Septic Tank advice

pollyzanna

We recently moved into a new house which has a Septic Tank in the garden. The survey helpfully ( )says "Employ professional services to carry out inspection of septic tank"

Yes, I know I can do an internet search to find someone, but I'm a bit concerned that a company could turn up and say "Oh yes, you need a brand new system that will cost £3k thank you very much" (You may have guessed, I don't really have any idea!)

Therefore I'm asking if anyone has any recommendations of any Septic Tank inspectors in the Cheshire (Northwich) area? (Or companies to avoid?!)

Any other general septic tank advice also appreciated!

Thank you

arbrighton

I'm going to bump this up, as I'm also after the same thing, pretty much in the same place

111KAB

Really depends upon type that is installed ie brick built or purpose made (often a large plastic bulb) - the main problem (if any) is likely to be the outflow as this generally can consist of either a herringbone pattern of pipes or a single pipe say to a soakaway. In either case they are normally installed/built by a general builder or a groundworker and they should be able to comment on the construction. I would find out the frequency of emptying as this is often an indication of how well the tank is performing (particularly the outflow) as regular emptying would indicate either a high water table or badly functioning outflow.

Leif

A neighbour still uses a septic tank. He says it is years, maybe 10 or more, since he had his emptied. Originally he had overflow problems, so he dug a new soakaway for the drain, and it's been fine since.

By the way these surveys are often drive past ones. They say very little, and are full of wriggle out clauses such as "We were unable to get access to [X] and we recommend a specialist take a closer look". So it might be that there is absolutely no reason to inspect the septic tank. You might want to find out if there have been any instances of overflow of drains, and how often it was emptied.

Please note, I do not know much about these things, just what my neighbour told me when chatting. (I have a septic tank, but it was disconnected as we are now on main sewage.)

Hintza

If it aint broke........

If I was worried all I would do is have it emptied. You don't mess around with ground drainage unless you really have to.

manda1205

Leif wrote: »

A neighbour still uses a septic tank. He says it is years, maybe 10 or more, since he had his emptied. Originally he had overflow problems, so he dug a new soakaway for the drain, and it's been fine since.

By the way these surveys are often drive past ones. They say very little, and are full of wriggle out clauses such as "We were unable to get access to [X] and we recommend a specialist take a closer look". So it might be that there is absolutely no reason to inspect the septic tank. You might want to find out if there have been any instances of overflow of drains, and how often it was emptied.

Please note, I do not know much about these things, just what my neighbour told me when chatting. (I have a septic tank, but it was disconnected as we are now on main sewage.)

:eek: 10 years! I would expect them to be emptied way more often than that, even with only one person in a house. Our 4 houses all share one and ours is emptied once or twice a year. Most people in our village who only have one tank to a house get theres emptied once a year. I wonder if environment agency have checked his soak away lately!

OP, as others say, if it is doing its job then leave it be and just get it emptied, you can keep an eye on it to see when its nearly full. They shouldn't be emptied needlessly either, just when getting full is fine. Watch what you put down the loo (defo no baby wipes!) and check your cleaning products as some say they're not suitable for septic tanks, not many, but I have come across a few.

Leif

manda1205 wrote: »

:eek: 10 years! I would expect them to be emptied way more often than that, even with only one person in a house..

He used to have his emptied every year before he improved the drainage. Basically the solids break down, and the fluids including broken down sludge drain away. If it does overflow, you know about it, and he has not had any problems.

manda1205

Leif wrote: »

He used to have his emptied every year before he improved the drainage. Basically the solids break down, and the fluids including broken down sludge drain away. If it does overflow, you know about it, and he has not had any problems.

Don't really know the total ins and outs, but pretty sure the fluids and sludge shouldnt be draining away into soak away. I only know by what has happened to us, and that was environment agency went around testing peoples soak aways, it came back that ours was putting too much of our waste into soak away, so we had to have a whole new tank put in and they kept coming and checking it every so often.

fluffymuffy

The whole idea of a septic tank is that the fluids drain out through the soakaway.

manda1205

fluffymuffy wrote: »

The whole idea of a septic tank is that the fluids drain out through the soakaway.

Yeah but only once its been filtered and purified. And certainly not sludge. It just shocks me he can go over 10 years without emptying a tank.

fluffymuffy

Septic tanks don't filter. They just digest.