A pump UP to the septic

[bbird]

Not sure if I can explain this very well.....

Is there a pump that is capable of pumping your whole house septic "stuff" uphill? I'm talking about having it pump uphill about 150 ft.

We are only allowed one septic system on our property without going and getting the acreage split up. It would be nice to use the septic we have since it is only 5 years old and huge but it would be uphill from a new house site.

I guess I am not expressing it right because the plumbing store couldn't answer me, and when I google it I just hear about someone putting a shop with one toilet in and the septic is only a few feet up from the toilet but its possible in that scenerio. I think I would need something on a lot larger scale.

If this sounds like something you know about, can you give me a guess on how spendy it might be? Please...pretty please...

[dirty]

seems possible. look here scroll down to pumping station.

www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/ageng/structu/ae892-1.htm#pumpingstations


look here under sewage pumps and sewage basins, for some more ideas and prices.

www.sewagepumpsales.com/


seems possible, and as usual somewhat expensive. if you're doing this 'above board', best check with the inspector. he'll be able to tell you if he's seen something similar or if he's even comfortable with the idea.



sewage, i don't know much about it. but i've produced it all my life.

[kyosa]

When you say 'uphill about 150 feet, how much actual increase in elevation is there? Is it actually 150 feet higher than the starting point or something like 20 feet of actual elevation increase over a 150-foot run of pipe?

As dirty says, it's probably just a matter of expense. Large municipal sewer systems use 'lift stations' routinely in areas with uneven terrain, so I'd think a 'home' system wouldn't be impossible. Dirty's advice to talk to inspectors or other city/county housing officials is sound, too. That could save you lots of headaches and 'fighting city hall' later.

[bbird]

Dh has a guy from work over, so can't look at the websites yet, but I'll show him later...Thanks! As for knowing sewage your whole life, I keep telling dh he should call people and ask the questions because if someone knows sewage...HE knows sewage!

Our county will approve a pump for the septic IF it is powerful enough. They don't really like to answer questions over the phone, actually they don't like to answer questions at all....their typical advice is to hire someone and all bonded workers know the code so we shouldn't have any problems. They don't like dealing with diy kind of people, lol. I shouldn't complain because we did this house all ourselves and reall didn't have problems with them, just had to have lots of patience, lol.

Kyosa...I'd say about 40-50 feet in elevation, but the line would run between 100-150 ft long.

It just seems more doable, but that also depends on how spendy but I still think putting in a whole new septic would be spendier. You know, our well is 500 ft downhill from our house and pumps clear up to the house with lots of water pressure. Why should sewage be different?

[Deleted]

Ummmm.... if the water backs up into the well, it's not the end of the world, but if the sewage backs up into the house? That's bad. Ask me how I know this.

50 feet up and only 100 (or 150) feet out? That's a pretty steep slope, are you sure that's right? Isn't there anyplace less steep in the immediate area? I don't know what septic tanks cost in your area, but our "boarder" had a 1,500 gal. septic system installed when she moved here and it cost her a couple thousand dollars, I think. It would be at least that much to replace carpeting and have the place cleaned and fumigated if the septic backed up into the house at that steep an angle.

I dunno, but if it were me, I think I'd pop for a new septic system. But then I've lived through having raw sewage come out of the bathtub and sink faucets and up through the toilet (and it wouldn't STOP coming!), so I'm a bit cautious.

Also, I don't know what the regulations are there, but here, all you have to do is fill in the existing tank with sand or dirt (after you have it pumped out, of course) to render it "unuseable" and it no longer counts as being a "septic tank." So if you decide to put in a new septic, you could have the backhoe guy fill the old one up with the dirt he digs out of the hole for the new one. Then you'd still only have one septic system.

~Lannie

[bbird]

No, having sewage come back to attack me in the house does not sound like fun!

It cost around $10,000 to have a septic and drainfield installed here. At least five years ago it did. Unfortunetly, even dh thinks the elevations right on that spot of of the land when I asked him if I was estimating right. Of course it would be our steepest part of the property, but it sure would be nice to not have to worry about driving up it in the winter when we go up to the house since the new house would be before the steepest part of the driveway, lol.

We have some guy that is calling us this weekend to tell us about what he would do (a relative of dh's coworker who puts septics in). So will see what he advices....

