Confused about old cesspool

grey_lady

So recently bought a property which was built around 1910, survey said cesspool and I've found out that house and neighbours houses were all built with cesspools, not sure if that's brick or concrete.

I asked next door how often it needs emptying and they said once every few years? I was under the impression that cesspools needed emptying every few weeks.

Were the older ones designed to leach out untreated water?

I suspect the previous occupant of my property used to pump it out to water his grass - i wonder if that's even legal as there is a communal drainage ditch at the front of the houses.

anotherbaldrick

Their is often confusion between a cesspit (pool) and a sceptic tank and legal documents and deeds often get it wrong.
A cesspit is a watertight tank designed to hold the dwellings foul discharge for 2-3 months depending on size. However the older brick ones often leaked and let the foul liquids drain into the subsoil , they are not supposed to do this and the Environment Agency will serve notice on the owner if they discover one. It is also common for unscrupulous owners to drive a scaffold pole through the base of the tank to create a leak.
A sceptic tank is a system where the tank is correctly designed to treat the effluent using natures microbes and produce an outfall of liquid to a standard which can lawfully be discharged to soakaways and watercourses. With these the residual solids need to be tankered away every 1-2 years approx.

keystone

How do you know its of the same vintage as the house? It might be a relatively new one and yes a full clearout is only needed every few years in that case and yes more modern septic tanks are effectively mini sewage treatment plants and do provide a source of clean water that can either be used or can be allowed to dissipate into the ground.

Cheers

keystone

Two minds with but a single thought. Balders has just been a bit more articulate than me though.

Cheers

grey_lady

I'm fairly certain it's a cesspool rather than a septic tank, the previous owner had a pump installed and has a hose coming out of one of the manhole covers, if it was a septic tank it would already have an outlet pipe??

Gloomendoom

grey_lady wrote: »

I'm fairly certain it's a cesspool rather than a septic tank, the previous owner had a pump installed and has a hose coming out of one of the manhole covers, if it was a septic tank it would already have an outlet pipe??

Not necessarily. The old septic tanks were sized to cope with a couple of sinks and a loo. Often they are too small to cope with modern conveniences such as baths, washing machines and dishwashers etc. It isn't unknown for owners to pump out excess liquid from the tank to stop it overflowing. A chap I knew used to pump his out into the field next door every night.

It might be worth checking where those pipes go. Did you have the house surveyed before you bought it?

grey_lady

Survey said its a cesspit, the hosepipe doesn't go anywhere just curls around. So I'm thinking that it probably is a cesspit and is perhaps leaking or very large and as it hasn't been emptied since last spring I should probably look to get it emptied.

Rotor

Well our house (old farm cottage) built in the 30s (we think) has a hybrid of the two. A single chamber , roughly 1 cubic metre, with outflow pipe to herringbone shaped soakaway. It's more of a settling tank for the solids , the liquid component then draining away.
Stilll working fine. empty it once a year.

GlynD

anotherbaldrick wrote: »

Their is often confusion between a cesspit (pool) and a sceptic tank and legal documents and deeds often get it wrong.
A cesspit is a watertight tank designed to hold the dwellings foul discharge for 2-3 months depending on size. However the older brick ones often leaked and let the foul liquids drain into the subsoil , they are not supposed to do this and the Environment Agency will serve notice on the owner if they discover one. It is also common for unscrupulous owners to drive a scaffold pole through the base of the tank to create a leak.
A sceptic tank is a system where the tank is correctly designed to treat the effluent using natures microbes and produce an outfall of liquid to a standard which can lawfully be discharged to soakaways and watercourses. With these the residual solids need to be tankered away every 1-2 years approx.

That's not right mate. If the septic tank is the right size and functions correctly it should never need emptied. The solid material it retains is biodegradable. Most problems with septic tanks are when the tank is too small to deal effectively with the amount of waste from the dwelling (or otherwise) which it serves. That's when they need emptying.

Advice to OP. If you can afford it, install a septic tank and get rid of the worries you have with the old cesspit.

zaax

That's right if the septic tank is treated right no non-degradables and very little disinfectant or bleach it will work for years. If it is up set it is difficult to get back working agagin with out help

Stooby2

I asked next door how often it needs emptying and they said once every few years? I was under the impression that cesspools needed emptying every few weeks.

it depends on how much fibre/roughage there is in your diet.