UKC

I'm in the process of buying a house with a septic tank. I had a full structural survey done on the house and asked the surveyor to take a look at the tank. He came back with a few issues and strongly recopmmended that I had a specialist CCTV inspection done to check I am not buying a problem.

He mentioned he thought it was about 50 years old, no sign of weeper pipes or if they stayed within the grounds of the property, no vent pipe on the main tank (assumed it vented back through the system to the house) and that he suspected but couldn't be sure that the rain water and grey water went through the system (which he implied was bad as it would wash away the bacteria in the system)

Can anyone shed any light on 50 year old septic tank design compared to modern septic tanks. Has there been much improvement in technology? Would there be thousands of 50 yr old plus septic tanks up and down the country working perfectly well and I am blowing this out of proportion?

I have decided to go ahead with the CCTV inspection (£380 + VAT!!) for a full report on the condition of the system for peace of mind as I was warned that a new installation could cost between £12k- £15k.

Any advice or horror stories gratefully received

In reply to Bjartur i Sumarhus:


If you've got 20 minutes Garrison Keillor will give you some tips: http://grooveshark.com/#!/s/Homecoming/1QjWkN?src=5

In reply to jon: I would hope my surveyor would have noticed if it was a buried car

In reply to Bjartur i Sumarhus: Not an expert but I moved into a traditional house c.1910 about 8 months ago which has a septic tank which i'm assuming was built roughly the same time (could be wrong).
Rainwater from one side of house joins foul drainage and goes into main brick chamber. 3ftx 6ft x 4.5ft ish. Cover is 3 concrete slabs with small gaps between no vents as such, never noticed any smell either.
Rainwater from other side of house joins kitchen grey water and joins septic tank overflow which then goes through 3 further separation tanks 3ftx3ftx3ft then out to final soakaway.
I got someone to pump out septic tank as I guessed previous owners hadnt done it for years. Turns out the environmental guy reckons it was in good shape and no "crust" (which is good apparently!) He said it was a good large size with plenty of beasties. He said he gets far more trouble from newer "bulb" tanks combined with use of too much cleaning chemicals. He advised me never to replace/ upgrade mine, it ain't broke so don't fix it.
Can't comment too much on your circumstances but my feeling is the older the better.

In reply to Captain Solo:

That's encouraging...thx!

In reply to Bjartur i Sumarhus:
I have a tank at least 50 years old, a couple of brick chambers where the waste drops into one then the liquid weirs over into the second. This then flows into, (supposedly), either a porous pipe or more likely trenches full of rubble or similar that run under the field it sits in.

There is a vent pipe sticking out of the outflow pipe, but the tank is my no means air tight, (a few concrete slabs over the chambers), so not sure what that achieves.

We moved in 8 years ago and got a mate with a tanker to have a look with a view to emptying it. We lifted the slabs, saw a nice crust of what looked like compost wriggling with worms. His advice was to leave well alone unless it started stinking, leaking or overflowing. It's been sat there the last 8 years no problems.

In reply to Captain Solo:

Snap! You replied as I was typing.

In reply to Ridge:

This is getting better and better....glad I posted

In reply to Bjartur i Sumarhus:

50yr old septic tanks were designed to cope with how households worked in the 1950's. i.e. no power showers, no washing machines, dish washers, very little use of bleach or detergents killing all the bacteria. So back then you had a reasonably dry effluent that had lots of bacteria in it which would break down the sewage, and periodically someone would heave a dead sheep in there to "keep it ticking over".

Nowadays things a bit different. There is a lot of grey water and effluent.

I usual worry about
• what state the structure is in (is the brick and pipe work knackered)
• Where is it discharging to? (river or soakaway)
• What are the chances of it backing up into the house?
• Is it anywhere near where I'm getting my drinking water from (are there any boreholes within 50m )

A modern set up is called a package treatment works. Most go into an engineered drainage field (soakaway) or are tankered away.

If the tank is in sound condition and has plenty of capacity then it may well be ok. If not read the following and see what fits:

“Treatment and disposal of sewage where no foul sewer is available: PPG4”

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/2...

and :

“Flows and loads 3”

http://www.clfabrication.co.uk/lib/downloads/Flows%20and%20Loads%20-%203.pd...

