TOPIC: Private Septic Tanks

No I don't but I use the same guy every time for the last couple of years find someone in that business you can trust and build a working relationship we have very stringent regs in NH 

I have learned first hand and in a bad way not to inspect septic systems.

An empty tank and properly functioning low pressure pumps (if needed) do not a good system make.
The "bones" are within the fields and its almost impossible upon inspection to determine the ability of the soil to obsorb and evaporate the grey water.   

AJ, there sh?t can become your bread and butter, go for it!
We've installed them in the past on homes we've built, or should I say the septic company has, leach lines run strait down 45' or so no lateral line not enough room, always had them inspected by the building department, city or county, had to pull permits, after that it becomes the responsibility of the home owner, usually they hire a septic company for clean out and inspections if needed, when it backs up they know its need LOL. The size of the tank is usually based on the size of the home, # of bedrooms and baths, we used 1500 gal tanks but it varies. All states,counties and cities have different regs. find out your guide lines and work within them.
russ

That's a big tank Russ!  That's like burying a Chevy Suburban!  Do they do percolations tests there to determine the size of the tanks that are allowed before construction happens? 

Here, because of so much clay soil, and before they build a house, they run a percolation test on the soil to certify how many bedrooms will be allowed in the house.  Then the house is certified for the size of the box and field.  I don't think they allow you to oversize here because they assume someone will slip in another bedroom and things might not perk.

If a house is perked for 3 bedrooms and down the line someone wants to put on an addition, the county will only accept the permit if there are not to be any more bedrooms in that addition.  They assume more bedrooms, more baths, more people and the field is overwhelmed due to its percolation abilities.

As to Tillman's comments - those pumps can fail at the worst times!  Here they require two pumps and an alarm for each.  The one serves as a back up.  For that reason, I always like to see a field that is all gravity.  The krappé does flow best downhill!  Some systems have to pump the effluent up and away 200 yards, into another distribution box and from that to a diverter box sending it to one or two fields.  Then the people have to be aware of the diverter needs, and change their field every year.  Depending on the size of the field(s) the system works well or does not...  often does not!

The newer systems are not using all that - some of them look like a grave yard with the side by side boxes with plastic lids.  Another has the big central dump location surrounded by weeping willow trees.  Those seem to work well.

Beyond that my post above still works...

Thanks for the info guys

here in NH it goes by # of bedrooms and in a older home the state goes all the way back to the original building permits and if you have added a bedroom since then to bad for you