[bbird]

Dang forgot to tell you that there are places lower, but then we have to stay so far from the well, and then we have the creek and pond and I know its going to be iffy if we can get the drainfield in between all of that. I had no idea how big drainfields were until we moved here because its the first septic we had to put in.

[Deleted]

TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS?? (Gasp! Choke!)

I'm so glad we moved here! I have a hard time thinking how much more things are now than they were "last time I bought them" (you know, the price back in the '70s). I'm stuck in a time warp. But I was thinking a couple thousand was plenty to dig a hole and drop a concrete box in it. Oh, yeah, trenching for the leechlines and dropping those in. Sheesh, I could have done it myself if I knew which lever to push on the tractor controls! LOL!

Now that I think about it, though, I remember the guy who came out to do the perks for the septic before they gave her the permit - he dug 3 holes about 2 feet deep (which is no problem in this gorgeous black loam we have), borrowed MY hose to fill them with water, told me to come out and check on them every 30 minutes and see how many hours it took for them to drain, and for THAT he charged Julia $750.00!! We told her that was effing robbery and she shouldn't pay him that much (mostly I was the one who did the "work" of watching the freaking holes drain), but she paid him anyway. I would have had some choice words for him had it been ME he was robbing.

So I'd forgotten about that $750.00 when I said a couple thousand - it was probably closer to $3,000 after all was said and done. Unbelievable how much more stuff costs back there - I forgot, and I'm glad I did!

(I just told Rich what you said about the $10,000 and he said something resembling "Buffalo chips!" But it wasn't buffalo chips exactly. I told him it was true, and he can't believe it, either! So I guess I'm not alone in my time warp.)

~Lannie

[bbird]

I wish I could forget! Somethings are so ridiculous, especially if its things we can do ourselves. Last time the septic installer when he perked the land stayed until the holes were empty. Every so often he would get his tape measure and measure the water, and then go back and sit in his truck, lol.

You would think it wouldn't be that expensive to hire a backhoe and driver for 2 hours. Holey moley...I don't even think we can blame it on gas prices anymore, people just charge an arm and a leg for work. We can rent a backhoe where they drop it off the afternoon before the day you rent and then they pick it up the morning after the day you paid for and still not even come close to what someone would charge us for 2 hours of work.

A little off topic, but I have a friend who decided to take a flagman's class so she could get hired by the county to hold the signs for the guys who work on the roads. $36 an hour, full benefits...I told dh I know what I want to do if I ever have to go back to work, lol. All that is required is the one day class to train for the position.

[dirty]

just curious, any update bbird?

[bbird]

We didn't change the septic, or put a new one in. It turned out that instead of putting a bathroom in the barn/house, we built a hallway (40 ft long) off of the upstairs and then built the bathroom at the end of the hallway. (ok, that probably made no sense...and I'll have to get pictures to explain better). What it did was get the bathroom above the septic by 1 ft. I was way off my measurements when I originally posted, but this was a lot easier then dealing with getting a new septic in.

The gray water from the kitchen instead of going in the main septic because the kitchen is way below the septic we put in a holding tank that will have to be pumped. Supposedly, every 3 years it will need pumped but I don't know...

[Deleted]

I know next to nothing about the subject of septics except that a few years back I was looking at property in the rocky hills of central Texas and saw several above-ground septics which required the "stuff" to be pumped up. Not 150ft vertical, tho. I agree with kyosa about consulting the professionals. And it's a good question, 150ft vertical or "something like 20 feet of actual elevation increase over a 150-foot run of pipe?"

[bbird]

I went and reread what I wrote, and it might not make sense because it just dawned on me I asked this question when we were thinking of building a brand new house farther down the hill. We ended up converting our barn into a house instead...actually its still work in progress but its a heck of a lot closer to the septic then when we were thinking of building down the hill.

Now where the barn/house sits the septic is parallel to the bottom floor, so that is why we decided to build the bathroom off the second story. (I'm probably confusing you all...sorry)that way the bathroom pipes go down toward the septic. (Remember we are on a hill so even though the bathroom will be on the ground (not in the air, lol) its still higher then where the septic is.

Boy howdy, I'm making a mess of explaining!!

[Deleted]

Whuuut? Naw, just kidding.