cesspool odors

JimR · Jan 28, 2005

( but we're talking about an open pit about 5' across and 3' deep with fluid and ew in it.
Steve )

Put on cover over the hole. Rid-ex as mentioned or any other type of septic cleaner should do the trick. Keep your grease and fats from the sink drain and use bio-degradable laundry soaps.

stevenf · Jan 28, 2005

I keep tin over the top as it really is a hole dug in the earth but some type of varmint has a affinity for pooh because even weighting it down hasn't kept him out. I don't know what kind a critter it is but I think his name is Sh**Head.
Steve

JimR · Jan 28, 2005

( I keep tin over the top as it really is a hole dug in the earth but some type of varmint has a affinity for pooh because even weighting it down hasn't kept him out. I don't know what kind a critter it is but I think his name is Sh**Head.
Steve )

Maybe it's one of the neighbors trying to send you a message or being a PITA?

stevenf · Jan 28, 2005

Nah our nearest neighbor is a mile away. My previous response got terminated I'll probably get a pm pretty quick telling me that I'm not funny. If I've learned anything since we got the ranch its you can be happy or you can be sad its your choice and I certainly realize that this problem should make me sad but tommorrows another day and I dumped some of the roebic stuff in last night. I'll give it a week and reapply until its all gone or as seargeant klink sorta said I smell notink.
Steve

tracdoc · Jan 30, 2005

Steven,

Glad you were able to find some of the Roebic. Did you use the K47 plus the K57?
You should really pick up some of the Gempler's. It should really help a lot.
I still think that renting a few porta-potties would be the best solution for your Boy Scout troop visits, at least until you get a handle on the cesspool odor control.

stevenf · Jan 30, 2005

Tracdoc, all Wally world stocked here was the 57 so I'm giving it a try as it seems like it needed to be used first anyway. I'm going to stop by TSC and see if they have the 47 this week as the 57 says something like give it a week or something like that.
I've been thinking and would welcome somemore input here since I now own a decent size tractor with FEL (no backhoe). Does it seem possible that although not a job I'd cherish could or should I enlarge this system currently its only a circle in the dirt around 5 or 6 feet across and less than 3' deep and since its been raining a little every day for seems like a week the level is back up to the brim. If not enlarge it what about just a little deeper and loosen the sides up as its been in the ground behind the house for at least 50 years and frankly I'm not positive that its as shallow as it is because of solid petrified solid waste or was it intended to be a shallow hole for better perc or decay from the heat of the sun or?
Yes as digusting as it sounds I've had the tin off the top and probed with a stick and it has a very solid unsquishy bottom.
Tracdoc I've considered the portatoilet thing for the scouts but all of the services around here want $150. or more for the weekend and since money is tight I hate to part with it when we are trying to get our new house started which I'm planning on building by myself again not by choice but because its all I can afford to do short of living in this tin shack for another 10 years lonely as I'm sure my honey would not approve of a extended time frame to have a house to live in instead of our current mansion of metal and packing crates (I pulled some boards off the wall inside a while back and they used old army packing crates for nailer strips).
Steve

Currmudgeon · Jan 31, 2005

( "we're talking about an open pit about 5' across and 3' deep with fluid and ew in it."

Get the darned thing covered. That should cut down the odor at least 95%, you're talking about raw untreated sewage.... )

I'll agree with that. There's no way to get rid of odors from a pit filled with septic sewage. The stuff is just nasty. The trouble is, that's a biggish pit to cover and you need something like precast concrete plank, that won't rot out and dump an unsuspecting person (like yourself) into the pit. Or maybe build a large privy-type building over it and never go into it.

There are odor control sprays that they use in sewage treatment plants, but they're sprayed into the air to avoid offending the downwind neighbors. This is seldom a practical solution for a homeowner.

