100 yards from house to septic tank?

[Highbeam]

The thing about a septic tank is that it is always full to almost the top. It won't float unless someone forgets to prefill it with water. Always prefill the tank if you are in a wet area. I would even prefill in dry land so my first flush has a soft landing.

If you are not concerned with ultimate simplicity or expense of electricity then it would be an easier installation to install a transfer pump to send the sewage to the septic tank. Ditch witch and 2" poly water line between the sump and the septic tank. Gravity will work though.

Eddie, probably meant percent and not degrees. In this part of the country, 4" is to be set at 2% slope, 6" at 1%. If your slope is too steep then the solids will be left there when the water is whisked away.

Solids make up one half of one percent of sewage on average.

 

[JJT]

I am thinking about locating my septic tank behind my (not yet built) pole barn so that I can have a bathroom in the pole barn. The pole barn will be about 100 yards from my (not yet built) house and there is sufficient fall between the house site and the pole barn site. Is there a problem with with this distance?

If not, I plan to have the water line and electrical drop go first to the pole barn and then run uphill (underground) to the house. I'll use my tractor to do most of the ditching for this.

Comments? Suggestions?

Let me elaborate a little on my previous suggestion, "install a separate tank for the house and garage". Since you have plenty of drop between the house and garage, I have no issues using a single/common leach field for the 2 buildings. A single septic tank is another issue, you will have issues with 1 tank and a 300' run. It's a minor expense, well under $1000 installed and worth the expense.

 

[3RRL]

Couple of things.
Out here they determine the size of the septic tank by the number of bedrooms THAT HAVE CLOSETS in them... not by the number of bathrooms or even how many people are going to occupy the house. If you can believe that? I guess it's to determine if a person could stay in that bedroom or not? I don't know how they do it at your place.

Another thing is that my contractor wanted the septic as close as possible...for sure inside 100' of the house exit. Did you get a perculation test yet? Where where you want the leech field to go? If not, you need to test if the spot you chose will leech properly.

I don't know what the approved slope is, whether it's 1/4" or 1/8" per foot or 5°? However, at 5° it's just over 1" drop per foot or roughly 4 to 8 times the other 2 slopes. Better check on that.

 

[stumpfield]

I just had a septic system installed recently. Like 3RRL said, the size of the system is based on the number of bedrooms. I chose to oversize my system by going with a 3 bedroom system. My house will be 2 bedroom with 2 1/2 bath + plus a bathroom in the barn and an outdoor shower/bath/utility room. This is an equivalent of 5 bathrooms total. I could get away with just a 2 bedroom system. The formula here is 70ft of infiltrator per bedroom. A 1000gal tank can handle up to 3 bedroom. I went with a 1500gal tank and 210ft of infiltrator. The cost difference is about $500 comparing to the 2 bedroom system with a 1000gal tank. So, its cheap insurance to oversize a little.

 

[Chris_in_Oz]

OK, so the information I have must be location specific. The tanks we use here are 1/3 full under most circumstances, with it (hopefully) never going over 3/4 full. If your tanks are largely full all the time, floatation is not going to be an issue. Oh well...

The pump pit is probably the same though?

 

[Todd_C]

If there is a good slope I don't think you will have a problem. Mine is located about 250 ft. from the house and it has not been a problem. I'm in the hill country so there is a pretty good slope. Also they put in a clean out every 50 ft. Said is was a requirement. I cut off two of them and capped them below grade just because I didn't like the looks of it.

I did not build my house or have any input in the septic system but I have the exact same setup. I have clean outs every 50 feet. I just keep the tree roots and new trees away from the clean outs. I also pray that I will not run over any when I mow or clear brush.

 

[Big_Charlie]

Our tank is about 250' from the house and is probably 50 years old. Just a few months after we bought the place we had a major clog that required the plumber digging the pipe up, knocking a hole in it, and then augering it out another 50' before doing it all over again. He said that codes here require the tank to be no more than 20' behind the house and that one reason we clogged is that the liquids always outrun the solids on runs that long, so eventually you get a clog in the section where the solids get left behind. He recommended using Drain-X regularly to help breakdown the stuff left in the pipe. The other reason we clogged up is that the run is a mish mash of pipe consisting of a combination of iron pipe, schedule 20 PVC, clay pipe, corrugated drain tile pipe, and a little schedule 40 at the end, all of it just snugged over the end of the last piece. We're planning an addition to the house and will be digging up the whole thing and putting in a new tank right behind the house.

 

[EddieWalker]

Eddie, probably meant percent and not degrees.

Did I say degrees? hahaha

Thanks Highbeam for catching that.

When I'm putting in sewage lines, I just tape a piece of 2x4 to the end of my 6 foot level. An inch and a half at 6 feet is a pretty easy slope to maintain and it flows real good for solids.

Another thing to consider is to keep it simple. Transfer pumps just add to the expense and complexity. One tank for both buildings is very easy. 300 feet is nothing. Sewage can flow forever if you can maintain your slope.

I hired an engineer for my place to design my system becaus of it will have to handle ten to twelve thousand gallons a day of sewage. I'll have a collection tank and two pumps to move the material half a mile up hill. I'll have one six in main, 1,200 feet long, that will handle all the sewage that goes to the collection tank. There will be ten thousand feet of feeder lines that will tie into the main. The feeders will be 3 and 4 inch lines. I have to put manholes in every 500 feet so the Water Utility can get to any blockage. They can go 250 feet, so they want the lines no longer than twice that distance at the very most.

Slope of all the sewage pipe has to be between 3 to 7 percent.

Eddie

 

[machmeter62]

I am thinking about locating my septic tank behind my (not yet built) pole barn so that I can have a bathroom in the pole barn. The pole barn will be about 100 yards from my (not yet built) house and there is sufficient fall between the house site and the pole barn site. Is there a problem with with this distance?

If not, I plan to have the water line and electrical drop go first to the pole barn and then run uphill (underground) to the house. I'll use my tractor to do most of the ditching for this.

Comments? Suggestions?

I don't know what size septic pipe you plan on using, but on that length, you don't want the "liquids to outrun the solids" causing eventual blockage; I went with 3" ABS, with adequate cleanouts! Our slope in Calif. called for 1/4" per-foot.

 

[Chris_in_Oz]

One last thing.... With our system, part of the 6 monthly maintenance includes putting a chemical (Copper something) into the tank. This is passed out through the dispersal field and inhibits root growth in the area immediately adjacent to the pipes. Won't help at all with the "main flow" pipes, but I thought this quite clever way to protect the dispersal field.