The 3 inch pipe is at a 1/8 to 1/4 inch slope per foot! If you use a trash can for a tank make sure you fill it with water before you backfill. You would be better off using a 50 gallon drum for the tank. The trash can is all I had.
I just listened to the beginning of the video and wanted to thank you for going to all the trouble of digging the hole and putting it all together so the rest of us can learn
Several years ago I did a single toilet system for one person continuous occupation using two plastic 55 gal barrels as a buried two-chamber tank set upright and two 30 foot lengths of 4 inch septic pipe buried beside each other 18 inches deep in a one foot wide trench with 3 inches of gravel below and 3 inches above the pipes. I covered the rocks with dirt - straw is often used in SoCal. System worked fine for 7 years with no pumping of either tank. Nothing ever leaked, but we were on level ground with no soil issues and good percolation. When it was removed the primary tank had a few inches of sludge in it, the secondary tank had practically no sludge and the pipes were basically clean. Very good video. Good ideas.
Thank you. I'm needing to run something for my camper I just got that I will be living in for a while. Knowing how long this lasted you really helps because It won't be that long that I need it but you never know something can happen and will need to use it longer.
@@lrayvick They are aluminum frames. No rust. The issue being that you have only so much room in a 55 gallon barrel for solids. Any real use would immediately mix it up and send it down the fields and stop the system from working in short order. That is how real septic tanks go bad. I guess with enough buckets in a row it would be OK.
@@lrayvickplastic crumbles over time. Let's be fair about making statements like that. A small tank that is made for this purpose is better. Drain Fields are cheap also. 73
Awesome video!!! I have always wondered how low the drain pipe should be, now I know. Also, thanks for showing the picture of the two barrels cut in half, initially I thought they were a complete barrels... now I see exactly what you did. Thank you for being so thorough in the presentation. If I lived close by, I would come shake your hand, my blessings go out to you!!! 💫💫💫
This fellow has many good ideas for alternative systems. It may or may not be exactly how I would do it. He never claims it is a one size fits all. Why would some people take an adversarial position on this. It certainly gave me several good ideas for my shop.
Awesome tutorial. I'd try two 55 gallon poly drums ,set -up the same way. To keep the outlet from beating a hole in the ground put a piece of tile/flat stone directly under the point where it falls into the leaching arch,and not beat a hole there..so your waste water would flow the whole length of your leaching field..such a great idea for a retreat cabin. You have great ideas and you Sir, are a good instructor-thanks for your helpful content.
Thank You Sir for sharing this video , I been looking at different ideas for installing a septic tank for my trailer , I’m definitely going to follow your instructions . Awesome video 👍👍👍👍
Thank you so so much for sharing this video. it has given me many ideas on how I can customize the system as per my needs. I really appreciate your work. I subscribed just for that.
I just got land and am building an off grid cottage. This video PERFECTLY answered my question of how to deal with this. Im thinking (as someone pointed out) the solids container should be full of water before first use. Ill also use stronger than a garbage can and probably two solids containers. Our usage will be max 3 people sporadic. I live in the Philippines with no building codes! LOVE THIS THANKS
Key word for the trolls he says this is for a cabin, hunting camp or shop. So before you start with all the trash talk maybe watch the video and listen.
wow, excellant video!!!!!!! i can't thank u enough, i thought a septic tank was way way more complicated...... n thnks for showing how u cut the barrell in half.... i gotta build one for a single person livin in an rv. now i see where to start :)...
Just finished building our new cabin for deer camp. This is exactly what we need. We'll have a kitchen sink and shower hooked up to it, as we have an outhouse, but we are only there every other weekend tops and maybe would have 3-4 showers total on a weekend, so I think this would handle it. Thanks for explaining everything so well.
It will work well for you. At my hunting camp, our 2 sinks drain to a burried, upside down 5 gallon bucket and our shower goes to a burried, upside down 55 gallon drum. Never had issues with it and this system is better. I would use another barrel because we tried a trash can and it collapsed.
Why even do a septic for non sewage? Just use eco friendly products like Seventh Generation or Meyers. All my showers, sinks and laundry go directly into forest landscape. 3300 Sq ft cabin
Excellent job The way you explained it the way you use the material all of it excellent. The only thing I would do different if you have more than one person on that system would be enlarged the septic tank to a 50 gallon drum. Thank you
thanks for explaining the pipe measurement differences and the reasons behind it. I didn't really understand the mechanics behind a system until this video. I am curious if perforated plastic drain pipe with holes could not be used instead of the half barrels?
I like your laser pointer... Good info, thanks, as I am building a new cabin and considering septic ideas. Do you flush any septic enzymes to create induce bacteria?
This mini septic system would benefit using a sump basin with a seald lid This waste basket with lid could become a death trap for small children and pets. A leach field of preforated pipe would increase the saturation volume.
The old timers up north would set traps for field mice in the fall. If one was dead a while they would flush them to introduce new bacteria into the system.I always remembered that and do it every so often without any issues.I've never used rid-x or any of those products.So it must work to some degree...
A package of dissolved bakers yeast will work too, once a month. Simply dissolve a packet in hot water and pour into system... it feeds the bacteria and keeps the tank active...
Curious what kind of modifications you would make for a cold climate like Minnesota. Wondering one could make glass frames around it with old windows to help it from freezing up or put a big compost over it or something.
Neat idea!. We could add a 1/2 inch pvc pipe with a floater attached to it's bottom. The pipe runs through the lid of the container with a mark on it to indicate the solids have reached the tank's usage capacity. When the solid stuff goes beyond the level of the water outlet the pipe would come up showing the mark. Keep two tanks like these with valves on the inlet to switch to the empty tank as you leave the stuff in the filled tank to decompose before you shove them out.
Wouldn't the floater simply float to the top of the water, which will always be at the level of the output pipe. How would this be an indicator of the solids level?
@@vanblindguy4600 I think we could tell the floater pipe being pushed up when the solids build up above the bottom of the outlet pipe for a inch or two.
Thanks, your system looks good - so small and simple. I plan to do a compost toilet for soilds, and just have a septic system for urine, shower and washing water, washing machine with eco detergents, kitchen sink waste. So very few particles, do you think it will still work. I would be on my own. Can I daisy chain a couple more trash cans together to further purify?
I'd suggest using a IBC tote that has 275 gallon capacity. Used ones aren't much more than barrels or garbage cans. You get maybe 30 gallons of sludge in that garbage can, it would be pretty easy to stir up the solids and run them into the field. This would work with maybe a single toilet used seasonally or at a camp. I probably wouldn't go running showers in it.
Agent Applebutt3 hey dickweed! At 3 minutes in, he explains the the “septic tank lid” is at ground level. Never does he say the lid is buried. But let’s assume you know what you’re talking about...Let’s. Explain to me how 50 to 100 lbs of dirt on top of a cheap plastic lid strengthens it??? Stupida$$!
GREAT VIDEO! Just wondering why not use a sanitary on both the inlet and outlet of the Septic Barrel? Still keeping the 2" difference in elevation between the inlet and outlet pipes. I'm figuring That by adding Sanitary tee to the inlet. that Big " Day after Thanksgiving TURD" would be flushed into the septic tank just below the surface. This would eliminate the possibility of the TURD finding refuge on top of the Toilet Paper. Does that make sense, or I'm I over thinking this? Thanks again.
Looks good, you can also mimic expensive chamber fields by drilling tons of holes in the sides of the drums so the water can exit through the sides as well, it's just more surface area, though you would need to cover with that fabric contractors use in normal systems to prevent soil from getting in.
Let me ask you, what keeps the ground from collapsing that trash can? I have one of those and I am familiar with the rigidity and mine is quite soft. I have worked utilities for 15 years and seen plenty of collapsing underground spec’d tanks…. I can’t imagine that long term, when the soil settles and becomes wet with rain and snow, that it’s not going to collapse the trash can. I very curious on how you prevented that from happening. Cheers
I'm needing to do this for a gray water drain. How long would it take where you would have to vacuum out the first tank?. Our grey water tank handles the kitchen and the laundry so a lot of greasy things unfortunately people don't pay attention to not putting grease in.
How often do you have to empty solids with this setup? I’m building a tiny home up in Idaho, so I assume I would also need to be below frost-line, correct?
The barrel being the leach field......if you were to set those on top of course gravel I’m assuming it would take your grey water as well as your black water faster or at a higher rate. Also when you are done building it wouldn’t you “prime it” with water to a certain level before running any solids ?
Curious if anyone has any tips for doing this in areas that are susceptible to flooding? We have a creek behind us and when hurricanes come it will back up the yard a good bit. THANKS!
Thanks for sharing your knowledge. A compost toilet makes more sense if a family were looking for options. 7 people using a toilet would fill that trash can up in about a month.
