Cess Pit to Mains

[lil luke]

Hi all

New member after some advice. I am looking to purchase a cottage property which has a cess pit. Currently only old lady living there and has it emptied about 3 to 4 times a year.

Family of four moving in hence water consumption will be much more. This property was one of the first built in the area (early 1800s) since then a whole street has been built around it all connected to mains.

Mains distance would be about 70 odd metres away.

Anyone have a rough idea how much it would cost to upgrade and connect to the mains? Thanks!

 

[skier-hughes]

Not done mains sewerage, but mains water cost about £3k to dig up road and connect my laid pipe butting the edge of the road to the mains water.

If you ask your local water company to send out an engineer he can ascertain what will be needed and give you a rough price - if you twist his arm - to get this done.

Or even ask a local tradesman.

Graham

 

[Andrew Bodenham]

You lucky sod, having mains drainage just 70m away. Our nearest is about 6 miles.
We bought a house with a dodgy "septic tank" and have been enjoying a touchy-feely relationship with ever since. From time to time there have been rumours of mains drainage coming to the village, and all is hope and happiness and light. But the rumours have come to naught, and we have been plunged (uur!) back into the murky depths of despair and loathing. Like some vile elderly relative with IBS the thing lurks in the grounds, needing to be handled gently and with patience, until the days comes when only surgical intervention will suffice. Muggins scrubs up whilst Sister lays out the drain rods. Meanwhile Farmer McSpreader stands by to apply suction as the ghastly innards are exposed to view....

How much it costs to connect will depend on levels, ground conditions etc. but believe me, if you buy the place you will connect to the mains, regardless of money.

 

[Anita]

It would probably keep your costs down if you roped in some friends for some serious digging of trenches for yuor drains ( or even paid someone with a small digger) and just pay united utilites to actually do the connection to the main drains. They charge an absolute fortune to dig the trenches - which after-all isn't really rocket science (although very hard work)!

We have a very old septic tank and on the whole it is quite well behaved (fingers crossed as I type this). We are very careful about what goes down it, and prefer the "if it aint broke dont fix it" approach rather than having it emptied too often, as this is what we have been advised with regard to old brick built tanks.

However luckily for us - but unluckily for our neighbour, it is in his garden, right next to his conservatory. Therefore the one time that there was a problem - it wasn't us who had the mess etc.....!!!!!! (My other half did of course go and clear it up - after he got in from work, but I think th neighbuor had had to endure the delights most of the day -oops)!

 

[Lime]

A disadvantage (for some) of connecting to the mains is that if there is a flood elsewhere causing the sewer to flood you get everybody else's sewage coming out of your drains.
Areas once protected by rising ground are no longer so safe.

I would like to see most low lying areas and those vulnerable to flooding to have some sort of one-way valve in their drains.

Is such a thing made?
I don't know.


Anyway, before getting your hopes up, make sure there will be enough fall on the pipes.
Some sewers are very close to the surface.

 

[Nemesis]

We have mains 70 yards awy.

Unfortunately, 70 yards up a steep slope, so we remain with 'private drainage' for the forseeable future.

It's not really so terrible as long as care is taken.

 

[Flyfisher]

However luckily for us - but unluckily for our neighbour, it is in his garden, right next to his conservatory. Therefore the one time that there was a problem - it wasn't us who had the mess etc.....!!!!!!

That must be the ultimate NIMBYism!

Presumably the neighbouring property was built sometime after yours and 'enclosed' said facility. Do the deeds say anything about maintenance responsibilities or is this the (almost) ideal solution of private drainage with someone else responsible for maintenance?

 

[Nemesis]

I know many properties where the septic tank is situated in someone else's land.

In one house we viewed, the details said it was believed there was a septic tank, situated in the surrounding land, but its whereabouts was unknown.

 

[CHRIS]

Lime

I installed a backflow valve in a house in the USA as they are very popular in the areas around Houston due to the hurricanes etc.

I am sure you coud get one here

 

[Penners]

a house with a dodgy "septic tank" and have been enjoying a touchy-feely relationship with it ever since.

Touchy-feely is the very last thing I would want with a septic tank. :x

 

[Anita]

In response to flyfisher - yes there is the ability to get onto neighbours land to maintain the septic tank. It used to be sited in what was land belonging to our house (long before we bought it) and the neighbour bought the said patch of land to form a garden. The neighbour then built a conservatory over the old septic tank drainage pipes without replacing them with new ones, which we think was extremely foolish considering the minimum effort and cost that would have been involved at the time. However now if there are any problems his conservatory floor will need digging up, and we would then of course have to reinstate it - oh joy!

