Septic Tank 'soak away' in neighbouring land!!

Davesnave

sujsuj said:

2020 rules are  applicable retrospectively?? This property is 90 years old. If need to comply 2020 rules to all old properties that's impossible right??

It's not impossible. We don't know the property, so how can we comment? The age of the house is not necessarily the same as the age of the system. If you can't evaluate what's there yourself, then you need to have a drainage professional look at it for you, just like you'd use a surveyor or builder to examine other aspects of the property.

sujsuj said:

Also I was told septic tank is emptied every 2 years which seems to be a pain. I thought its 5 or 6 years normally. May be tank is small

Why is it a 'pain' and why did you think 5 or 6 years? Where did that figure come from? It's not one I recognise. I have my tank 'emptied' every 2 years and it's huge. It's not actually emptied, but de-sludged just to make sure there are no problems. Don't forget, if someone has a septic tank, they don't pay a sewerage charge to the water authority, so the cost of de-sludging is covered.

It doesn't sound to me that you have done much research since you were last here. Many country properties come with private sewerage systems of different kinds, so they're not unusual and whatever's there just needs checking like any other feature of the house.

AdrianC

sujsuj said:

2020 rules are  applicable retrospectively?? This property is 90 years old. If need to comply 2020 rules to all old properties that's impossible right??

No, it's eminently possible... You just need to upgrade the sewage set-up.

We had an ancient septic tank (with clagged soakaway) replaced earlier this year with a small treatment plant. To do that without any other work would have been a mid-four-figure amount, and a few days of work. Far less scary than many believe. Cheaper than sorting the soakaway...

sujsuj said:

Also I was told septic tank is emptied every 2 years which seems to be a pain. I thought its 5 or 6 years normally. May be tank is small

Round these parts, how long you can leave your tank without emptying it seems to be a matter of pride.
It shouldn't be. They should be emptied regularly.

Emptying is one phone call, an hour of having a man with a hoover on your lawn, and less than a couple of hundred quid. Remember, you won't be paying the sewage part of your current water bill... How much is that?

Davesnave said:

If the house is no longer dependent on the tank and associated drain field it's likely the tank will have been emptied and no further contaminated run-out will occur.

'course, a healthy tank shouldn't have any "contaminated run-off" in the first place... Problems only start when people regard it as a matter of pride that the tank hasn't been emptied since great-grandad were a lad...

(Having said that, friends have a tank reputedly large enough for thirty occupants. There's two of them. They flush the bog, there's an echo.)

Grumpy_chap

greatcrested said:

And just to hijack this thread (though it may prove useful to OP too), does anyone know a good independant source of comparative information between different Small Sewage Treatment Plants?

Poo is what I do.  I don't mean that I have problems with diarrhoea.

The OP is probably best, at least short term ahead of the house purchase in obtaining the indemnity insurance against any claims.  It needs to be a "life-time" product and no reason the vendor should not pay for it, though obviously, when the OP comes to sell and if nothing else has changed, then the next prospective purchaser will likely ask the OP to fund the onward premium.

In terms of a solution, all the equipment manufacturers are obviously vested in securing a sale which may not necessarily result in the best solution for the OP. 
The OP needs to establish the age, condition and any licence constraints of the current installation.
If capital expenditure is required, the first question is to investigate whether connection to mains sewer is a viable option.

AdrianC

They aren't "2020 regulation changes". They're regulation changes that came into force at the start of 2015.

BUT... they had a five year taper period, which expired at the start of this year...

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/general-binding-rules-small-sewage-discharge-to-a-surface-water

greatcrested

The drainage field may be compliant. Or may not. But yes, the rules are retrospective in the sense that some old systems must be upgraded in order to protect the environment.

Given that you are unfamilar with off-mains sewage rules, I repeat my earlier advice: get the system inspected by a professional. He will not only tell you if the tank, pipework and field are in proper working condition, but also whether the system is or is not compliant. And if it is not, he will advise you on options to make it compliant and the costs of doing so.

greatcrested

greatcrested said:

And just to hijack this thread (though it may prove useful to OP too), does anyone know a good independant source of comparative information between different Small Sewage Treatment Plants?

Poo is what I do.  I don't mean that I have problems with diarrhoea.

Grumpy_chap, so do you have a recommendation for a good source (of info, not poo!)

AdrianC

greatcrested said:

greatcrested said:

And just to hijack this thread (though it may prove useful to OP too), does anyone know a good independant source of comparative information between different Small Sewage Treatment Plants?

Poo is what I do.  I don't mean that I have problems with diarrhoea.

Grumpy_chap, so do you have a recommendation for a good source (of info, not poo!)

We had a recommendation for a local installer.

He came round, looked, talked sense.
His personal preference (which we followed) was a Marsh Ensign - we went for the Ultra, with an extra outlet filter, because the outlet is 25m from a stream, 250m upstream from a nature reserve. His recommendation was based on "I've got a Klargester at home, and my sister's got a Marsh - which is far less trouble"

Grumpy_chap

greatcrested said:

greatcrested said:

And just to hijack this thread (though it may prove useful to OP too), does anyone know a good independant source of comparative information between different Small Sewage Treatment Plants?

Poo is what I do.  I don't mean that I have problems with diarrhoea.

Grumpy_chap, so do you have a recommendation for a good source (of info, not poo!)

I cannot / will not promote a connected business using this site.

For the OP, at this stage, they can't really lose much by asking any local installer to inspect the system, and then recommend actions for making it compliant and what the costs may be.  The "free" survey will be from a sales person, but that gives a worst case indication of the exposure and allows the OP to proceed with the house purchase (including any negotiation on value).

Once the OP has moved in, they can look at the best route to proceed.  The first option is that what they have is good and no capital expenditure required.  If CAPEX is required, the OP should establish whether mains sewage provides a solution (things may have changed since that question was last looked at).

greatcrested

Grumpy_chap said:

greatcrested said:

greatcrested said:

And just to hijack this thread (though it may prove useful to OP too), does anyone know a good independant source of comparative information between different Small Sewage Treatment Plants?

Poo is what I do.  I don't mean that I have problems with diarrhoea.

Grumpy_chap, so do you have a recommendation for a good source (of info, not poo!)

I cannot / will not promote a connected business using this site.

I'm not looking for a business though - plenty of businesses shouting the benefits of their system over others!

I'm looking for the equivelant of 'Which?' to provide independant comparisons of the many businesses...

As indeed the OP might end up needing to do depending on the outcome of his enquiries.

Grumpy_chap

I am not aware of any equivalent to a "Which?" style consumer report on the topic - it is maybe considered too niche.
There are trade publications, but they also tend to be articles written by the manufacturers and include an element of unconscious (or not) bias.
There are independent engineering consultancies that advise on waste water management but are not connected to any of the manufactures.