So,if it were one person constant... And used ridex religiously,how often do you think it would need cleaned out? I've seen septic systems go for years and years without a pump out
Forgive my ignorance, sir! How do the liquids leave the liquids leave the liquid tank? Do both of the black 55 gallon drums have their tops removed? Then they are both facing each other? So water just creeps out of the unsealed seam?
Great video and information. Thanks! wouldn't adding yeast and sugar to the tank would create bacteria that breaks down the solids and don't have to empty the tank?
what I would like to know is how to get rid of the sludge. I put an IBC tote for 1 man and in 8 months it had 5 inch of sludge at the bottom. At that time we were having a company pump it Not the whole thing.
We are temporarily moving into our RV until we can afford a construction loan, so this is going to be PERFECT for our uses. We were looking into an IBC tote septic but our ground is so rocky that I'm afraid I can't get a big enough hole, but this is soooo thin in profile.
what's the purpose of the T with two ways for fluids to flow out? why not just from the top with an elbow? is that about clogging and flow? wouldn't the waterline be at the bottom of the vertical tube outflow?
i dont like the trash can because the sides can collapse i think a more ridgid plastic barrel with the lid cut out and a metal or concrete lid and backfill with gravel and add a drain field after the cut barrel with gravel
Find a nice steel plate as a cover over the can..i did this..for my gray water..from kit sink and dishwasher..work like a dream..no permit needed..ive gor a 800 gl.tank w a field for the shower and potty..save your self money..do it your self..i live in fl..so its sand your digging into..i used 6in flex drain pipe.put a sand screen over the piping sell at home stores..keeps the sand out..ive got 7 kids in here..40 ft of pipe 3 rows.saved 5 thousand do it your self. Ven my wife. Helped ...had it replaced in a day..used the 800 gl.cement tank thats here. Nothing was wrong with it..plastic tanks crack ..my nabbor fond out that ..one..after 5yrs it went to crap.cement tanks last a lifetime.i hope . my info helps ..
@Agent Applebutt if its a cabbin..and u are doing a kitchen drain..from your kit sink use a 3 in drain pipe pvc..type..out your cabin wall.barry the pipe on a down ward pitch..for flow..to your dry well..u can get at home depot..10 gal in the out door garden sec. Its plasic..so u can drill holes in the sides of it..barry it put gavel around the outside of the. Dry well so the gray water can get into the ground....this i used only for gray water..not the potty..i hope this helps u..the bigger the dry well the better.no one will know the diff ..mark where the tank is for the future..i did this for my small kitchen. S ink a n d dishwasher..
I will be living fulltime in my off grid cabin actually 3 people and first I had planned on a composting toilet and running all my grey water out into a leach field which looks alot like your barrel system ...no my question is should I continue with my original plans or will this work for a full-time family of 3 my daughter in law is having issues with the thought of a composting toilet even though it's not her that'll be emptying it anyway ...my second question is what happens when the trashcan is full of poop Ok you answered my questions
I would run the gray water on the ground and just have the toilet on this type of system. This will handle 3 people with just the toilet on it. When it gets full just scoop it out and put it in a hole.
@@theappalachianamerican8607 couldn't the sewer out of the house just be ran straight in a deep hole with some steal lid and the pipe ran into a hole in the lid that would eliminate the nasty scooping and when that hole is full dig another and place the pipe in it and begin again the liquid would absorb into the soil leaving the solids
Just bought a River house I just ordered a 1/2 Zoeller #95 effluent pump with 23 ft head capacity. Unfortunately my septic leach lines are below house with no r area for my proposed Gray water leach lines. I have one acre behind house with a slope of 15 degrees. I plan on separating all fixtures except Two water closet’s. Your installation is what I will use for only Gray and utilize my Septic tank for only fecal matter from the toilets. Prior to selling a house in Alabama to close on the house I had a 50 year old Septic tank With failed leach lines. The Septic Company installed a 500 gallon PVC holding tank adjacent to Existing Septic Tank for the Effluent’s with Gould 1/2 effluent pump with 2 float bulbs with alarm box with 500 feet of filtration lines that you are duplicating with your 55 gallon drum halving it. Septic Company charged. $ 9,800 I was over a barrel since purchase depended on the purchaser’s mortgage company home inspection and a septic inspection calling for permits and updating septic system. Now I’m in a very rural area I won’t have any restrictions. Great video! Hope this helps many who don’t have the resources to hire these high priced septic companies.
