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New to Septic Tanks!

Around The Farm
#41

Great thread! I have a question on leach fields and traffic. I just bought a house that is ~7 years old so the septic system and leach field are pretty new. The whole system was set up with 2 houses in mind, only the small one was built and I have no intention of building the bigger one later. I was told and the plans and permits say that 2 tanks were installed along with a leach field designed to accommodate both houses full of people. A 100% reserve leach field was also install, and that is 100% assuming that there are 2 houses connected to the system. From the plans I know that the pipes in the leach field are a minimum of 4 feet deep with gravel completely surrounding them and then soil on top of that. With all of this in mind, how much traffic, people and horses only, would be ok for the leach field. The way the property is set up, hilly and well treed, it is kind of hard to completely avoid the leach field as it is huge. Thanks for the info and ideas!

Oh, I should add that currently there are only 2 people in the house and not likely to be more.

#42

millerplante, is that in the US? I find that hard to believe and it sounds like a marketing ploy for whatever you’re selling. I ran into something similar with the septic pumper from Wind River who told me I had to buy $300 worth of monthly septic additives for the brand new system in the house we bought or risk system failure. I’m wiser now because one of my jobs is handling paperwork for septic systems and I have never heard anything about mysterious government spot checks on private septic systems in the US. Please enlighten us.

Festivity, you should check with your local Health Agent for the local regs. Some localities allow horses on a leach field while others do not.

#43

Chai, thanks for the reply. So far I haven’t found anything in my local regs that say one way or another. And the advise from people around here varies. Hence why I thought I would run it by the COTH experts. :slight_smile:

#44

Well, up in Scott county they had a list on the door of the part of the health dept that dealt with septic systems. It appeared to be of folks that both pumped out and then inspected your lines. Fayette is so much more densely populated and their department so much larger you might have to go from office to office but I’ll bet the info is available.

I was sadly disappointed that my county didn’t have a site map on file, we had to trace the lines and do a best guess. Interestingly enough the septic revealed itself during a light snowfall when the snow melted off of it before it melted anywhere else.

And BTW, tp disposal can be done similar to a diaper genie, there are trash cans with spring loaded doors, no grosser than having a baby in the house (mind you we do flush some of the more “used” shall we say, tp, even I think it would be gross not to.)

#45

Great thread. Very informative.

So what happens if something runs over a leach field? Do you have to get the whole thing dug up/repaired?

#46

[QUOTE=SCM1959;5467021]
We brought our horses home 5 years ago and built a house 4 years ago. It has been a learning process!

For the first time, we have a septic tank rather than being connected to the sewer system.

I have been very careful - we are sure to never allow the horses to walk on top of the septic tank area. I have bought all “septic tank friendly” toilet paper. We have a garbage disposal, but I use it very rarely because I have been told that food garbage can damage the septic system.

I have no idea what (if anything) we are supposed to do to keep our septic system working properly. The installer is long gone; the builder is out of business.

Is there a “what to do list” anywhere? Can anyone give me any advice?

Thanks in advance![/QUOTE]

What I would do is go and ask a septic tank expert. If needed, I would ask them to pump any out just to get a fresh start of it and monitor the health of the tank.

#47

There are a couple national associations of real estate inspectors. We used one and he was awesome! Unfortunately, we had 78 comments of things that needed doing and a few things he didn’t catch. He mentioned that the roof was in the last quarter of its 30-year life and it really needed replacing right away. He also didn’t inspect the septic tank.

It’s a little scary! The people who owned the house before us (just 2 in the family) never had the tank pumped, didn’t use Rid-X and didn’t know where the fields were, access panel, etc. We started using Rid-X and just haven’t had it checked yet. No smells though. We do have a septic tank disposal, don’t use bleach anyway and we’re being extra careful - the garbage disposal is hardly used.

Another scary part is I don’t know where the leach fields are. In the back I have a swimming pool, driveway and horse pastures. In the front, I have another driveway and just yard. Hard to imagine that they would put the leach field in front of the house!
Good luck!

#48

7 year old thread guys


2 Likes
#49

Still relevant.

4 Likes
#50

How much does it cost to have a septic tank pumped? Maybe I should rephrase that and ask, how much have you paid to have your septic pumped? I just want a general idea because I have no clue.

#51

I had mine pumped a couple of years ago and it was around $250. The price has a lot to do with how much it costs them to dispose of the contents at the sewage disposal plant. Fortunately the pump out hole is level with the lawn so I don’t have to dig it out.

1 Like
#52

I had my 1500 gallon tank pumped for around $300 in 2016.

#53

Thanks, Christa P.

It’s nice to know that it is a sum which could easily be afforded especially since it is only incurred every five years or so.

#54

The larger your tank the greater the bill, as it is a per gallon fee. It also depends on the disposal charges at the collection plant- some regions charge much more than others. Then there’s the possibility of rebates and grants


#55

I have no idea where my “pump out hole” is. As the previous owners never had it pumped, I’m not in a position to use their company. Can the company trace it somehow? TIA!

#56

Depending where you are, the court house may have a plat of your property and any wells and septic should be marked there.
You could start there.

A septic company will be someone to call for locating your pipes, vents, clean out access to the tank, even determine the type of system you have.
Or they could tell you a clean out company that does that?

1 Like
#57

Start by locating your outlet pipe from the house. At least that will give you the side of the house to start looking at (probably). The tank could be anywhere from just outside the house to many 100s of feet away depending on the slope.

Story: One time I got a call from a new client. She had called the tank company to pump out the tank in the home she had just bought and moved into, and didn’t know where her tank was. The pumper arrived, and when she told him she didn’t know where it was he said, " No problem, I do" and proceeded to drag his hose into her living room, lifted the rug and pumped it out from under the floor!!! Yes, the previous owners had built an addition over the tank and most of the field, which is how/why I became involved.
So just hope it’s outside your foundation!

2 Likes
#58

Yes This is an obsession with me, I wipe out all pans before washing. Very little if any goes down the drain.
What I have been told over and over that the biggest killer of septic systems is excess water usage. too many load of laundry all at once. Water softeners, leaking faucets. Parties with a bunch of people flushing. it destroys the bacteris level is fills up the drain fields.

1 Like
#59

Fanfayre, nice to have an expert. I bought this small house over 4 years ago. got a great deal on it, the septic and well were not to code so both had to be redone. The sellers did it. I had access to both the septic guy and the well guy. This house is tiny. less than 800 square feet, and the regulations in Michigan calls for 500 gal per bedroom. so I have a thousand gallon tank and a large leach field. I am super careful, and it is just me. I never put anything questionable down, no disposal or water softener, no powdered soap as I read they contain silica and build up in the tanks. I do laundry once a week and never just run water. My question is, when should I have it pumped? or checked. it has a large plastic round cover that I did not cover over with dirt at the septic guys advise. My old house my ex lives there, the septic has NEVER been pumped in I bet 30 plus years. very very sandy soil and I was super careful there as well.

1 Like
#60

Hi, Sannois
if it’s just you and a 1000 gal tank, you should be good for quite a few years yet, but if it was MY place, I’d have it at least checked every 5-ish years, so next year. It won’t be much, just a dip of a stick to measure the sludge level, and as long as that is <1/3 the total depth, you’re good to keep flushing! Keep up the good practices and it will be many years before you will need pumping :smiley:
That said, I think 30 years without a pump out is pushing it, even with just one person using it. :slight_smile:

One load of laundry per week, or several loads once a week? You’re far better off doing one load per day several days per week than all loads in one day

1 Like

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