone in a household shares essentially the same colonic flora anyway so there is really no harm biologically to reingesting what you and your family flushed anyway. It may be a little gross sounding but it is very unlikely to cause harm even if you forget to rinse the fruit/produce. I suppose one should be more cautious during cholera or salmonella epidemics but I wouldn't worry about it otherwise.

 

[polo1665]

It would be more of a concern to ingest your neighbor's leach field strawberries than those grown over your own leach field. Everyone in a household shares essentially the same colonic flora anyway so there is really no harm biologically to reingesting what you and your family flushed anyway. It may be a little gross sounding but it is very unlikely to cause harm even if you forget to rinse the fruit/produce. I suppose one should be more cautious during cholera or salmonella epidemics but I wouldn't worry about it otherwise.

Probably safe to pick your nose and eat it too, but I ain't doin' it.
So remember, if your garden is over your drainfield, no house guests may use the "facilities".

Mark

 

[IslandTractor]

Probably safe to pick your nose and eat it too, but I ain't doin' it.
So remember, if your garden is over your drainfield, no house guests may use the "facilities".

Mark

Do you mean to say that you allow house guests to use your indoor flushing facilities? We send ours out to the three holer attached to the barn.

 

[polo1665]

Do you mean to say that you allow house guests to use your indoor flushing facilities? We send ours out to the three holer attached to the barn.

I had the feelin' you was one of them there high falutin' city slicker types.

Mark

 

[spruce Deere]

yep, I guess fresh manure is out of the question for some people to apply to the garden spot threw the season!!!

 

[ampsucker]

best advice? if its working, dont mess with it.

raised garden beds could add significant weight. weight is compacting to the drain field. once the water finds an easy path to the surface, you could be fighting a near endless battle.

i won't even let my wife put the baby's swingset over the laterals even though it is the best place to see it from the house.

plant grass, mow it with a light weight mower. other than that:

if its working, leave it alone....

amp

 

[pat32rf]

I know exactly where my tile beds are, just look for the green stripes in the lawn in August. Our soil is basically pit run gravel with maybe an inch of organics (if that) on top. As such, the gravel ain't gonna compact any with tractors running over it. You can leave the lawn sprinkler running for 24hrs and there won't be any puddles 5 minutes after you shut down the hose.
During the course of the summer our bed gets driven over with both our 4000lb tractor and the 1/2ton pickup. I drive neither over the tank however....

 

[Hardscrabbble]

The leach lines were backfilled by the trackhoe as he went but the area was finish graded with a grading dozer that had very wide tracks. The dozer operator claimed that he could run over an egg buried flush with the surface and not break it!! Maybe he meant hard boiled!!

Many tractor companies (Cat for example) make what they call LGP (low ground pressure) tractors. It is suprising just how little pounds per square inch they put on the ground surface. Not sure about the egg statement though.