DIY Septic System

[akpilot]

48" is the general rule of thumb, for frost in our area, however the main septic line exits the structure under the basement slab, which pushed it down even further. The pictures are a little deceiving, I ended up with about 6 of fill on top of the tank, so 10'+ to the bottom.

 

[Steverino]

When I did mine about 4 years ago I went to the local Health Department Sanitarian with a plot plan showing the proposed system and the necessary calculations for the house size and number of bedrooms. I had him come out and witness the perk test and soil conditions. Once I was issued the permit I commenced work and had him come by for a couple of periodic inspections. I found all the information I needed at The Connecticut Department of Health web site: DPH: Environmental Engineering - Subsurface Sewage I did all the work by myself but I did have the tank delivered and set in place from the truck. One item worth noting is that I had to dig down the entire area to the depth of the leach field and then using the backhoe dig the tank to the proper depth. I would not have been able to achieve that depth from the surface. Other than that it took me about a week and one Kioti ck30 HST to get the job done. I chose to use the infiltrator brand of for the leach field and I found them very easy to use, the just snap together.

 

[boxygen]

Nice job Steverino. I knew you guys were out there. Very impressive akpilot. You are right, thats not a CUT project. How do you pump the tank if it is 6' below grade. Don't tell me you dig it up every couple years when it needs to be pumped?! Generally frost free here in Maine is considered 48" also 60" in Northern maine. But not necessary for septic tanks since the bacteria and warm waste water keep it from freezing.

 

[MarkV]

We also used the infiltrator system at our weekend place. The terrain was too difficult for a DIY job and required track equipment to negotiate the mountain side. The infiltrator sure was an easy system to use and did not require as long of leach lines and no stone. Those are good things on a difficult site. One note on the infiltrator, they need to be dead level to work properly. The inspector checked them with a rotary laser.

MarkV

 

[wedge40]

When I did mine about 4 years ago I went to the local Health Department Sanitarian with a plot plan showing the proposed system and the necessary calculations for the house size and number of bedrooms. I had him come out and witness the perk test and soil conditions. Once I was issued the permit I commenced work and had him come by for a couple of periodic inspections. I found all the information I needed at The Connecticut Department of Health web site: DPH: Environmental Engineering - Subsurface Sewage I did all the work by myself but I did have the tank delivered and set in place from the truck. One item worth noting is that I had to dig down the entire area to the depth of the leach field and then using the backhoe dig the tank to the proper depth. I would not have been able to achieve that depth from the surface. Other than that it took me about a week and one Kioti ck30 HST to get the job done. I chose to use the infiltrator brand of for the leach field and I found them very easy to use, the just snap together.

Nice job.. Could we get some information.
How long are the leach lines? It looks like maybe 30' per, so that would be 120' for field? How big the house and how many bathrooms.

Wedge

 

[LBrown59]

*I'm going to guess the tank is so deep to keep it below the frost line?Wedge

*A tank don't have to be below the frost line because it won't freeze anyhow.

48" is the general rule of thumb, for frost in our area, however the main septic line exits the structure under the basement slab, which pushed it down even further. The pictures are a little deceiving, I ended up with about 6 of fill on top of the tank,1* so 10'+ to the bottom.

1*But you did not have to go that deep due to the 48'' frost line.A septic tank will not freeze even at surface level.

Nice job Steverino. I knew you guys were out there. Very impressive akpilot. You are right, thats not a CUT project. 1*How do you pump the tank if it is 6' below grade. Don't tell me you dig it up every couple years when it needs to be pumped?!
2* Generally frost free here in Maine is considered 48" also 60" in Northern maine. But not necessary for septic tanks since the bacteria and warm waste water keep it from freezing.

1*My tank lid is level with my yard.There was No need to burry the lid.2*rite.

We also used the infiltrator system at The negotiate the . The inspector checked them with a rotary laser.rkV

 

[RobJ]

1*Why didn't youu simply let the truck that delivered the tank set it ?
2*He don't need a tractor the delivery truck will set the tank!



