advice on septic tank maintenance, repair, installation and emptying in Essex
Gone are the days when you could get a bricklayer to stand in a muddy trench for hours on end constructing a septic tank, if you could find one willing to do the job the labour costs alone would be prohibitive.
Modern septic tanks are constructed from lightweight materials such as fiberglass, polypropylenes and glass reinforced plastic and septic tanks come in many shapes and sizes, there are however strict guidelines as to what type of septic tank you should be installing and where it should be sited.
I use the term `bottle tank` generically to describe any tank constructed from modern materials as apposed to the earlier brick and concrete systems, the name obviously comes from the shape of the classic tanks shown in the above images but as already mentioned tanks now come in many shapes including square and cylindrical units.
How Modern Septic Tanks Work
Modern tanks constructed from fibre glass and plastics work in much the same way as the older systems as the image to the right shows, the central baffles divide the tank into three sections whilst allowing waste water to move through the system.
The inlet pipe discharges directly into section (a) where some solids float and others settle, clarified effluent passes up through the slotted baffle into area (b) where finer particles of scum and waste are again separated before the waste water passes into section (c) and into the outlet pipe work.
The central ball rises to the top of section (a) forming a seal when the tank initially fills, when the tank is emptied the ball lowers allowing access to the sludge at the bottom of section (a)
Choosing The Correct Septic Tank For The Job
The type of tank you require will be dependant on a couple of factors such as number of occupants in the property, your location, the ground type in that area and the final outfall for the waste water leaving the tank.
Septic Tank Soak-Away Systems
Any septic tank system is only as good as its outfall so it is critical that the correct soak-away system be correctly calculated and installed, Read more here............