Septic Systems

[MomOfToo]

Hello,

I posted this on the Projects board but thought it would get more attention here. We are in the process of buying a home with a septic that failed its inspection. The sellers are having a new one put in. Two septic companies have suggested the new system be put in where there is a small hill/slopey area because it is the driest area on the whole 1 acre of land. We've had some rain so it was quite visable to them. I am concerned about it being put on a slope because two people have told me they have had issues with their tanks being on a slope. Smell and the land being saturated in that area. The area that they are suggesting the new system go does have drain curtains and I am assuming that that will take care of any saturation problems. Is it the slope that is causing their problems? Is there any known problems with septic systems being put on a slope? Could it be that the systems were not properly installed? From what I was told they did have them pumped regularly. They are in NY and I am thinking maybe their laws are different. Here in CT the health dept has to okay the location. From what I gathered from the conversations, the septic tank itself will be on flat land along with a pump? We are paying to have a biger tank put in (they have a 1000 gallon now but we might expand to a 4 bedroom so we are having a 1250 gallon put in) I noticed someone mentioned in a previous post it goes by # of bathrooms and # of bedrooms, in the state of CT I was told it goes by the # of bedrooms only-is this okay? If we do expand there would be two more bathrooms added. There are 3 now but I don't think all 5 bathrooms would be going at once and I doubt2 of the 5 bathrooms would even get used but I guess we will cross that bridge when we get there 10 years from now! I hope someone could shed some light on this for me. I am glad they are putting in a new system but because others have voiced their opinions, I am concerned about the location being on a slope. Also, I heard that mount systems have issues, do you think this is the type of system they will install? Thanks in advance!

[davidg73]

around here the health dept tells you not only WHERE you can put it but what type systems you can have. you take the plans for the house to them, along with a plat of your land, and they give you a spot to put it. you have no say, unless you can prove extinuating circumstances why it cannot go in that area.

as to the mounds having saturated ground, if the ground is saturated around a septic system, then that system has a problem. there are certain types that output water on top of the ground, but those are the only ones that you should see any water in the area.