|
When my parents had a septic system installed, they were told that a properly installed septic system, sized for the population in the house, should never need to be emptied. The tank should be large enough to allow the contents to fully dissolve before being discharged.
Then, the drainage lines should be configured to allow the contents to dissolve into the ground.
If the ground isn't porous enough, the lines can become clogged and cause a backup.
I've been in my current residence since 1999, but the system was installed in 1973; based on the size of the hardwood trees surrounding it and the ground not being disturbed, the tank has never been emptied.
|
|
|
|
|
That tank is either tiny, or you poop more than your fare share.
I've lived all my life out in the country, we're all on septic tanks, and nobody around here ever has to get their tank emptied more than once every 20 years or so, for the average 4-person household.
|
|
|
|
|
Interesting. I remember growing up in Alaska, that my dad would, every year, take a 1/4 stick of dynamite (it was legal to buy in a hardware store then), put it on a string and pop it off in the septic tank near the bottom. We lived in that house for almost 30 years and never needed a septic sucker guy to come and clean it out ever.
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, navigate a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects! - Lazarus Long
|
|
|
|
|
stoneyowl2 wrote: I remember growing up in Alaska, that my dad would, every year, take a 1/4 stick of dynamite (it was legal to buy in a hardware store then), put it on a string and pop it off in the septic tank near the bottom.
I think I read the most American sentence ever. 
* CALL APOGEE, SAY AARDWOLF
* GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- ++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
* Never pay more than 20 bucks for a computer game.
* I'm a puny punmaker.
|
|
|
|
|
Apart from relocating the contents over the garden, what is that supposed to achieve? 
|
|
|
|
|
Precisely this. They call it 'fertilizing' over there.
|
|
|
|
|
My dad told me that it knocked the 'stuff' off the walls of the septic tank so the water could percolate through to the leach field of gravel
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, navigate a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects! - Lazarus Long
|
|
|
|
|
Ah, OK, I see. It unblocks the soakaway. Must be an old style septic tank, ie a hole fullof rocks.
|
|
|
|
|
I think it was a wooden log 'crate' about 6 feet to a side, buried in the back yard. When we went on city sewer, it was required that it be destroyed and filled in so it would not cause a big hole later.
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, navigate a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects! - Lazarus Long
|
|
|
|
|
Munchies_Matt wrote: Anyone prepared to come round my house and suck 2 years worth of my turds out of a hole in the ground is worth an inestimable amount of money.
We come here every day and deal with your sh*t, now please send me money 
|
|
|
|
|
Are you calling COdeProject a hole in the ground?
|
|
|
|
|
I remember a story of a British construction company who won a contract to build a new school in the middle east. As it was not connected to mains sewerage lines, they installed a large septic tank and calculated, given the estimated school population, it would not need emptying for about five years.
After about a year, they received emergency calls, saying that the toilets were overflowing and they where knee deep in excrement. They sent out a team and discovered that, apart from waste, the tank was filled with hundreds of thousands of pebbles. It was explained to them that in desert countries it is traditional to clean onesself by scraping the ringpiece with smooth stones.
"No - this is a modern building" said the designers - "You must teach the pupils to use toilet paper!"
After emptying the tank they went on their way, expecting not to hear back for five years.
A year later they were called back to more knee deep crap, only to find the tank full of pebbles, neatly wrapped in toilet paper!
=========================================================
I'm an optoholic - my glass is always half full of vodka.
=========================================================
|
|
|
|
|
Jesus christ, some people eh?
Where do they get the pebbles from? Do they carry around a stash of them! 
|
|
|
|
|
Is a veiled threat when your girlfriend hints at a wedding?
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
|
|
|
|
|
It'll be an obvious threat if your wife finds out you got a girlfriend 
Bastard Programmer from Hell 
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
|
|
|
|
|
at least you get to finger the ring....
 
|
|
|
|
|
When a criminal marries, does his bride get a veil or a hood?
If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack.
--Winston Churchill
|
|
|
|
|
If your girlfriend's a cow, I'd consider that a vealed threat.
/ravi
|
|
|
|
|
In 1906, my great grandfather emigrated from Scotland to Canada with his family; at the time, my grandmother was 6 years old. I don't know that she ever officially took an oath to become a Canadian citizen; as I recall, there may have been a piece of legislation passed that made landed immigrants citizens in bulk. So.. my father was a first generation Canadian by birth.
As a child, we were taught general disdain for Americans; they weren't like us... therefore, they couldn't be trusted.
In 1999, I emigrated from Canada to the United States to take a job. I soon realized the disdain I had been taught was largely in error... American's may have some different values, but they were mostly just people trying to support their families. A number of years later, I married an American and we have a daughter who is an American.
So what does the 4th of July mean to me? It means the freedom to pursue my dreams, to work within the confines of the law to better myself, to provide for my family, to freely worship if I so choose.
For most of my time in the U.S., I have worked with children during the week. When we say the pledge of allegiance, and I do say the pledge, I tell them: if you live here, that flag represents the freedoms you enjoy, paid for in lives by those that came before you. While you live here, respect the flag. At a later day, if you choose to move elsewhere, I hope you do well, but, for now... respect the flag.
Today, we celebrate those hard fought freedoms. And I, a non-American, salute those who came before.
|
|
|
|
|
Tim Carmichael wrote: So what does the 4th of July mean to me? It means the freedom to pursue my dreams, to work within the confines of the law to better myself, to provide for my family, to freely worship if I so choose
All of which you could have done before the 4th july, or in the UK.
Tim Carmichael wrote: I soon realized the disdain I had been taught was largely in error
Seems like you need to take a fresh look at what you have been told again.
|
|
|
|
|
Tim Carmichael wrote: As a child, we were taught general disdain for Americans; they weren't like us... therefore, they couldn't be trusted.
Don't know who this "we" is supposed to represent, but this is the first I've ever heard of such a thing.
|
|
|
|
|
Tim Carmichael wrote: As a child, we were taught general disdain for Americans; they weren't like us... therefore, they couldn't be trusted.
Really ?
From a Canadian point of view, I find that weird; We often say "There is a a difference between the US politics and the US people".
Most american I've met are nice people.
Even in Europe, the US people are seen as nice people.
I'd rather be phishing!
|
|
|
|
|
The US army bases near the Canadian border, the plans, drawn up between the wars, to invade Canada?
It was the ill will from the war of independence and the 1810 war of complete humiliation (for the US )
|
|
|
|
|
As I said, as I child we were taught that... doesn't make it right, but it is what I was taught.
|
|
|
|
|
Much better than the Indian version.
|
|
|
|
|
General 
News 
Suggestion 
Question 
Bug 
Answer 
Joke 
Praise 
Rant 
Admin 
Submit an article or tip
