septic tank

[cqaigy2]

I am down here in central Il., and EVERYTHING gotta go into the septic tank!!!--- stupid,--- yes, BUT its the law here! thanks; sonny580

Maybe because, back in the day, dirty diapers or rags and such would get washed in the washer so they would want to control where the e. coli ends up so that it doesn't get tracked into the house or contaminate other area. Now days most people don't know what a cloth diaper is.

 

[Tig]

I'm surprised to hear so many people bypassing the tank and putting grey water in the septic field. I've seen dry wells clogged by soap scum from the wash machine. I'd be afraid to ruin the field.

 

[OldMcDonald]

Tig, I suppose that like putting the grey water into the tank, a lotdepends on your volumes and the nature of the drainage field. My last property before I moved to Portugal was a new build house and the drainage was perforated plastic land drainage pipe that ran for over half a mile under farmland before entering a stream. The Environmental Agency said they were happy that was far enough to pick up enough land drainage to keep the pipe clear and contain enough water that there would be no pollution. My new proposal will not be that long, but will have extra land drains connected to it.

Modern washing detergents do not contain the fat of the old fashioned soaps, and both our washing machine and drier have lint filters. For about half the year the drains will be collecting water from the land and for a few of the other months it will seep into the land through the drain perforations. It might not work for somebody who can only install a short run, or is in an arid situation.

 

[mx842]

Around here everything goes into the septic tank. I built my house 22 years ago and for most of that time it has been at least 5 people living here. At one time my wife's 3 kids were living there, all teenaged girls and my youngest son along with my oldest son and his wife and two kids while they rebuilt their house because of a fire they had. I had to add a second washer/dryer and add a third bathroom on the second floor to keep up with the load. Everything got dumped into the septic tank and I have never had a problem. I had it pumped one time, after about 15 years and the poo pumper guy said it didn't really need it then but we pumped it dry anyway.

When I had the septic system put in and after I got the inspection done I got the guy to dig me a ditch in another section, off the other side of the house 150 foot long with gravel and drain tile. I ran a 3" line from under the house to this drain line and I got him to sink 4, 3' well curbs in the ground to connect the two. I poured about a foot of concrete in the bottom of the hole and sealed the gaps between the curbs with hydraulic cement and this was supposed to be like a mini septic tank for the house grey water if I ever needed it. After the house was built and inspected we moved in, I forgot all about the line stubbed in under the house and never hooked it up.


A good septic system that is working well and away from large trees will handle pretty much anything you dump in it. You just have to be careful of your drain fields and not drive over them with heavy equipment or trucks that might crush your drain tiles. Also you need to be careful a keep tree roots from getting in the lines as they will completely destroy a drain field in no time which will kill the whole system.