You would be best to contact your Health District or whomever is over septic installs. I could tell you how they are done here but that wont do you any good. I will sayhere homeowners can do their own systems. They are subject to inspections just like a contractors installs are but you don't need to be licensed to do your own. Something you could ask about.

 

No more pooping in a hole in the closet like at my house, that fer sure golly gee-whiz!

There are filtration fields that have a main tank, a settling tank and a pump chamber that pumps the affluent into a sand and pea gravel field, this system is usually raised above grade level if the soil is of poor drainage, the more common systems are trenched into the ground and 1 1/2" drain rock is dumped over the perforated pipe (PVC) and a biodegradable filter agent (straw and sod for us here) is placed on top to keep the soil from clogging up the drain rock as it settles.
There is also a foam cube system for cottages where space and water conservation is an issue, but I have only seen 1 put in place here.

 

Well i did contact the building department and they told me that they inspect them but have never seen one or have done an inspection on one. The street i am building on does not have utilties. Its the only one in the whole town. I plan on building the system myself. I have the equipment just not the know how.

 

The type of system that they told me to build is the trench type with gravel. ( the neighbor property has that system built back in the late 60's) Other than that the town has been no help.

 

Use Chambers or Ezflow.
Gravel systems are a pain.
Here the health department specs the system .
Here chambers go in at a 65% rate of gravel.
Here if you do your own system you have too take a test and pay a small fee.

Have you perced the ground yet?

 

i did dig a 4' x 3' x 5' deep hole for the town to "look" at. The guy from the town came out looked at it said "ok" and than told me he has never seen a septic system before. He than went on to say the last permit the town issued for a septic system was in 1971.:hammerhead: So do what ever you want. I just want the system to be correct. I know first hand how a bad system can ruin land.

 

Here you go try this.It will give you at least an idea of what to do.

http://www.eco-nomic.com/septic.htm

Good luck:usflag:

 

i did dig a 4' x 3' x 5' deep hole for the town to "look" at. The guy from the town came out looked at it said "ok" and than told me he has never seen a septic system before. He than went on to say the last permit the town issued for a septic system was in 1971.:hammerhead: So do what ever you want. I just want the system to be correct. I know first hand how a bad system can ruin land.

Wow. Are you in America? Sounds more like some third world country.

 

Are you going to build a house or is this just going to be a shop ?

The system is based on how many bedrooms the house has. Does the soil perk well if not your looking at a sand mound system.

If this is one toilet and one sink bathroom why don't you go with a holding tank system where you have a large tank that the stuff goes into and when its full get the sweet juice truck to come suck it dry.

You can go with a two tank system where one is for the solid poo and the other tank is overflow for the gray water. The one tank you can run a 2000 gallon tank the water and solids flow into it as the water fills up the tank it can run into another 2000 gallon tank. A low flow flush toilet would take a long time to fill 4000 gallons. You could have a small leech field to get rid of the gray water or a sistern set up.

A conventional drainfield may be overkill just for one bathroom.

 

If it is just for a shop, check into an all electric toilet. They incinerate the waste and you just dump out the ash every once in a while. They actually work quite well and usually cost less than a septic system. The waste from the sink can run out and water the trees. It is worth checking into anyway.

 

i know nearly everything you would ever want to know about septics it is almost scary...if you have any specific questions send me a PM

 

i know nearly everything you would ever want to know about septics it is almost scary...if you have any specific questions send me a PM

OK Mr. know it all septic man. Give us a diagram of the life of a turd and its water from the flush to extraction from the septic tank in PA.

Now do it in an area with high sub water?

 

well when i am pumping it goes right from the sh*tter down the pipes and up my straw into the truck...any further explanation would require me to sit at this computer too long and i don't have time for that..haha

and for your high water question you can do a few things...i like the stream discharge idea...actually stream discharge is the only type of system i have never installed because the approval process for those is mind numbing

 

well when i am pumping it goes right from the sh*tter down the pipes and up my straw into the truck...any further explanation would require me to sit at this computer too long and i don't have time for that..haha

and for your high water question you can do a few things...i like the stream discharge idea...actually stream discharge is the only type of system i have never installed because the approval process for those is mind numbing.

Come to Idaho the approval process is much quicker. Ponder that the next time you drink bottled water from Idaho or Montana.

 

Well I went and talked with my neighbor across the street and all he has for his shop is a 3,000 gal tank that he has pumped out. The place next door to me has a full septic system. From what I am gathering sounds like the tank that gets pumped might be a better option.

 

Well I went and talked with my neighbor across the street and all he has for his shop is a 3,000 gal tank that he has pumped out. The place next door to me has a full septic system. From what I am gathering sounds like the tank that gets pumped might be a better option.

For a shop that would be the most economical, but once you have bought the tanks the cheap part is the infiltrators (drain field). If you go with just a tank, be sure to have an alarm installed or someway of gauging how full tank is or you'll be in shop of sh!t.

 

i have to agree with KSSS...getting a 3000 gallon septic tank is pricey, on top of that you have to pay to have it pumped every so often...a 1000 gallon tank will run you around $800 (thats what it costs here anyway), then just buy your stone and pipe

i posted some pictures in my thread "Dirtdiggers spring, summer, fall.... picture thread" of what a simple gravity system looks like...very easy to do, unless you put the tank in too high and have to lift it out again like we did on this job:hammerhead:

 

If you went with a large tank and a small gravity fed field it would last you a long time you may thou run into the field drying out. Buy your neighbours a pair of plane tickets to somewhere so they are not around then you can run a poo pipe to their septic system :laugh: