Septic System - Enviro vs. Stone and Pipe (house, construction)

[runbikeswim_NH]

Anyone have any thoughts or personal experiences on the Enviro septic system vs. traditional stone and pipe?

[cowbell76]

Our Enviro Septic failed in under 10 years, with proper maintenance and only two people living in the three bedroom house. Well, I think we could have strung it along awhile longer (it's not like we had sewage backing up into the house or major pools of effluent in the yard - in fact we weren't even aware it was failing) but it could not pass an inspection needed to sell.

That said, the consensus is that it failed due to installer negligence/incompetence, and this is in line with what I have read... there are some horror stories out there about how short-lived the system is, but it seems that it almost always comes down to the type of sand used in the system. A very specific kind of sand MUST be used. Regular old construction sand will just not cut it... it's not even that the sand will get clogged, but that it can settle and the whole system goes out of level, which leads to overuse of some of the pipes, which then clog.

The good thing is that it was cheap - $6K-ish - to reinstall in-kind.

They're relatively inexpensive to install and reinstall (especially if new plans don't need to be drawn up) and they take up less space than a traditional system. I don't think that we are out anymore money than we would have been had the initial system been a more expensive type, but it was certainly inconvenient to have to tear up the yard.

*I am not pro-Enviro or anti-Enviro... this is just my experience. I'm more anti-the hack who installed the original system.

[runbikeswim_NH]

Appreciate your objective feedback. I have talked to a few others that have had a similar experience to yours with the Enviro system (failing within 10 years), and for them too it sounded like more of an installation problem. It sounds like a good system in theory, especially in that it takes up less space and is somewhat less expensive. I'm just not sure I want to deal with the possible problems when a fairly tried and true system is out there.

[steveusaf]

Keep it simple. Unless you need the Enviro for some specific site reason, then go with the simple, time tested system which isn't that expensive anyway....