i found a concrete cess pit at the bottom of my garden.

[robgil]

my gas tank needs to go over the top of it. can these be filled in? ive got loads of rubble that i could easily fill it in with.

 

[middi]

Ok, Just c**p in it or fill it back in :wink:

 

[Flyfisher]

I'd make absolutely sure you're on mains sewerage first. :lol:

 

[Andrew Bodenham]

Are you sure that's not an active tank? It may not take you own sewage, but what about neighbouring properities? Or roof runoff?

If you're certain it's redundant I'd put the cover back on and build over the top of it. The concrete top looks pretty solid so I doubt if it would have any problems with the load imposed by a gas tank. You might want to run that past your tank supplier first though.

It's full of water. If it's not coming from drains then it must be groundwater or surface water. Either way that's a potential source of irrigation - why not rig up a pump so you can make use of it?

 

[robgil]

i am pretty sure it isnt active but i will double check. ive read about people watering their gardens from redundant cesspit's but id rather not water my veg with some old sewage , ms robgil would have my nuts off. :shock: besides , its really deep so it will save my renting another skip if i can get all my rubble into it.

 

[worms]

Its not a well is it?

 

[Flyfisher]

Another possibility to save money is to ensure you are using it and not on mains sewerage, which will save you a fair bit of cash every year on your water bill, instead of just the cost of one skip.

 

[Feltwell]

Another possibility to save money is to ensure you are using it and not on mains sewerage, which will save you a fair bit of cash every year on your water bill, instead of just the cost of one skip.

Is that not offset by the cost of having to pay for a vacuum tanker to empty it periodically though??

 

[robgil]

i dont think its a well , its got a drain running into it. i think it might have been for an old out house as my house is slightly down hill from the tank so even if i wanted to use it i couldnt.

 

[Flyfisher]

There is certainly a cost for emptying but it's much less than mains sewerage - in my experience anyway. We had ours partially emptied last year for the first time (I believe) in about five years. I have a figure of £26 in my memory but that sounds rather cheap so I might be wrong, but I recall thinking it was very reasonable - certainly much cheaper than mains sewerage.

Anyway, it seems academic in this instance as robgil has confirmed that gravity is against him!

 

[robgil]

unless i eat special K all day long and then my poo's may well be able to float uphill.

guys , just a thought , will i need it emptied before i fill it in?

 

[Penners]

There is certainly a cost for emptying but it's much less than mains sewerage - in my experience anyway.

Mine too. Although your figure of £26 seems unusually cheap. We pay about £75.

And one empty in five years? :shock: Either you have an extraordinarily capacious septic tank or you're not eating enough roughage!

 

[Schoolmarm]

Or it leaks.

 

[MdB]

£75+ is closer to the correct figure I believe (and I need to get mine done so will find out shortly).

I'm told that the danger of not getting your tank regularly emptied is that more material ends up in the soakaway which then gets blocked. A new soakaway isn't cheap I believe.

 

[Flyfisher]

Well, my memory might not be too reliable but I'm sure I can trust my records. It actually cost £45 for "a load" using the man-in-the-village with a big tractor and vacuum tank. But I don't know what "a load" really means and he did say he hadn't fully emptied it. I presume it must be quite large.

I admit to neglecting such things on the basis of 'if there's no problem, leave it alone'. I only had it emptied because it had started to smell but it's been fine ever since, even though the manhole covers on both tanks are broken and don't seal properly - and my understanding is that there shouldn't be any smell if things are working properly, hence my 'leave-it-alone' approach. Perhaps an annual emptying might be a good idea though.

Coincidentally, I've just bought some new manhole covers and frames in a local auction, so that's another job I should be able to complete soon - and it will mean I can then remove the two traffic cones from the middle of the grass and not worry about running over the cracked covers with the mower.

Or it leaks.

I thought they were supposed to leak - well, the purified effluent anyway - into a 'drainage field' composed of perforated pipework. Or am I confusing cess pits and septic tanks (again!)?

 

[AMc]

I REALLY WOULDN'T PUT THE GAS TANK ON THERE LIKE THAT!

At the very least you may find no one will fill/swap your tank at the worst you could blow something up. You probably need to dig it out or properly cap it off with cement but you should talk to a Gas Safe Registered fitter first.

My plumber (registered to work with LPG & propane) was very careful about the location of our LPG bottles. The gas is heavier than air so it you have an badly sealed opening nearby then a leak will pool into it. Your water tight tank filled with a nice mix of explosive gas and loose rubble doesn't sound like a good combination to me!

We had a stand and space for two 19Kg propane bottles built which run our cooker hob. The pipe runs under the drive and into the house. As we also had a duct for the refrigerant pipes and power for the heat pump he made us separate them and cap the duct. He pointed out that otherwise we had the potential to create a 13m pipe bomb under our drive :shock: .

 

[robgil]

i think it should be fine , the guy from calor seemed to think so , providing it is capped properly. the tank site on 75-100mm of hard core/rubble then on 150 mm of concrete. his words were something like providing there is no man hole cover visible then there will be no access issues. the cesspit is made from re-enforced concrete so even if its left empty its still not likely to cave in under the weight , also its only a small proportion of the slab that will sit ontop of the pit.
i will give them a call though just to be sure to be sure. id hate to do all this work then have them turn up and refuse to install the gas tank.

 

[Schoolmarm]

Can you not use the underground vault to store the gas tank in?



FF, I meant an additional, unauthorised leak.

 

[Flyfisher]

I think an underground installation could be seriously dangerous in the event of a leak - for the reasons AMc mentioned. A shame, really, as it would be an ideal way of hinding an ugly tank. But my understanding is that LPG tanks are only rented so I'd hope the supplier/installer will ensure a safe installation.

As for a leak, I see your point 'marm, but how would I know? The tank is in the middle of an area of grass and there's no sign of leakage or contamination or smell. Out-of-sight-out-of-mind seems to have worked for the last few years, long may it continue.

 

[Schoolmarm]

Same here 8)


When we moved in 13 and a half years ago, the level of "stuff" was visible but now it just looks damp in there :shock: