My project manager doesn't know how to install a septic tank!

[AnotherOneAmerican]

Currently buying a house in a large moobaan, 250 houses, over 100 already completed.

So on my building inspection, in the back garden I pull up the lid of the septic tank.

The lid is just resting in the top of a concrete collar above the plastic tank.

That isn't right, I say, this should be fixed down and airtight.

No, this is how we do this in Thailand, he replies.

Undaunted, I flip the two locking screws, and surprise, the plastic lid and plastic collar come apart.

Revealing three screw holes on the plastic collar.

I never saw that before, he says.

What you do is, seal and screw the plastic collar onto the concrete collar and seal with silicon.

Then you get no sewage smells in the back of the house, and kids can't drown in the septic tank.

Are you going to go back and fix the other 100 houses you just built?

No, he says, nobody else is bothered.

I go back to the show home, walk round the back and lift the lid of their septic tank, it isn't fixed down either.

These guys don't know shit about building!

[BrianCR]

That's why they are builders! LOL They don't know a shi* about anything!

[xen]

If they have got that wrong then what else is wrong ?

[Naam]

What you do is, seal and screw the plastic collar onto the concrete collar and seal with silicon.
Then you get no sewage smells in the back of the house, and kids can't drown in the septic tank.

no sewage smell but your septic tank won't work. instead of blaming your builder and suggesting "intelligent" solutions such as silicone sealing take a basic lesson what's happening in a septic tank which needs (a lot) of oxygen to work properly.

of course the builder might carry out your instructions, smile and think "Khun Farang, the shit is yours! look forward pumping out the solids and pay for it."

[Naam]

These guys don't know shit about building!

i know some more, namely all those who participated in this thread until now (except me)

[AnotherOneAmerican]

What you do is, seal and screw the plastic collar onto the concrete collar and seal with silicon.

Then you get no sewage smells in the back of the house, and kids can't drown in the septic tank.

no sewage smell but your septic tank won't work. instead of blaming your builder and suggesting "intelligent" solutions such as silicone sealing take a basic lesson what's happening in a septic tank which needs (a lot) of oxygen to work properly.

of course the builder might carry out your instructions, smile and think "Khun Farang, the shit is yours! look forward pumping out the solids and pay for it."

The air breather pipe runs under the garden and up the back garden wall, it also ventilates the methane gas.

That was installed correctly. If you think the lid of the septic tank should be loose fitting, you don't know shit either!

Some septic tanks have 'stink pipes', some are designed not to.

Edited August 24, 2013 by AnotherOneAmerican

[JDGRUEN]

Aerobic sewage tank systems have internal aeration spray nozzles and require air/oxygen.... Septic tanks are anaerobic (without oxygen) - bacteria involved in the digestion of the sewage do not utilization oxygen - therefore oxygen should be kept out. With 'septic' systems pipes in and out should be sealed - caps and inspection ports or pumping ports should be sealed.

In OP's situation if what he has is truly a SEPTIC system then it should be sealed. Aerobic sewage systems - work great but only OP knows which system he has..

These two different type of systems can be studied with diagrams all over the Internet.

[Naam]

What you do is, seal and screw the plastic collar onto the concrete collar and seal with silicon.

Then you get no sewage smells in the back of the house, and kids can't drown in the septic tank.

no sewage smell but your septic tank won't work. instead of blaming your builder and suggesting "intelligent" solutions such as silicone sealing take a basic lesson what's happening in a septic tank which needs (a lot) of oxygen to work properly.

of course the builder might carry out your instructions, smile and think "Khun Farang, the shit is yours! look forward pumping out the solids and pay for it."

The air breather pipe runs under the garden and up the back garden wall, it also ventilates the methane gas.

That was installed correctly. If you think the lid of the septic tank should be loose fitting, you don't know shit either!

Some septic tanks have 'stink pipes', some are designed not to.

this pipe ventilates and due to its length and a most probably a few "90ºs" it cannot breathe and therefore can't be called a "breather pipe".

note: a ventilation pipe is the opposite of "AnotherOneBreathingPipe"

good luck and all the best with your siliconed shit!

[Martyjustice]

What else is wrong;

Drains not vented.

Electrical not grounded.

Not insulated.

It is different. No codes no inspections.

Buy an older house and fix it up to your standards.

[Naam]

Aerobic sewage tank systems have internal aeration spray nozzles and require air/oxygen.... Septic tanks are anaerobic (without oxygen) - bacteria involved in the digestion of the sewage do not utilization oxygen - therefore oxygen should be kept out. With 'septic' systems pipes in and out should be sealed - caps and inspection ports or pumping ports should be sealed.

