DIY liquid chlorinator
For the most part, at least in texas, there are two types of septic systems. The original is a totally in ground system that requires very little attention besides dropping some additives down the sink or toilet every once in a while to keep things alive and eating the bad stuff in there, then every so msny years have the tank sucked clean.
The second is the aerobic system. This is typically for areas that dont have very much earth depth or you lack proper yard space to have a leech field. I have an aerobic system, unfortunately, but have enough space to have a conventional, it was already here when I bought the place.
The chlorine type tablets that we use (NOT pool tabs!) are getting stupid expensive. Ten years ago a bucket was like 50 bucks,now its over 80!! Insanity! Its a rape price for a standard, cheap chemical. Aerobic systems are 'regulated' if you want to call it that. You have to get a maintenance contract, but there is no maintenance, preventative or otherwise, going on! They come out, test to make sure the pump works and the alarm sounds properly, check for tabs and look to see if ants are into anything and that is it.
They come out quarterly I think, and I get written up off and on for not having tablets in the drop chute. ...but heres the deal with that... If I kept them in there constantly it would EASILY go through an entire bucket in less than a month. Just doing laundry and showers goes through them like crazy, so I meter them out every so often and will drop in three. Even the amount I put in is overkill, you can poke your head in the tank and it smells way worse than a shocked swimming pool!! If they were doing their job, which they dont, they would do a water test when they dont see tabs in the tank. ...but that would take too long and they would have to do their job! (Heaven forbid) ...they dont even clean the air filter!
The city is just as bad, they'll send me a letter for something that happened six months ago and is already fixed, which they would know if they looked at current records,meanwhile the guy a couple houses down across the street has an in ground septic with a busted leech field pipe that is flooding the back pasture with sewage. His neighbor has bitched to the city and they do nothing (because they dont like him) ...for years! He finally called the EPA and they came out this weekend, heh.
I'm going to build a liquid bleach dispenser myself, I've seen pictures of numerous brands, ALL made out of nothing but PVC and clear tubing. The design I think Ive settled on not only has a sort of drip but has a suction line tied into the sprinkler head line, so that when the sprinkler comes on it injects bleach into the sprinkler line AND injects bleach down into the main tank. The reservoir for the bleach is heavy sched bury PVC, 4 to 6" and is set down into the tank, though you could make small ones, Im going to make a nice 8' Tall one that sits in the tank so I can load it up with at least ten gallons of bleach. I expect the usage, just for me and my wife, to be more than the one gallon a month I see being listed. Ill adjust the flow rate a bit high. Im not going to use injector nipples either, Im going to use shutoff ball valves so I have nice control over the flow/pull rate.
Posted 3 years ago by Mike2501 in Home Repair
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