Septic Tank

Hi all,

Strange scenario here....

Has anyone here installed a septic tank?

If so what sort of costs did you spend on this?

Thanks.
 
Hi Nathan,

I had one put in about 10 years ago, there a number of different types and most councils have specific requirements for each area.

This can vary on the type of soil and its drainage capacity, the size of the block of land, semi rural, suburbia etc.

Most tanks these days are not the traditional septic tank but in fact are water treatment plants. These require quarterly servicing by a professional, registered person with a copy of their work sheet being sent to council each quarter.

I use Earthsafe, my brother was using another company but wished he wasn't :(

No one is perfect but it is nice when a company listens to your complaint and makes an effort to resolve the problem.

I would start at the local council and then take a drive around the area, look for the aeration sprayers in peoples yards and knock on their door and ask about local suppliers and their reliability.

HTH
 
Have several quotes - from plumbers and the builder. All say $4000, give or take. We're on STEDS - so the liquid from the tank drains to a common area a few km out of town, and the sediment needs to be cleaned out every 4 or so years (which costs $180 each time). Without STEDS you need either a soakage pit rather than a tank, a bigger tank or much much more regular pumping.

The tanks themselves are $1300ish + riser of $400ish and the rest is trenching and labour. That price is for a 3000L concrete one, you can get other sorts.

The fancier councils need fancier wastewater recycling systems that cost a LOT more but given the stuff you buy I expect you just mean a regular septic tank :)
 
We have simple septic tanks and dispersal fields
and wells
some people have their drinking water well downhill from the septic field
eewwwwwwww

all our wells are 'well' up hiill
one tenant dug a vege patch on the septic dispersal field because it was always 'so green' eeeeewwwww
we explained to them the diagrams in their tenant handbook that showed them that it was the septic field, but they did it anyway, eeeeeeewwwwwww
didnt eat any of the veges they offered
I know that the tank does anaerobic digestion, then soil bacteria do aerobic digestion of the anaerobic bacteria, and its clean by the time it comes out,, but eeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwww

3-4K to install tank and dispersal field, and 1-200 for a percolation test to tell how big a dispaersal field is required for the soil type

Absolutely useless information, the contractors are unlikely to travel that far even for a holiday
 
Hehe ... I don't even *know* what is under the ground at my old house. I suspect soakage pit, not a proper tank. I hit buried galvanised iron while I was planting some trees that is probably the lid, and it has a vent. The house was converted from a funeral parlour with no bathroom to a house in the 80s so whatever was done is reasonably recent. One of the trees that actually struck (it is dry there and the soil is poor) grew about 2m in the first year so I strongly suspect soakage pit lol ... it doesn't smell, is deep enough to not make 'lush green patches' and doesn't overflow when there is heavy rain so I'm not going to go there at all - if it aint broke, don't fix it. The neighbour's house was the coachman's cottage and has an ancient septic tank/soakage pit that apparently overflows and runs into their house when there is heavy rain. That's even grosser!

Someone else at my old town has a big household - adult children and grandchildren at home - and a concrete septic tank without dispersal. They have an extremely large corner block that is surrounded on all sides by public land - large parks and the old CWA. Again, semi-arid land so we're just talking a bit of play equipment and some wattles here. He quietly pumps the excess water from his tank over the fence onto the public land ...
 
+1 for what macca said. Each council seems to have different rules. Home sewerage traetment plants can be a real pain in the butt with the upkeep and are very dependant on what gets put into them. If you have a tenant that likes domestos you will have problems ALL the time. I prefer old fashioned septics but they are becoming rarer and rarer as many councils force you to get rid of them. Up here if you have a working septic system and decide to do an extension and add a bathroom they will make you change to a HSTP as part of the approval process. (Caboolture council sux!)
 
Haha I had a guy ring me the other night (reasonably late) wanting to know where my STEDS line is and where the connection points are. He's designing our septic system, and he does it on the side - his day job is some kind of environmental engineer.

Apparently the silly man was just emailing the council for these details, which doesn't often work in the country. So I just told a plumbing designer all the info he needed ... that's not my job!
 
We have simple septic tanks and dispersal fields
and wells
some people have their drinking water well downhill from the septic field
eewwwwwwww

all our wells are 'well' up hiill
one tenant dug a vege patch on the septic dispersal field because it was always 'so green' eeeeewwwww
we explained to them the diagrams in their tenant handbook that showed them that it was the septic field, but they did it anyway, eeeeeeewwwwwww
didnt eat any of the veges they offered
I know that the tank does anaerobic digestion, then soil bacteria do aerobic digestion of the anaerobic bacteria, and its clean by the time it comes out,, but eeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwww

3-4K to install tank and dispersal field, and 1-200 for a percolation test to tell how big a dispaersal field is required for the soil type

Absolutely useless information, the contractors are unlikely to travel that far even for a holiday

I knew some people that had vegies around the septic tank dispersal area, they grew like weeds on steriods. The first ripe paw-paw fruit they cut open smelled like ##** though; Nasty!
 
I am doing one this week actually.

Two stage system...No change out of $11k completed..............

Looked at several options but local council knocked us back on several types as our block is quite small.

Was basically forced to go with Talex system.....

What to know anything let me know, I did some serious research on the issue over four months..

Best options before getting started, get soil test done and approach council to see what they want...

I tried to use use biolytix but council said definitely no................

Number of bedrooms is also a calculation that council will do to decide on what system is best for the block.

The idiot council I dealt with forced me to use a Taylex system because it was quote "more environmentally friendly for my block" but its a chlorine based system..........go figure that one!

Two mths of fighting the council got me nowhere...everything is now based on state govt regulations....the old type septic tanks are woeful and not good for long term use.............
 
This is where STEDS is good - there's no dispersal, and the tank stays basically sealed. All your grey (well, black really) water goes to the treatment plant out of town and the solids settle to the bottom of the tank and you get it pumped every 4 years for the exorbitant sum of $110. Its like a poor man's sewerage system.
 
I knew some people that had vegies around the septic tank dispersal area, they grew like weeds on steriods. The first ripe paw-paw fruit they cut open smelled like ##** though; Nasty!

What do you think farmers fertilse with????? lol!
you can only not eat root vegetables grown on the trenches. You shouldn;t really grow anything on them as it prevents some of the evaporation but to think that gowing a tree over manure will taint the fruit is ridiculous. :cool:
 
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