DIY Septic System Pt 2 

You impressed me with your eye for details and the fact that you DO THINGS RIGHT! I would hire you anytime for anything! GOOD JOB MAN ,WE IN ARIZONA NEED MORE PEOPLE LIKE YOU!!

So happy to see you installing stone and pipe instead of infiltrators(junk)

Sorry for your loss brother. Thank you for the video

Praying for your family.Papa is looking over you and your family. Don't get discouraged. Blessing and comfort upon you and the family.

Found your video out of searching for some information on leech fields due to being in the process of buying a cabin and heard there was some problem with the leech field. Was not quite sure what they were talking about but now understand it so much better. Thanks for sharing your build ! Greatly appreciated.

I am very supportive of construction guys who build their own homes. I have built 3 homes myself, and worked in the water/wastewater industry for over 45 years, and have installed every type of system you can imagine. One thing I noticed when you were comparing your septic systems, is that you left out the cost of the gravel [inc transportation]. I assume you used washed #57 [or similar], and that stone is one of the more expensive from a quarry. When you add that into the cost, the Infiltrator system doesn't differ much, especially since it allows a 25% reduction in lineal footage. It has been around for a long time and works well. I live in a state [NC] that requires ALL septic systems be installed by licensed professionals, and.Infiltrator certifies these pros at independant workshop schools. Knowledge is a very important tool, that saves time and money. Best of wishes on your hard work.

I am very sorry to hear about your mother-in-law, I hope your wife is doing OK. Your doing a great job there, I only wish you had some help, you being way up there by yourself scares the hell out of me. I was a builder for many years, I know what can happen. I wish the very best of luck to you and your family.

Life always gets in the way of what you want to do. Flexibility is the key, still a bit of time before the cold weather hits.

Conventional bed with 4" pvc pipes will last for decades provided you take care of your bed.Ive dug up and replaced fields that were 50 yrs old and finally failed due to silt and tree roots and general organic build up.Substancially cheaper but a bit more labour intensive.No harsh chemicals and no grease,and throw the odd piece of raw chicken in the toilet to rot away in the tank for bacterial consumption,your golden.

great video thanks for upload and sorry to hear about your mother in law

So sorry for your loss. Prayers for all. Blessings ~

Looks good. The biggest problem in your area is going to be root growth. It's just a suggestion to put in inspection/cleanouts at your distribution box/manifold and the ends of the laterals.

A very good explanation of the Leach Field system.

I just did my own Septic System no inspector involved here in Montana.

When my leach fields were dug ( 15 ft down ) they put the gravel in first ( like you did ) then put the perforated pvc pipe in ( like you did ) then they laid a piece of gardening cloth on top of the pipe so dirt wouldn't clog up the holes in the pipe and wouldn't fill the pipe with dirt, then on top of the cloth they filled in with the gravel, I've got the box too from the old leach field ( drying up now ) and the two new leach fields. I've got a well that's 300 feet down and pumping 10 gallons per minute. Larry

I like to see a man do a job right. Respect!

I may be wrong but I think that the orange caps in the distribution box have hole guides which are offset so you can rotate them to balance the field liquid level & compensate for slight level differences between each drain field chamber row. This prevents a system which diverts more than an equal amount of effluent into only one line...

So sorry to hear about the passing in your family!

For those of you that don't know. "Dead nuts" and "Shit ton" are technical terms. I'm sure he knows them all. Sign of a good contractor and good ole boy. :)

A lot of work for sure great job well done.

Thanks for sharing. My condolences to you, your spouse and family.

Why did you make your trench 6' wide? In all that I've seen and read, the lines need to be 6' apart, but the width of the trench only needs to be about 2' wide. That's a LOT of excavation and gravel!

Gods providence... You're doing a great. I'm so sorry to hear about your mother-in-law. May her memory be eternal!

sorry for your loss.

Here in Fl we have a Mound System for septic, waste is pumped up into the mound.

Learned something more.thanks. best wishes to ur family

Brother are you building a septic system for a football stadium??? That system could service the city of baltimore!!! Two 55 gallon barrels with one 14 foot line can service a family of 4 for 25 years.

Thank you for sharing .. your journey and explaining as you went along.. "Great Job"

Sorry for your families loss. We will be praying for the Lord to bring you peace and comfort in dealing with your loss. God bless.#familyfirstalways

Impressive workaholic!

God bless to your wife you and the family. glad you are OK.

what is the proper care of a septic system.. i.e. ? septic air pump..... ? adding microbes... **** ? using gray water for watering trees.... *****always enjoy listening to a craftsmans knowledge and tips....... ** thank you

YOU will make it Sir.

Little trick put copper wire around pipe from start to finish, it stops root growth, ,,,

Wow Man U must have put sum time on that it looks wicked level

ive had both, domes waaaayyyy better and will last longer the perf pipe will fail quicker keep any trees away from your leach field

I have found out that any project like this always takes double the time and money you plan for.

