Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site Quarry Contest 2010

I guess installing, you know, one of those things that shoot jets of water up, is out of the question

Isn't that something the French do? A bidet?

I think Ted Lea sells fountains

A bidet? What a croc.

We had a bidet in our old house.

Worthless.

A bidet is basically just a short drinking fountain.

This is my last chance to redeem myself.....
GAS

That lends a new meaning to GeoThermal.

Geopooploop

So if the original guy you contacted about the septic told you that you'd need 4,000 square feet, and you only wanted to commit about half of that....AND if budgetary constraints were NOT an issue, what would YOU do?

Plan on using even less ground and have the porta potty guys come and clean it out a couple of times a week? Hey, you said less ground and no budget constraints!

Ironically, that a little like one of the ideas we had. There's some type of actual tank you can buy, and they come and take the sludge, but the homeowners association isn't on board with that sort of thing!

Bruce:

I think these 2 are your best choices, unless there's something else out there that I'm missing. I don't know how much effluent volume you will be dealing with, and that might make a difference in what system you choose. The RSF seems to give more treatment at the expense of more area consumed. If a mound in your yard isn't objectionable, then that's what I'd take a long, hard look at. The downside is the pump - one more thing to go wrong,

Recirculating Sand Filter - A modified intermittent sand filter in which effluent from the filter is recirculated through the septic tank and/or the sand filter before it is discharged to the soil absorption field. The addition of the recirculation loop in the system may enhance removal effectiveness and allow media size to be increased to as much as 1.5 mm in diameter.

Buried or recirculating sand filters can achieve a very high level of treatment of septic tank effluent before discharge to surface water or soil. Dosed recycling between sand filter and septic tank or similar devices can result in significant levels of nitrification/dentrification, equivalent to between 50 and 75 percent of overall nitrogen removal, depending on the recycling ratio. Regular buried or recirculating sand filters may require as much as 1 square foot of filter per gallon of septic tank effluent.

Mound Systems - An alternative to conventional OSDS and are used on sites where insufficient separation distance or permeation conditions exist. Mound systems are typically designed so the effluent from the septic tank is routed to a dosing tank and then pumped to a soil absorption field that is located in elevated sand fill above the natural soil surface. There is evidence suggesting that pressure dosing provides more uniform distribution of effluent throughout the absorption field and may result in better performance. A major limitation to the use of mounds is slope.

Where adequate area is available for subsurface effluent discharge, and permanent or seasonal high ground water is at least 2 feet below the surface, the elevated sand mound may be used in coastal areas. This system can treat septic tank effluent to a level that usually approaches primary drinking water standards for BOD5, suspended solids, and pathogens by the time the effluent plume passes the property line for single-family dwellings. A mound system will not normally produce significant reductions in levels of total nitrogen discharged, but should achieve high levels of nitrification.

Our hunting cabin has a holding tank... No septic field... I believe it is 1200 gallons. We have an alarm that goes off when we reach 75%. The county is supposed to come out and inspect the system once a year and make sure we have an active pumping contract, but I doubt they do...

We have gray water(sinks, showers, etc) filter through gravel and into the ground, but the black water(toilets), are sent to the holding tank. Now granted, we don't live in our hunting cabin full time so we only have to have it pumped out once or twice a year... We have the rule that if it's brown flush it down and if it's yellow let it mellow. That saves some holding tank space. It's costs $295 to have it pumped out... If you lived in a house full time, with a family off 4, that could get quite costly! Interestingly enough, when my dad bought the place 5 years ago, the county inspector said the holding tank was only 1 of 4 in the whole county. He said it was grandfathered in before the Chesapeake Bay Act made them illegal.

I think maybe reading this book
http://permaculture.org.au/2008/09/18/humanure-handbook-free-download/
Gives a good fundament/knowledge to make a decision on the matter
There are lots off diferente aproaches, DIY models on the nett.
I have built, a greywater and blackwater system my self, to get it approved I had to document every step give references to studys (free as well) and finaly deliver test samples of soil or ground water on request.
The ready made (plug and play) systems are expensive do to certification/dokuments/low turn over.
Quite easy to build low tech if you have a plan and the tools.
My best advice is build a gravatie fed one, so you are not deepended on eleectriciety and the instalations/wiering that comes whit that.

