IHDiesel73L
Silver Member
- Joined
- May 13, 2010
- Messages
- 168
We've been in our place almost a year now-150 year old farmhouse on acreage with lots of updates to various systems (electrical, heat, etc...), but when we bought it, it had a cesspool and no water treatment. As a condition of the sale the previous owner put in a brand new septic, pH balancer and water softener. At some point, (I'm guessing since the PO knew the cesspool was on borrowed time) the following waste lines were diverted into separate line which ran to daylight in a meadow about 20 yards from the house:
This of course was all tied back into the main waste line when the new septic was installed. The septic is a 1300 gallon two chamber tank with an effluent filter at the outlet, but since this is our "forever" house, we want to make sure that the septic has a good long life. Now, just to start things off, yes, I know that diverting grey water is not legal or code compliant in most places. However, I also know that lint, coffee grounds, and water treatment backwash salts and minerals are very bad for septic drainfields. As far as I'm concerned, septic drainfields should be reserved for dealing with poop and poop only. Obviously discharging human waste directly into the ground uncontrolled and untreated is not a good idea, but I fail to see the harm in discharging any of the things I listed above out into an open field. I live on quite a bit of acreage and I know for a fact that there is not another well (besides mine) within 1000' of the proposed area of disposal. That said, what is the best way to handle this? Drywell? Trench?
- Washing machine
- Kitchen sink
- Dishwasher
- Downstairs bathroom sink
- Downstairs bathroom tub
- Basement slop sink
- pH balancer backwash
- Softener backwash
- Basement dehumidifier condensate
This of course was all tied back into the main waste line when the new septic was installed. The septic is a 1300 gallon two chamber tank with an effluent filter at the outlet, but since this is our "forever" house, we want to make sure that the septic has a good long life. Now, just to start things off, yes, I know that diverting grey water is not legal or code compliant in most places. However, I also know that lint, coffee grounds, and water treatment backwash salts and minerals are very bad for septic drainfields. As far as I'm concerned, septic drainfields should be reserved for dealing with poop and poop only. Obviously discharging human waste directly into the ground uncontrolled and untreated is not a good idea, but I fail to see the harm in discharging any of the things I listed above out into an open field. I live on quite a bit of acreage and I know for a fact that there is not another well (besides mine) within 1000' of the proposed area of disposal. That said, what is the best way to handle this? Drywell? Trench?