Extending leaching fields

[TomG]

The solution for our camp was a composting toilet and a raised gray-water leeching pit. We have very sandy soil and something near a 3' high water table. It sounded like the health inspector thought a leech line type of system might be approved. However, we didn't want to spend the money on a full residential septic system for a weekend use property.

I wouldn't try to salvage an old system. Around here old systems tend to be 55-gallon oil drums and short lines. Maybe aggregate, but maybe not. Old buried cars were commonly used for tanks, and our neighbours tell us we have one of those at our camp.

I guess the old systems worked well enough for how they were used. People didn't run gray-water into them or put in paper. Toilets were commonly flushed only once a day no matter what. I don't think many of us would be too happy doing that today.

 

[MarkV]

ChrisformCT, Don't know if this will help, but, we used a plastic leachfield system called "Infiltrator" (1-800-221-4436). These units are, hook together, dome shaped chambers about 3'wide by 2'tall. The large storage volume and surface area, of the chambers, allows shorter runs on tight sites. In our case, two 44' runs were required with a 1500 gal tank. The chambers are set in dead level trenches 3' wide and no gravel is required. We had to put our system notched into a slope on the mountain so the cost involved a great deal of heavy equipment work. I don't know the going cost on a normal flat site.

MarkV

 

[ChrisfromCT]

MarkV,
These infiltrators sound exactly like what I saw. Black plastic units, upperand lower shells, kind of snap togehter.

These units weren't burried in stone? Sounds like I could put these units in above the the high water mark, around three feet and get away with just covering the whole area with 18 inches of fill.

I'll check to see if I can get them locally.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[ejb]

I have told my wife more than a few times, that as soon as the leaching field in my house fails (if it does), thats the point at which I am going to shell out $10K for a backhoe for my JD5410. I have lots of other uses for one around my place, but can't think of anything better than fixing a septic system "under the cover of darkness". I just can't stomach the though of paying someone $25-$30K for a hole in the ground.

Lucky for me, I don't actually have to work "under the cover of darkness", having 175acres around the house (and another 1000+ that I don't own) pretty much rules out any nosy neighbors from spoiling my fun.

 

[MarkV]

Chris, The 800# in my last post should get you to Infiltrator Systems Inc. If you would rather, their address is

4 Business Park Road, P.O. Box 768
Old Saybrook, CT 06475
Fax 860-388-6810

Sorry, no internet address. Drop me a note if you need anymore information.

MarkV

 

[ChrisfromCT]

MarkV,
They do have a website it's www.infiltratorsystems.com.

I did call there yesterday and these units are exactly what I was looking for. I printed out some info off the site and the company gave me a distributor that is less than 10 miles from the house....

Thanks for the info. I'll be sure to fill everyone in when I use these... Should be sometime in Sept. They look very easy to work with.

Thanks again,
Chris

 

[Rch]

Here in central Wisc.,this is highly regulated.If you can't perculate an experimental system is being tried called Orenco from Rosebud Oregan http://www.orenco.com/main_index.asp It consists of 2 tanks, one for settling, the 2nd one has a pump that pumps out several gallons by computer contol to a layered sand filter 4 ft deep. Another computerized pump pumps what collects in a sump at the bottem to a 18" finishing mound that sits on a slope and is 75" to 125' long. The pipes between the tank, sand filter and finish mound have to be sloped so the effluent doesn't sit in the pipes and freeze.
The whole thing is 15,000 dollars

RCH<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by Rch on 7/29/00 10:16 AM.</FONT></P>

 

[bcarter]

How well the system works is dependent mostly on the perk rate of the soil its in (the other factor is the area). If the fill you add won't drain readily then it won't matter how far above the water table you are...you'll still have problems with break-out and/or run-off. If you're planning to bring in good material you could build up to the correct height and extend your current beds - if you're planning to use fill that's on the property you could be wasting your time.

If the tank is in good shape, the D-box is in good shape (more than 15yrs old or so and they usually aren't in good shape - the effluent and gases are terribly corrosive to unprotected concrete) and the leach lines are PVC, you could risk extending the system. If this is not the case, I'll stand by my earlier comment and recommend you redo the system from scratch.

In another post you mentioned that you get a lot of run-off when it rains. You also mention that neighboring systems were in the $12k-$15K range. These both spell poor perk rate to me...

I recently worked on a job were we installed one of those treatment systems that Bird mentioned. These folks had about 2ft above the water table in terrible soil (as far as perk rate goes). The system discharged into a modified leach bed underground so you woudln't necessarily have to worry about getting sprayed./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

BTW: $12k-$15k isn't too bad for a system where fill is required...most of the cost is the fill itself.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

When I was building my house, the town sanitarian told me something interesting about perk rates and leaching systems. He said that the systems that failed most often were the ones in soil with a good perk rate, not the ones in the soil with a lesser perk rate. He explained that when a system is designed the perk rate of the soil determines the size of the leaching area. The better the perk rate the smaller the leaching area. He said that after a few years a layer (maybe bacteria, I don't remember) builds up on the walls and bottom of the leaching trenches. This layer is what actually determines the rate the water gets absorbed into the soil not the soil type. Since the good perc rate soil systems are smaller they are more prone to failure.

Andy

 

[Bird]

I'd forgotten about hearing of the ones like mine, but that discharge underground. That would keep you from getting sprayed all right, but I like to see that thing watering the grass./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Bird