Septic Tank

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Lyric
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Septic Tank

Postby Lyric » Tue Dec 27, 2016 5:59 pm

What is a ball park figure for supply and install of a normal 3 chamber tank does the team think ?

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Enrique
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Re: Septic Tank

Postby Enrique » Tue Dec 27, 2016 7:09 pm

Hi Lyric,
Form a Post by ashtondav............ " I think the cost was nearer 3,500€ than 1,400€ but well worth it." for a sealed system with pump.
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Gasman
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Re: Septic Tank

Postby Gasman » Wed Dec 28, 2016 4:11 pm

I would think it is difficult to give a ball-park figure - it is not just the septic tank ... it is also where you can put it in your particular case, how much digging is required to put it in (soft ground or bed-rock), whether your situation allows access to the space you have for it for periodic emptying - I know the machine comes with a long tube but on our plot sloping away from the only access road, it makes the only suitable place a LONG way from the road!! We are keeping our Pozo Negro as long as we can!

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Enrique
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Re: Septic Tank

Postby Enrique » Wed Dec 28, 2016 5:38 pm

" periodic emptying"...............shouldn't be necessary if you treat it right.............I think Sid mentioned he had never had it done with his one.

The standard up this way in the campo are Pozo Negro and not heard of any getting emptied.

Came across some villages in Cordoba province all around was brown dry grass except as you climbed up towards the village green trees and weeds grew in abundance along an open channel ............ the "mains sewage " system from the village.
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Lyric
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Re: Septic Tank

Postby Lyric » Wed Dec 28, 2016 5:52 pm

My question was prompted by my Pozo which is as I understand it a cess pit. My understanding is that a "Pozo Negro" has some biological action and as a result a soakaway, but not a full biological action such as a Septic Tank.
Since we had the jungle cleared and terracing redefined we can see our sewage system in all it's decrepit glory and can also see that it is leaking from the side so raw sewage is being discharged. Obviously this cannot continue so the question just to see if I was being ripped.
I have just had a man come and talk dirty and he has quoted me 1900€ inc IVA for a three chamber tank with soakaway, suitable for six people and with the Pozo removed afterwards. I am going to see a couple more chaps to compare. I was expecting much more, closer to the 3000€ mark.

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Enrique
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Re: Septic Tank

Postby Enrique » Wed Dec 28, 2016 6:10 pm

Hi Lyric,
The way they used to build ......... using three circular concrete tubes set into the ground, bit surprised you can see yours leaking.
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Lyric
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Re: Septic Tank

Postby Lyric » Wed Dec 28, 2016 6:40 pm

It is a squareish Brick construction, just a tank.
Sewage.jpg

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peteroldracer
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Re: Septic Tank

Postby peteroldracer » Wed Dec 28, 2016 10:01 pm

I used to cough to disguise a [email protected] I f@rt to disguise a cough.

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Wicksey
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Re: Septic Tank

Postby Wicksey » Fri Dec 30, 2016 10:51 am

I don't know if it's because they weren't properly installed, but from our experience of neighbours having the plastic septic tanks, they have always stunk to high heaven. We've always had the hole in the ground type of pozo negro that cannot be accessed or emptied and they have been fine. I can only thing that they haven't been installed correctly and seem to be just plonked into a hole below the house. I'm not sure our current neighbour's has any sort of run off, but we can always smell when they are in residence and it's about 200m down the hill from us. So, Lyric, make sure it's downwind to your neighbours and not you :)

Lyric
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Re: Septic Tank

Postby Lyric » Fri Dec 30, 2016 11:04 am

That is awkward when, on this ridge, the wind can come from any direction !
I'm just waiting for the second bloke to come and talk dirty to me.

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Re: Septic Tank

Postby El Cid » Fri Dec 30, 2016 12:28 pm

If it smells there is probably something wrong with it. Ours has a metre high "chimney" and if I stand right next to it there is no smell at all.

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Re: Septic Tank

Postby ashtondav » Fri Dec 30, 2016 6:54 pm

Our septic tank stank. I had two independent Tecnicos review the installion and both agreed it was installed properly. They may have been as incompetent as all the other craftsmen i seem to use, of course.

Hence my decision to get rid of it go electric septic. No problem since and my cost of about €3,500 has been quoted before.

Having said that, the pre septic tank solution Pozo Negro seemed to work just as well...

Lyric
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Re: Septic Tank

Postby Lyric » Mon Feb 06, 2017 7:46 pm

Further to this saga, we had a three chamber tank fitted and all has seemed well, no smells at all. We activated it with the tea bag things and let it rip. Yesterday and today with the moderate North wind, to which it is fully exposed we have had a distinct, strong "poo" smell in the downstairs lavatories, the upstairs one seems exempt. I say a "poo" smell as it is quite distinctly that and not drains a la Bangkok.
I have the installer returning tomorrow but would like considered opinion as to a cause.
As I see it the only way for air to get in is via the circulation tubes for the third chamber, pressurising the tank and forcing the smell back up the drains.
The circulation tubes are not quite sealed.

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Re: Septic Tank

Postby TorreDelAguila » Mon Feb 06, 2017 8:25 pm

If the wind blows from an unhelpful direction*, it's possible for the vapours inside the septic tank/pozo to blow back up the large pipe leading back to the house. Unlikely that this will break through the substantial u-bend of a w.c., but many basins, baths and showers are installed without any/much of a water trap (u-bend), so the smell emerges into the room.

Strong wind can sometimes clear a small u-bend/trap of its water - or it just evaporates, through lack of use (maybe in a guest bathroom). We get this. Cure is to run a litre of water or so down the drain, to refill the bend. You can also place an upturned container on top of a shower drainhole, to slow down evaporation and smelly draughts.

* A wind cowl on the septic tank 'chimney'', if it has one, may be an answer. A Flettner extractor goes one further!
Chris


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