A 960 Sq. ft Garage-Shop!!

[Ischgl99]

Having public water has its pros and cons. The biggest pro is always having water. The only caveat to that is if the public utility's source of water dries up then you will have water rationing. Not very likely. The biggest con is cost. Even modern houses are not designed to conserve water. I know all about conserving water. I lived on my sailboat for 9 years away from a dock. I had an 80 gallon water tank. I had to haul my water most of the time. 5 gallon jugs of water are heavy. What is the biggest waster of water? Pressure water where you turn on the tap and the water flows. I have a pressure water system on my sailboat. If I used the pressure water system my 80 gallons of water would last 2 to maybe 3 weeks. Using the foot pump the 80 gallons would last 2 months. How much water does it take for a guy to take a shower? 12 cups using a garden spraying.

In the area I just moved to water is expensive. I am anticipating paying up to $100 per month for water. My Ex-wife and her husband live in Paso Robles. They are avid gardeners. Their water bill averages $400 per month.

Not much difference between sewer verses septic other than cost. The biggest difference is not flushing anything other than pee and poop down the toilet and not using the garage disposal when you have a septic system. Toilet paper, etc. and food scraps have to go in the garbage. The cost of sewer is now getting tied to how much water you use. Use more water. Pay more for sewer. Kind of makes sense if you think about it. The initial cost of a septic system is very close to the cost to connect to the sewer in a lot of areas. Once installed a septic system has no cost other than having the septic tank periodically pumped. How often depends on what you flush down the toilet and put through the garbage disposal. I think that my public sewer cost is going to be around $35 per month.

Natural gas verses propane is a wash.

Adding a 5,000 gallon storage tank to a low producing well and using solar to run the pump solves the problem of a low producing well.

Sewer usage has been based on water usage here in CT for a long time. The costs for sewer are about the same as for water, so your ex wife would be paying a small fortune here. We don’t usually allow separate water meters in a residence, so she would be paying sewer fees on all that water going into the garden.

 

[woodchucker]

Not much difference between sewer verses septic other than cost. The biggest difference is not flushing anything other than pee and poop down the toilet and not using the garage disposal when you have a septic system. Toilet paper, etc. and food scraps have to go in the garbage. The cost of sewer is now getting tied to how much water you use. Use more water. Pay more for sewer. Kind of makes sense if you think about it. The initial cost of a septic system is very close to the cost to connect to the sewer in a lot of areas. Once installed a septic system has no cost other than having the septic tank periodically pumped. How often depends on what you flush down the toilet and put through the garbage disposal. I think that my public sewer cost is going to be around $35 per month.

not true, we flush toilet paper down our septic system. The toilet paper goes to the holding tank and breaks down.
as far as gardening, my neighbor is a huge gardener, and even though we have well water, they have massive holding tanks, their downspouts go to the 55 gal drums, which overflow to the tanks, when their kids were young they had a swing set, and he replaced the soft top for the fort with a corrugated fiberglass, that fills the massive holding tanks as well. Any water collected goes to the tanks.. they never have overflow go into the ground, there's enough water going to the ground already on their 3 or 4 acre property. All of that goes to the gardens. They eat very healthy.

We are now 7 years between pump outs, because we are only 2 people.. last cost was 1200 to pump out the holding tank, then we found out our pumps had failed so we had to pump out that tank too... 1200 more, then the cost of plumbing and new pumps.. Don't remember what I paid, but it wasn't so bad.

 

[FOMOGO]

You must have a mound system. I installed septic systems with my dad, and latter owned my own excavating co., and did many more, including my own. Much depends on your soils, and being designed for your location. If a system is designed and installed correctly, you should never even need to pump your tank. I had mine pumped 25 years after I installed it just on GP, and there were hardly any solids in it. Bacteria are very efficient at breaking things down. Mike

 

[extropic]

@FOMOGO

Do you recommend any particular additives or procedures to keep the septic system in tip-top shape?

 

[Ischgl99]

not true, we flush toilet paper down our septic system. The toilet paper goes to the holding tank and breaks down.
as far as gardening, my neighbor is a huge gardener, and even though we have well water, they have massive holding tanks, their downspouts go to the 55 gal drums, which overflow to the tanks, when their kids were young they had a swing set, and he replaced the soft top for the fort with a corrugated fiberglass, that fills the massive holding tanks as well. Any water collected goes to the tanks.. they never have overflow go into the ground, there's enough water going to the ground already on their 3 or 4 acre property. All of that goes to the gardens. They eat very healthy.

We are now 7 years between pump outs, because we are only 2 people.. last cost was 1200 to pump out the holding tank, then we found out our pumps had failed so we had to pump out that tank too... 1200 more, then the cost of plumbing and new pumps.. Don't remember what I paid, but it wasn't so bad.

$1,200 to pump out your septic tank!? Holy $hit that’s expensive, last time we did our 1250 gallon tank was $300.

 

[rabler]

@FOMOGO

Do you recommend any particular additives or procedures to keep the septic system in tip-top shape?

Mike may have other cmments, but I’ve lived with septic tanks most of my life, put in a second one last year for the bathroom at the barns. Biggest thing I’m aware of is to be a little sparing with the bleach, as too much will kill the bacteria in the tank that dissolve the wastes.

We’re on public water, but no sewer available. No big deal. Use a fair amount of water for the barns, which are on a separate meter.

 

[DavidR8]

I’ve had two houses on septic systems and never had a problem. Every once in a while we’d throw a packet of Septonic down the loo. We never had to have a tank pumped in over 15 years.

 

[FOMOGO]

Not really, some suggest periodically adding bacteria enhancing products, but I don't think it's needed. Stick to liquid detergent for your wash machine, back in the day high levels of phosphates in detergent killed a lot of septic systems, but they are better regulated now. Try to spread out loads, and go easy on the bleach. Make sure you know where your tank is, and avoid running anything heavy over it. If you have a clogged drain, and have to use a powered drain snake, best to have access to your tank inlet to make sure the baffle isn't damaged, as it can lead to serious problems. Most commercial drain cleaning co.'s use camera's now, and that helps prevent over zealous operators from messing things up. Mike

Quote: Do you recommend any particular additives or procedures to keep the septic system in tip-top shape?

 

[Ischgl99]

One thing that often gets removed in septic tanks due to maintenance requirements is an outlet filter. The outlet has a tee elbow for the water to flow into the septic field, water under normal conditions flows from the under side through a filter to the outlet pipe. The filter should be cleaned annually to keep the water flowing, you simply pull the filter out and hose it off. When cleaning the filter, you use a stick to see how deep the solids are in the secondary settling chamber, and if they are getting close to the outlet elbow, schedule a pump out. If the water is up to the top of the tee, then the opening at the bottom is clogged and you need an immediate pump out. The outlet filter helps keep your drainage field cleaner and extending it’s life.

At the recommendation of my septic company, I added risers to the lids for my tank so that I don’t have to dig as much to expose the lids, makes inspections much easier and faster, and more likely to be done. I used black corrugated plastic pipe the same diameter as the lids. They are now a couple inches below the surface instead of almost a foot before.

Here is a picture of an elbow with a filter. The filter is normally installed all the way in, I pulled it out for the photo. I bought this online and then my septic guy said don’t use that one! Apparently this style filter clogs more often than the ones available locally, so bought one of those instead to install. Don’t have a picture of that one.

 

[extropic]

@Ischgl99

The septic system I own is my first and was there when I bought the property.
Your post is the first I've ever heard of the filter.
Thank you for the info. Not hobby metalwork, but very useful for me.
I'll check it out when I get back to that property.