This doesn't make any sense, you could literally just shit in a hole and it would be "no prob". Septic system are designed based on effluent concentrations, which I assure you, you're violating. Really this is just to make yourself feel better, but it's certainly not anywhere near sufficient and you have no idea the damage you've caused to the environment.
Skills, persistence, patience, strength, curiosity, desire, determination...these are some of the qualities that make us in awe of you, Steve! Wow! That worked out great!
We live in a class A motor home full time on land that we own and we have a 1,000 gallon septic tank. However, we use a urine diverting toilet. So, the gray water and pee water goes into the septic but the dry waste (poop) goes to the land fill or it can be composted. Because no solids make it to the septic tank, there will never be a build up requiring it to be pumped out. We have Stainless steel strainers for all of our drains which prevents even kitchen scraps from making it to the septic. We literally use a garden hose for our drain line to the septic tank. We live in a very strict county and they gave us a pass on the urine diverting toilet. Even if you didn’t want a dry toilet system you still could have run all your water through the four 55 gallon barrels and used septic aids to add bugs to break down the solids. By the way I have two degrees and licenses in the wastewater field and was superintendent a wastewater treatment plant before retiring.
I would like to see how these stainless steel strainers work and where they are placed etc... very interesting concept especially for me that knows nothing lol. Curious how u remove the solids? Shortly in nxt few months plan on building off grid cabin so doing alot of searching... this idea sound awesome to me..thanks
@@kirksimpkins6711 We got the screens at a dollars store and they just sit in the drain area. we have them for the kitchen, bathroom and show tub drains. they can not remove super tiny solids but those are going to break down in the system on their own.
That's just it. There's really nothing "expert" about it. It's big money. Permitting and keeping contractors greased. And we're the dumb sheep, just about to sell, then surprise!!! you need $30,000 for a septic, by the way, here's contact information for local contractors! My "contractor" the Creator God said that waste is filtered and fully treated in four feet. Additionally outlaw systems have been tested to perform the same as 1000gal. tanks. The reality is avoid water source and waterways. And I thought pumping of tanks is for too much water, not solids. The old saying. Make money by fixing people's problems. But get rich by creating problems, then formulate costly solutions. It's the way of the world!
I am looking to buy a few acres of land in Arizona and I would like to do something like what you described😊 I absolutely am so grateful to all who share their knowledge and experience with this septic DIY projects❤ I was hoping if possible you could do a step by step process on exactly what you used parts wise etc😊 I would like each home set up with a flushable system that works like you mentioned and can go straight to the composting piles ❤ Also same thing but separate basically grey water can also go straight to trees and gardens❤ if thats possible as I'm sure it is Then I would like to have a rain catchment system that would accommodate at least 2 to 3 people per home I plan on building ❤ and will buy property with water rights or better yet it's own well Also looking at plenty of solar panels to accommodate each home sufficiently never to run out of energy everything would run off of electricity and I was thinking I could also use other ways of collecting energy from the sun or windbinds? Not sure I'm saying that right😂
It's not horrible and should work fine for a single person. However, if you do this again, or anyone else that is considering this, don't wrap the stone in fabric. Fabric on top only. If this were a french drain or a seepage bed to get rid of clean water - then yes fabric all the way around the stone to prevent infiltration of fines. When you are dealing with sewer effluent you want direct contact between the stone and the soil. At that precise location is where the bacterial action takes place to further brake down the sewer effluent. This action not only makes the system last longer but helps purify the wastewater to prevent ground water contamination. As a civil engineer we design the size of systems not just based on the capacity of water it needs to handle, but also the proper amount of time before the water perc's into the soil to actually allow the bacteria to treat the water.
@@bryanbaker-m2o I actually did mean to say fines. Fines are the smallest particles that make up soil. Almost dust like. These are the particles that will plug up stone. In fact these are the particles that make up clay or silt. Sand has fewer fines, clay type soil has more fines.
its call you either pay some one to do it or you do it yourself if you are broke so now I can build an entire house, fix electronics. rebuild engines, cut heart pine flooring and many other trades all because I was born broke. I can even do survival if needed.
