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The sewer system I'm on now costs over $120 every 2 months and goes up every year. My last house had a septic tank. We lived there for 2 years and never needed it emptied. The builder told us it would need to be emptied every 3-5 years. It's only a few hundred dollars to empty it. I spend more than that every year on my sewer bill. We're billed for ALL water. Never mind that we water a lot of our landscaping in the summer. We're charged for that on our sewer bill.
I get a combined water/sewer bill every 6 months. The sewer part of the bill is linked to water usage. In the winter when I’m not watering lawns, it’s roughly $90 split ~50/50 between water and sewer. I have the option to install a second water meter for outdoor watering. We’ve planted so much that it’s beginning to make sense to add the meter.
Back when I had a septic tank (20+ years ago) I remember seeing some new systems that used the water to irrigate the lawn. Was that just a fad being I have not seen anything mentioned like that on this thread?
Back when I had a septic tank (20+ years ago) I remember seeing some new systems that used the water to irrigate the lawn. Was that just a fad being I have not seen anything mentioned like that on this thread?
You can install two completely different drainage systems one for grey water from sinks and tub - And the other for black water from the toilet. One would never want to use raw toilet water to irrigate.
The gray water irrigation idea has some appeal but I don’t see it happening a lot around here anyway.
Rural home = septic tank (1 acre or more). Subdivision home = sewer system (Half acre or less).
Hate to use this to base decision between choosing older rural home and newer/new home in subdivision.
Is that the distinction in YOUR county? Does not necessarily mean the same everywhere. It doesn’t around here.
Don’t mix up municipal water lines with municipal sewer support. We have the former in some areas and there are some large parcels along them (talking scores of acres, not tenths), but the homes are on septic.
I kind of wish I were on septic. My lot is 1.29 acres so there's room (I don't know when the sewer connections were made in my neighborhood -- maybe my house WAS on septic many decades ago).
One downside of city sewer: the HOMEOWNER is responsible for the lines from the street into the house. Mine failed earlier this year (totally out of the blue -- since it's the city system, it had never occurred to me that that could happen and I would have to pay). Six thousand bucks gone (and it could have been $9,500, but the last part of the piping from my front yard to the street was made of a different material and was fine).
I have colleagues (actually my former tenants) who just bought a house on >12 acres. The inspection found that there was a septic tank there but no leach field (even though the description of the house on realtors' sites said it had one ). The sellers put one in before the sale closed. Not sure how much it cost, but my colleagues now have a great system that should last for decades.
Last edited by karen_in_nh_2012; 11-28-2020 at 11:53 AM..
Reason: grammatical clarity
Remember only a few months ago when sewer lines got clogged from people flushing wipes and other don’t-flush-these down the toilet? Sometimes those careless people caused horrible problems for other people’s systems. We worried about that when we had a very bad neighbor next door at a previous home, which was on sewer.
People with faulty septic systems can also cause pollution of other people’s soil and water. But the first sign of trouble likely would be right at the perp’s own bathroom. GOOD!
I get a combined water/sewer bill every 6 months. The sewer part of the bill is linked to water usage. In the winter when I’m not watering lawns, it’s roughly $90 split ~50/50 between water and sewer. I have the option to install a second water meter for outdoor watering. We’ve planted so much that it’s beginning to make sense to add the meter.
When I lived in town, my water/sewer bill averaged $80 per month. And the water pressure was poor. Now I'm living in an unincorporated community on a septic system. Better water pressure, cheaper to look after it, and we are so used to it now that I'll likely never go back to municipal water and sewer.
Septic systems and local regulations vary, and there are several types.
I have used septic systems for over 60 yrs and have installed several of my own (as a licensed contractor, taking septic installer test) Had my kids take the test too when they built their own homes during Jr High. (handy skills to know as homeowners / buyers)
I just did a pump and inspect on a home I sold last week. (system was fine (of course), ~$500 later.) btw: I 'stick' (measure) my systems every 2 yrs and in 32 yrs I have not required to have tank pumped, and tank is not yet 1/4th full, ideally it should never need pumped. Renters (12 of them) on septic systems are another story))
Everything you flush into a septic system is still in there, except water and digestible solids. It all depends what you put in there, and often it depends on what you eat. Some plants have a high silica content, so your waste will never dissolve. If you eat a lot of vegetables, the septic will need pumped more often.
Everything you flush into a septic system is still in there, except water and digestible solids. It all depends what you put in there, and often it depends on what you eat. Some plants have a high silica content, so your waste will never dissolve. If you eat a lot of vegetables, the septic will need pumped more often.
26 years ago we bought a house with an older septic. Nothing was being checked here at that time and we had a slow system to start. 1st thing was to have the washer drain out on the back lawn. Since this is the desert it`s hard to see much green anyway. Then I dug up and replaced the 40` of collapsed leech lines. While it was open I installed an injection port into the center of the leech line. That was a 1" pvc pipe that comes up just past the surface and is surrounded by larger stones. Capped off with a removable pipe plug. Back then there was a tree close by so I was able to easily put Root-X in it to keep the roots dissolved and about every 6 months to 2 years I have to put in a 10.00 bottle of Main Line cleaner. On top of the concrete tank there is a large 4" plug that was used for a travel trailer and it gives easy access to see the liquid height in the tank which tells me if the system is sluggish. The whole thing is easy to maintain and is way cheaper than a sewer.
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). The sellers put one in before the sale closed. Not sure how much it cost, but my colleagues now have a great system that should last for decades.
))