We have replaced all of the old pipework to the septic tank as far as the neighbours land while doing major drainage work around our house. Heres hoping that all keeps going well and working as it should do - otherwise ther could be some fun (not)!

Even the Solicitors for owners that we purchased from said that it was stupid to sell off land containing a septic tank - but I suppose the previous owners didn't really care, as they never lived in the house themselves and so presumably all they were interested in was gaining a bit of money!!

 

[Nemesis]

Many septic tanks in areas like ours are situated in, and drain into, a neighbouring field.

Some of these belong to what would once have been farm cottages, and when sold off an easement for access granted to the tank.

In other cases, a friendly neighbour gave permission as it was the only means of getting some drainage into places which had, until fairly recent times, only had privies.

Mains drainage only came to our village in the sixties. 1960's.

 

[K8]

my cesspit is located in my neighbours land, in reality it is their cesspit to which I have rights to use so it is a 50/50 split for any maintenane and emptying.
the poster posted a cesspit not a septic tank. Having lived with both I much prefer a cesspit as someone else empties this and it does not need to be de-gunged it is out of sight and as long as you monitor the speed at which it fills and arrange a suitable emptying pattern should not be a problem.
But do not flush anything other than human waste and soil paper down it, as de-blocking a cesspit because of a tampax getting stuck is not pleasant, even dental flosh can cause mega blockages in old pipe work.

 

[Nemesis]

I don't see that a cesspit and a septic tank have any differences with regard to not putting anything down which might block the pipework.

How long does it take to fill your cesspit? And how much is it to have it emptied?

Someone else empties our septic tank also, every now and again we have the gunge removed.

I would hesitate to buy a property with only a cesspit I have to say - with a big family and the usual water requirements for washing machines, baths etc it would very soon fill up.

 

[K8]

No perhaps not, just semed more effort with the septic tank and it was smelly in the summer as the water course that it fed into (and the other properties in the lane) dried in summer so it got pongy...

There is an arrangement and it is checked for emptying every three weeks and if needed a load taken.

Though nothing like the inconvenience of a full loo

 

[Nemesis]

Well of course no septic tank should drain into a water course unless the water has been tested, and not all do - ours drains into our land.

It must cost a fortune to keep having that emptied!

Our septic tank gets de-gunged about every two years.

 

[lil luke]

Thanks for all the advice.

How much it costs to connect will depend on levels, ground conditions etc. but believe me, if you buy the place you will connect to the mains, regardless of money.

Yes the thought of a cess pit just sits very uneasy with me, guess I am a city boy at heart!

Searching the net and came across this. I wonder if this is a viable alternative option instead of digging? Probably expensive? Any thoughts?
http://www.dyno.com/specialist.htm

Directional Drilling - While moling provides for straight line connections, directional drilling techniques allow the bore to negotiate geological, structural obstacles and other underground services. Steerable bores of up to 300 metres in length and 350mm in diameter can be achieved with the latest Dyno-Rod equipment.
The direct drilling machine is set up with the frame angled to ensure the drill's egress at the appropriate point. Drilling is aided by a water slurry injection, which lubricates the ground as the drill bores through the earth.

As the head begins to make progress, steel rods are loaded in to help drive its progress and retain the integrity of the hole made.

A sonic tracer contained in the drilling head enables its location to be tracked remotely by operatives as it progresses along its predetermined path.

Once the drilling head has arrived at its destination, a back reamer pulls the pipework/ducting back through the pilot hole. It re-emerges at the original start point with the pipework/ducting now installed underneath the road.

 

[K8]

it is (not got a bill to hand to double check) £6.45 a load, so split that in half not much really

 

[skier-hughes]

Our digger cost £25 an hour and took two days to dig 450m along our driveway, to a depth of 1m. Another day and a bit to fill it back in.

So that's about 15m an hour, dig and fill.

Our driveway was a lot of hardcore as well, so not just soil, which would be easier to do.

 

[Nemesis]

Before anyone thinks that's the norm for emptying - best check.

It costs us over a hundred quid for a small septic tank, I can't think the contents of a cesspit will be any more savoury.