fiberglass septic tank with a loose baffle?

i have just cleaned out my 1000' gallon fiberglass septic tank (of 20 years) and have noticed that the baffle is coming loose from the side walls of the tank? also there is only one opening in the baffle? a 4' hole near the top of the baffle... the guy who pumped my tank recommended that i drill 3 additional 3" holes near the bottom of the baffle? is this something that i should do? and should i crawl in there and patch in with a fiberglass repair kit?

panahead said:

i have just cleaned out my 1000' gallon fiberglass septic tank (of 20 years) and have noticed that the baffle is coming loose from the side walls of the tank? also there is only one opening in the baffle? a 4' hole near the top of the baffle... the guy who pumped my tank recommended that i drill 3 additional 3" holes near the bottom of the baffle? is this something that i should do? and should i crawl in there and patch in with a fiberglass repair kit?

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While I am a Red Seal Journeyman Plumber I don't know a LOT about septic tanks because in BC here that area is a whole separate trade. But we do learn some stuff about them in school.

Your septic tank is sized on the # of bedrooms in your house. This is because it's designed on the average daily usages of X number of people. So if you are having constant problems with your tank it's probably because the average daily water use of a person has gone up a lot over 20 years.

As to drilling out more hole in the top of the baffle... I wouldn't suggest it. The tank is design to work how it is. That 4" hole at the top of the tank is designed to allow effluent (the liquids) to transfer into the 2nd chamber.f

Septic tanks are designed to usually have a 24 hour retention period. That is to say that if you flush the toilet then the contents of that flush should remain in the 1st chamber of the tank for a minimum of 24 hours to break down any solids. You don't want to speed this process up.

DO NOT ENTER YOUR SEPTIC TANK!

It is a confined space full of lots of nasty gases. It's actually deadly. Unless you adverse in confined space entry I wouldn't risk going in there. There are lots of procedures and safety things you need to be aware of.

If you got the $ I'd strongly suggest you hire a company to fix it for you.

Good luck!

thanks for your help....

thanks for your help!!! you are correct in that i have a oval shaped tank with a divider wall in the middle the wall... the 3" hole in that divider is about 3/4 of the way up the wall... closer to the top... when we pumped the secondary side of the tank first we could see water leaking around the sides of the divider wall coming from the primary side of the tank.... i do not have any baffles or elbows at all on either the inlet of the outlet of the tank... i live in the mountains and the tank services only 1 toilet... nothing else goes into the tank... the sink... shower... washer... dryer etc.. they all are fed into the garden/orchard etc... should i try and take a fiberglass repair kit and patch the sides of the divider wall? the septic had not been used in over a year and was full of water and sludge only.. no fresh waste... it is very clean at the moment.... (the reason that the tank has not been used is we lost the cabin due to a wild fire and are almost finished rebuilding) it is over a hour and a half to the nearest town.... thanks again...

Again....

I wouldn't enter the tank if you don't have too. If you do decide to do it make sure you're extremely cautious. Wear a full respirator and make sure you have a buddy standing outside the tank ready to operate the tripod winch you should have attached to yourself via a harness. So if you get into trouble he can winch you out.

Sounds stupid I know but I'm being pretty serious. Becareful.....

As another thread on here is talking about it...the 'grey water' solution you have hooked up is NOT sanitary.

You feed your garden with waste water? Even though its not from your toilet, its still contaminated with whatever you drain, and whatever has built up in your pipes over the years, plus soap and cleaners. Please tell me you have some kind of sanitation/filter system for your grey water!!

1000 Gallon tank for a toilet? Thats some over engineering right there!
If you are gonna stick with just the toilet being drained into the septic system, you might want to consider getting a new tank that is smaller and well built.

seaofnames said:

As another thread on here is talking about it...the 'grey water' solution you have hooked up is NOT sanitary.

You feed your garden with waste water? Even though its not from your toilet, its still contaminated with whatever you drain, and whatever has built up in your pipes over the years, plus soap and cleaners. Please tell me you have some kind of sanitation/filter system for your grey water!!

1000 Gallon tank for a toilet? Thats some over engineering right there!
If you are gonna stick with just the toilet being drained into the septic system, you might want to consider getting a new tank that is smaller and well built.

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You'd be surprised then to learn that in most places (especially for us guys in BC) there is a minimum tank size. I believe it's still 1000 gallon capacity min.

thanks for all of your help... i patched the tank with fiberglass... installed the in and out "baffles" and it all seems to be good.... regarding the grey water going to the garden and orchard i really don't see a problem with that?
thanks again....

panahead said:

thanks for all of your help... i patched the tank with fiberglass... installed the in and out "baffles" and it all seems to be good.... regarding the grey water going to the garden and orchard i really don't see a problem with that?
thanks again....

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I'm glad you got it sorted out and everything went smooth.