This is one hard working man bless his ♥

Interesting concept of leach field vs leach wells. I'm not familiar with Phoenix but understand how you guys can get away with that because of the deep groundwater table makes sense.I agree fully with you about the domes not being as efficient with the wastewater displacement as regular level trenches and 4" perforated PVC or SDR-35 with d-boxes. Very smart move gluing the bell ends :-) Very sorry for your family's loss with your wife's stepmother passing... cancer is a terrible disease.. :-( Thanks, man...

So sorry to hear yr family passing away. Be strong bro.

Watched again. Nice work

Septic system looks great. Never new you’re from AZ. I’m from Flagstaff. Up here we either do leach fields or alternative septic

Sorry for your loss of fam. good work though

Florida is using the same tank style you have but the 1/2 moon concave plastic shell system or leach line is not designed to run 200' unless there is a commercial application. Residential could be 6' long or 2 sections & $80 with pipe out of the septic tank & done. Your never going to use the 200' of drain line! Simply impossible. I also had to dig mine up since the leach lines were also over a hundred feet & impossible "not" to run them over. They were the 1960's clay piping. Anyway, the 1200gln concrete septic & 6' of 1/2 moon concave plastic shell leach line is all I need. Now, if I can get the propane truck to stop running over the septic I'll be happy. 3rd time I'll have to dig up the exit pipe from the discharge point & replace the plumbing work...... again! $300 to drain the septic & 2- 3 hours to dig up the outlet plumbing. What I have watched you do is incredible. An incredible waste of time & land. However, what do I know, mines 14' long including the septic & it's been ran over 3x's. I just think the leach system is wwaaayy over done. If you did the same amount of work in North Arkansas Ozarks it would take you a week @ least. I hope you don't accidentally run over your drain system. The codes need to be updated. I don't care if your septic is 1,000glns or 10,000 glns if your internal drain line isn't right & the first 6' of leach isn't correct your stuck. Put that backhoe to some practical use like a storm shelter or place to keep your jar canning, whole potatoes, & other goods!

Sorry you wrong about the infiltration system the gravel that covers the 4” pipe will over time prevent water to be absorbed in the ground

Your a MACHINE 😊

My regards toward your lost loved one and i do salute your passion . I’m obviously not schooled enough but I’m curios why the leech field must be leve versus on a slope. Why wouldn’t that cause it to back up? Thanks ans god bless

Using the domes/chambers is cheaper than you think. You actually don't have to use 200 feet of them like you do with perforated pipes. 60 feet of chambers/domes is all you need. That's equivalent to 200 feet of perforated pipe.

Dome system as you call it requires about half as much field area as perf pipe and rock. so you wouldn't need to purchase that many chambers. If you labor is free then perf pipe and rock is the way to go.

Did you say the water table was high? Man you should have hit water when trying to dig the well.

Great video!

I understand you leveled the leech field, but once the liquid rises to the holes, why wouldnt it exit at the first few holes rather than going all the way to the end of the line? Thanks

You should have an advanced treatment system, the domed system is called a chamber system. I’m surprised they allow a leach field within 100 ft of a surface water unless you’re using an ATU, which is generally a multi chambered septic with an aerator. Although infiltrators ATL with sand fill will meet NSF 40 but most places require NSF-245 that close to a surface water (infiltrator has ecopods). You’re not meeting the state standards in MD with that stream close by. BTW leach wells produce too much nitrate and are banned for most applications.

Great job 👏

Thanks for sharing but we do 300' of leach field using 48 ton 57 stone in 5 hours. Get some old timer to show you how to use 2by 4 and stand to level 12 in stone. I have a laser that clamps on my new Holland hoe. Good luck

That was made very difficult by all the leveling you were doing that's what the Rock is for pumpkin lay in the rock you need volume for the water The Rock works for that the dirt just needs to pitch

Great video thanks.

You have same laser i got. Thats funny

when you get to that point... can you give us a 101 course on toilets... i.e. what makes a good one... problems with a cheap one.... thanks......

nice job I could have dug that 84 foot trench within a quarter inch for you in an hour not sure how that makes you feel but looks like you got a good understanding and know what your doing

3 days to level the dirt???? Dig an extra foot and level it with the rocks...... Who cares about if the dirt is level.

@2:58 - "This is getting into antics.." I think you meant *semantics*. Great videos. Really well done.

I think the perforated pipes are better than the infiltrators as well. But could you just cover the pipes with a bigger pipe cut in half, so the sediment would never clog the holes??

I live in Arizona and my leach field is completely saturated. I think I am going to add another leach line and valve off the saturated line to let it recover. I'm tossing around the idea of doing this myself. The existing 2 leach lines are 50 ft long perforated 4" pvc and they santee down into the ground at the end. Are those considered leach wells or leach field? Would adding another 50 "leach field" suffice here in Arizona?

THANKS THIS VIDEOIS HELPFUL SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS

Can you maybe give an example of a Leach well like you did in AZ? I'm in NM probably will work here too since my water table is 300 feet down.

Thanks for all the good info! I'm looking to install septic in the White Mountains of Northern AZ. Lots of rocky soil. Even though it percs, the chances of BIG ROCKS in the leach field are a possibility. Is the leach well an option? Or is it better to jack hammer the rocks? I'm trying to avoid an engineered $$$ system. I'd be about 100 to 200 feet from water well. Well is over 700 feet deep. Thanks in advance for your insight!

for my info... when do you use drain sleeve... (sleeve that goes over the leach pipe) also is there a down side to using cinders over rock in the drain field.. as always.. thank you for adding to my education.

6 years ago septic went in... can you believe it was only 6 years, and now there is a whole house and a garage with bedrooms, and one kid is married, the other enlisted... How can all of that fit in only 6 years?

Cannot find video 1. It must not be very clearly titled

Interesting.. Good video.. Well explained. So is each 84 foot leach field line about 2 days work or so?

Dead nuts level!! LOL.

Im so sry for your families loss!😢 By the time I saw this video, it has been a year in. I was wondering how much the final cost in supplies?

Great educational video bro. You know your sh*t! Peace be with y'all

Were you able to recover some of the gravel that was lost from the dump truck crash, or did they clean it up?

At 8:45 just past you a calf walked across the road and went under the fence.

I have a septic system that has failed. My drain field has caved in and I am looking to replace. I had a perc test done and the engineer was telling me my system will run about 20k due to the new regulations in my area. I have nothing near the ability to pay something like that. So, my plan is to bring my excavator home from work and just lay new lines myself. I am planning to use the ez-flow lines. I can also get bring a truckload (14.5) yards of river rock to use for optimizing my system. In your opinion, how should I use this rock and these lines to work best for me? Again, I have high clay soil that failed a perc test. Any advice would be great.

another question... is one of the reasons the leach field goes in so shallow.. besides percolation, everaporation is helping desperse the liquid.? (not having your knoweldge, i was thinking the leach field would be better protected being 6-8 foot deep... as long as the water table is deep enough)

Sorry to hear about the loss of your mother in law, My prayers are with you. I hate to disagree, here, but the chamber system cost is not that much different than using pipe. Chambers for 200 feet actually run about $800. While perforated pipe itself is much cheaper, you have the cost of rock, and the labor to not only level your ditch, but to level the bottom of the rock as well, so you will probably be out more money using perforated pipe. Again, not disagreeing to be contentious, just respectfully disagreeing, prices do vary by location as well. God bless.

Sorry for the lost of your Mother.

no black water planter between the septic and leach field?

Put tar paper on top,could have added more holes top and side

Rip. Very sorry for the family's loss. In Jesus Christ name amen.

I have a question for you. Maybe u can help me out here. If health dept. Says i need a 700sqft leach field. Which it has to be a bed not a trench. Are they asking for a 20' x35' bed for leaching OR are they asking for 700sqft of drain using the volume of a 4inch perforated pipe? If so how do u do the math for that? Thanks in advance.

Nice work but these plastic parts look to flimsy seems like with all the gases from the bacteria these plastic thin parts will desengrate. A concrete tank I think would've worked better and it lasts forever.

I disagree with the statement about dome aka infiltration infiltrators are much more efficient and last forever I've installed some they are highly recommended you might want to research it better you never will have backup's again sorry to inform you of the info

Never knew so much went into poo disposal

Not sure if I missed it (in your other videos); is your septic/leech field black water only? Or are you letting the grey water go in as well? I'm curious for future projects :)

12 inch square leach line regulation for approval?

is a perc test required when replacing an existing drain field

If I may ask! Where did you purchase your septic tank?

Are the ends of leach pipe caped off?

Are leach fields Legal in az

What do you mean by 380 etc etc.

Do you have to be a plumber to do this legally? If it's my own house

$300 in pipe? Well that’s a long time ago, but regardless how about all those tandem loads of gravel? That’s gonna be a big ticket cost right there plus got have to move it. You can’t compare just 4 inch 35SDR and the infiltrators. Cause you needs trucks and trucks and trucks and trucks of gravel…. Around here at least, I am looking at $300 a LoAD and that was three years ago……. You need to show total cost versus total cost……. Otherwise it’s “an UNTRUTH” as they tell kids these days….

Did you use a transent to level the base?

What’s the max pitch down hill is acceptable for a leach field?

What part of Arizona are you from

Please someone tell me what's that level stick thing he's using?