Just like it says. I have found sites on the internet listing prices but the most recent is a quote 10 years old!

Can anyone tell me what the Cost of a Perc test is generally. And also what the typical septic tank system cost is for a family of 3-4?

Very much appreciated.

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I don't know the cost of a perc test, but when we abandoned our old septic tank and put a new one in a different location, it cost $5300, including the new leech lines. That tied into the existing waste line, just outside the house. Hope this helps.

Check your local codes, we were going to have to pay $8000 for a new tank and lines. There was nothing wrong with our tank but our leach lines were plugged up. I got some new lines installed for $900.
Dont over look the little guy, the crew that did my leach bed dug it by hand. Took a couple hours.

Check with you county but when we did our perc test I went and watched a video and took a written test and passed and did it myself. It took me all day to dig the holes and watch the water go down and measure it every 15 mninutes but at least it was free. It passed and we put our own tank in too its really easy if you think you can use a backhoe. The inspector put his seal on it so I guess we did it right.

How long do septic systems last? (how many years?)

Good info in here guys thanks, and keep it coming!

quote Originally posted by FieroAngel: Check with you county but when we did our perc test I went and watched a video and took a written test and passed and did it myself. It took me all day to dig the holes and watch the water go down and measure it every 15 mninutes but at least it was free. It passed and we put our own tank in too its really easy if you think you can use a backhoe. The inspector put his seal on it so I guess we did it right.

Now that is pretty damn cool. In California there is a lot of red tape and BS so it is probably impossible for a land owner here to do what you did, but I sure as heck am going to try! You are one heck of a do it yourself go getter, commendable!

As far as the septic systems life span. i think if you have a guy come and do maintainance every 1 - 3 years it should last a good long stack of years.

Here is a really neat page with some good info on maintaining yourr septic system and such, I found it very informative as far as preventative maintainance

http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/programs/extension/publicat/wqwm/wm1.html

quote Originally posted by FieroMonkey: As far as the septic systems life span. i think if you have a guy come and do maintainance every 1 - 3 years it should last a good long stack of years.

As far as I know, they should last for a long time, if you have the solids pumped out of the tank. I don't know how long the interval is, but probably several years. There is stuff like Rid-X that is a bacteria that eats the solids. Pokeyfiero told me there's some stuff that you can use once a year, and you never have to have the tank pumped.

quote Originally posted by fierobear: As far as I know, they should last for a long time, if you have the solids pumped out of the tank. I don't know how long the interval is, but probably several years. There is stuff like Rid-X that is a bacteria that eats the solids. Pokeyfiero told me there's some stuff that you can use once a year, and you never have to have the tank pumped.

I lived for 12 years in a modern city home with a septic system. The location was perfectly suited for it ... sandy soil over permeable sandstone subsoil. A properly-sized and properly-built septic system will indeed last a long time as long as you have the tank pumped regularly ... about every 18 to 24 months, depending on tank size and the number of people in the household. The most common cause of septic system failure is plugging of the lateral lines in the leach (drain) field due to sediment accumulation from an overflowing tank.

All the experts advise that a bacteria additive like Rid-X is unnecessary ... the aerobic and anaerobic bacteria normally present in human waste do the job just fine, thank you ... although it probably doesn't hurt anything but your wallet. Regardless of what you do, you must have the accumulated solids pumped out of the tank periodically. One good suggestion is not to put kitchen waste, which has a high fat and/or high solids content, into a septic system (i.e. no disposer/grinder in the kitchen sink). Another caution is not to pour shop waste (motor oil, solvents, chemicals, etc.) into a septic system, as it may poison the bacterial flora in the tank; when this happens it may take weeks for the tank to recover, during which time it will probably accumulate lots of undigested solids.

The perc test is very important before designing a new septic system. The good news is that a perc test is simple to do and requires only a small hole in the ground. It shouldn't cost very much to have done.

[This message has been edited by Marvin McInnis (edited 02-16-2006).]

