New - Spetic Systems

[phatfred8]

Hello all,

I live in the mid west and happened to find this forum. Cool stuff to say the least.

Anyway I am about 2 months from starting my building/shop build on some new properity we purchased a few years ago in the county. Pretty well have picked a 60' x 60' x 18' steel building with (1) 10' x 8' door, 14' x 16' door, and (1) 14' x 14' door, insulated. The center span will have the capacity for a 2-ton crane to be added in the future. Hydronic heating is planned and a office area to be added to the one end of the building(20' x 25'). That will have the bathroom, small office, and kitchen area for parties. After this is completed we plan to sell our current house and then build a new home at this site also. I do welding, fabrication, and machining as a small side business. I will keep you posted as thing get more firmed up.

Anyway, I had a soil test done and the county is telling me that the only (2) systems that I was suggested to put on the properity are a Drip Feed or a reverse sand filter. Either of the two systems would be located after a aeration system. After that would be a Dosing Tank, Pump that would soak the drip field or reverse sand filter for maximun of 22 hours per day. The drip field is a bunch of 3/4-1" diameter pipe that is buried below the surface about 8" to 10"(Frost/Freezing?). The reverse sand filter is a large mole hill, say 8' wide x 50'-75' long and about 4'-5' tall. My question is "Do any of you have similar systems? Pro/ Cons about them. I know that different areas of the county have different needs, soil types, rules, etc. .. But have heard of problems of freezing and very high maintenace cost with the drip feed and not to sure about the ugly mole hill (Reverse Sand Filter) on the properity.

Thanks in advance,

Love this forum.

Brian

 

[onewaydave]

Can't help you with the systems you describe but I'll mention my brothers. He lives in an area that's prone to either desert or swamp, depending on the time of the year. The septic load for his family was too much for the soil. The system he installed is a miniture of what the city/county use for a muncipal system. Except all underground. When the water is cleansed, up pops a sprinkler and waters the yard. It passes all inspections for almost anywhere and is realy neat. If interested, PM me and I'll get the info for you.

 

[phatfred8]

Thanks for the reply,

But I do not think the county that I live in will allow something like that. I believe that is what they would consider an open discharge. Somewhat. Some would argue that point but that is not my intenation with this. I should be hearing something for my contractor this week. Hopefully good news.

Thanks,

Brian

 

[Friartuck]

Brian, Is this septic system planned for both shop and the eventual house? If shop only, this should be a small load; one toilet and kitchen drain which should be a simple system. Sand Mound might be in order (as in simplicity). If you're trying to combine the needs of both, then stay the corse and "think big". Is it possible that the PERK test results are a borderline situation where better perk rates maybe in just a differant area of the yard??

 

[mustangmccance]

what if you don't mind me asking is the estimated cost for this. I have to install a second septic tank in my yard this summer so I can get my bathroom up and running in the shop. I built the shop too far away from the house to use its system. the estimates I got are between 5000 and 7500. is this close to yours?

 

[Ryan10700]

I live in central Missouri and have been getting bids for septic systems over the past few weeks for a new house build. Unfortunately the state no longer allows a simple perk test and now requires a soil morphology test to be done by a morphology scientist. This slaps you with a $200 fee for the processing of his/her work. Aside from that, the bids I have received run around $4,800-5,000 for a traditional septic system (1,000 gal tank, 150ft lateral per bath x 3). If however, the soil is not suitable for a traditional system, prices have been estimated to vary from $8,000-15,000 for a drip, or other unconventional system

 

[crewchief888]

The drip field is a bunch of 3/4-1" diameter pipe that is buried below the surface about 8" to 10"(Frost/Freezing?).


8-10" seems little shallow to prevent freezing.

 

[NWOhioChevyGuy]

The drip fields do not stay filled they drain and keep the lines from freezing. The temperature from the fluid in the pump tank keeps it all good.

I used to be an engineer for a company that designed and built these units out of VA. If you want some insight let me know my Brother In Law reps the company and had worked for them for 14 years.

Their website is www.americanonsite.com

It's been 14 years since i worked for them but the techology is the same. Pretty cool stuff, just alot of mechanicals compared to a standard gravity system.

Lines can be put in with a vibratory plow, so minimal digging in field.