That was not an option, they were delivered on a 3 axle lo-boy. We got lucky and talked them into leaving the lifting jig with us, otherwise it would have been interesting. Me on the bh and BIL directing traffic. They were close together in the hole.

Rob

 

[akpilot]

*A tank don't have to be below the frost line because it won't freeze anyhow. 1*But you did not have to go that deep due to the 48'' frost line.A septic tank will not freeze even at surface level. 1*My tank lid is level with my yard.There was No need to burry the lid.2*rite.

An "active system" shouldn't freeze, that's true, however leave for a long vacation or have a leaky toilet valve in a system buried to shallow and I will guarantee you it will freeze. I know this from experience, last year my new shop had a low spot over the line and with out enough activity it froze.
The 48 is a number used by the state licensed engineers more for CYOA then anything.

 

[Steverino]

Thanks for the compliment boxygen.

Wedge40, the house is 2000 sq. ft. with 4 bedrooms and one and a half baths. I oversized the system because that is just the way I am. I could have gone with a smaller tank and a smaller leach field but the additional cost was minimal and really there was no more work involved. I was required to have a minimum tank size of 1250 gallon and a minimum of 660 effective sq. ft. of leach field. I installed a 1500 gallon tank and 768 effective sq. ft. of leach field. By the way effective sq. ft. of leach field differs from actual based upon a chart from infiltrator. As the pictures indicate I installed 4 rows of H-10 (High Capacity) infiltrators in rows which were which were 31ft 4 in. long. In addition I backfilled to the top of the infiltrators with 3/4 inch crushed stone and then covered the entire area with geotextile fabric to prevent silting of the field. I ten capped it with native gravel and topsoil. I could have simply backfilled the entire area with native soil and attained the effective leach filed required, but inasmuch as I am going to live with it for years to come I wanted as much bang for my buck as I can get.

MarkV, as far as them having to be dead level to work I would say that the manufacturer instructs you to install them that way, but the bottom of the infiltrator is completely open to the bare ground so I can't see if you were, say, two inches higher or lower from one end of your run to the other it would make much of a difference in the operation. Water, which is suppose to be all that flows into the field, and as such will seek its own level, and the height of the infiltrator is 16 inches high so that give you a lot of room to play with. For the record mine was dead level, shot with an old school bubble transit along with the help of my hired hand Mister Johnson. Now, since I worked on this on this project alone, I had to improvise a helper so I welded a pipe to a piece of metal plate and zip tied my story pole to that. Why I decided to call it Mister Johnson I will never know (probably too much sun!) Mr. Johnson is the best helper I have ever had, available night and day, never complained, required no pay or benefits and agreed with everything I said, what more could you ask for?

One thing I did that the manufacturer did not call for was the installation of a splash block bellow where the pipe feed into the infiltrator. I reckoned that the falling water could disturb the dirt where it hit creating a well or undermining the end of the infiltrator. So I put a patio block there to prevent it, again probably over kill or $4.00 worth of insurance.

It was a time consuming project but in the end it was really easy. Good Luck.

 

[atgreene]

Hope it works out well for you. If you take your time and think it through you should make out fine. I'm state cert. in septic installs, do a pile of them a year. A stone bed is hard to beat in this state.

FWIW, I would recommend you use filter fabric on the stone rather than hay. Noone ever puts enough hay and sand still leaks through if you drive across it. Fabric costs a little more, but it's worth it. I have rolls of it 13' x 330' if you need a piece. Not sure how close you are, but I can sell you some if you can't find it anywhere else.

Make sure you scarify the soil under the bed when you are done digging. Compacted soils under the bed from wheels will cause a system to fail early.

Rent or get a lazer, saves a lot of effert. One of those garden hose levels works ok too if need be.

I use Elm St. Vault of Biddeford for my tanks, but George Roberts is also good and either will set the tank for you. I also recently heard that Pepin? in Sanford is dirt cheap on tanks right now, so they may be worth a try.

Good luck, feel free to contact me if you have any issues or questions, but sounds like you have it well in hand.