teejk
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2012
- Messages
- 1,817
- Location
- Merrillan, WI
- Tractor
- JD 2020, IH CC 1250, Ariens 926 Snowthrower
Around here it is now a science...the "perk" test is gone and has been replaced by a soil core analysis with the septic installer and the county inspector on site to do it. We are now required to have the 3 chamber tank..."stuff" in chamber 1, clean liquid spills into chamber 2 that contains a filter into chamber 3 that contains the pump to send it to the field. The field itself is sized to the pump with the goal of ensuring the output gets dispersed equally through the entire field. I am always shocked at what I see other people have to pay for septic systems. Ours was installed in 2010 and sized for a 4 BR house (no "den"). It comes out of the house 9' below grade so the tank is much deeper than that. It goes out into an "H" field where the laterals are 100' long and 15' apart. The entire system (tank, risers, pump, pump alarm, drain field) cost $6,500.I'm wondering about my own drain field now. I put the system in myself over 20 years ago. The only assistance was when the tank delivery guy dropped the tank right into the hole I dug. Some of the trees that were way outside the 20' drip-line clearance area are much larger now. But I guess I'm fortunate that where I am all I'd have to do is rent a backhoe for a day, extend the tank-to-field pipe and move the field. I'd guess about $400 in materials with stone being the biggest expense; plus the tractor rental. No permits or inspections. God, I love this place.
My current field is a 40' x 40' closed H pattern and I've had as many as eight family members spending a long weekend and washing clothes. Never had a problem. (Knock on wood.)