Home made Septic Tank

[sherpa]

How do you build a septic tank out of a barrel?
We need a place to dump our RV tanks on a remote peice of property.
I have seen many of these used but never knew how they were put together?
sherpa

 

[blueriver]

I don't think thats a good idea ... its only 55 gallons and the only real saving is the 55 VS 1000 gallon cement tank ... would still have to be field lines... not to mention permits and health issues. Maybe just do it right.

 

[sherpa]

The tank will only be used 2 times a year at the most.

 

[Sumpter]

Does your place already got a septic? If so find the line going into the tank, tap into it, put a line out to a dump station and dump into that. This is what I did at my place. Works great.

 

[sandman2234]

I think he mentioned "remote property"...
Not sure, but I would dig a hole, partially fill it with rocks, gravel, etc and then set the drum on it. Add more gravel to fill hole, then drill holes in the drum (this is where it gets tricky as to which half) and put a pipe in the top to accept fill from your motor home. A little ballast in the drum might keep it from floating to the top, and i think the holes go in the top half, keeping the bottom half available to grow whatever it is that eats the "stuff" you put in it. The top half will allow excess liquid to seep into the rocks and disappear, and hopefully you won't flush too much grease, as there is no grease trap to keep the grease out of your rock.
David from jax

 

[Kays Supply]

If it is your property, you might as well pick a spot and dump it on the ground as you leave. It will work about as well as a barrel. Throw some aerobic bacteria from Robic, Bio Clean or an equal in the tank before you dump it. It will be as " treated" as you will get without a full blown septic system.

 

[Brad_Blazer]

Septic Product Line

Contact Building Inspections

 

[tungularafishcamp]

Just build yourself a outhouse and dump it in there, it will be legal, covered from critters, and you will have overflow toilet space for extra folks. Just dump your grey water somewhere else as the soap and stuff will kill the bacteria.
Rick

 

[CurlyDave]

This article shows how to do it How to Construct a Small Septic System - wikiHow.

Reading the article, it sounds like a lot of work for very little purpose.

Dump it on the ground when you leave. If you don't come back for a few months, when you return you will never be able to find the spot again.

 

[adjusterr]

Don't "Just dump it on the ground", I made that mistake when I first got my property, the site was visible for several years. I made a RV dump station as follows: 2 blue plastic 55 gallon drums, used 2" hole saw to cut holes at various locations in both drums, I used some scrap nylon netting to cover the holes to keep gravel from entering the drums during backfill. dug hole and set drums on and surrounded by gravel. I used PVC pipe, the size your dump hose will fit into, to make a top fitting, one downtube into a T, then a short tube with an L fitting and another downtube into the top of each drum. A PVC cap tops off the system. I have been using this system for years, although only once or twice yearly, when I can't find a public dump station, and it works perfectly. It works on the same concept as a standard septic system minus the extensive drain field. Good luck.

 

[Skyco]

The -just dump it on the ground- thing should work as posted if there weren't some of the popular RV tank chemicals used. Some of those can be nasty and may kill vegetation.
From what I gather many public dump stations have closed for this reason- some of the chemicals added to control smell made it too difficult to process the "stuff".

 

[WayneB]

I had a local guy put in a small septic tank (500 gallon) and then it went into a drywell to disperse the liquids (water). Whole system with installation was under $2,000.

No smells and no down the road problems above ground.

Wayne

 

[ihuntbear]

most camps around here use a 200 gallon furnace oil tank that has been steamed out.dig a hole big enough to bury the tank and pipes for the field.Just cut two holes in the tank,one at each end.one end goes to the camp ( in your case the station ) the other goes to the field.

 

[Loren49]

I used a 55 gallon plastic drum - ran a number of (4 or 5) 10 ft perforated sections of plastic pipe from holes about 2/3 up the drum. Rented a small backhoe - dug hole - put some crushed stone under and around the pipes and covered with dirt. I think that with your planned usage it would work fine.

Mine was never used as my parents plans changed (they were planning to spend summer in RV on my property) I'll sell it cheap - delivery and installation is lots extra :laughing::confused2:

Good luck,
Loren

 

[sherpa]

Thanks for the information!
Looks like we can do this pretty easy.
The remote property belongs to two of my friends.
The one friend and I are the only people that have RV's and will be using the property.
He wants me to help him install the septic tank.
I will be doing almost all of the installation other than the digging.
Thanks again!

 

[psj12]

I installed a septic system for my remote camper. It consisted of a 300 gal, ball shaped plastic septic tank that a local plumbing supply house sold and 125 feet of drain line. I had a load of stone delivered and a local guy with a back hoe was hired for the day ($150).

He dug the hole and drainfield trench. Backfilled the trench with about 1' of stone and then we dropped the tank in place and glued up the plastic drain line. Finished backfilling with stone over the drain line and topped with what passes for top soil in our area.

All done in one day for about $1,000.

The tank top has an opening we extended up about 6" so it is just above ground level and we pipe the trailer directly into the top of the tank. During storage season we cap the opening with a plastic pipe cap with several 1/4" holes drilled in it to allow venting. We also place a few cinder blocks around the opening to keep anyone from accidently driving over it.

 

[greasemonkeyok]

Something to consider in your risk analysis. Under the Clean Water Act, fecal coliform is a pollutant, and intentionally dumping it on the ground is a "release". Now, I don't know if dumping it on the ground is illegal in all circumstances, or only in certain circumstances. That determination may be fact specific. The state governments also have a hand in permitting septic tanks (i.e., fees).

The problem is, if your dumping is illegal and you get caught and the government requires remediation, the cost of a full blown aeration septic system might very will look cheep in hindsight.

Also if the owner wants to sell the property in the future and an environmental inspection is required, the inspectors will have a heyday with you and the owner if they detect illegal dumping.

 

[catfishdaddyengineering]

Although I do not recommend the "just dump it on the ground", how is once or twice a year going to hurt?

Greasemonkey,
How does the environmental inspector tell the difference from my poop or an animal's poop? If I have goats, chickens, cows, etc in a pen, they will poop in the same place all the time. Is that any different?

A 55gal plastic drum is no different from a 300gal plastic "septic tank", except in size. If they only use is a couple times a year, this should last for a long time. The setup that I was looking at building used two drums, an upper and a lower. The upper caught all of the solids, and the output of it was close to the top and then down to the lower. This allowed water overflow into the lower drum and any solids that might have floated. The lower drum then had the field lines run off of it.

Ha, I just looked back at Curlydave's link, and that is the same one I had looked at.

 

[greasemonkeyok]

As a preface to the following, I am not saying it is logical, desirable, or anything else. When you have a pollutant in a container (i.e., the RV), you "own" it, and have to dispose of it according to the regulations. With animal and human waste, as far as I know, if you don't collect it in a container you don't have have the same restrictions. For example, there are restrictions on feedlots and chicken houses, because the waste is moved in bulk.

As to how an inspector would ascertain the difference between human vs chicken, I don't know if they can. What they can ascertain is that there was bulk dumping of a "pollutant".

 

[Pirate]

Local guy I have do backhoe work for me told me how he got a job to bury an old chevy up at some hillbillies place. He did it. They ran a sewer line right into a vent window. Instant septic tank.