Filling septic tank with stone????

[Richard]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Might brew some interesting microbes )</font>

That might cause Homeland Security, FBI, CBI (?), WQI (?) to come visit and remove it FOR him??

/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[ByronBob]

I'm with everyone else. Pump and fill.

 

[cag]

Henro, I need 500 ft of hose when they pump mine on the Island. There are pump trucks that can handle what you described without a problem, the vacuum on those trucks are very powerful, do the right thing.....cag

 

[Poppa]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Henro,
By not knowing if the pumper truck will work, I have to ask... haven't you ever had your septic tank pumped for routine maintenance?
)</font>


Darn, I was wondering the same thing. I get mine pumped every four years and as the kids get older I might up the frequency depending how every thing looks.

Unless you have some fantastic bugs, you need to pump the tank regularly to stop the solids from working there way to the leach field and plugging it all up...Course, now that you are on city sewer what difference does that make /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif


I do have another question though Henro...was hooking up to the sewer mandatory or by choice and how long did you take to think about it?

I have often mentioned to the neighbors that if they ever ran a sewer line or water any where near my house I would be the first one hooked up to it. My neighbors think I am crazy but I would much rather have the city worry about whether the well is going to go dry or the leach field is going to become saturated.

Mike

 

[Henro]

<font color="blue"> ...haven't you ever had your septic tank pumped for routine maintenance? </font>


Mossroad,

No, it was never pumped out as far as I know. I would bet it was never pumped out EVER in the probably 35 or 40 years it may have been in the ground. We have been here a bit over 25 years. I guess twenty five years of saved pumping fees about pays for the $3,000 tap in fee for the new sewer line, and more... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

NOT pumping, while not the best thing, is pretty common around here...

 

[Henro]

<font color="blue"> I do have another question though Henro...was hooking up to the sewer mandatory or by choice and how long did you take to think about it? </font>

Poppa,

Hook up is mandatory, if they put the lateral (hook up pipe) within 250 feet of your home. There is no choice involved. You MUST hook into the sewer within 90 days of receiving a letter telling you to do so. They send the letter registered mail so they know when you got it. You must pay the $3,000 tap in fee before you tap in.

I have been waiting for sewers for a long time. I am like you and want them. Not so much because I have had problems with my "septic system" but because everyone around here does, and there is a ditch that goes behind my pond that carries a little spring water, and a lot of road run off when it rains.

During dry spells it gets rank, to say the least. Not at all from our septic, but from four or five houses up the grade. This sewer thing makes my day, even if it is expensive and will add another monthly bill to pay.

The unfortunate thing about it is that there is no option regarding hook up. In rage cases (on rereading this, I see that was a typo, meant to say rare, but rage would seem more correct in this case, the more I think about it) this really hurts. One family on a nearby lane, complained at a sanitary authority meeting last year that they just spent $7,000 to upgrade their septic system...the answer was basically, tough, but this is a public health issue. You WILL have to abandon that system and tie into the new sewer line when it becomes available to you. THERE IS NO OTHER OPTION.

The other thing that hurts is that if you don't install it yourself, the hook up is pretty expensive. I heard the average plumber charges about $20 per foot to do the hook up. This included everything, pipe, labor, digging and backfilling the trench, but not landscaping or replanting of grass over the ditch...one person told me he was quoted $25 per foot for the installation... /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif In my case, it cost about $4 per foot in materials to run 240 feet of pipe.

Fortunately, local codes permit the homeowner to install his line himself, but he must lay the pipe himself. Someone else can did the ditch, but the homeowner must do the pipe work.

 

[_RaT_]

Bill, we do not have sewers where we are at but our enviromental health is very tough on just what is and is not allowed. A perc and mantle test is but the begining of a long process and it does get costly. Your sewer line solution really is a blessing when you have so many folks in an area. Contamination of wells is one of the main issues. Folks who never pump the septic tank certainly risk the chance of partially destroying thier leach fields ability to adequately disperse the water. At the very least, it is important to do a thorough check on it every 3-4 years. Some folks never need pumping and I have heard where some folks need it every year. Habits of how they use the system and what it get's fed. When I lived at my previous home, I accidentally found the septic tank when rototilling. It had been abandoned for many years. I opened the lid and nothing but crystal clear water. It was truly amazing how well the bacteria had done their job. Back then folks tied to the sewer when the leach field or more accurately, the drywell failed. You could not redrill a drywell. You did not need to fill your septic tank with rock either. I am in the process of going through the whole perc and mantle and then the decision on the tpye of leach field they will allow me to have based on the P&M. I also have to have a 100% backup area in case the first field fails. If I get to go simple leach field, it's the cheapest. Sand fields get to be the most costly. The $3000 you pay to hook up and the monthly fee would be preferable to me but that is not an option unless I move back to where the urbanites live.