In OP's situation if what he has is truly a SEPTIC system then it should be sealed. Aerobic sewage systems - work great but only OP knows which system he has..

These two different type of systems can be studied with diagrams all over the Internet.

Thai septic systems (black plastic tank) are built to work aerobic but with natural aeration and not forced added oxygen. the "breather pipe" is connected to the second compartment and only ventilates. due to that ventilation ambient air is sucked naturally into the first compartment through "unsiliconed" openings.

addendum: the usual Thai aeptic setup is a joke which pollutes the environment.

reason: in nearly all cases a proper drainfield is missing where mother nature is doing the final excellent job stage "depolluting".

[AnotherOneAmerican]

addendum: the usual Thai aeptic setup is a joke which pollutes the environment.

reason: in nearly all cases a proper drainfield is missing where mother nature is doing the final excellent job stage "depolluting".

No drainfield, the gray water for all the houses is fed to a treatment plant on the moobaan.

Went to look today, manhole cover now fitted correctly.

[ChrisY1]

You're lucky you got a tank installed at all......I've seen places..New.....where the sewer pipe ends in the dirt!

[jpinx]

And....

Make sure it is ONLY the toilet effluent that goes into the septic tank and tell the Mrs to stop using chemical cleaners, plenty of natural options available. I've had septic tanks in many of my houses over many years and really -- there is a lot of shit talked about them

[JDGRUEN]

Well the 'no drain field' makes a lot of difference... I'll take others' word for it ... but I just do not see how such tanks work aerobically - without aerating spray nozzles inside the system ... but evidently they work well enough.

Regardless of aerobic or anaerobic in Thailand with such heavy rainfall in most places, leaving inspection caps or pump out ports unsealed would allow way too much water to enter and it would seem back flushing onto the ground would happen with unsealed caps in heavy downpours ...

I would have to see this firsthand in a system that has been installed for a few years...

The way Naam describes this setup - I don't see how anywhere near complete sewage digestion takes place... So how often are these tanks pumped out -- annually, every few years or when they stop up or not at all?

[JDGRUEN]

Here are some photos that show a popular option for a field drainage system as used in Texas these days... (with a true Septic System)

[jpinx]

Basically the inflow goes into a small catchment which almost eliminates disturbing the main tank. The catchment is closed but not sealed. The catchment is only connected to the main tank well below water level so that no air is introduced and the main tank is sealed from the air. The outflow is also below water level but comes up to an inverted U with a vent to prevent syphoning.

Now learn how to operate a septic tank. Only sewage goes into it. If you haven't eaten it, it doesn't go in the tank - simple. No washing machine water, shower or bath or washbasin drains, rainwater --- nothing but sewage. No chemical cleaners allowed at all. A brand new septic tank can take time to get started and the easiest way is to get a few buckets from someone who is cleaning an old one out as a starter kit for yours. Think of the process as something similar to brewing beer.

In my father's house the septic tank had never ever been emptied and the outflow ran through a reed-bed and was pure, clear and not smelly in the least. That tank had been (and still is) going for many years - I was born in that house 66 years ago

Dimensions advice does vary. Large means hard to get started but digests very fully and is no hassle with surges in demand. Small starts more easily but tends to not digest as efficiently and leaves solids, hence possibly needing emptied once or twice per generation. Small ones are much more prone to disturbance by surges in demand causing the digestion to be partially interrupted.

Shit happens - deal with it

[Gonsalviz]

Aerobic sewage tank systems have internal aeration spray nozzles and require air/oxygen.... Septic tanks are anaerobic (without oxygen) - bacteria involved in the digestion of the sewage do not utilization oxygen - therefore oxygen should be kept out. With 'septic' systems pipes in and out should be sealed - caps and inspection ports or pumping ports should be sealed.

In OP's situation if what he has is truly a SEPTIC system then it should be sealed. Aerobic sewage systems - work great but only OP knows which system he has..

These two different type of systems can be studied with diagrams all over the Internet.

Thai septic systems (black plastic tank) are built to work aerobic but with natural aeration and not forced added oxygen. the "breather pipe" is connected to the second compartment and only ventilates. due to that ventilation ambient air is sucked naturally into the first compartment through "unsiliconed" openings.

addendum: the usual Thai aeptic setup is a joke which pollutes the environment.

reason: in nearly all cases a proper drainfield is missing where mother nature is doing the final excellent job stage "depolluting".

They don't know shit about a proper drain field either. After I designed one and hired the backhoe to dig it and told them how to put in the gravel and PVC, they thought it was a great idea except they connected the bathroom drains without traps. Now I have stinky bathrooms until I dig up the pipes and install traps.