cess pit caps?

[Jules]

We've got a large cess pit under one lawn which was put in just before we moved here (the grass is finally growing back over the top of it all and the ground seems to have settled).

Only issue is that there are eleven white plastic caps which stick up out of the ground by about 4" and which look horrible. They're commonly seen around here, but I'm told that they're unheard of in other areas, so it seems to be a regional implementation thing.

Are the 'hidden' systems likely to be a completely different design, or do they still have these caps/pipework, but just conceal them beneath ground-level inspection covers? I've never lived in a place with a cess pit before, so I'm not sure what the typical setup is (are so many caps needed because they pump the pit out from different locations rather than one spot?).

I think I'll paint the caps green for now so they blend in with the lawn (the layout of them makes it a bit hard to put flower beds etc. around them, and there's so many of them that covering them with something decorative would just look goofy). Longer term though if there's a way of hiding / ditching them altogether that would be better...

cheers

Jules

[S Viemeister]

I didn't know that cesspits were still permitted! I thought that most new installations were septic systems.

Making them blend in may be a bit of a safety hazard - maybe cover them with hollow fibreglass rocks, and nestle real rocks around them? Perhaps a rock garden and a bench or two?

Build a gazebo over them?

[Clint Sharp]

In message , S Viemeister writes

Gnomes. Just make sure you don't try to claim them on expenses if you have more than one.

[S Viemeister]

:) Some years back, on the way up to the north coast of Scotland, I used to pass a house in Lairg, which had a veritable _army_ of gnomes in its garden. Far too many to count as we went by.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Dig a pond round it as a safe haven for ducks.

And claim it as your second home.

[Dave Liquorice]

New installations are more likley to be glargester type things as the EA= will insist on a fairly high quality discharge, older places may well ju= st have a septic tank. Cesspits must be very expensive these days with each= empty costing =A3100 or more. Assuming you get some one authorised to do= it and dispose of the contents properly. Not just a local farmer with his slurry tanker squirting it over fields...

[S Viemeister]

I think Jules is on the other side of the Atlantic, though.

[Andrew Mawson]

cover

I'm told that in Poland, Gnomes in the front garden is equivelent to a red light in the window - but I've not personally tested this assertion !

AWEM

[S Viemeister]

I did eventually meet (at a relative's home) the lady who owns the place. She claimed that it was her nephew who had the gnome obsession. I don't think I'll mention the Polish thing to her.....

[Matty F]

Paint them to look like toadstools.

[PeterC]

Bit big for toads - just stools would do!

[The Medway Handyman]

I wonder what Polish builders in places like Cheam think?

:-)

[The Medway Handyman]

We just have the one.... Norm the Gnome...

like Norm :-)

[JTM]

[OK I'll bite] Well they are over a cess pit

John

[PeterC]

He doesn't look gnormal.

There was one near Penrtith, in a village. It was on the front wall of a garden (bolted down, I'd guess) and was bending over mooning and looking round with a filthy leer. I liked that one as well.

[Jules]

re. covering them individually, problem is that there's two lines of four with maybe 3' of spacing between them, and then another group of three (not in a line) at the other side of the lawn, something like:

o o o o o o o o

o o o

- I think the group of four on the right (which are toward the house) are for a tank, and the remaing seven are some form of drain field (but why seven - or why they're needed for a drain field at all - I don't know)

Individual covers would probably look as bad as the caps. I'm not sure how I could hide so many beneath benches etc. without it looking odd, either. Rock gardens or raised flower beds might be a possibility, though - although eliminating them altogether beneath ground-level covers would be ideal I reckon.

I might see if I can find the name of the company who installed the system and ask about those lower seven caps; if I could dump them altogether then a bench or something over the 'upper' row of four caps would look fine I think...)

cheers!

Jules

[Jules]

Yes, I am (these days). I always thought cess pit was the UK term for what's a septic system in the US - interesting to know that's wrong. (Anyone care to summarise the difference before I go a-googling? I'm in a lazy mood today ;)

re. pumping I know our neighbour said it was about $100 every three years to have their system emptied, so £100 is probably about right in the UK (I tend to find pound/dollar amounts are interchangeable for most services)

cheers

Jules

[JTM]

[spippety snip]

I may be wrong but family-in-law had cess pits which were basically storage systems of brick or concrete pits that filled up and needed emptying every

12 / 18 months or so.

Septic tank is an enclosed tank (concrete or plastic in France) designed to break down the waste and might need emptying every decade or three

My new septic tank has two removable concrete lids, 60cm diameter by about

4-5cm thick for inspection / emptying.

The outflow leads to a sand filter. (new specs locally) The sand filter has a network of pipes with inspection chambers similar to those covers you describe. I've only 3 I think plus some vent pipes. If you have a larger septic tank, it may need larger area filter. (Or shallower filter / larger area)

[Dave Liquorice]

Cess Pit: Container for foul waste water with no outflow. What goes in has to be pumped out before it overflows.

Septic Tank: Container for foul waste water with an outflow. Normally a a couple of chambers, serial in older brick constructions or concentric with modern plastic tanks. The foul waste water settles out to some extent and some anerobic digestion takes place. The outflow is not particulary pleasant but better than raw sewage. This is normally discharged into a buried drainage system where soil bacteria work on it as well.

Glargester: A trade name for a system constructed like a septic tank but with the addition of a motorised stirrer and air supply. Air is continually bubbled through the water and it is stirred. Aerobic digestion takes place and the outflow is of a much higher quailty. I believe it is suitable for discharge straight into an existing water course rather than requiring a drainage field.

[Andy Champ]

Google he say "Did you mean: Klargester"?

Andy