Cesspool Service Suffolk County

By Author: Mohan Chen
Total Articles: 434
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There are two methods for dealing with sewage from houses that are not connected to the main sewer.
A Cesspool Service Suffolk County is simply a lined hole in the ground where the sewage collects. In time, the pool becomes full and has to be emptied either by the local council or by a private firm. Many houses have cesspools as small as 2.25 cu m (500 gallons); a family of four could fill this in as little as a week. Current Building Regulations require a capacity of 18 cu m. Modern cesspools may be prefabricated from glassfibre or concrete rings and simply placed into an already excavated hole; old ones would be made of brick, carefully sealed so that the sewage cannot escape and water in the surrounding ground cannot get in.
A septic tank is in effect a small sewage works. In it, the waste is broken down by bacteria until it is liquefied and rendered harmless: the resultant liquid can be dis¬posed of into a ditch or stream. Usually two different chambers are needed in a septic tank: in some cases the second chamber which contains a filter bed can be dispensed ...
... with and the half-treated sewage filtered through the sub-soil via land drains.
A well-constructed septic tank should need little maintenance apart from a periodic (say once a year) emptying of sludge. It is important not to use excessive amounts of disinfectant or detergents in the house, otherwise the bacteriological action could be slowed down and the tank clogged up.
Soakaways
Rain-water often drains into a soakaway. This can be a hole in the ground of one or two cubic metres capacity filled with rubble. The hole can be lined with bricks laid dry and covered with a close-fitting concrete slab. Rain-water drains into this hole and in time soaks away into the surrounding ground.
Tracing drains
Tracing the layout of a drain system is fairly simple - provided you remember that there should be an inspection chamber at all junctions and bends and that drains should run in straight lines between the chambers.
By pouring water down the various fittings in the house, it should be possible to determine which waste pipe connects to which drain and where each branch drain connects to the main drain. Fluorescent drain dyes can be used as an aid, if necessary. Any drains that do not show water after this test may be connected to a neighbour's drainage system.
A plan with the deeds of the house may also show the layout of the drains; or the local council may know.
Perhaps where you once lived, the house was connected to a sewer system. A septic tank and a sewer system have the same function. They are both waste drainage systems (of the sinks, toilets, bath tubs, laundry, etc.), for the house. Septic tanks are common in areas where sewer systems do not exist.
In fact, there are more septic tank systems in use than sewer systems. Before septic tanks, you may have heard of cesspools. A cesspool is covered hole or pit for receiving drainage or sewage, from a house. In the cesspool, the inorganic solids sink to the bottom and the organic solids float to the top. Bacteria in the cesspool change the organic solids to liquid. The liquid flows through the dirt side walls of the cesspool into the adjacent soil.
How septic tanks work?
Septic systems are made up of three major components a septic tank, distribution box and drain fields (Sometimes called leach fields).
The raw sewage and waste water travels to the septic tank via the main waste or sewer pipe, from the house. From the septic tank, liquids travel by gravity to the distribution box. Which controls and directs the effluent after it leaves the tank so that it flows evenly into the drain fields. The drain fields are the beds in which the drain field piping is laid. The drain filed piping is perforated and the effluent waste water exits the perforated pipes. The drain field beds are made of sand and gravel to allow for good percolation of the effluent.
The septic tank:
The septic tank usually located just a few feet from the house foundation and usually buried just below the surface.
The contents inside of the tank consist of solids (sludge) that sink to the bottom of the tank. The liquids are the middle contents. This flows out of the tank to the distribution box. The top layer is the scum. It is made up of grease and oils. The solids in the septic tank are broken down into liquids by bacteria. The bacteria come naturally from the contents in the tank. The sludge builds up over time and needs to be pumped out. A typical septic tank needs to be pumped every 3 to 5 years. If the tank becomes full, drain lines from the house will become useless, and sludge will flow into the drain fields and clogging the drain field piping. Repairs of this are costly.
The size of a septic tank is based on the number of bedrooms in the house. The number of bathrooms does not matter. A 2 bedroom house usually is equipped with a 750 gallon tank, 3 bedroom, 1000 gallon tank, 4 bedroom, 1200 gallon tank, etc.