This is the system I installed. In my case the ground is sloped enough for the system to be gravity fed, no pump. A slick automatic siphon design allows the dosing tank to discharge without electricity. The leach field measures 12'x96' (1152 sq.ft.) and services a 3 bedroom home, the min. size required by code. (Two of the important factors in governing leach fielkd size are # of bedrooms serviced and soil permeability)

This was a DIY project so the cost ended up being material only.

The local SEO (Sewage Enforcement Officer) required the design to be done by a soils engineer, about 200 bucks.

Check out the websites "Installation Slideshow" for pix.

i'm still thinking some kind of stacked leach field system may be appropriate.

this provides some interesting ideas:

http://www.thenaturalhome.com/drywellinstallation.htm

The final, and almost incomprehensible final scores are as follows:

DIED = 36 3/4
Todd3138 = 35 1/2
esshup = 22
ewest = 21 1/2
CJBS = 21
Omaha = 13 1/2
DD1 = 12
Youngblood = 9
Greg Grimes = 7
Burgermeister = 6 1/2
jsec = 6
blair5002 = 6
JHAP = 5 15/16
Yolkie = 5 15/16
Dwight = 3.1
Sunil = 2 7/16
Andedammen = 2
JKB = 2
Brettski = 1 1/2

DIED wins a bunch of custom made Condello "Wiper Magic" jigs.
DIED also wins a weekend of free lodging and meals for both he and a guest at the Quarry after the house is built. Also, the guest room of the house will be called the "Santa Clause Suite" in honor of his father.
Todd3138, esshup, and ewest win selections of Condello "Wiper Magic" jigs...and my eternal gratitude for all the awesome participation.
A donation to the Jesse West Foundation will be made in honor of Omaha. His name was randomly selected by my 3 year old nephew.

Thanks for everything, everybody.

If y'all don't mind, I plan on keeping this thread alive with periodic updates and questions. I've learned more than anybody else on this thread!

Hey, winners! I need a mailing address.

Somehow I feel like the biggest winner in this thing.

Thanks for doing this Bruce, it was incredibly educational and entertaining. Definitely keep it updated is my vote.

Oh yeah. Your nephew rocks.

A big CONGRATS to DIED, Todd, Ewest and everybody else! It was fun and I learned a lot.

Thanks Bruce!

Lots of very good information shared and learned on this thread.

Congrats DIED and everyone else! What an awesome thread! Thanks for running this thing, Bruce - great fun!

What can you say about a jig?

Not much.

It's just a chunk of lead and a cheap hook. Then you put some bait on it and toss it out. That's it.

WRONG!

A Condello Wiper Magic jig is all of the following.

Homemade.

Custom teardrop design.

The sharpest, and most sharpenable hook you've ever seen.

A hook that won't bend with a twenty pound hybrid running with it. (Trust me, I've tested it).

Paint that rarely chips.

Certifiable world record jig. It's caught ten different certified world records.

Here's a photo.

cool.

acceptance speech???

crap.

ok. a little zin down the hatch, thoughts together now....

as others stated, thanks for running this rag bruce, it was a ton of educational fun. i particularly enjoyed the "5 and 15/16" points earned by yolkie and comrad in arms, jhap. good to see dwight redeem himself a little......he does like to brag, but then again, he has alot to brag about, as many of us do. we own ponds.

as far as brettski's score.....pathetic. but alas, we all have our strengths and weaknesses....if you'da only asked more about ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING OUTSIDE THE POND, this was brettski's to lose.

congratulations to all the spirited players, including but not limited to todd, esshup, ewest, cj, and omaha, i salute you.

as for me coming out on top all i have to say is
i really aint that smart, those who know me know...but, early on, bruce had a habit of asking questions in the realm of my wheelhouse. todd, you made a WORTHY run and probably should have gone in front, but i think bruce felt sorry for me as i weakly stabbed at the final questions...hoorah...good job todd.

i cant wait for some new jigs , and will DEFINITELY plan on a trip to condelloland.........BTW, do they sell schaeffer in nebraska? you cant get it in CA anymore dang it.

congratulations again bruce on your exciting new journey.

and good luck w/ the outhouse.

died.

Sounds great, Bruce, and I can't wait to give them a try this year!