Who knows about septic systems??

[Shemp]

You definitely want to start by contacting your county officials. Laws and regulations are always changing, but . . . in the early 90s, a brother-in-law hired an unlicensed installer to put in his septic system. The guy did a good job, but the county's inspector went after both the installer and my brother-in-law. Brother-in-law had 10 acres, and at that time, at least, Texas law was that no inspection, permit, etc. was required if you have 10 acres or more; you could do whatever you wanted to do. Brother-in-law's daughter works for a wealthy civil attorney and he finally got the county to back off. Brother-in-law gave me a copy of the state law; unbelievable; not a pamphlet or brochure, but a big, thick book.

So it is no longer if you have 10 acres or more you don't need a permit? I thought I had read where that is still in play. What a pain in the arse.....

 

[Bird]

That 10 acre rule may still be in effect; I just don't know. And it also may vary with counties. I know the county I lived in hired a new sanitarian before I moved back to town and went up on permits from $10 to $400 (inflation's tough). And a neighbor with 27 acres had a separate small system put in just for the washing machine, and he promptly got a letter from the sanitarian demanding to know why he did it without obtaining a permit.

 

[Perdido]

You need at least a 1000 gallon two chamber tank with 260 ft of field line if your soil is sandy. Do not go any smaller or you will have a bleed through in your field lines and it will back up into your house.

 

[firedog]

You definitely want to start by contacting your county officials

Absolutely......I live in the county but still had to have permits & inspections for the initial septic system back in 86' and for the aroebic system in 93' when we built the house. I'm sure you could find someone to install a system without permits but I don't think their suppose to. Contact either the county building dept. or the health dept. (or whoever issues permits).

 

[Greyfields]

Septic laws are different from State to State; but the individual counties and cities are typically vested with inspection & permitting. In Washington, it's the DOE "Organe Book" which design complies with. Each state will have its own manual.

FACT: Septic tank size does effect drain field geometry and sizing. However, in a convential gravity system the effects are negligible. However, I design and see a lot of pumped systems where I live. Perhaps that's only common in Western Washington. I doubt pumped systems are common at all in Texas where high water tables probably aren't an issue. But a typical septic here will have a 2 chamber tank followed by a wet vault followed by a pressure dispersion trench.

Also, I've never heard of a 10 acre exemption (or any other for that matter). So that sounds like a State practice. So unless you are in the same State, I wouldn't assume you have a free pass. Also, land use density can have a major effect on septic design. Typically the Feds will start requiring more stringent rules on septic design, or ban it all together and require sewers, once you get into the 1 DU/GA densities.

 

[mikim]

Bird - do you have the title / name of that law / book? I'd like to find it for my own purposes.

 

[Bird]

Bird - do you have the title / name of that law / book? I'd like to find it for my own purposes.

Sorry, Mike, but it was 12 years ago when I borrowed it from my brother-in-law, then returned it, and I don't recall what it was titled. And of course, a lot of laws have changed since then, too. I noticed this article in the Denton Record-Chronicle this morning, so things are still changing.

 

[dfkrug]

FACT: Septic tank size does effect drain field geometry and sizing. However, in a convential gravity system the effects are negligible. However, I design and see a lot of pumped systems where I live. Perhaps that's only common in Western Washington. I doubt pumped systems are common at all in Texas where high water tables probably aren't an issue. But a typical septic here will have a 2 chamber tank followed by a wet vault followed by a pressure dispersion trench.

What is a "pressure dispersion trench"?

Here in CA, the counties I know of have Environmental Health Depts
responsible for septic systems. In my county, septic is the most stringent
and limiting factor for new house construction. Even more than seismic
limitations.

Percolation tests of the soil are often used, but in my difficult case,
soil samples were taken by the county env health inspector for a lab test.

In my county, the smallest septic system (4 bedrooms or less) requires
300 feet of drain field and a 1500 gallon 2-chamber tank. Setbacks and
other rules are numerous, incl 50-ft to any swale. My own system is
a pump-up system with Infitrator chamber drain field. A Registered
Environmental Health Specialist was reqd to design it, and a 2nd 1500
gallon holding tank was reqd to hold the pump vault. A pre-engineered
pump and control system (Orenco Systems) was part of the design.

 

[California]

Is it reasonable to route the showers and maybe the kitchen sink and the washer out to their own individual leach fields, to lessen the load on the septic tank? It seems to me that the less the gray water volume going into the septic tank, the better it will digest the nasty stuff. Comments?

 

[SnowRidge]

Is it reasonable to route the showers and maybe the kitchen sink and the washer out to their own individual leach fields, to lessen the load on the septic tank? It seems to me that the less the gray water volume going into the septic tank, the better it will digest the nasty stuff. Comments?

If you search you should be able to find web sites with dry well designs for the laundry and perhaps other grey water. I recall seeing one such site that was sponsored by a university, but that was a few years ago, and it may not still be around.

I'm pretty sure some localities have banned the practice.

 

[Perdido]

As I stated in the above comments, a 1000 gallon two chamber tank will cover what you need with at least 260 feet of field line ( pressure dispersion trench). My house is 4 bedrooms with 3 baths, 80 gallon hot water heater, dish washing and 2-3 loans of cloths washed every day. This system will handle all of your needs without routing your shower, baths, etc to another system. Get someone to do a perk test and that will let you know. Or do a quick check yourself --- dig a hole about one foot wide and about 3-4 ft deep and fill it with water about half way up. Check it about every hour and that will let you know how well it will drain.

 

[Shemp]

Talked to the county today and found out that the 10 acre rule expired in 2003. You have to have permit no matter how many acres. It's not as expensive as I thought it would be. Around $250.00 for the county for permits and inspections and around $100.00 to hire an engineer to test the soil and design the system. The guy I talked to gave a rough estimate of $4500.00 and up for the conventional system.

 

[bx24]

I have to put in a system in the next six months or so and I plan to use these for the leach field. You can get them locally at the home improvement center and all of the local contractors now swear by them

BioDiffuser Leaching Chambers – Open Bottom Effluent Distribution System

Good luck

 

[HUCKthe1]

I have to agree with others that you need to finding out what local law requires for septic systems in your area. We were required to have a state approved design that was calculated from soil conditions, house size, total amount of inputs (sink,toilets, drains, fixtures), number of people planned in the home.


I see where a few people have suggested bypassing their septic systems for some waste water. Please remember septic systems are a living system and need water to flow through them to survive. I can understand sump and wash machines not being connected but other water needs to be directed through your septic system.Them bugs that make that bad smell need water and that is what breaks down the solids.My 2 red cents.

 

[2manyrocks]

Now all you need to do is convince the Mrs. that you can save money by getting your own backhoe and doing it and other stuff yourself........

 

[johnk]

Go with the Rule they do it Big in Texas and put a 5000 gallon in for your seasonal place and you won't have any worries just bragging rights.

 

[Mike058]

I just got my preliminary design from my design guy and it's using an 1125 gallon tank for the 3 bedroom house we're going to put in.

 

[workinallthetime]

kind of funny, this topic is the exact reason i bought my old kubota bx 23, took me days to dig that septic system up in this rock and clay ground i have. got the smell out of the yard and my first deacent tractor out of the deal.

 

[TimS]

I just got my preliminary design from my design guy and it's using an 1125 gallon tank for the 3 bedroom house we're going to put in.

Mike, don't be penny wise and pound foolish. I was a local health official for quite a few years. We saw a lot of people who had to spend thousands of dollars to upgrade a system after the fact - and if they'd built a little bigger in the first place, the cost increase would have been next to nothing. At a minimum, I would design the septic to handle 1 bedroom bigger than the planned size of the house.

Tim

 

[AlanB]

If you search you should be able to find web sites with dry well designs for the laundry and perhaps other grey water. I recall seeing one such site that was sponsored by a university, but that was a few years ago, and it may not still be around.

I'm pretty sure some localities have banned the practice.

I worked with my county guys (Montgomery County TN) a couple of months back thinking about doing a drywell or something seperate for the washing machine. I was told that it is TN state controlled, and that it is a requirement that it drops into the septic. I did not worry about getting it in writing or a reference though (just complied)

That said, it seems like everyone "in the field" tells me to run the stuff out on the ground, then again, I am sure they would all deny if if push came to shove.