As far as additives, they probably won't hurt a cesspit with no drain field but they can really cause expensive problems in septic tanks, ruining the drain field. The general rule is, don't put anything into a septic tank unless you've eaten it first.

stevenf · Feb 2, 2005

OK I've drank enough beer tonight to be funny I'll probably get edited but ah well. I had the telephone company out a couple of years ago to install a phone line. He came out installed it and in the process of touching his wires and my tin shack got a little shock and jumped off his ladder when he did he landed square in the middle of a 8' rat snake he commensed to screaming and scrambled back up his ladder when he settled down I told him the rat snake wasn't poisoinous and he'd be OK to come down, he waited until the snake slithered back under the house and while seated atop his ladder told me I had a ground problem as he'd never been shocked that hard by telephone wires. I decided to check on my ground and found a piece of rebar with a hose clamp for a ground so I decided this must be the reason I kept popping light bulbs when I turned them on and decided to replace the ground rod and wire. I went to Home Depot and was looking at ground rods and noticed a guy looking at me curiously as I was deciding 6' or 8' ground rod he said son are you planning on using that around here I said yes sir he told me he had just retired from the electric coop as their head electrician and I'd never be able to pound it in the ground and why would I want to so I told him about blowing up light bulbs and when we used the microwave all the fans would run much faster and lights would get brighter he told me I had a bad common line and not a ground problem he asked where I lived and offered to come help but looked at his watch and said he had to have his kids to a soccer game and would never make it so he called his excoworkers and talked to dispatch she said they were on an errand for parts about the time they came walking up in Home Depot they offered to meet me out there in an hour and they could solve my problem. One hour later they come hauling buns down the road to the ranch took a look at their connections and told me the problem was on my side of the meter. They called dispatch and asked to be taken off the clock for a break and proceeded to start working on my side when they opened up my box they found the main common had never been tightened as it went about 10 revolutions before being tight when they finished they wanted to check and make sure they had fixed it so they had me go in the house and turn on everything when I returned there stands the head electrician on top of the tin inside the little fenced enclosure around the cesspool. I told him a little abruptly get off of their he jumped straight up in the air and starts apologizing I told him its not that your were standing on top of my cesspool cover. When they went to gathering up their tools to leave they discovered that they were missing a big flat blade screwdriver they had used to tighten the common leg with he remembered having it at the house so we went and looked it had fallen out of his pocket in his leap off of the cesspool tin and was standing staight up in the goo inside the cesspool opening he said he'd have to requisition another as it could stay where it was.
This was way funnier in real life but there is a moral in this they told me that the ground wire was there in case the homeowner did something stupid all electric company's provide their own ground and it wouldn't be required except every once in a while some homeowner dies as a result of generating their own electricity out in the sticks with an improper ground.
Steve, I went back an reread this and its not that funny but the loose common bears looking at for anyone experienceing a problem like this. I guess its time for another beer.
I forgot to mention the cesspool is smelling better thanks to all who made suggestions. I still haven't had anybody say whether they think I should dig it deeper or not but what are the chances of having a trained poop chemist in our midst.

slydog · Feb 2, 2005

( I might divert the sewage but would keep that quiet and have the cesspool in my back pocket for the future if I ever needed it...)

Henro, after reading your post my previously muddled understanding of the term "**** retentive" suddenly became clear as a bell. The things I've learned on TBN! Gotta love this site! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

While my wife rightfully accuses me of being a "pack-rat", I'll have to say, I previously wouldn't have considered the future uses of a hole in the ground full of s**t. Now I can be comfortable knowing there are many others out there who find there IS a use for EVERYTHING they squirrel away. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Currmudgeon · Feb 2, 2005

( I still haven't had anybody say whether they think I should dig it deeper or not but what are the chances of having a trained poop chemist in our midst. )

Digging it deeper can't hurt, except for the fact that you've gotta dig through a mess of septic sewage. It would be a horrible job. Digging it deeper would give you two things. It would increase your storage volume, and it would expose new dirt of the sides of the pit for the liquids to leach out through. What's your soil like? Does opening more sidewall make sense, or are you in impervious clay or at the groundwater table, so it won't make a difference?

The only thing a septic tank or a cesspool does, is allows the water to separate from the solids, and alow the water to leach into the surrounding soil. A septic tank has it over a cesspool because it separates the tank from the drain field and have more drainage area. In the end, they both fail the same way. The soil becomes fouled with biological slime and bbecomes waterproof.