Septic Tank

[BMW]

It is recommended that a septic tank be pumped out every 5 years. Since we have been in the house seven, I figured it was time. Set up an appointment and dug up the tank only to find that one of the access covers was cracked (this might tie into the <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/cgi-bin/compact/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=owning&Number=91332&Search=true&Forum=All_Forums&Words=septic&Match=Entire%20Phrase&Searchpage=0&Limit=50&Old=allposts&Main=91332>Septic Tank</A> post from earlier). I don’t know when the damage happened or what caused it. I’m betting that the Kubota L3010 with loaded tires might have something to do with it. I used the scarfers on the box scraper to loosen up the dirt before starting to dig. The left rear tire was probably sitting on top of the lid when the scarfers started to dig in. Just a guess. After the honey dipper guy was done, I threw a sheet of plywood over the hole and made a trip to Home Depot for concrete and re-bar. I didn’t want this to happen again, so I decided to use half inch re-bar instead of the wire mesh. I had to wait for a semi-warm day then poured two new slabs for lids in the unheated barn. I covered them up with insulation with two 75 watt heaters (light bulbs) so they wouldn’t freeze at night. After curing for two days I set them in place with the 3 point carry-all. The only problem was that the idiot that did the digging put the dirt on the side of the hole where I couldn’t use the box scraper to push it back into the hole. Attached are some pictures. They aren’t quite up to Harv Standard and there isn’t any action shots. The first one is a shot of the problem.

 

[BMW]

The new lid fresh from the barn. You can see the next project in the background. I have to remove the old heating oil tank and set the new one in place and get the oil transferred.

 

[BMW]

Lifting the new lid

 

[BMW]

Setting it in place

 

[BMW]

Hauling the old slabs away.

 

[JoeR]

From your picture it looks like you have 18 inches of soil above the lid? If that is correct, I would think it would be unlikely that the weight of the tractor cracked it... Again, looking at the pictures, the crack does not look new?? When you pulled out the old lid, did it look like a fresh crack?

Overall, when I installed 18 inch culvert pipes, I needed 24 inches of soil above the culvert to protect it from fully loaded cement trucks. With that information, I think 18 inches would be plenty to protect the lid from the weight of your equipment.

Maybe, when the tank was first installed, the contractor ran over the lid before they had enough soil on top of it?

Anyway, looks like you had your work cut out, and you had the right equipment to move the heavy load.

Great pictures!!

Joe

P.S. I had my septic tank backup once... The smell is something I will never forget.

 

[BMW]

Its more like 8 to 12 inches above the lid but your right the more I think about it the cracks didn't look fresh. The tank is built out of block not one of those new fangled prefab ones. I think it is original to the house (1949) or at least pretty old. the guy who pumped it out remembers pumping it out before for the previous owners (my wife's grandparents), so I assume it was okay then. But the broken one was on the second side of a two chamber tank maybe it was never uncovered and they only pump out the "solids" side? Either way I didn't want it cracking again so I built them pretty beefy - a full four inches thick with half inch rebar. 5 bags of concrete so about 400 pounds each.

Later
Mark

 

[billboe]

<font color=blue>about 400 pounds each</font color=blue>

Wow... I hope the next owner has a nice Kubota also!

 

[BMW]

If the trend continues one of my grandchildren will be the next owner. And get the tractor along with it.

 

[Harv]

<font color=blue>They aren’t quite up to Harv Standard</font color=blue>

I think that has just been upgraded to the BMW standard, Mark. Your pictures are terrific!

I'm not qualified to say what broke your cover, but I'm sure as heck impressed with your fix.

Nice job.