problems with my drainfield

[jaxs]

It's your system,you will live with it long after installers are gone and it's your money paying for it. Get it like you want it ow because a do over later on isn't much of an option.

 

[Williy]

We are required to use butcher block paper on top of the 4 inch pvc pipe with holes but the half plastic boxes just dirt and 3 feet is the max depth of drain field as of 15 years ago.

willy

 

[rScotty]

What is going to keep the loose sugar sand from going inside the infiltrators and clogging any drainoff as it leaves the tank and flows down the infiltrators? There are holes in the sides.

I guess Im not seeing how laying hollow half round plastic tubing in the sand is going to control/disperse the waste to begin with?

Driving a tractor over the loose sand would surely throw the level of the outlet pipe off at a minimum which of course would render the size of the field nearly useless.

That's encouraging. Realizing that you are not seeing all of how it works is the first step in understanding what is going on.

Those side slits in the Infiltrators are not just there by accident. They are a compromise and are angled so that in most soils the natural cohesion of the soil (clay content) will keep the soil intact next to the plastic and little soil will seep inside.
The ability of soil to stand up is called the "angle of repose". The infiltrator people really ought to make different infiltrators for different soils. Probably will someday

Sugar sand like you have there is a special case. It has very little clay content and it doesn't stand by itself at all. The angle of repose is very small. That means the sugar sand will tend to seep sideways - hence the need for the geotextile covering to prevent it entering the slits just as you said.
But the same low clay content means your sugar sand exchanges gasses well and also does not compact under load like a clay soil will do.
So....in your installation the infiltrators can be a little higher, and compaction of the sand on top is not generally going to be a problem.

I agree completely about the need to support the piping to the infiltrators & wish more installers paid more attention to that. It's the weak point in many septic designs. Good catch.

rScotty

 

[Tx Jim]

I guess Im not seeing how laying hollow half round plastic tubing in the sand is going to control/disperse the waste to begin with?

I had a similar septic system installed 20yrs ago. On my system the waste is held in septic tanks to decompose & liquid is absorbed by soil around/under infiltrators. If solid waste is under infiltrators then septic system is not operating as designed.

 

[1930]

Come to find out according to the county the cloth is not mandatory nor needed. It would have passed inspection whether it was there or not. Evidently the slits are facing in a way that sand supposedly will not fill the infiltrator. I am anxious to examine these more closely this weekend when I get back there.

 

[rScotty]

I had a similar septic system installed 20yrs ago. On my system the waste is held in septic tanks to decompose & liquid is absorbed by soil around/under infiltrators. If solid waste is under infiltrators then septic system is not operating as designed.

That sounds like how a standard system is supposed to work. The key to keeping a septic working is as much in the multiple section septic tanks as in the leach field. Porous fabric over the infiltrators may or may not be a requirement - county regs vary widely - but in some soils it is a good idea.

 

[fried1765]

That sounds like how a standard system is supposed to work. Porous fabric over the infiltrators may or may not be a requirement - county regs vary widely - but in some soils it is a good idea.

In Florida sand it IS a good idea!

 

[nyone]

Come to find out according to the county the cloth is not mandatory nor needed. It would have passed inspection whether it was there or not. Evidently the slits are facing in a way that sand supposedly will not fill the infiltrator. I am anxious to examine these more closely this weekend when I get back there.

If you are really that worried about the ripped fabric back fill to the top of the chamber with crushed stone and use road fabric for a soil separator. Road fabric is far stronger and the stone will act like a bigger drain field along with helping to keep the fines out of the chamber.

Are you installing inspection ports at the far end of the chambers?