Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Septic Blues (Bluz)

This is pretty long - it probably will not be read by everyone. Hey, I understand. My children should read it all so they understand their inheritance better.

We are having a septic system problem. Because we are on the lake, we are governed by Tarrant County Water District which has several strict rules for water septic systems.
Before I explain the situation, I'll give you a bit of an education ( primarily for those who find true joy in another's misery ).

A septic system has several parts - some have more parts than others. The basic is you have a house - you have a sewer line coming out of the house - the line empties into a container - and somehow stuff leaves the container. Now, don't you feel better with that touch of knowledge?

My system is an aerobic system - well not really - it depends who ya talk to.

Stuff enters the tank - oh, wait, the tank: Our tank is about 10 ft long, 5 ft wide, and over 6 ft deep. It is divided into 4 different sections....500 gallons

Section 1: the "trash" is dumped into this area. It is called the pretreatment area. Frankly, I have never been in this area but have looked in from the top. Heavy stuff goes to the bottom, light stuff stays on top. Over a period of time, this area could be completely full; however, little bugs are in there eating away. Yum Yum

As this tank fills liquid stuff goes over the top and empties in to the Aeration Chamber, Section 2. This is my favorite section. We have an air pump up by the house. This pump works all the time 24/7 - 12 months a year pumping air into this tank. The tank has a 2 inch tube called the Diffuser bar which bubbles air all the time. I don't know why it works, but this air cleans up that stuff like crazy.

As that product is cleaned up it moves from the bottom up into Section 3 which is called a clarifier. I guess it clarifies. Not going in there and checking it out either.

Finally the liquid goes down a tube from the top past a 6 inch pipe that opens to the world and into the last Section, the Holding Tank.

The 6 inch pipe is to allow you to drop clorine tablets in to further clean and "de-smell" the water. Now, I don't believe it, but they say this final tank is clean water. Clean, they say. In the final tank is a submerged water pump which pumps the water down a tube to another filter (outside) - through the filter and into lateral lines.

Our lateral lines are about 2 ft under the dirt and have little holes every 18" or so. It is a drip line. Think of a plastic line with little holes once in a while. The water enters the ground and waters the trees.

that's it - that is how my septic works.
Our house was built in 2008. The septic was put in at that time by a local guy. His name was on a sheet provided by the Tarrant county water district. Bennie Hanna had the tank installed. I am sure Bennie was a nice guy - I am sure his family would agree - my problem is that Bennie told us nothing. We found a brochure in the house. Bennie died of cancer last year.
Bennie installed a tank from a company named Tex-Aire out of Dallas and Bossier City. After our problem became a problem, I looked for this company, but they have no website. So I mailed a letter to Dallas and Bossier City - just to see if I could get a response.

I could not believe it - a man from Dallas called me last Sunday. He had bought Tex-Aire last year from a guy who split leaving a bunch of unpaid bills. He said the other guy started cutting corners back in 07 & 08 on the construction of the tanks. Yep, I got one of the bad tanks. Dallas offered to sell me a brand new and improved tank for $1250 - not installed or delivered. I think that was nice of him, and I think I like this guy who is trying to clean up a septic business mess (cute way of describing it).
Now - the end of the tank where the water pump is - it cracked. The crack widened. and widened. That whole wall of concrete split down the middle, separated from the sides and is falling into the holding tank. Only a PVC pipe is keeping it from hitting the next wall. Because of this, the outside end wall does not exist and is only mud.

The water pump got filled with mud and jumk and is burned up. I need a new pump and a tank.
A new system will run anywhere from about $5,000 up to $10K.
So after much talking I have contacted my concrete guy. The plan is that he is going to dig around the entire tank and build a wall all the way around the tank. This new wall will actually have rebar. The original tank did not - one of the cost cutting things by the company in 2008.

Even though Bennie is not here to defend himself, he should have know there was no rebar in the original tank - and I do wonder how many more people around here have - or will have the same problem.

The Tarrant County people came out to look. I liked these two guys. After much talking they agreed to let me do the concrete encasing. They will hand dig around the old tank, set forms, put in concrete, tie in the new walls to the old walls, refill the tanks with good water and away we go.
It will be about 2 weeks before they can start. It should take 3 days to do the concrete work. Then another couple of days to install a new water pump and check the lateral lines to see if they are filled with dirt too. They can blow those out for more money.
I am looking for sympathy . This whole thing has been going on since right after Thanksgiving. I roll my eyes. Let me add that my NEW septic guy is named Rod Pickle. I think I really trust him to finish this product properly for us...but not cheaply. You should all stand about that last tank and look down into the watery mess with those concrete slabs just hanging there waiting to cause more havoc.
Last word: "house in the country" -- money pit