Wells and septic systems

So I had a strange thought...urine is basically salt water. I estimate that our family (3 adults, 2 kids) probably sends about 50 gallons of it down the drain every month. It has about half the salt content as saltwater.
 
WOW, this thread has taken some interesting turns. The max salt concentration of urine is about 2.2%. Seawater is 3.5%. I bet cat urine is higher which is why when they pee on my plants they die!!!
I do know in the long run salt is not good for the soil.....
MK
 
Not really sure why people are getting so defensive on this I am just stating experiences I have had being in the plumbing industry and seeing septic tanks on a daily basis. I say do with it as you want but I will say this I have a septic tank at my house and all my water be it waste water or water change water NEVER goes in the tank. I dont like the idea of having to spend $15,000 on a new tank or even just paying 200 to have it pumped more often than it needs to so if there is a chance it can ruin it I am not doing it.
 
Lol...I did it all winter. But not through any 3' of snow..open door, walk to side of driveway and toss ;)
 
yup JFL I agree, better to be safe,them are some hefty number for someone to take chances with!!! Better safe than sorry!!!!
 
Thanks for all the great info here, I have a lot of learning ahead of ms if we go with a septic system.

The takeaway Here is not to dump down the drain. Out into the lawn most likely. Need to look around a bit on the effects of that.

Thanks To all!
 
I've been living on well/septic for over 20 yrs now. I took the advise of my softener company and plumbed my softener into my house sump and not the septic tank. Outside the house I dug a hole down 36" and put a 55 gallon plastic drum with holes on the bottom for drainage to act as a dry well. Surrounded the drum with rocks - found plenty of them when I dug the hole. I plumbed the house sump output into the drum so all salt water from the softener drained into the dry well. As I set-up my fish room I'm plumbing the drain for WC, tap off my return loop, into the house sump as well to avoid the salt in my septic. BTW I run the waste water from the RO into the house sump as well which washes the salt down and keeps the pump cycling so the pump does not freeze up from corrosion. In 20 years I've only had to replace the sump pump once which is good IMO. You do want to make sure the pump is working when you drop a lot of water at a WC or it will back up into your house drain tiles. In most housed it's easy to hear the sump pump kick on.
 
Dan last I know you didnt pee 30 gallons into the septic system at once. thats the issue concentration well actually given the ratio of 2 gallons of pee equaling 3 gallons of saltwater I am thinking you would have to pee about 45 gallons at once haha. What I do for water changes over the winter is to just run a hose out the window much better than buckets.
 
The problem for me is it's way too easy to run a siphon hose to my laundry sink 2 feet away from my sump. I like the idea of a dry well though, I need to put one in for my crock pot discharge anyways... Eventually I'm going to have it all in the basement, so it will be good to figure out what to do with the WC water. I'd like to do around 15 gallons every two weeks, or maybe 30 gallons every month. I wonder what's better?
 
Not yet, just a crock in the floor. I'm thinking if my sump is in the basement I can make a dry well in the yard and then pump the WC water up and out and into it. The sump pump can eventually also get pumped into the same well. Pascal, you might want to go this route too.
 
Willistein said:
Not yet, just a crock in the floor. I'm thinking if my sump is in the basement I can make a dry well in the yard and then pump the WC water up and out and into it. The sump pump can eventually also get pumped into the same well. Pascal, you might want to go this route too.
Click to expand...


Its a great idea. If we end up with a home that has a septic system I'll surely go that route. All depends on the layout. I run a genesis water changer so I'll probably be putting in a holding bin to accumulate water in and have the reefkeeper pump it empty when needed.

Educational thread, thanks guys!
 
one question I would have about the dry well idea how large of a crock are they I have only dealt with old re ones that only hold like 50 gallons just wondering what would happen if it were raining and half full already etc. the only think I have seen thats larger is whats called a gray water tank
 
~ jfl14609,

While on the subject of sumppumps , Im looking at how they go hand & hand with check or foot valves.As far as I know none of these were designed for saltwater applications.
Do you have any thoughts on weather or not one should be used or an alternative route?
..".Or just be cautious" Lol ;Just wondering.
 
I have thought about that myself but there are a few reasons I havent tried first being most of them are metal meaning they rust and those that are plastic have metal screws that rust terrible. another think is I dont think they are really meant to run 24/7
 
Yeah thats about what I was thinking.It seems even if someone were to replace the screws with say plastic ones or ,perhaps a good grade stainless steel screw,there still lyes the issue of the flapper whitch is notorious for sticking for those who have leaned on using them in reef tanks.So would you agree a sumppump would most likely not be applicable as a way of dealing with water changes?
 
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