Installing a septic tank

[TonyK]

Has anyone self installed a GRP "bulb" type tank, ie. Klargester. I can't find any info on installing on their website. Is it staight forward or is their "specialist knowledge" required?

Tony

[The Natural Philosopher]

Yes. or at least the 'lad' did whilst I watched.

Its not totally trivial, but its not rocket science.

Basically, it is just a fiberglass egg. What is crucial is that it gets put at the right level, stays there, and does not get cracked.

The steps to this are basically

(i) work out where its going, and get pipe falls sorted etc.

(ii) dig pipe trenches and an egg sized hole in the ground.

(iii) bed the egg on shingle to equalise pressures.

(iv) Connect up pipes whilst you still can. They need bedding on and being covered by, shingle, too.

(v) fill teh egg with a hose so its not going anywhere.

(vi) stick sloppy concrete down the sides of your (hopefully oversize) hole to lock the egg into the ground. If you failed to do (v) it will at this point float upwards out of the hole

(vii) finish top edges with nice mortar mix, o whatever, and check lid still fits.

(viii) Wire up electrics as per instruictions.

(ix) celebreate with a giant dump

(x) plant shrubs to hide the bloody thing. (one neighhbour has theirs in teh middle of a flower bed totally surrounded by shrubs(.

They work exactly as it says on the can. No smell, need emptying occasionally, but otherwise fit and forget.

(v) lay cable (armored) to where it needs to go.

[Andy Hall]

Is the installation procedure referred to as "klargesting" - i.e. the verb ' to klargest'? It's such a descriptive word - sort of a modification of 'digesting'.

WHat is the electricity for? Does it have something to stir the shit round with or some kind of spraybar or aeration arrangement?

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[bill]

Never heard of a septic tank needing electricity before either, however, Klargester make a sewage treatment plant called a Biodisc which does need power. A series of large discs half submerged in the partially treated effluent that rotate very slowly. Presumably the idea is to aerate the mixture.

They claim that the effluent from this is clean enough to discharge directly into a watercourse.

Bill T

[Andy Dingley]

An old post from the voice of experience:

[The Natural Philosopher]

No idea m8.

The former. Very slowly rotating wheels of some kind of vac forned plastic just keep a bit of air in, and generally stir it.

[The Natural Philosopher]

That's the one. Mandatory replacement for non mains sewage in most places. And compared with my old three chamber one, it works as adverstised.

[Grunff]

Where are most places? My local supplier is doing a roaring trade in GRP onions.

[Alan Campbell]

Hepworth have some information on their web site.

- then click on SepticTanks. Looks pretty straight forward to me.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Pretty much anywhere where the soil hasn't got the requisite permeability to carry the efflux underground far enough.

[Niall]

There is a primary settlement stage which works like a conventional septic tank, then the areation stage which is the discs, then a final settlement tank. The Biodisc is a good plant, I've installed a few, but there are alternatives from other manufacturers; the WPL Diamond works slightly differently and has certain advantages:

Provided the watercourse is suitable; you need permission from EA (SEPA in Scotland), who will tell you how good the effluent has to be for your particular situation. Almost anything is acheivable in this respect, but the cleaner it gets, the more expensive.

(Yes, this is what I do for a living)

[Steve]

There is another variant which injects air into the onions, a step below the biodisc unit AFAIK

Steve

[enuff]

This was just a info gathering post to see what was involved. I expect I can do the job for under 5K including a 7500l tank, man+jcb, drains and numerous tones of pea shingle! The alternative is my employers "builders" who would probably be looking top-side of 10-15K. So it looks like a job that can be sort of DIY'd with a bit of help and some digging kit.

Thanks

Tony

[Huge]

My Klargester has a leccy cable coming out of it.

Not connected to anything, mind. Didn't even know it was there until we dug up the drains to fix a leak.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I did it for about 1500 on top of tank cost - labour, digger hire and materials.

I think quote from supplier as 5.5k installed all in.

[The Natural Philosopher]

You really ought to hook it up :-)

[Huge]

ZZZzzzzzztttttt!!!!! Silence. Darkness. Faint smell of burning.

[Niall]

Motor's got damp / stuck.

Amazing number of them are used as septic tanks, until something goes wrong. If it really is a Klargester package plant, not just a septic tank with a wire in it, he's right, you should probably fix it. If the discharge is to a watercourse, discharging septic tank effluent is illegal, and if it discharges to a soakaway, the usual reason for fitting a plant rather than a septic tank is that the soakaway is too small given the soil permeability to take septic tank effluent in the long term, so if you keep using it as a septic tank, your soakaway may choke up. This is a Bad Thing, believe me.

[Huge]

It was a joke. That's what tends to happen if you connect up mysterious wires.

It's been used this way for over 20 years. I think I'll leave it.

Which it isn't.

I know.