webbmeister
Gold Member
Me too!
Working over septic drain field
- Thread starter Nick_D
- Start date
- Views: 3647
Old_Wanker
Silver Member
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2002
- Messages
- 129
- Tractor
- Kubota BX2200
It doesnt quite work like that. Theres something called arching that happens after you bury a pipe a certain depth. It means that the weight is born around the pipe and not just down on top of it.
Soundguy
Old Timer
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2002
- Messages
- 51,575
- Location
- Central florida
- Tractor
- RK 55HC,ym1700, NH7610S, Ford 8N, 2N, NAA, 660, 850 x2, 541, 950, 941D, 951, 2000, 3000, 4000, 4600, 5000, 740, IH 'C' 'H', CUB, John Deere 'B', allis 'G', case VAC
The reason this is such a problem is US liability lawsuits.... the precast manufacturers won't quote a load carrying spec on the lid of a septic tank. I've argued with them over this quite a bit, even showing them the common sense reasoning.
Even non-reinforced concrete has something between 4-7% ( of compressive str ) before failure..... but people figure it at 0 for safety.
For instance, the precast manufacturer that our company uses plainly states that the septic lids it produces have -no- load carrying capacity. I pointed out that that can't be true, becuase we are backfilling over them with soil.. and that is -some- load. At that point they get irritated and won't talk about it anymore.
Everyone is so afraid of lawsuits.. it is terrible. I have only seen 1 septic tank failure ever. And it was from a pic posted here, of someone using a very large crane style forklift toting roof trusses for a barn or house that was being renovated.
The axle with the most weight ( front ) went through an existing tank lid.
These are extreme circumstances, and a very large load.. much mor ethan we are using with our CUT's etc.
Soundguy
<font color=red>"the whole thing buried just a couple feet or so deeper. I mean, we worry so much about putting too much weight on our tile, septic tank, etc., AFTER we put thousands of pounds of dirt on top of them. Maybe I'm missing something here, but I'd think weight was weight whether it's dirt or iron. "
Even non-reinforced concrete has something between 4-7% ( of compressive str ) before failure..... but people figure it at 0 for safety.
For instance, the precast manufacturer that our company uses plainly states that the septic lids it produces have -no- load carrying capacity. I pointed out that that can't be true, becuase we are backfilling over them with soil.. and that is -some- load. At that point they get irritated and won't talk about it anymore.
Everyone is so afraid of lawsuits.. it is terrible. I have only seen 1 septic tank failure ever. And it was from a pic posted here, of someone using a very large crane style forklift toting roof trusses for a barn or house that was being renovated.
The axle with the most weight ( front ) went through an existing tank lid.
These are extreme circumstances, and a very large load.. much mor ethan we are using with our CUT's etc.
Soundguy
<font color=red>"the whole thing buried just a couple feet or so deeper. I mean, we worry so much about putting too much weight on our tile, septic tank, etc., AFTER we put thousands of pounds of dirt on top of them. Maybe I'm missing something here, but I'd think weight was weight whether it's dirt or iron. "