The cost of septic system installation is directly proportional to the type of soil you have. In other words, Clay = empty wallet. I had a system redone with a new 1500 gallon tank, and 600+ feet of line installed in hard clay 5 years ago. $7800. My Dad had 400 feet of new lines only in sandy soil around the same time. $2900.

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Tim
Red 88 Formula Auto 2.8 100K+ Miles

The problem with political jokes is...they get elected!

How long it lasts is all dependent on where the system is located. Here in KS in this area (3 houses that I take care of, all with septic tanks) we never have to pump our tanks. We put the system in at my house in 1973 and when I moved in about '91, we had problems. I had the tank pumped and within a month is was full again. Trees had grown roots into the lateral lines and completely filled them. I didn't have to replace the tank, but I put a new lateral system in by first putting 4" sched 40 extending the lateral without drainage to an area that was outside the tree's root growth zone and THEN put in the perforated pipe. I haven't touched it since so that's about 16 years. I don't expect to have to mess with it for at least another 15 years.

At my dad's house, his system was installed in the early '50's. We had to redo the laterals as much of them had collapsed in about '75 or so. Remember, though, that the materials used back then weren't nearly as good as what we have now. We haven't touched that system since then either.

We do use a bacterial growth about once a year because I do think it helps with solids. Never put anything in a toilet except what comes out of you and toilet paper or you're going to have problems. Watch the grease and that kind of thing from cooking, we try to never put any grease we can dump off into some kind of container down our drain. I think that's hard on the system and even harder on plugging up your waste pipes. I think vegetable matter that goes through a disposal actually helps the bacterial action in the septic system, but opinions vary on that one.

Here in KS, if you put in a new leach field you don't need a perc test if it's going in an existing tank. Likewise, a new tank on an existing leachfield doesn't require one either. If you have to do a complete new system, then the KS Dept of Health and Environment get involved and you have to have all the tests done. Even though leach fields work very well around here, 3 neighbors could not get approval to put a new system in and had to go with a lagoon style system. IMHO, they suck. They smell and have (required by law) to be fenced off. You have to keep things like tumbleweeds, etc., out of them. They're just a PITA.

John Stricker

Also we used a infiltrator chamber system for our leach field instead of gravel and pipe. It was really easy to lay and much cheeper.

fantastic information from you all. +'s for you all, and a hearty appreciation.

Also wanted to see what some of you thought about tank size. We will have 4-5 people and the recommended tank size is 1,000 gallons, but is bigger better in this situation, like 1,500? i.e. less maintainance and work for the system if it is larger than the requirement, or is it just added cost for a larger tank that is not needed.

They last damn near forever if you have them pumped before it's to late.

quote Originally posted by FieroMonkey: Also wanted to see what some of you thought about tank size. We will have 4-5 people and the recommended tank size is 1,000 gallons, but is bigger better in this situation, like 1,500? i.e. less maintainance and work for the system if it is larger than the requirement, or is it just added cost for a larger tank that is not needed.

A bigger tank is better ... but only to the extent that it lengthens the amount of time between pump-outs. A bigger tank has a bigger sediment holding capacity.

quote Originally posted by linenoise: They last damn near forever if you have them pumped before it's to late.

How do you know when it's time to have it pumped?

quote Originally posted by fierobear: How do you know when it's time to have it pumped?

The tank needs to be pumped when the level of sediment gets to within about a foot of the tank outlet. There may be other ways to do it, but the only way I've seen to measure the sediment level is to crack open the lid and gauge the sediment level with a rod.

Unfortunately, opening the lid is usually a major pain in the you-know-what, so most people neglect to do it and just guess by time (months or years between pump-outs). This neglect often results in early septic system failure.

If I were doing a new septic system installation I would find some way to install a piece of 2-inch PVC pipe through the top of the tank such that it could be used for easy access to gauge the sediment level.

quote Originally posted by Marvin McInnis: The tank needs to be pumped when the level of sediment gets to within about a foot of the tank outlet. There may be other ways to do it, but the only way I've seen to measure the sediment level is to crack open the lid and gauge the sediment level with a rod. Unfortunately, opening the lid is usually a major pain in the you-know-what, so most people neglect to do it and just guess by time (months or years between pump-outs). This neglect often results in early septic system failure. If I were doing a new septic system installation I would find some way to install a piece of 2-inch PVC pipe through the top of the tank such that it could be used for easy access to gauge the sediment level.

