Does anyone know anything about septic tanks?

[Wizard9999]

If you put one on the front as well maybe you will be mistaken for the visiting royalty...

...oh, no, thinking about your cargo, maybe not. :lol:

Terry.

 

[Wizard9999]

An aside : I see from your link to draindomain that grease in the soak away is a major cause of clogging, here in France it is usual to install a grease trap on the outlet from the kitchen before it joins the septic tank. A grease trap is simply a small chamber, say 50l, with a series of baffles and with the outlet at the bottom. The principle is that the grease floats to the top and can easily be removed.

I emptied ours about once per year and you'd be horrified at the amount of grease : typically a bucket full.

When we had our new soak away dig we were also told of the issues created by fat. SWMBO is now very diligent in letting any fat from cooking solidify and then putting as much as possible into the bin rather than just letting it get melted in hot water only to re-solidify in the tank. Have you ever seen any of those programmes about the London sewer system where guys have to go in to deal with the "fatbergs"? Hideous job I am sure!

Terry.

 

[9fingers]

We try to have a fairly low fat diet and grill quite a few items rather than fry. The fat that drains out is kept in a 1/2pt mug in the fridge and used as a source of cooking fat to brown some onions etc. The balance gets heated to high temperature once a week when I roast potatoes and the balance returned to a clean mug.

So we always have a source of "tasty" fat to cook with and very little indeed goes down the drain.

Bob

 

[Wizard9999]

We try to have a fairly low fat diet and grill quite a few items rather than fry. The fat that drains out is kept in a 1/2pt mug in the fridge and used as a source of cooking fat to brown some onions etc. The balance gets heated to high temperature once a week when I roast potatoes and the balance returned to a clean mug.

So we always have a source of "tasty" fat to cook with and very little indeed goes down the drain.

Bob

Yes, with recent publicity over aldehydes in many vegetable oils it seems some dripping in the fridge is very 'on trend' Bob. With this and the issues around diesel it does make me think of that great part in Woody Allen's Sleeper where having awoken from long term cryogenic freezing the former health food shop owner is told by a future doctor that nicotine is one of the healthiest substance known to man. We get all this health advice and then find half of it was completely wrong a few years later, now if I could just work out which half is right :lol: .

Terry.

 

[9fingers]

We try to have a fairly low fat diet and grill quite a few items rather than fry. The fat that drains out is kept in a 1/2pt mug in the fridge and used as a source of cooking fat to brown some onions etc. The balance gets heated to high temperature once a week when I roast potatoes and the balance returned to a clean mug.

So we always have a source of "tasty" fat to cook with and very little indeed goes down the drain.

Bob

Yes, with recent publicity over aldehydes in many vegetable oils it seems some dripping in the fridge is very 'on trend' Bob. With this and the issues around diesel it does make me think of that great part in Woody Allen's Sleeper where having awoken from long term cryogenic freezing the former health food shop owner is told by a future doctor that nicotine is one of the healthiest substance known to man. We get all this health advice and then find half of it was completely wrong a few years later, now if I could just work out which half is right :lol: .

Terry.

I can't really claim to be on trend other than by sheer coincidence as we have done this with dripping for the last 40 years ( possibly with the odd clearout and re-start when we have been away on holiday for extended periods).

Bob

 

[RogerS]

Rapidly losing the will to live on this one

I dug out most of the pebbles and transferred them elsewhere.


Then it was time to get in the pit and hand excavate. I dug down to the bottom along one 6 ft wall where logically the exit pipe would be only to draw a blank. I then scraped away the stones I had piled up against one of the 3ft end walls to see if the exit pipe was there.

I did find one. Half way up the wall.

but nothing else lower down. So quite what a 3ft deep bed of stone at the bottom is going to achieve I know not.

Needless to say the exit pipe was also blocked with oily, greasy black sludge and stones which I fetched out. Shoved a hosepipe up it to clean out as much as I could only to discover that the hosepipe hit a blockage all the way down the pipe. :evil:

Nothing for it but to start digging up the ******* garden in an attempt to trace the pipe, possibly with the aim of cutting it open, then trying to get out whatever blockage there is. It's possible that overtime - as well as my own cause of blockage - roots from the hedge have penetrated it.

It's quite deep down and a bugger to dig out - solid clay.



I finally managed to trace it and found a spot where the surrounding soil was black suggesting a leakage at that point. The pipe also seemed badly kinked - thanks to the builder who installed it 25 years ago. I unkinked it a bit and managed to get the hosepipe down further until it hit another blockage. However, this time the 'sensation' of it hitting something is different and I'm hoping that it has just found the pipe rather than yet another blockage.

And that is where I'm leaving it for the moment.



If the filter tank keeps on filling up to the top then I will admit defeat and GALMI.

 

[Phil]

Now that looks like a real crappy job! :lol:

Good luck.
Here in Africa we just dig a very deep hole, lay some planking over it with a hole through it where a wooden seat goes.
Generally it would also have three walls a door and a roof all from corrugated iron.
It really cooks in there in the middle of summer.
Great gathering place for spiders, snakes and flies.


Cheers
Phil
Luckily breakfast was 5.5hours ago

 

[Deejay]

Morning Roger

quite what a 3ft deep bed of stone at the bottom is going to achieve I know not.


Probably to increase the surface area on which the 'good' bacteria will grow.

Cheers

Dave

 

[9fingers]

Roger, what an absolutely awful job! you have my complete sympathy and best wishes for a good out come.
Never a good time for this sort of thing but now must be about the worst!
Good Luck mate

Bob

 

[Wizard9999]

Likewise, hope you do have it sorted now. I think these 'bespoke' on site constructed systems are a nightmare. I would have taken the plunge and replaced ours with a new modern tank if the prospect of a housing estate next door was not hanging over us and therefore making running away in the next couple of years a realistic prospect.

Fingers crossed you have got it sorted now.

Terry.

 

[AndyP]

I can only imagine that doing that job in the heat of summer would have been worse.

Good on you for giving it a try. Makes me glad we are on mains sewage here.

 

[Rod]

We're on mains sewage here too but we've not had any water since yesterday afternoon!
The main to our village burst in a field nearby and is now being repaired.
Thankfully we still have a water tank, though if it came to it I could use water from my water tubs to flush the toilets?

Rod

 

[RogerS]

Woo hoo....job's a good 'un.

Been a week now and the water level has remained constant and drains away nicely. Covers back on the filter tank...I've not bothered with putting any more stones in...just need the clay pile to dry out a bit so it doesn't stick to the shovel/my boots and then I can fill the 'ole in.

 

[Phil]

Woo hoo....job's a good 'un.

Been a week now and the water level has remained constant and drains away nicely. Covers back on the filter tank...I've not bothered with putting any more stones in...just need the clay pile to dry out a bit so it doesn't stick to the shovel/my boots and then I can fill the 'ole in.

That's great Roger.

No pics = did not happen ...................

Cheers
Phil