Septic after Dirt

You can see the three green lids that mark where the tank is located.  You can also see in the distance the vent right before the sand filter.

The Field Before Dirt

Here is the pipe coming out of the house.  It heads slightly downhill to the tank.  The bottom of the trench is lined with sand to provide a stable base.

This picture shows the entire field and the pipe doing from each section of the septic field.

The pipe coming from the house to the tank had to line up perfectly with the inlet on the tank.

As you can see, the pipe coming out the other end of the tank is at a lower level.  This is where the siphon shoots the water down the hill.

Here is the giant hole filled with the tubes of packing peanuts.  The water enters through the pipe in the foreground and runs back and forth through the tubes.

The end of the sand filter takes a sharp turn downhill toward the pond.

And finally, it disappears into the brush....to water the plants down there.

Inside the Tank

I took a few pictures of the inside of the tank (because one we are in the house it won't be clean) so that we know what is in there.  The two pictures show the first two tanks and their filters.

The tank sits beneath about a foot or so of dirt, so these black extenders needed to be added to that if we ever needed to access the tank, we can.  The small pipe on the side of the tank is where the pipe from the house will hook to the tank.

The Tank Itself

The septic tank itself was quite an ordeal to get into the ground.  For one, it weighed 15,000 pounds (that is 7.5 tons).  The second obstacle was the terrain.  The original plan was to hook the tank to the bucket of the excavator and just carefully lift it and slide it into place.  However, the arm of excavator was not able to be extended as far as needed and lift that much weight at the same time.  We ended up putting it back on the boom truck and creating a temporary road to back up to the hole.  Watching the front wheels on the truck go slowly up and down as they lowered the tank in place was pretty nerve wracking!

This picture shows the tank connected to the bucket of the excavator.  You can see it is off the ground, but not enough.

Here is a picture showing the tank on the back of the truck.  Everyone stood and watched and held their breath as the truck backed up to the hole and started to extend it toward the hole.

You can't really see it in this picture, but the front wheels had no weight on them and could have been up to half an inch off the ground.

Dirt work for the Septic Tank

Ryan is lucky to have friends that have crazy useful equipment when it comes to building a house.  We needed a trench dug.  Guess what!  We know someone that has a HUGE excavator!  How handy.  So, Ryan's friends brought over their excavator and dug a 4 foot trench for a 4 inch pipe.

Here is the hole where the septic tank will sit.  They said it was one of the most difficult holes they ever had to dig.  It was on the side of a hill and needed to be perfectly level.  The trench also had to "fall" a certain degree from the house to the tank.

Here is where the sand filter will go.  It is at the far end of the septic field and at the bottom of the hill.  Compare the two holes.  Notice how the one farther down the hill (closer to the pond) has all the black dirt.

This is the trench for the pipe that will lead from the sand filter to the pond.

Here is the septic field from the bottom looking back toward the house.  The picture doesn't really do it justice as to the shear size of the project.

Septic System and Tank

Some of you may be familiar with a septic tank; some of you may not be.  I will give you a short explanation of what our particular type of septic system does.  Our septic tank is a 3 chamber tank and the system is referred to as a sand filter septic.

Here is (to the best of my knowledge) how the system works:
1.  Flush the toilet or drain the sink
2.  The waste water flows down through the plumbing and out of the house down the hill to the septic tank.
3.  The waste water enters the first chamber of the septic tank.  Any heavy materials sink to the bottom and the liquid does not.
4.  Once the liquid has reached the top of the first chamber, it is filtered as it falls into the second chamber.
5.  Same process as with the first chamber (although the heavy materials are much less) and onto the third chamber.
6.  Instead of merely spilling into the septic field.....the water leaving the last chamber is shot (yes as in the implication of great force!) down into the sand filter.
7.  The filter is made up of sand and giant tubes of packing peanuts.  The water filters down through these layers.
8.  The water from the filter runs down a tube and into the pond.
9.  The "guarantee" on this system:  The water coming out of the sand filter...is drinkable.  (I am not going to try it).

Disclaimer:  If there is anything that needs changing (meaning Ryan says I didn't explain it well enough), it will be in the comments below.

Mailbox!

My parents got us our mailbox!  Although it is blurred out, I put our address on it with those sticky letters!