Who knows about septic systems??

[Perdido]

As I stated in the above comments, a 1000 gallon two chamber tank will cover what you need with at least 260 feet of field line ( pressure dispersion trench). My house is 4 bedrooms with 3 baths, 80 gallon hot water heater, dish washing and 2-3 loans of cloths washed every day. This system will handle all of your needs without routing your shower, baths, etc to another system. Get someone to do a perk test and that will let you know. Or do a quick check yourself --- dig a hole about one foot wide and about 3-4 ft deep and fill it with water about half way up. Check it about every hour and that will let you know how well it will drain.

 

[Shemp]

Talked to the county today and found out that the 10 acre rule expired in 2003. You have to have permit no matter how many acres. It's not as expensive as I thought it would be. Around $250.00 for the county for permits and inspections and around $100.00 to hire an engineer to test the soil and design the system. The guy I talked to gave a rough estimate of $4500.00 and up for the conventional system.

 

[bx24]

I have to put in a system in the next six months or so and I plan to use these for the leach field. You can get them locally at the home improvement center and all of the local contractors now swear by them

BioDiffuser Leaching Chambers – Open Bottom Effluent Distribution System

Good luck

 

[HUCKthe1]

I have to agree with others that you need to finding out what local law requires for septic systems in your area. We were required to have a state approved design that was calculated from soil conditions, house size, total amount of inputs (sink,toilets, drains, fixtures), number of people planned in the home.


I see where a few people have suggested bypassing their septic systems for some waste water. Please remember septic systems are a living system and need water to flow through them to survive. I can understand sump and wash machines not being connected but other water needs to be directed through your septic system.Them bugs that make that bad smell need water and that is what breaks down the solids.My 2 red cents.

 

[2manyrocks]

Now all you need to do is convince the Mrs. that you can save money by getting your own backhoe and doing it and other stuff yourself........

 

[johnk]

Go with the Rule they do it Big in Texas and put a 5000 gallon in for your seasonal place and you won't have any worries just bragging rights.

 

[Mike058]

I just got my preliminary design from my design guy and it's using an 1125 gallon tank for the 3 bedroom house we're going to put in.

 

[workinallthetime]

kind of funny, this topic is the exact reason i bought my old kubota bx 23, took me days to dig that septic system up in this rock and clay ground i have. got the smell out of the yard and my first deacent tractor out of the deal.

 

[TimS]

I just got my preliminary design from my design guy and it's using an 1125 gallon tank for the 3 bedroom house we're going to put in.

Mike, don't be penny wise and pound foolish. I was a local health official for quite a few years. We saw a lot of people who had to spend thousands of dollars to upgrade a system after the fact - and if they'd built a little bigger in the first place, the cost increase would have been next to nothing. At a minimum, I would design the septic to handle 1 bedroom bigger than the planned size of the house.

Tim

 

[AlanB]

If you search you should be able to find web sites with dry well designs for the laundry and perhaps other grey water. I recall seeing one such site that was sponsored by a university, but that was a few years ago, and it may not still be around.

I'm pretty sure some localities have banned the practice.

I worked with my county guys (Montgomery County TN) a couple of months back thinking about doing a drywell or something seperate for the washing machine. I was told that it is TN state controlled, and that it is a requirement that it drops into the septic. I did not worry about getting it in writing or a reference though (just complied)

That said, it seems like everyone "in the field" tells me to run the stuff out on the ground, then again, I am sure they would all deny if if push came to shove.