Driving tractor over Leech field

[stephan]

Good link thehagg501. You Americans certainly know your ... well ... hmmm ... poo. I found it interesting that driving over the leech field can be recorded as a defect when doing an inspection. I think there are differing standards everywhere. Here we are now supposed to how our septic inspected yearly because of some problems with oyster farmers losing their whole crop due to contamination of the water by badly maintained tanks - true. The state govt decided that the local authorities would inspect yearly, only problem is there is no staff to do such a thing.

Anyhow interesting link.

 

[ByronBob]

Good stuff to look at. The link for the septic systems is a really informative one.

I wasn't allowed by the county to add a garbage disposal unless I went with a bigger tank. This would have required another perk test ect... but the previous owner had done all of that so I just didn't want to risk troubles so I went with no disposal.

They put in this type of leach field at my place. No troubles and it can handle the load so it says. I don't go over the leach field with anything bigger than my craftsman mower.
http://www.infiltratorsystems.com

 

[Dargo]

Okay, you guys convinced me. Since I haven't even looked into my tank for over 12 years, I thought it wouldn't hurt to get it pumped. A local company charges $105.00 to pump it out. I went out last night and found the clean out cap and opened it. Man! It smelled like s*#$!! Duh! I was so happy I could find the thing. That was until I got a whiff of it. I promptly put the cap back on and the guys will be here today to take their fill. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Perhaps this thread may have saved me future problems by bring up something I never thought about. Thanks for the, well, poopy idea. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[ByronBob]

Thats not a bad cost. Let us know if the guy says it was the right thing to do or not. Didn't mean to scare you but I did want to. (Does that make sense /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif)

I find the help on everything here valuable from other people's experiences to just the other objective thoughts of people I've never met. To help a person such as you with my comments just helps me keep a good thing going.

 

[Jibber]

I've been thinking alot about what stephan had to say and all of a sudden I had a thought.. maybe I've been thinking wrong about the potential "damage" to the leech field from driving the tractor over the field. Maybe my biggest problem isn't a crushing or disturbing of the PVC pipe, rather.. it's compaction of the ground around the field. This would explain why one leg was saturated.. the leg on the periphery of the lawn.. where I have been driving the tractor. My purpose was to avoid the field.. I had no idea they planted a leg so close to the tree line that I couldn't possibly avoid it.

 

[ByronBob]

Dargo, how did you make out?

 

[Dargo]

Well, everything came out okay. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif Actually I was gone working when they came, but my wife was here. The guy said that it would take about 20 minutes or so. After 3 hours he was apologizing to my wife for taking so long. Apparently it was either a really large tank or it was nice and thick. When he finally finished he gave my wife an inspection form saying that everything was okay. He obviously suggested to have it done a little more frequently. My wife said it sort of smelled awful and couldn't imagine having that guy's job. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Anyway, staying out of the details, it appears that the good suggestion on here likely saved me from some eventual problems if I hadn't had the old honey dippers drop by. Why do they call them honey dippers? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif That's not exactly the way I'd describe it! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Thanks! I'll schedule them to come again in about 3 years when I'm gone to work just like this time. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[bky]

Might I suggest some septic/cesspol treatment such as ridx or zep(witch I use) on a monthly basis /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[Dargo]

bky, apparently it works well. Supposedly there is no way my tank should have made it 13 years with a family of seven. I've used a bacterial treatment each month and always have. Without, my tank "should" have plugged in one year. However, no amount of treatment will dissolve the solid sludge that falls to the bottom as a by product of the bacterial breakdown process. The only way out is for that to be pumped out. Yeah, I did quite a bit of research before I had my tank pumped. I assumed that by using the treatments that I would never have to have my tank pumped. I'm glad I read this thread and did some research.

 

[ByronBob]

The guy said that it would take about 20 minutes or so. After 3 hours he was apologizing to my wife for taking so long. Apparently it was either a really large tank or it was nice and thick.

I'd bet on the latter..... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Good to hear your all set for a while. If you told him it had been 13 years he would have charged double I bet. And as you know now the bacteria is a hoax thing. Pump the tank every 3-4 years and life is good.

Your folks on the other hand don't pump theirs at all. Almost afraid to go down this road but you might want to bring the situation up to your folks and suggest they do the same.

If you think for a minute the whole tank would need to fill with solids, spill out to the d-box then fill your leach lines to a point where it couldn't seep water into the ground anymore. This process could take 20 years I'd imagine. By then you'd have almost like concrete in your system and digging a new tank and leach field would stop you from buying a new tractor. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif