what's living with a septic tank like?

[vash]

found a pretty cool house to buy.

needs some work, but damn the layout is fantastic.

needs copper water lines, some elect work.. kitchen is clean but needs updating to this decade..bare minimum LAST decade..

the septic caught me off guard. never been around one....i know no food disposal in the kitchen. what about dishwasher and laundry soap?

is it a maint hell? they dont have trap-doors do they?

[BeyGon]

Not sure about where you live but around here the septic has to be in good working order to sell the place. We looked at a few that had it, doesn't bother me. I have owned two homes that ran on septic and never had a problem.

[Craig T]

I was concerned about living on septic when I bought this house ten years ago. There are a few things you need to consider, like using limited bleach in the wash, not putting hot grease down the sink, but that's about it. We've had no issues at all. I pumped it at about 7 years and it was only half full. I wouldn't be concerned at all.

[id10t]

No tampons, baby wipes, etc. ever. Even if they say "flushable" on the box.

Otherwise day to day no big deal. You have to watch what gets planted around it (fought for years against bamboo the previous owners planted....). Be aware of what you dump down it - washing off plates is fine, scraping out gobs of grease from your fryer, etc. isn't. Try to limit mass dumps of water w/ chemicals - ie no doing 10 loads of laundry in a day. Especially if the ground is well soaked from heavy rains.

Depending on how much you use/abuse it you could go ages with no issues, but repairs are relatively inexpensive DEPENDING on your local laws/oversight/etc. I'm in the country and have fairly low county code fees, a removal (and carting off of old drain bed, etc), reinstall, and boost size 60% only cost 2500 ...

[sailchef]

I have been in a home with a septic system since I bought it 20 years ago. The only thing I have noticed about it is that the grass growing above the drainage field is greener than the rest of my lawn. They are pretty standard around here.

[VincentVega]

A new drainfield cost me ~5k a few summers ago, much depends on size, depth, soil composition.... As above watch what goes in and you'll minimize your issues. Make sure you get a tank and drainfield inspection prior to purchase. A camera down the pipe can tell you a lot in short order.

[MT930]

No big issues, pump it and inspect it every 5 years. Be glad your not paying for city sewer.

[Embraer]

i grew up in a house with septic.....and my current house has it. never a single issue. the city is forcing us all into the STEP program (septic tank elimination program)...it's a total shakedown/scam. the local utility did us all a "favor" by putting sewer mains in my neighborhood, knowing very well they will get captive income forever.

we have to fit the bill to run the line, get the grinder pump, and pay a $2500 permit/connection fee (which is funny..since it's being forced on us). All said and done, I have to pay 10K to do it..and now have a monthly city sewer fee once it's connected. there is no "opting out."

[cstreit]

No issue here. We pump,ours out more frequently because we use the garbage disposal more frequently. Very little bleach which means whites don't stay white, especially because we are on a well.

[Evans, Marv]

My first memory of a septic tank was as a small kid & my father had the tank pumped. I asked him what all those round white things were floating around on top of the stuff in the tank. He said he didn't know, but now I know they were condoms. We have a septic system with a 1500 gal. tank and 300+ ft. of infiltrator for the drain field. The cost for the whole thing seven years ago was $7,500, so the systems aren't expensive in case you have to have work done. Like everybody says, you have to be considerate about what you put down it. A little research on the internet will fill you in. I had ours pumped at four or five years, because I was curious about how it was performing. We had always asked people (my wife has relatives w/ small kids) who came over not to flush disposable diapers, etc. down the toilets. When the guy opened it up, there were tons of them floating in there. He reassured me it wasn't a problem as far as cleaning it out was concerned. In his words, "We leave no turd behind."

[unclebilly]

Kleenex tissues are also a no-no.

I installed our septic tank and field. They work great.

Things to watch out for...

Pressurized fields - these allow a much smaller (1/2-1/4) field. When your pump quits, it is a nasty and expensive repair. Our system uses the somewhat reliable gravitational pull of the earth...

Lift pumps... We rented a house when we were in university that had a crazy engineered system and a lift pump (originally the sewage flowed into the ocean). Every time we had a party, the septic tank would overflow and stink up the backyard and patio... The field was 50' higher than the septic tank.

Improperly installed fields (or really old ones - 35 years ago a septic field consisted of an old car filled with straw and buried). You should be able to see the field, the grass over the legs of the field will be richer than the surrounding grass. Look to ensure that there are no inconsistencies in the length of the legs or dry spots.

Sand filters and lagoons are also used. Lagoons are gross. Sand filters can be used with some success on small lots or in areas where the soil has too fast or too slow of a percolation rate.

To give you an idea, the soil on my farm is clay - loam and is on the edge of what is acceptable for a septic field. My field is 1800 square feet (lateral trenches only) with 600' of trenches 3' wide. This is for a 3 bedroom home.

[porsche4life]

Pretty much all covered. I'm sure Cali has more regs on it, but AZ requires sellers to inspect the system and pump it before the place can sell. I grew up on it, and wouldn't hesitate to buy a house with septic. Well water would concern me more.

[dentist90]

As others have said, usually no problem. We have had several houses with septic over the past 25 yrs. You should place having the tank pumped and inspected as a subject on your offer. If you are looking at one of the 'classic' concrete tanks it is very common to see the outlet baffle eroded away. This allows 'chunks' to get downfield and clog the distribution box and field lines if not repaired promptly. Then you get to have your yard torn up. I would not buy a house with a septic system without a recent written tank report no matter how reassuring the owner is. What seems like two years to them could easily be 10.

[ckelly78z]

I have lived all 51 years on a septic tank at my parent's house and then at my houses. No issues other than getting pumped out every few years (you just call the guy). We use "Rid-X" dumped down our toilet twice a year to keep the enzymes operating well, other than that, no issues.

[BK911]

They are great until they go bad.
Ever see poop foam come out of your basement shower drain?
Not a pretty sight!
Then had to dig up the whole back yard to find the tank
Now have a manhole installed and are a lot more attentive to the system.
It is not a set and forget type of thing.

[MBAtarga]

Current and previous home has septic. As stated above, limit grease and food down the sink (even with disposal), no feminine products/wipes down the toilet either. Get it pumped every 5 years or so assuming a few people in the house. Have pumping/inspection as part of the contract to purchase.

[Mark Henry]

Septic fields only last 30-40 years, some go longer than that depends on use.
My 35year old system went bad 2 years ago. Thieves around here wanted close to $20K for a new system. I found out that the home owner can legally replace their own. So I did the research, rented a mini excavator and bought a old tractor and put a in an infiltrator system. Old bed was 200' of pipe, the infiltrator is roughly twice as efficient and I put in the 200' so I should be good.

My tank was good and up to code I just had to make the modern style outlet. Another thing I did with the tank was add 12" risers with lids, so I no longer had to dig up the tank lids

Not counting the tractor that I wanted, 200' Infilteator, two loads of sand, pipe, tank risers and mini excavator was about $3500.
That't a bit of a guess. The bill was just over $4K but I also installed 400' of water line, two hydrants and electrical out in a field while I had the mini-excavator.

[jhynesrockmtn]

I've had several and they don't last forever as has been mentioned. Have a good inspection and figure out how old it is and if there is room to put a new drain field in if necessary down the road. I've had ones that were no issue and the last one nearly killed me but it was old and was pumping from a 2 tank set up to a drainfield that was uphill from the house.

[vash]

thanks!!

less scary than i thought..figured my daily bran muffin wont buckle the system.

pump/inspection..great info.

[Mark Henry]

Originally Posted by afterburn 549

No paper allowed in my septic system .

Three seashells?