wells and septic tanks
Looking for advice about getting a well dug and getting a septic tank. I don't know squat about either. What should I know about or look out for? What is a soil scientist?
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more to it than that:
permits
local laws
run off
frost lines
size in relation to number of bedrooms
water tables
nearest public utility(undergorund/poles)
whew....
best to google septic tank systems and laws.
lots of good stuff there, i did it about 4 years ago.0 -
my well is close to half mile deep flows by itself....ie needs no pump but cost between 50-60,000 dollars to dig[;)] 0 -
you need to find where the local watertable is.(depth)
then you need a sounding.(to detect rock etc...)
then your well is charged per section of drill needed plus bits.
then it needs to be sampled. pray its good.
if youre lucky, youll hit gold or oil.0 -
On your sewer- you can't go wrong with the aquatic system. Costs around $6,000 installed. Mine has been maintenance free for over two years and does a good job of watering the garden. It's better than a septic tank or a lagoon.[:)] 0 -
go to your local health department. they should have all the information you need 0 -
make sure you drink from the well, not the other[;)] 0 -
We are on top of the mountains here in North Carolina, and we have to have deep wells. I hit water at 495 feet, but I hit 37 gallons a minute, which is a lot. You only need 1.5 gallons a minute to run a household.
My neighbor just drilled a 700 foot deep well, and it is dry. At $8.50 per foot, that is an expensive hole in the ground.
What I am recommending my neighbor try is hydrofracture. This is a technique where the fill the well with water. They seal off the top of the well with a giant rubber balloon type device, and then inject tremendous pressure into the well. This causes existing underground fractures to expand, and a good chance that it will get water to flow into the well.
I have seen hydrofracture used once in North Georgia. The guy had a dry 500 foot well. The hydrofracture guys cranked up their gear, and in a few hours he had 7 gallons per minute.
It appears that hydrofracture is effective 95 per cent of the time. It will get water in a dry well, and it will increase flow in a slowly flowing well.
Costs around here are about $3,500.
You can google up hydrofracture to find someone near you. These guys will travel at least 100 miles to do their work.
So, my neighbor is faced with trying another $5,700 well, or spending $3.5K on hydrofracture.
My neighbor has also gotten two "water witches" to come up since he hit his dry hole. These guys can supposedly find water by dowsing. Use the search feature and look up my thread on water witches from a week ago.
If I were doing another well, I would use a water witch.
Good luck!0 -
allen griggs,
Isn't Marshall, NC near Weaverville? Isn't that where they hired the guy form Biltmore estates to be the Chief of Police and it turned out he had been having diaper parties with other men and boys? I also heard that his daddy bought him his patrol car and that is the only reson he could get into LE. Just curious.0 -
Ask your neighbors who did their well and septic and would they reccommend them. Some contractors are better than others. 0 -
What ever you decide to do make sure you get more than one quote. There are some big differences in prices between contractors. Even after the least costly way is found you are still looking at at least 10 grand for both systems 15 grand is not uncommon. 0 -
Yes Marshall is right down the road from Weaverville. I hadn't heard that about the Weaverville police chief. Did this happen recently? 0 -
Hi;
You need to check the local board of health, soil and water may be helpful, talk with you neighbors about their wells and septic tanks.
You need to note any difference in elevation between you and your neighbors as you may have to go deeper if you are higher. The limiting factor on the septic tank is the perculation characteristic of the soil.
There is a standard perc test and it is often a go /no go test. If your percolation value is too low you may not be permitted to use a septic tank. There are other alternatives which generally are somewhat more expensive. Septic tanks are connected to a drain field which has gravel with a perforated pipe grid. If you keep the septic tank pumped down you will get many years of service. If you let the solids accumulate in the septic tank to the point they carry over into the drain field you could loss the drain field ($$$$). How often you need to pump depends upon site specific factors and can be adjusted
based on your experience. You should be fine if you go 5 years before the first pumping. If there is less than half the volume taken up by solids, you may want to go to 7 to 8 years. If the solids are less than one quarteer of the working depth you may want to go ten years. Remeber this is influence by site specific use and more people means more frequent pumping. Also if you install a gargare disposal you will experience more frequent pumping. Good luck.
Regards0 -
quote:Originally posted by scubabobf
Hi;
You need to check the local board of health, soil and water may be helpful, talk with you neighbors about their wells and septic tanks.
You need to note any difference in elevation between you and your neighbors as you may have to go deeper if you are higher. The limiting factor on the septic tank is the perculation characteristic of the soil.
There is a standard perc test and it is often a go /no go test. If your percolation value is too low you may not be permitted to use a septic tank. There are other alternatives which generally are somewhat more expensive. Septic tanks are connected to a drain field which has gravel with a perforated pipe grid. If you keep the septic tank pumped down you will get many years of service. If you let the solids accumulate in the septic tank to the point they carry over into the drain field you could loss the drain field ($$$$). How often you need to pump depends upon site specific factors and can be adjusted
based on your experience. You should be fine if you go 5 years before the first pumping. If there is less than half the volume taken up by solids, you may want to go to 7 to 8 years. If the solids are less than one quarteer of the working depth you may want to go ten years. Remeber this is influence by site specific use and more people means more frequent pumping. Also if you install a gargare disposal you will experience more frequent pumping. Good luck.
Regards
What he said!
The size of your septic field is based on the peculation test. Basicly your digging a few post holes, filling them with water and watching how fast they drain. If the soil has a high clay content, they won't drain to fast. If the soil is very sandy, water flows right through it without a problem. I've seen old timber soil high in clay so much that when you dig the stagnant water in the soil makes it smell like hog manure. Had to use a lot of pea gravel and make a big field for the septic lines.
We put in my own septic field. I have the opposite problem. Sandy soil. Used a rather wide backhoe bucket so there is a lot of gravel around the lines. COnsequently I ca tell exactly where the septic lines are at. The grass dries out early and turns brown, except over the edges of the septic lines. There the grass is bright green and tall. Well fertilized.0 -
I hear that a septic tank is an excellent armored vehicle used to support infantry troops in ground combat, but is extremely vulnerable to anti-armor weapons due to it's slow and ungainly manuverability. 0 -
The advise above is good. What works in one part of the country doesn't work in others, So a little local info is a requirement. Local health department is a good source for both wells and septic.
Well drilling costs vary greatly depending on local conditions. A well cost in So. Kalif. vs Boise ID varies greatly. Also a local well driller that has had success in an area may have information as to depth and location on your property where a well may have success.
The low limit of 1.7 GPM is unrealistic in some areas. For that low of a flow you would need a storage tank. And a storage tank in an area where there are hard winters doesn't work for obvious reasons.
Keep in mind that a regular water meter from a city water line would give you about 7 GPM. So that would be what you would shoot for. Anything above that is gravy for most purposes.0 -
"The low limit of 1.7 GPM is unrealistic in some areas. For that low of a flow you would need a storage tank. And a storage tank in an area where there are hard winters doesn't work for obvious reasons."
One neighbor hit water at 300 feet, but it was just 1.5 gallons per minute. He had the driller go on down to 700 feet. He didn't hit any more water. But this gave him his storage. The six inch well holds 1.5 gallons per foot. When the smoke had cleared on this well, the water rose to within 200 feet of the surface. So, he had 500 feet of storage, or 750 gallons.
Even if you were filling a fish pond, and you pumped the well almost dry, you are refilling at a rate of 90 gallons per minute. Overnight the well would refill back to the original mark.0
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