Dealing with gray water (shower, sink)

At our cottage, we have a spectic tank. the shower and the kitchen sink is also connected to this septic tank. Shower and sink fill up my tank fast. so.. I'm exploring otions to have different, inexpencive system for shower and sink water

Any thoughts.

I'm guessing you have no leach field off of that septic tank?

I run my gray water out is a grove of trees, however this is Arizona, and most of it evaporates very fast, or perks.

Rancher

indika said:

Shower and sink fill up my tank fast.

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A septic tank is normally "full" (with just a little room at the top) all the time, then its content overflows into the drain field or dry well every time anything more (such as a flush) is sent to it. So then, is your overall system backing up, or does your plumbing possibly run out to nothing more than a dry well (like an outhouse would be) that is not draining?

indika said:

I'm exploring otions to have different, inexpencive system for shower and sink water

Click to expand...

My gray water runs separately into a system like this:

http://www.infiltratorsystems.com/

my leach field is not working, I believe tree rots have got in. So I want to minimize the infow to the septic system.

If you can operate a shovel, read a level and glue a little pipe, you can install your own leach-field chamber system(s) for a mere fraction of what it would cost to have a septic contractor come in. Also, chamber systems often only need to total half the overall area of the old-style, pipe-and-rock fields.

that sounds good, yes I can manage a showel
can you point me in the right direction, web sites instructions etc..

Thanks for your time

indika said:

that sounds good, yes I can manage a showel
can you point me in the right direction, web sites instructions etc..

Click to expand...

Scroll down the page at this link ...
http://www.inspect-ny.com/septic/gravelless.htm
... and you will find some good information about "chamber systems". The link I posted here a couple of days ago (scroll up a couple of posts) shows the chambers I used, but there are other companies with similar products available. I got mine from a local supplier or septic components, or you might be able to find some at one of the big home-supply stores.

Like someone suggested to you in another thread, you should try to find out exactly what you already have ... but the county had absolutely no records of my own system when I asked before doing some repair work. Also, the local code office might be willing to come out and do some percolation tests and tell you how much capacity you need. My own chambers are 3' wide and come in 4' sections. With 3 or 4 people in a seasonal cottage, I can imagine a total of 24' (3' x 24' or 6' x 12') would be more than you could ever fill, meaning this:

One of the primary differences about chamber systems is that they can be filled with water during high usage and do not have to drain immediately like with perforated pipe ... and with cost being another biggie, they offer other advantages also.

Other than the matters of your property's ability to absorb water and the sizing of your new system, none of this is rocket science. If you already had an open trench for accepting the output of your septic tank -- go experiment a bit, if you like -- a chamber system then simply turns that trench into an underground cave you can cover with dirt on a day when you have nothing more interesting to do.

Thank you kindly.