septic tank regs 2020

april showers · 2020-07-27T16:13:59+00:00

Can anyone explain to me in very simple terms what the new septic tank regs are? I have been looking on you tube and found a site which said all old eptic tanks have to be replaced regardless of how they work. Then someone said it was fake information. But I cannot find out whats correct and what is not. Have we all got to spend 15K replacing septic tanks, even when they work perfectly? Really? Why?

Jul 27, 2020 24 Replies

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april showers 5 years ago

Nowhere, its a drainage field and a soak away into the middle of my lawn.

You reckon? I dont know. Thats why I asked. The You Tube thing said 90% of septic tanks were illegal and had to be replaced and if you didnt the liklihood was that someone from the council would come and stick a notice on you and cost you even more money.

As I said, my tank is no trouble. It works ( its a 1950's concrete chamber job, never even needs emptying as was the received wisdom of the old days).

I just saw this thing and I couldnt make any sense afterwards. It came up on one of those You Tube algorithms . I dont know why.

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Andy Burns 5 years ago

so your system is pre-2014 and pre-1983

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Chris Hogg 5 years ago

You say it never needs emptying. How do you know? Everything that goes into a septic tank contains a small amount of bio-indigestible stuff like grit or whatever, that slowly builds up over the years. Our tank, about the same age as yours, would have about 8 - 12 inches of this stuff in the bottom when it was eventually pumped out every five years or so. The more sludge you have in the bottom, the less free volume there is for the digestible stuff to be digested, so the shorter its residence time in the tank, and you end up sending partially-digested sewage into your drainage field, which will eventually block it and render it inoperable, requiring replacement, and today that means a whole new Klargester-type system.

Get yours pumped out, even if only to see just how much sludge is in there.

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Jim GM4 DHJ ... 5 years ago

and what about ashpits and dungsteds ?

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Roger Hayter 5 years ago

Big, bottle-shaped fibreglass tank with a long, wide neck and a side tube. Didn't look like a biodigester, but, no, I don't know.

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