The Brew Cabin

Posted: **Tue May 13, 2008 6:27 pm**

Our septic tank has been backing up for quite a while now, so we have started some investigative work (at Â£300/day for geezers + digger

).

The complication is that our house is in a corner plot with a one acre garden, but unfortunately we host 2 other house's soakaways for their septic tanks, along with other soakaways for the storm drains/surface water.

Sadly, we haven't yet identified our soakaway pipe from the others yet, but we are hopeful.

Whilst digging out the various pipes, we ascertained that the water table is some 6ft down (with the pipes around 3ft above that) and the soil is very sandy but it looks totally saturated (other test pits are dry down to the water table) and this without any major rainfall for a while. I guess this is the main issue, because when we dug the pipes out water started to pour from the slots ergo we presume they are not blocked.

Looking forward, I was thinking about installing a CAP septic tank that would treat the effluent to the 20/30/20 limits but what to do with the outflow?

We have no ditch or watercourse and the current soakaway is obviously struggling with it's current load. Would it be feasible to feed this outflow into one of the stormwater soakaways? Whilst we can't identify where they are located (but they will be within our boundaries and we will cut into them near to where the downpipes enter the ground) they have never backed up even during the worst storms.

Do we need an EA permit to do this and is it a good idea anyway?

Thanks for any input & the site is very informative and useful.

Posted: **Tue May 13, 2008 7:49 pm**

Â£300.00 per day with machine, them boys are working way to cheap.

The ground is either suitable for a soak-away or it isn`t, converting the tank to a treatment plant and putting it back in the same ground won`t make any diference if the ground can`t cope.

I suspect the sub-soil around your exisiting soak-away has sealed or become saturated, you may just need to extend it into virgin ground.

Can`t really say from here but if you do go down the treatment plant route there are several products on the market that will convert your existing tank into a treatment plant.

Posted: **Tue May 13, 2008 8:48 pm**

Thanks flojoe - the Â£300 is cash in hand of course

I think I know which CAP system to go for if we go down that route, I just now need to know whether I need a permit if I send the outflow down the storm drains.

Perhaps I should just do it anyway :laugh:

Would it be feasible to extend the pipe to a concrete ring soakaway so if the pipe fills, it then enters the chamber (remembering it's 20/30/20 and not raw sewage)?

Posted: **Tue May 13, 2008 9:17 pm**

Did somebody mention Tater Ash ! ???

I would personally dig trial pits and carry out percolation tests to see if the system can be extended, if it can you have no maintenance issues in the future or the added cost now of installing a treatment plant.

In theory you should know where the system is discharging if you are to redirect the waste (even when treated) as there are issues with poluting water courses/tables etc.... and the EA can insist on regular testing of the treated water to ensure that the plant is working properly.

Renovating an existing soak-away is a maintenance issue and the EA or BCO are not interested, as long as you don`t take it too close to a river/brook etc...

Have a good look at the building regs Part H, plenty of advice on ground tests etc..... and let your conscience decide

Edited By flowjoe on 1210709894

Posted: **Wed May 14, 2008 11:20 am**

I have a cunning plan. To renovate the soakaway, we are going to dig back from the septic tank around 5 metres at a time, remove the existing filter material (limestone) and replace with pea shingle to a depth of 150mm with terran on the top (as per the guidelines on this site).

I was thinking of cutting a few more slots as we go - is this a good idea or not?

I did consider the new soakaway pipe product Ezy-Drain (the recycled polystyrene one) - has anybody used that at all?

The cost is a jaw-dropping Â£60 per 3 metres with Â£6 for a collar (VAT extra) - for my 90 metre run it would be 30 x pipes and 30 x collars = Â£2,327!!

Does anybody know where it can be bought cheaper?

The Brew Cabin

Saturated soakaways