Septic Tank Installation Part 2

Hi, I'm Tim Carter, AskTheBuilder.com. We're going to talk a little bit about septic tanks

That's what's right over my shoulder. Hope you can see it. And this is really going to be

I think, an interesting video for you. First things first, I am not building this home

If you see any mistakes, they're not mine. Number two, if you discover something new in the video, maybe you can buy me a beer, lemonade, hot dog, ice cream cone, candy bar, whatever

It doesn't matter. All you have to do is click that thanks text link you see right underneath the video

Go ahead and click it. A lot of people are starting to do it. It's really, really helping

understand that every single penny of revenue that I collect, I put back into these videos

I try to buy new equipment and do everything possible to make more and better videos for you

Let's get started about septic tanks. This septic tank was delivered today, and it's a dandy. It's a monster

2,500 gallons, all right? That's a really big septic system. and I actually can't believe it's needed for this particular home from what I can tell

But the funny little box that's on top, that is not going to be there when it's all done

That is a distribution box and that is going to be set out over here in the leach field

which they have just kind of started on. but believe me, you're going to see another video that's going to show the leach field and how it's all connected

But right now, let's talk a little bit about this septic tank and what's happening

The important thing is they set the tank correctly, and believe me, there have been septic tanks that have been set wrong

Here's why. Notice that word in? That means where the sewage comes into the septic tank

and they design it in such a way that it can come in either at this end or it can come in

through this side and they also have another inlet depending on how the house is right there My guess is they going to bring the piping and probably put it into here but we won know that yet for a little bit And let go look at the

other end because I'll bet, hopefully, they've got the word out there. Yes, sure enough, you can see

the word out really clearly. And it's really important for you to check this on your job

You've got to make sure that the septic tank is installed properly

All right. You don't want the sewage coming in the out. The top of the tank has got these three inspection covers

They're plastic and they pop up really easily. But underneath them is a concrete cover

And it allows you to look down inside the tank. Let's take a look inside of one of them

Well, I took the concrete lid off. You can hear my voice echoing there

And a pretty big area. You can look down and see. It's already got a little bit of water in it

Not much to really see. You could go swimming down there right now

but you don't want to do it once they connect the sewage from the house. When they go to pump out the septic tank

this is the lid that they would probably lift. I can tell you it's the one that I would do

because this is where all the bad stuff is, the toilet paper, all the floating logs. It would not be prudent to clean it out over there

All of this water is connected. As the water level drops in this area of the tank

it drops over throughout the entire tank. So all they have to do is clean out right here

It's really that simple. Let's open up one of the other lids and see what's in there

Alright, this is the middle lid. This is the one I really wanted to show you

This is what's really important. See that plastic T that is, it's basically cast into the upper part of the tank

What happens is, all of the crap that's up top floats up to about, you know, the middle of the T

and that's where the water level sits in the septic tank and it is able to flow

through to the next chamber over here but the purpose of this tea is to make sure none of the floating crap and floating stuff gets over into this chamber So these septic systems and septic tanks are just not some big old swimming pool and they

have a very specific design. Over here I know you can't see it, it's so dark I wish I had a flashlight, but right

Right here is a wall that extends up and it basically kind of separates and makes sure

that the water in here that's in this cavity or this part of the tank is pretty much free

of any of the solids and the stuff that comes into the tank

All those are meant, and that wall is right about here where my foot is, so it means this

This part of the tank here is where all of the heavy solids and everything drops down

because you don't want that stuff to work its way through the septic system into the

leach field. So that concrete wall acts as a very crude but primary filtration system

I want to talk a little bit about this distribution box. What's going to happen is once it's installed over in the leach field, a pipe from the septic

tank is going to come in right about here into this end. It may come in the other end

that's about the same. But what happens is there are six different pipes that feed out of this

distribution box, and the effluent from the septic tank then goes out to the different lines

that are on top of the leach field sand. So it's a really, really interesting contraption

but just wait until it's installed. I will show that in the next video for sure

I hope you discovered something new about septic tanks. They're really, really wonderful

They work really well if you do the right things, meaning the only thing that should go into a septic

tank is the stuff that comes out of your body and preferably one-ply toilet paper and maybe some

very tiny food particles. That's why you need to have one of those screens in your kitchen

sink to capture all of the big stuff. Most people don't do that. If you do that, and

also this is really important no grease or minimal grease So when you have greasy pots and pans greasy plates keep all those spare pretty clean paper towels Let them dry out and use paper towels to wipe all

that grease off of the pots, pans, and plates and bowls and put those paper towels in the garbage

The less grease that you have in the septic tank, the better. So remember, the only stuff that should

go into the septic tank. What comes out of your body, one ply toilet paper, and very tiny food

scraps. Nothing else. No latex paint, no chemicals, no paint thinner, no anything else, all right

Nothing about this is hard, all right? Seriously. If you have any questions about septic tanks

remember I've been a licensed master plumber since 1981. I've put in quite a few. I know quite a bit

about them and I'm happy to help you. I do phone coaching and the link to the phone coaching is in

the description of the video. Happy to help you. And it's also important for you to realize if you

discovered something new, maybe buy me a beer, ice cream cone, candy bar. I really don't care what it

is. I'm not diabetic. I really watch my sugar intake, but I do have a sweet tooth. All right

all you have to do is click the thanks text link that's under the video and do the right thing

All right, we're going to have part three of the septic tank installation once they get the pipes in and once they get the pipes on the leach field

It's going to be really, really cool to see that design. Every single design is different, and the one that you're looking at right now is, well, it was just from a different system and not as big a house as this one

But it's going to be really, really interesting to see what the septic designer has in store for us at this home

All right, I'm Tim Carter. Don't forget, click that thanks text link under the video

I'm Ask the Builder. If you want to discover more home improvement tips, go to askthebuilder.com