I've got a standard concrete septic tank setup. I recently dug down about
10 - 12 inchs to uncover the two inspection / maintenance holes, whcih are about 20 inches in diameter.My question: is there any problem in not re-filling the holes so I can have easy access next time I want to check the tank to see if it needs a pump-out?
Can I expect a lot of odor in the hot months if I don't cover the thing with dirt?
I would just fill it with sand, that way you could easily dig it out if you need access, without the potential for odor and liability. Liability might take the form of a curious child (we lost one locally to an uncovered septic tank), or someone falling due to the hole in the yard.
My septic guy says one problem with that is rain water will flood the tank putting pressure on the leach field. He also suggests using regular spray foam insulation on the edges of the hole before you drop the lid in. That will break loose easier than the bond you get with dirt in the gap..
Brick around the tank lids up to just under the soil level. Keep the original lids in place and add a precast sidewalk slab as a new lid over the bricked up opening. Cover with some loose soil untill you need access again.
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there are height extensions for this need
Yeah, Iwas thinking of callking around the lids - that foam is a better idea. Even if backfilled with dirt, the concrete lids are uneven and are bound to allow water to seep in during rains when the soil gets saturated.
This thing has turned into a real pita. I have a fence panel lying over the holes now, for appearance and safety, but it's not going to stop rain infiltration.
Keep the lids in place and buy extenders to sit around them that extend past ground level. The extenders have lids on them that may have to be purchased separately. The lids underground (the ones you already have) will remain in place and the other lids will cover the extender holes.
Water wil not flood your leach field. If that was the case, your leach field would get flodded every time it rains, from ground water.
You may get an occasional smell whent he wind blows right, but not enough to cause you to go inside.
Call you local Pre-cast supplier and they will help you out.
Hank
Septic guy put a concrete ring and cap on mine after finding tank. That way there is no problem with access. When we first moved into new house septic came up and we needed a new drain field installed. A switcher box was put in where I can switch drain fields when needed but it was buried. I dug it up myself when needed and went to local concrete company and bought ring and cap. Sometimes there is a slight odor but it is in back yard and you have to be near to smell it. There is no secondary cap over the box such as you would have with your tank so I doubt there would be any odor. I have none from mine at the tank.
extend past ground level. The extenders have lids on them that may have to be purchased separately. The lids underground (the ones you already have) will remain in place
Seems like the holes ought to have a hatch, or cover plate?
Some kind of board over the top of the hole in the ground? Maybe a big tractor tire, with a flower planter, or something like that.
The setup I have, the 20" holes are covered by 22" concrete lids with a bent rebar loop so they can levered up to move. The lids are maybe 70 pds each, and don't form any soprt seal that stops water or gas.
OMG! That septic tank guy needs to find another job!
Harry K
This is a licensed guy who has owned the business for 20 years, I believe him
Like the roof?
I guess you have a different kind of tank or soil
Every one I have seen does, It is a tapered concrete plug that goes in a matching tapered hole. The sand in our soil will seal that puppy so tight you need an 8' 4x4 and a decent fulcrum to pop it out.
Maybe this is just a Florida problem but we got 2.5" of rain in about an hour in a half last night and that wasn't even a storm, just a summer shower. If you had an open hole in the ground around your septic clean out (or anywhere else in the yard) it would certainly be full to the top with water in minutes.
You should always keep easy access to your septic tank. It is a good idea to check the height of the compacted solids in the tank around late summer. You do this by opening the septic and pushing a pole down through the floating scum until you feel the soft top of the solids. When the solids are twelve inches below the bottom of the outlet T the tank needs to be emptied. Doing this avoids any surprises and you can see how that 55 grams of toilet that you leave every day gradually fills the tank - it takes years to fill. Provided you only use it for human waste. Always make sure the lids are in place, always make sure that rain and surface water cannot get into the top of the tank - water getting into the top of a tank will make it smell Perry
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No, but they do get jammed in place. Molding concrete is not like machining steel or hardwood- you don't get exact dimensions after it cures.
??? They must make tanks different in your part of the world. Around here the lids are are tapered on the edge, round lid or square, and fit in like a cork. Edge of the hole is tapered to match.
They do sell retrofit kits that you mastic down to the top of tank instead of the lids, and include a plastic lid and an access tunnel leading up to surface, with room to place a foam plug if you live in frost country. Top is a flush plastic manhole, rated to walk on (but probably not drive on), that you simply open and reach down to get to the inspection and pumping ports. Some people swear by them, and if I lived in a house with lots of people and septic, I'd probably look into it. But being here by myself, odds are this tank will go 15 years without needing pumping.
-- aem sends...
That the guy is a pro does not mean that he is 'right'. I have had septic tank pumpers claim that the 90 degree el that terminates into the tank is a 'bad thing'.
Another reason the surface water cannot 'flood the field' is that it can't run into the tank to begin with. If the tank is functioning correctly, it is already full to the top. It would also have to work its way through any unsealed cracks in teh lid seal which could pass some small amount of water.
Bottom line - he is full of the stuff in the tank.
Harry K
It better not be, In fact it should not be much above the exit pipe in the tank, that is lower than the input pipe,
on 6/19/2009 10:45 AM (ET) John D99 wrote the following:
Just 12" deep? I wish mine were 12" deep rather than 36". Fortunately, I only have to uncover it every few years. I have some triangular measurements taken from parts of the house to the center of the cleanout hole location so I always know where to dig.
on 6/19/2009 11:07 AM (ET) snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote the following:
The tank is completely enclosed, so there is very little water that can get in, and any rain that does get in would be around the cleanout cover, which would be no more than some dripping. With all that rain, it would probably be less than one flush of the toilet. There would be much more rainwater flooding the septic fields, though..
My cleanout holes and lids are tapered.so that the lids drop in and are flush with the top of the tanks. I have two tanks, one is 'brown water' and the other 'grey water'.
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