In reply to Captain Solo:

+ 1 ours is a turn of the century one, Also make sure the ladies don't put any bathroom (tampons, cotton buds etc), kitchen waste - avoid putting fats etc down it - can form a solid mass and block it - not quite as degradable as good old shit.

In reply to Bjartur i Sumarhus: we had exactly your Story from our surveyor. He didn't know what he was talking about as the report was pretty much a cut and paste jobbie. He also recommended getting a camera survey done, surprise surprise - he knows a man that can.
Our 'cesspit', as the surveyor called it and was adamant it was, is also a brick chamber that never gets full and doesn't smell or anything.

I think you'll be fine. Save your money for when you do need to get the drains looked at - you'll know when this is the case!

In reply to Bjartur i Sumarhus: ps. If costs 13k to install a new septic tank you need to move house. I'll be surprised if it cost more than 5k assuming It's easy access and you have an easement of acccess too

In reply to Bjartur i Sumarhus:

We bought a house in Ireland some years ago and like all rural houses it had a septic tank. Unlike modern ones the older ones are pretty bomproof. I've seen a new one installed with the pipework the wrong way round!!! Ours was a simple chamber made of shuttered concrete.

The house hadn't been occupied for several years. The water in the tank was clear and a quick prod through the inspection vent proved there was only a tiny amount of sludge in the bottom. There were no 'drainage to soil' pipes, simply one exit into the soil about a couple of foot below the surface of the soil.

It too took all the rain water, grey water and everything else from the house.

When first used they do sometimes smell!

One it had been used for a few weeks and bacteria had multiplied it stopped smelling and we had absolutely no bother at all from it. The bacteria spent the rest of the ten years we lived there eating and multiplying away without a problem.

We used normal washing powder and some household bleaches but as someone else has said its best to avoid too many strong chemicals - they are after all designed to kill bacteria in the house , after all!!

Contrary to some opinions they never really need emptying either.

We did however have a couple of 'problems' with the soil pipe from the house to the septic tank caused by the many trees and bushes as it flowed the fifty yards to the tank. These were easily sorted by a little careful rodding with some pipes, digging at the offending blockage showed the blockage was caused by incorrect jointing of the soil pipe. I simply cut through a section of the pipe built 'man-hole' type inspection chamber. This wasn't really a problem in the scheme of things and I'd certainly not be put off by having a septic tank again.

In reply to higherclimbingwales:
When talking about 50 plus year old household sewage systems, here is a big difference between a septic tank and a cess pit.

A septic tank is a mini underground sewerage works with 2 chambers leading to an underground soakaway system. It works on the basis of bacteria breaking down the nasties and in theory the water that runs through the soakaway should be drinkable (not that I ever dared to find out!)

If running properly it should never need emptying, and I have come across Victorian septic tanks that were still working properly 100 plus years after construction, as has been said the main enemies of septic tanks are bleach and bleach products that kill bacteria, detergents, fat, sanitary towels and tampons, condoms and nappies. You should never flush solids through the system. The same goes for cooking fats. They should never be washed down the drain - not only do they bugger up septic tanks but they will furr up waste pipes and drains. A lot of people think it's ok to flush fats away with the washing up and when fats are warm they are viscous, as they cool they solidify in the system.

Septic tank soakaway systems commonly back up, particularly where the water table is high and drainage run off poor. This will lead to back up into the settlement chambers and failure of the system.

A cess pit is a single chamber disposal tank which once full will need to be pumped out into a sewage tanker lorry. Depending on the capacity and size of the household this may need doing anything from monthly to six monthly.

Unfortunately there is a huge number of illegal inbetweens - mostly cess pits where someone has knocked a hole ion the bottom or side to allow efflouent to seep out nto the ground.

Where seepage or clogged soakaway systems cause pollution to adjoining waterways, the Environment Agency have powers to prosecute and force you to repair/renew the system. In some areas, paricularly low lying areas, it may not be possible to achieve an adequate soakaway system for a septic tank and a sealed tank (which will need regular emptying) may be the only solution.

Having said all that, a properly constructed septic tank and soakaway system is fine and I would be (and have been) quite happy to buy a property with one. I have had property with as cess pit and again so long as it's sealed that's fine but they do need regular emptying (cost) and can smell in hot weather.