Septic tank emptying ...

[Nemesis]

Now I know Biff's never requires emptying, but every website I read with instructions on how to ensure they work properly does state that pumping out the sludge every now and again is A Good Thing.

It's just the charge for emptying suggested on many of these sites seems rather less than we pay. Ours is small - about 500 gallons - and today we were charged over £200.

I wondered what others pay.

 

[Lime]

A proper septic tank should not need emptying unless a very large amount of non-organic material enters the drains such as sand.
The operation of a septic tank requires that "solids" are broken down by bacteria and this is usually in the form of a sludge. Only if a septic tank is polluted or over-used would I ever empty one.
Far from a good thing, pumping out the sludge removes a large portion of bateria and disturbs the septic tank's operation.

Too many people (often those that should know better) confuse septic tanks with a cess pools which do require emptying on a regular basis. Septic tanks properly constructed rarely need emptying.

 

[Nemesis]

Well that's the theory - but not what happens. The sludge does build up eventually and needs clearing.

I am very aware of the difference between a cesspit and a septic tank, ours is a septic tank, it isn't overused and we don't 'pollute' it!

Tanks should always have a portion of the sludge left in the bottom, to keep them activated.


http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/groundwater-protect/consultation.pdf


http://www.homesonsale.co.uk/forum/archive/index.php/t-432.html


http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/selp/envt/1995/00000016/00000008/art00009

 

[biffvernon]

Dead right, Lime. Septic tank emptying almost falls into the same category as injecting damp courses.

500 gallons - and today we were charged over £200

Wow. I'd do it by hand - a pound a bucket full. Easy money. Just pull on the marigolds and get stuck in.

 

[Nemesis]

We had a reason for wanting it emptied, beyond the obvious. We are aware of the theory that that they never need emptying, but...

But I'd read the links, and consider.

In Scotland, there's a national service provided and it seems considerably cheaper than what we'd paid, so I wondered what others paid.

 

[biffvernon]

If you Northumbrians hadn't built all those Pele towers you might be in Scotland now.

 

[Nemesis]

Round here we built bastles. Reiving wasn't the same thing as being at war with Scotland.

 

[thiambal]

My brother-in-law recently discovered that the previous owner had converted (not very successfully) his cess pool into a septic tank through the medium of a sledge hammer.

I wonder if the work was notifiable? :wink:

 

[Nemesis]

Hmmm. Not good! A large amount of digging to be done for a proper drainage field there I assume. The problem is there isn't always the land avaialble, or suitable land which would pass a 'percolation' test.


http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/article005.htm

Not sure how old that article is, but sixty quid seems remarkably cheap.

I've been looking at this,

http://www.biotank.co.uk/

All that's putting me off is the cost!

 

[Lime]

My brother-in-law recently discovered that the previous owner had converted (not very successfully) his cess pool into a septic tank through the medium of a sledge hammer.

I wonder if the work was notifiable? :wink:

In parts of the Fens this was very common. People didn't want to spend the money emptying the cesspool and just put a pipe in to run into the nearest dyke. This is where much of the confusion between a septic tank and a cesspool arose.
As I feel sure thiambal knows, a cesspool is not converted into a septic tank just because it has an overflow!
Neither is the night air sweetened by such action.

 

[Nemesis]

I would suggest that many people still have such a system, which is why they think they have no problems with a septic tank. Out of sight out of mind. They have no idea of the fact they are polluting watercourses.

However, constructing a leach field isn't always possible either. It requires land and land with particular percolation characteristics.

This may be a solution for some - building a mound.

http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/farm/az1010.pdf

 

[Lime]

I would suggest that many people still have such a system, which is why they think they have no problems with a septic tank. Out of sight out of mind. They have no idea of the fact they are polluting watercourses.

However, constructing a leach field isn't always possible either. It requires land and land with particular percolation characteristics.

This may be a solution for some - building a mound.

http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/farm/az1010.pdf

With the septic tank that I owned for 10 years the outflow was connected to a very large separate chamber with stones placed in it. This chamber was ventilated and on inspection was filled with animal life crawling all over the stones as the outflowing liquid trickled over them. The resultant liquid flowing out through an old cast iron pipe (1" thick walls!) into a dyke was crystal clear and had no smell.

 

[Nemesis]

Maybe. Not everyone has room for such a system of course - septic tanks vary hugely in size and design. Wildlife isn't a guarantee of water purity however.

Any discharge into a watercourse has I think now to be OK'd by regulatory bodies. Not everyone has a nearby watercourse either.

http://www.lewes.gov.uk/environment/798.asp



http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/environmental/drainage.asp#dos

 

[thiambal]

Wildlife isn't a guarantee of water purity however.

Don't rats live in sewers?

 

[Nemesis]

Plenty of aquatic life at Sellafield ...

 

[Nimster]

We had ours emptied last month (thanks very much to the woman who sold us the house and her "oh, it won't need emptying for ages" :x and who had stuffed all sorts down the loo meaning it couldn't break down properly) and it cost £136. We go through our local council - the rate is dependent on the size of the pit/number of men required (2 for ours) and any access problems (ie do they need a long pipe). I would think most councils will have a similar scheme?

 

[Lime]

I think the point has been missed regarding my comment

This chamber was ventilated and on inspection was filled with animal life crawling all over the stones as the outflowing liquid trickled over them

Rather than a holiday camp for "animal life" the chamber had a purpose.
The liquor from sewage farm settlement tanks trickle over porous stone (often coke) and the animal life (in the form of worms etc) actually clean the liquor of most impurities.
Hence my comment.

And as some will know unlike a sewage farm where the solids just settle out, the solids and solute in a septic tank are substantially consumed by bacteria in anaerobic conditions so the liquor from a septic tank is cleaner.

 

[Nemesis]

Maybe - but I haven't yet seen a definitive scientific study to say that sludge doesn't build up and ever require removal. Mostly people seem to think it does.

Part of septic tank workings involve the leach field also.

 

[Gervase]

A proper septic tank is a rather sensitive ecosystem - so sensitive, in fact, that a family member on antibiotics can send it out of kilter. You need to be very careful what you put down it (in terms of bleach, bog cleaner, soaps, detergents and the like) if you're not to upset the equilibrium of all those bacteria down there.

 

[Nemesis]

I am very, very aware of septic tanks, the variety of design, the regulations, anaerobic activity, aerobic activity, leach fields, percolation tests, and what you can and can't do with them.

I am of the persuasion that clearing the stuff out which is left is a good thing occasionally. I await the definitive scientific study which says the opposite.

But ... all I wanted to know was how much others paid for this...