Will a septic tank support a BX2200?

[Bird]

Re: Will a septic tank support a BX2200?/READ THIS

/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gifYep, GlueGuy, my parents' system had two leech fields, and the instructions were to turn the valve whenever the ground appeared wet on the one being used. Instead of that, I just turned the valve on theirs on the first of each month, so the ground never appeared wet and never had a problem. I never thought about letting it go a year./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Bird

 

[ERNIEB]

Re: Will a septic tank support a BX2200?/READ THIS

GlueGuy, well really it depends upon the size of the tank, and the number of people using it. Here the county issues permits based on approved plans. Interesting to me is the size of the tank is not determined by the number of people in the house, or even the number of bathrooms, but instead the number of bedrooms.
On my system the two loops are bulkheaded. The way it's suppose to work, is that when one field is saturated, water will flow into the second.

Ernie

 

[Tom_Trees]

Re: Will a septic tank support a BX2200?/READ THIS

This has gotten interesting!

Some background on my installation - I've been here for 12 years and just had the tank pumped for the first time at the 10-year point. I built just after the state (or county) switched from perk tests to soil analysis by a soil engineer - and they didn't have enough soil engineers, so my system was speced from the county soil maps.

Most of the lot is heavy clay. I've got three runs of field pipe 70 feet long parallel to the house in this clay, and another three legs the same length routed from a second distribution box out into the woods. Luckily, these three runs are in a large bed of gravel. I've dug holes in the yard after several hours of rain, watched them fill -- and watched them drain by evaporation over the course of days.

The lid on the tank is about 8 inches below current ground level. The contractor figured on two inched of topsoil going in, and I haven't done it yet. (I built this place by borrowing at the limit of my capability to make payments /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif).

As in ErnieB's case, the system was sized based on bedroom count. I'm single and don't entertain much, so it takes a while to go through 1,000 gallons.

From a pricing standpoint, the outfits I called to do the pumping all quoted $90 (and didn't care about the size of the tank) if I uncovered the hatch, and $105 if they had to do the digging.

Terry - thanks for the link; looks like a fair bit of interesting reading.

 

[snowman]

Re: Will a septic tank support a BX2200?/READ THIS

Thanks again - answers alot of questions.

The 3 PVC pipes I have stick up about a foot above the
ground. They look lousy sticking up, and I spray painted
them green to hide them a bit.

I guess that it's safe to cut them down to ground level at
least and put some type of cap on them (the former owner
had put some screens on top with a rubber bank to hold them
on; they've deteriorated since then).

 

[StoneHeartFarm]

Re: Will a septic tank support a BX2200?/READ THIS

Harv,

Yep! We got sand down to about 20-30' /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Hadn't thought about building a system in clay since I never deal with it /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif.

The best thing I've seen done for locating tanks is to draw a detailed map at the time the system went in. You measure off known points that aren't likely to change like the corner of the building. Be sure to list the depth to the tank lid. The map I saw was placed on the back of a picture and hung on the wall so it wouldn't get lost. Even showed where the pipe ran.

ErnieB
Our locals never try to clean leach fields. They just replace them. The current philosophy is if the tank gets pumped and fills back up in a short time (say 1 year), the field needs to be replaced. Which is why the Infiltrator is catching on here since you don't have to replace it, just move it. If your tank is seeping to the surface, you've probably already got some damage to the field since the only reason for seeping is that the leach field is either not working or the outlet line from the tank is plugged. The installers are telling me that the problem is with grease and soap scum which eventually builds up around the outside of the drain lines in the leach field. Once all of the gravel is coated, it prevents water from flowing through and getting to the sand on the outside. Our soil drains real well, so the gravel is basically just a screen to keep the sand from clogging with soap and grease, and isn't extensive enough to allow much evaporation.

You are right about the trees and shrubs. About 15 years ago the county made the switch from dry wells to leach beds. Most of the installers were hot. They said a properly installed dry well would outlast a leach bed everyday since the bottom was too deep for roots to reach. (I think they were full of it since MY trees have roots plenty deep enough to reach a dry well).

GlueGuy
Check with your County Health or Sanitary Dept. Here, the installer told me if the tank is pumped every 5 years I should never have a problem with it. (I take "never" to mean "Not until AFTER the installer is retired, dead or moved from the area /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif).

Tom Trees
Last time we had a tank pumped, it was in the range of $75.00 if we opened up the tank.

SHF

PS, Did I miss something, or was this TWO threads yesterday?

 

[Harv]

Re: Will a septic tank support a BX2200?/READ THIS

<font color=blue>$75.00 if we opened up the tank</font color=blue>

That's the way to go! Bringing in a backhoe to open ours up brought the price tag into the hundreds, so I went ahead and installed plastic risers (see attached) which are now only a few inches below the surface. In fact, access is so easy at this point that I could inspect them myself if I knew what to look for. Other than crud climbing right up out of the hole, can anybody tell me exactly what visuals indicate when it's time to call in the service?

 

[DocHeb]

Re: Will a septic tank support a BX2200?/READ THIS

<pre>Yep! We got sand down to about 20-30' Hadn't thought about building a system in clay since I never deal with it. </pre>

Septics in clay are no fun, at least not in Washtenaw County, MI. On my property the required 3 foot thick, naturally occuring layer of sand necessary to build a leach field is between 25 and 28 feet down. The county makes us dig down the entire 25 feet, remove the clay, backfill with sand, and they lay the leach field. My builder tells me to count on $1000 for each foot down to the sand layer. Found this out just prior to closing on the property, and went back to the sellers to get $20,000 off the land price.

 

[Mike_Dumond]

Just out of curiosity, if your tractor did fall into a septic system, how long would you wash it before you used it again?

Keep the greasy side down.
Mike

 

[ERNIEB]

Re: Will a septic tank support a BX2200?/READ THIS

<font color=blue>the problem is with grease and soap scum</font color=blue>
I'll agree with that. I put in a small grease trap for the kitchen sink. For some reason, I don't see this being done very much these days. I clean it out myself, a nasty job/w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif/w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif thank goodness it doesn't need it very often.
It's a no no but, I know alot of people who have their washing machine draining right on the ground.
In this area, the standard tank and french drain system is the main type installed. But North of San Antonio is the beganing of the limestone Hill Country and the Edwards aquafer recharge zone. Because of strict regulations, there they are using various types of newer systems. I don't know much about them, but one type is like the one you described. Another uses heating elements and produces a dry material that is......ahh......fertilizer?/w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Ernie

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Re: Will a septic tank support a BX2200?/READ THIS

Did you guys/gals hear about the guy who got swallowed up by his cesspool? It killed him. No joke.

http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/04/cesspool.death.ap/index.html

I bet this will discourage you from driving over your septic tank! What a way to go.