Should these septic tank pipes be buried.

darabbit

hi


I am about to get my back garden ploughed and reseeded. i have three yellow pipes appearing above ground coming from the septic tank at various distances from the tank. These are perculation pipes as far as I know. See attached, the pipes are in the distance so you may need to zoom. should these be buried completely?

Thanks for any guidance and advice.

bbam

No.
Current regs have the ends of the percolation lines to be vented.
I think if you bury these you would fail any future inspection which is planned on tanks soon.

darabbit

Thanks for that. I will have to find a wayof disguising them.

NIMAN

I got 2 of these in a local builders merchants for mine. Cost about €3 each. Hides the vent pipes better.

And of course you can always stick a potted plant in front of them.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/110mm-Soil-Pipe-Vent-Cage-Black-/230553872806

Only thing about these I have found, a strimmer often breaks the little vertical strips. Done it countless times and have ending up buying 6 over the last year for my 2 pipes.

almighty1

I wouldnt as much worried about regulations as about the potential build up of methane in the tank and potential consequences.

bbam

almighty1 wrote: »

I wouldnt as much worried about regulations as about the potential build up of methane in the tank and potential consequences.

No its the percolation OP is talking about, not the tank vents.. Two very different things...

aujopimur

Get 4" blanks, drill a few holes in them and fit nearly flush with the ground,
they will last for ever.

NiThigim

Why would the ends of percolation lines be vented? Surely only the tank itself requires this. Any gas would rise into the septic tank and be vented there.

bbam

NiThigim wrote: »

Why would the ends of percolation lines be vented? Surely only the tank itself requires this. Any gas would rise into the septic tank and be vented there.

No idea..
But I'd guess it's to allow the liquid flow easier down the lines, particularly with modern pumped systems I could see an "airlock" type scenario if trying to pump allot of liquid down a pipe that has no option for the air in the lines to escape..

NiThigim

I'm afraid that does not explain it. To my knowledge the pumping is only from chamber to chamber and the runoff is by gravity. The whole point of percolation is that the liquid contents of the septic tank are dispersed over a large area at a slow rate. The pipes that carry the liquid are perforated to allow this and laid in gravel trenches. There would be no possibility of an air lock. There maybe a requirement for access ( to rod ) which could be accomplished by removable cap/ cover. I don't even see the necessity for the pipes to stick up a meter at right angles to the ground. I would be interested to see the exact inspection criteria regarding septic tanks.

bbam

Nope, pumping is definitely from the tank to percolation, in some systems anyway.

NiThigim

Yes I believe in domestic 'sewerage plants' pumps are used but only to an intermediate filter area. Common or garden septic tanks use gravity. Either way there liquid should pass through final percolation area via gravity.

This does not however assist the OP so I had a look for info regarding septic tanks and the future inspections. There was a draft code of practice from the EPA in 2007. Page 71 says

The percolation area should be inspected at 6 monthly intervals to ensure that no
surface damage has taken place. The aeration / vent pipes should be inspected to
ensure that they are still in place and intact. If possible, the inside of the vents should
be examined to verify that they are dry and free from obstruction.

Moving swiftly on to the more recent Draft Performance Standards for Septic Tanks and other Domestic Waste Water Treatment Systems which also includes the ambigious

Aeration vent pipes should be dry and free from obstructions.

So I suspect that the ends of the percolation pipes should be available for inspection but not necessarily sticking up as the are in the pictures. For appearance you could shorten the piece overground cover with something like this and maybe this. Maybe use something like this!

More good stuff here ( like the method of determining characteristics of site on page 66 ).

darabbit

Thanks for all the feedback. I have ordered caps for the vents at the top of the concrete tank. Can I cover the tanks with Topsoil now?

The reason the perculation pipes are sticking up is to stop rodents from getting into the pipes. I might try to shorten the pipes and put a cap on them to prevent rodents getting in.

aujopimur

You will need to maintain access to the inspection covers, you can raise these as well to be level with the finished garden.

darabbit

Are the inspection covers the two concrete lids on the tank itself?
How would I go about raising these?

km79

darabbit wrote: »

Are the inspection covers the two concrete lids on the tank itself?
How would I go about raising these?

Are you importing top soil or simply using what's there ?
If you are using what's there then you won't need to raise the inspection covers !

darabbit

km79 wrote: »

Are you importing top soil or simply using what's there ?
If you are using what's there then you won't need to raise the inspection covers !

I am going to import some soil.

NIMAN

aujopimur wrote: »

You will need to maintain access to the inspection covers, you can raise these as well to be level with the finished garden.

I've only got the 2 vent pipes, can't find my cover for nice green lawn.:D

It must be around somewhere. I've tried pushing a thin metal pipe into the grass all around the pipes but can't seem to hit a cover.