 

[tdkkart]

Neighbors up the street added a 2nd story, 2 bedrooms and a bath to their garage last fall, all was good......

NOW, after the construction is all done, the county tells them that since they added 2 bedrooms and a bath, making their house 5 bedrooms and 3 baths, that they need to upgrade their septic system. So far their bids are running $15-20,000 since they have heavy clay soil that doesn't drain well.
Obviously they're not happy, since this was an added expense that the county failed to tell them about till it was too late.......*******'s.

 

[mikefromme]

Neighbors up the street added a 2nd story, 2 bedrooms and a bath to their garage last fall, all was good......

NOW, after the construction is all done, the county tells them that since they added 2 bedrooms and a bath, making their house 5 bedrooms and 3 baths, that they need to upgrade their septic system. So far their bids are running $15-20,000 since they have heavy clay soil that doesn't drain well.
Obviously they're not happy, since this was an added expense that the county failed to tell them about till it was too late.......*******'s.

I ran into a similar situation. Knew about it up front though. The solution for me was to add a second 1000 gallon tank in line with the first one. In effect the effluent has been pre-treated and is know twice as clean when it enters the leach field. Which doubled its capacity from 3 br to 6 br. The city was fine with it -- just had to have an engineer draw up the design.

 

[1320stang]

Thanks for the reply,

But I do not think the county that I live in will allow something like that. I believe that is what they would consider an open discharge. Somewhat. Some would argue that point but that is not my intenation with this. I should be hearing something for my contractor this week. Hopefully good news.

Thanks,

Brian

It's not an open discharge, it's an aerobic septic system. Supposably safe enough to drink, but I don't know of anyone that's brave enough to try, LOL!!

BTW, if you know where you'll be placing the house, I'd try to plan ahead and size it for both.

 

[phatfred8]

Hey all thanks for the thoughts,

I am planning to build a house in the next year or so on the same property as the building, so am planning for the future/big picture. The septic guy I have working with the county is estimating 5-6K for a aeration unit followed by the ERC Domes(County does not like this) or 10K+ for a drip field after the aeration unit. The drip field is more maintenance, cost, etc... My contractor is legal for this work and talked to the Norweco Rep at my site. Based on the soil test and their experience they say the ERC Trench is the way to go. The county says the property is just too flat!!! For West to East it drops almost 8' over 365' and from south to north it drops about 2'-3' over 150'. Oh yeah, I am on a hill that rolls to the north 60 acre's but if I close my eyes I guess it will be flat.
The soil test is per code has to be done at the worst spot/lowest point on the property, plus (2) other locations. The loading for the worst spot put the seasonal high water table(SHWT) at about 38" and the county wants to see at least 2' separation between the ERC trenches and the SHWT. I have reviewed the code and talked with my licensed installer/contractor and he said he has legally put systems in worst soils/conditions. Just the game we have to play I guess.

I also asked about the freezing of the drip system and was told they will not freeze the effluent is 50-60 degree’s, etc.(county inspector). The county inspector has not heard of problems but the soil testing guy did tell me that he had a 4 or 5 customer with freezing problems. May have been a result of the air valves not opening allowing the effluent to drain back into the holding tank. I am being told by many to stay away from a drip system if at all possible.

Brian

 

[6768rogues]

For one of my barns, I buried 5 plastic barrels drilled with lots of holes and surrounded by 6 tons of #1 crushed stone. Of course, it is 1000 feet from the road, in a rural area and the land is sandy.

 

[mustangmccance]

I contacted the one guy who apparently does all the perc tests for 4 counties including mine. he said that he won't be able to get out to do it for a couple of months. but he did the perc tests for the other 3 houses in my neighborhood and the test for the septic tank installed at my house in 2007 so he is confident that it will perc ok. he then said that he would ok the plumber to install the tank and just cap it for now and then later he will let me know what i need to do to make it permanent. basically he is telling me that I will likely have to add 48 feet of leach field or else pump it into my other septic system. I found out that a 1000 gallon plastic 2 chamber tank is acceptable for my intended usage and meets local code. I can get it for about 1200.00 the cost of the permit and perc test are 300.00. besides the actual cost of the plumber digging the hole, and making the connections to the roughed in plumbing what other costs are involved? thanks in advance. I am new to septic systems.