We get ours pumped every 2-3 years. I've had surprises and I hate them. This keeps things flowing right. While we use so called safe TP, I seen it back up and plug the opening to the take. Pull the take lid open and give that a hit with the shovel and we are back in business. I usually get it pumped to get all the solids out of the system. Just the wife and me here now, but my son and his wife and two kids will be moving in. That brings it back up to 6. That is what we had on the system for several years when our four kids were home.
Good call with the 2-3 year plan with that many people save. Seen a few houses built over the years out around here ww and they all had the mound system installed. But there is big shale in these parts and not sure if that's the reason?
old ones are tanks underground with leech fields just 3 or 4 inch pipe that comes out a distribution box and 3 or 4, 15 foot legs PVC, pipes with holes in it that are 2 feet apart in a sand bed. good ones have fabric like thick panty hose over pipe. only difference between regular and mound is you do not disturb ground underneath so it looks like a mound. because it is built on top most of the time mounds need a pump station after tank which is just another tank that pumps liquid to mound just another expense and thing to go wrong. pumps on acid waste don't last very long.. because you cannot dig deeper to get the right pitch on the lines. some genius somewhere figured out somewhere that undisturbed ground retains water better than disturbed so they want you to build on top. the real kick in the pants is when you need an septic engineer to tie into city water and sewer which is basically a picture of your lot with a 1.5 inch water coming in and 4 inch going out a stamp from engineer that costs 4 thousand dollars! gotta love govt
So after I typed my earlier post I walked into the bathroom I'm remodeling and there were soap suds on the floor GF was running laundry, I had put duct tape over the sink drain which has integral vent stack for the adjoining wall bath, she was taking a shower at the same time. stuffed a rag in the drain pipe while the laundry finished up, all is well now Scheduling a honey wagon for next week - hopefully they can find the tank
yeah there is no vent on the washer, bought a Studor vent today - should have fixed that years ago. All the drains meet near this area, main vent stack is ~3' down stream of the shower & sink drains and the washer drains upstream of them I figure she was bathing while the suds trying to go down the pipe and I have the drain disconnected, it just worked past the duct tape - path of least resistance
basod , we finally located our septic tank by going to the assessor, dug up land records from 1967 on microfiche. Then another weekend of digging LOL.
I have a ballpark idea from where I found the cleanout one day accidentally. The front side of the house/yard general direction. Probe around with a pick/pry bar I guess
Solids in the drain field ain't good. Gunk ain't good either, you know, slimy, hairy, gooey, gunk. A lot of failed on-lot systems are those that have 'never been pumped in 20 years'. These often are the systems that get clogged up, as the solids in the tank eventually find their way to the drain field lines and clog 'em up. Some times a tank's baffle will rust out, allowing solids to reach the drain field. I dug up a distribution box at an old house cuz of problems, and that concrete box, with lid, had one pipe going in, and 3 going out, well....that puppy was full of a gooey nastiness that'd make a lightweight puke right there......but I digress...... Now have a sand mound. That mound is simply where the effluent pumps up, and percolates back down through that mound, prior to entering the substrata, and eventually the water table. When ground don't perc, a sand mound is often needed. There's three tanks in my system, as the requirement here henceforth calls for it, to make sure that solids do not enter the mound. Pumping is required by law(state law), every 3 years, no matter the on-lot system......fines for refusing to pump are levied.......I know, I'm a twp. supervisor What a guy doesn't want is a contaminated well as a result of a failed septic.......ouch.....
those were the lines going out to the drain field......a distribution box has 3, 4, 5 outlets, pvc or terracotta, or some such perforated line going out from each, some times straight out in a fan like pattern, other times in a rectangular grid, all depends what the installer of the day decided to do.
common under sinks and on washing machines, places the plumbers may have forgone running a dedicated vent on smaller drain lines. Some places codes do not allow them, they have moving parts that can fail, so buy the best one not the cheap $5-6 job
Isnt most of them like this? mine is. But your way sounds a lot better if the tank has a pipe going to each drain out in the field. Sure a few bucks more when installing but worth it in my little mind. My worry here is the system failing and me being a weekend worrior I'd get caught by one of you Twp dudes that are up the road on a Saturday dig.
yes loon but you can have 3 plus legs, let's say you effluent area is 1 leg 30 feet long a lot of time if you don't have room on your lot you can do 3 legs 10 feet long a lot of times up here we put in a back up legs. because at the time of install the pipe and sand is only a minor extra cost you would do extra legs so use 1 for 2 years let it rest 2 years and switch back this is in addition to room for a complete replacement field. the distribution box that I used was 30 inch x 30 inch box buried under ground with a plastic screw down cover with 1, 4 inch pipe coming in than a selector gauge on top to choose which leg to send effluent down. good installer paid for basically a screen on a pole there and at the end of septic tank. here that is legal to add on to and can buy you time to save for a new system.