Count me as one who neglected mine. Bought my house in 98 family of 6 and 2 weeks ago the toilets wouldn't flush. Never thought about the septic tank, till I talked with a guy at work. So I had the honey wagon out and my tank was full. And I mean full. So far no issues since they pumped it so it's now a yearly maintence item for me. Pretty cheap to have done, I have a 2500 gal tank and they charged $180 to pump it. Typical tanks are 1250-1500 but mine was oversized due to having supported 3 households at one time.

Here in Texas... a perc test is no longer allowed... That process ended about 12 years ago.

You a pay a certified specialist to come do what is called a 'soil report'
The man takes a minimum of 3 cores, going down to 9 feet, and writes up a report on the layers of soil he encountered.
Then he mixes water with the various layers (topsoil, loam, clay, sand, gravel, whatever) and strenously mixes the soil and water until it forms a rope (kinda like making mud pies when you were a kid). Based on how the soil ropes, will determine if you can even have a new septic tank in Texas.

If you pass your 3 cores (in different parts of the yard mind you), you can use traditional septic. That costs $125 to have the man say "you passed." He puts a pass stamp on his report, you turn that into the county, the county turns it into the state.

Many places in Texas cannot pass. Too much Limestone and clay. I, for example, am a failure. I paid $250 to learn this.
3 of my cores hit a Limestone shelf between 2-5 feet down. My fourth core passed. Then the man engineers you a design for an 'aerobic system' (basically a spetic tank with no lateral lines).

You have 3 tanks. The design is based on size of house, # of occupants, houshold water consumption... Poo phase 1 goes into a large tank (about 750 gallons or better) to settle. Poo phase 2 goes into a 500 gallon tank where the aerobic bacteria feast. Poo phase 3 goes into a small tank that adds chlorine and when the water level reaches a certain point, it trips a mercury switch that activates you sprinklers, and it sprays (they claim to be potable) waste water on your yard.

The soil man sends his design to the county, the county sends it to the state, and every year you pay some certified guy to come inspect the system and add chlorine tablets as necessary.

This set up is pretty slick, but it does cost more. You have the expense of 3 tanks, 3 holes in the ground, a manual pump, and an air compressor that circulates fresh air down to your little buddies in tank 2.

quote Originally posted by blakeinspace: Poo phase 3 goes into a small tank that adds chlorine and when the water level reaches a certain point, it trips a mercury switch that activates you sprinklers, and it sprays (they claim to be potable) waste water on your yard.

Does that water smell funny?

Oh yeah. Note to self, don't visit Blake on sprinkler days.

John Stricker

quote Originally posted by fierobear: Does that water smell funny?

quote Originally posted by jstricker: Oh yeah. Note to self, don't visit Blake on sprinkler days. John Stricker

I've noticed the ground near my leach lines stays a bit moist. I haven't been around the house enough yet to tell if it smells. Would it be OK to plant some grass over that, to use up and recycle the water, or do the roots go too deep?

quote Originally posted by fierobear: I've noticed the ground near my leach lines stays a bit moist. I haven't been around the house enough yet to tell if it smells. Would it be OK to plant some grass over that, to use up and recycle the water, or do the roots go too deep?

If the drain field smells even faintly like sewage, something isn't right. By contrast, you may occasionally detect a faint sewage odor in the immediate vicinity of the tank ... but even that should be really rare.

Grass is excellent to plant over the drain field. I think that most plumbing codes require the leach lines to be at least 24 inches below the surface.

[This message has been edited by Marvin McInnis (edited 02-17-2006).]

I read that grass is perfectly fine to plant over the field and lines, but anything else with roots decending more than grass roots is not a good idea.

quote Originally posted by fierobear: I've noticed the ground near my leach lines stays a bit moist. I haven't been around the house enough yet to tell if it smells. Would it be OK to plant some grass over that, to use up and recycle the water, or do the roots go too deep?