Again... great job, very inspiring! I had previously built a 2 barrel system but yours motivated me to do better on a 2nd new system. Last week, 14 months later of full time use, I cleaned out the 2 barrel versions & made some plumbing modifications, including the gray water bypass that you have & it should work much better. (Dumping all 3 RV tanks at once overwhelmed the system. ) The bypass is genius & we had started to do that by default but externally. That said, I put a 2nd system in for separate RV. I went with a 4-55 gal barrel ($8 per) system like yours with a few modifications. (ICB's are nice concept but more expensive ($125+ per in my area & I'm not sure I trust them unless the HD black German ones.) I just don't think it's needed; 220 gal total is more than enough for casual use or constant use for a small family. If more is needed, one should ante up for a true 500 gal septic tank & be done. I used all 4" fittings everywhere instead of 3". In all barrels, I used standard T's with tails for effluent vs clean out T's.. they are tad smaller & easier to place in the barrels higher. I used 90⁰ elbows on the inlets with small breather holes drilled on the top. I have a separate dump cap & plug for black & grey vs a valve like yours; I couldn't find a valve I liked & also wanted to standardize it for multiple RV's or maybe even a small cabin at some point. All 4 barrels have full cap & threaded plugs for quick access to each for viewing & cleanout. That said after cleaning some of these out recently...the rectangle cutout access panel works much better for access anyway. I also only put perforations on the front 2/3 & bottom of barrel #4 1/2 way up. (Wanted to keep it unidirectional. ) This barrel is completely surrounded by gravel all the way up for support but extend completely into the drain field. I put a 4" viewing/access port at the end of the 75' drain field via a 90⁰ elbow, cap & threaded plug. I used a double layer of cloth on top but not sides but a 2' wide trench with 18" total gravel. The perforated pipe is also in a drain sock. Thx for the video, motivation & inspiration.
That sounds great!!! I to donr really trust the thin ibc totes we have around here. A friend gave me two totes a while back, i was going to cut up the plastic liners and use them to store firewood. One tote liner was thin, like the liner I have for rain water, the other was super thick like the black German ones! Could have used it. I was out there yesterday. We have had alot of rain and they are still underground. Several mentioned they will pop right up after a good rain. I checked black water tank level in the trailer, 25%. Its been quite of time since I did that first 20 or 30 gallon dump of black in that first tank. I this this setup will be a good start for just me. I also treated that first tank with warm water and yeast, as well as 5 gallons fresh with yeast in the black tank on trailer. I should have put inspections on the middle two as well.. Really glad you got yours up and going!!
@StevesBeyondRepair thx for the reply! My 1st 2 barrel RV system is surrounded by the same washed gravel to the top of the barrels that then leads into the pipe & rock drain field. I should add that both systems are on a natural slope. The 2 combined together in addition to decent draining clay soil...no floating. (Last year was the wettest & coldest winter in 30 years.) Also, I've been using the 2 barrel full time since installation while we build. With the changes I recently made & clean out... I'm not worried even though I may eventually extend the 30' drain field & goto 4 barrels. After next summer it will goto very casual occasional use at best. I'm definitely not worried about the new 4 barrel version at all, even with full-time use...which it will likely only see for 4-6 weeks in the summer anyway. (Unless we put a small cabin in eventually. ) We haul water in clean food grade ICB totes on converted boat trailer ($300)... thin wall totes are fine. We also use another one elevated to gravity feed our clothes washer...in above freezing seasons. (Colorado 6,850' elevation) Lastly, we use a $200 2" HF trash pump to pump out the tanks/barrel to a non-food grade ICB tote. When cleaned out again, this can also used to store a tanks worth for potential fire control in the summer as we live off-grid. I would like to pick up a few ICB cages for firewood as you note. Like you, having a tractor, I have pallet forks, which make these so easy to move around. BTW, I have only seen the black German ones online, never locally.
We use the ibc totes alot in our area for offgrid drinking water storage, rain catchment and septic tanks. We don’t have access to the black german tote’s. We just make sure and use plywood to encase the tote’s before lowering into the ground and back filling or the weight of the backfill will crush them. One fella forgot and his half poop filled tote crushed leaving him the messy job of digging it all up by hand and bailing it with a small bucket- lesson learned
Good job & vid, nice effort too. i would have done things a bit differently & had the black & grey go together. I built a quick, rough system years ago in far North Queensland, Cooktown, Australia, it was in the middle of rain forest. I used a rusted out 44 gallon drum, dug a hole 50mm wider, thin concrete bottom, then 50mm around outside of drum, a tee in & a tee out to 4 meter’s of slotted 4” PVC with heaps of rocks, stubbie bottles etc in a trench a couple of meters longer with black & grey going in this lasted for about 5 years before it needed pumping out with several people using this dwelling. I dont know how long it lasted after that, but I had expected the rainforest tree roots to clog the whole thing up well before that first clean out anyhow so was pretty impressed with the end results of 2 days manual work it took to create this system. TFS. Cheers
I as a septic system installer do not see any benefit to more than 1 barrel as I don't believe that the solids will leave the first barrel however for most campers limited use 1 barrel will prob last forever under most circumstances. I am also wondering why you put the rock on the plastic instead of plastic over the rock, The plastic will prevent the waste water from leaching in the ground, even if it is a cloth fabric I would be concerned about the pores getting clogged with grease soap ect therefore preventing the waste water from leaching into the soil. One word of advice is make DARN SURE that you do NOT leave your camper valves open, Even though you now have a septic system you MUST treat it the same as before or you will end up with a poop pyramid in your black tank and a very stinky food and particle buildup in your gray tank as you MUST have large volumes of water to remove the solids from your camper tanks!
27:49 I believe the gray water half of the T went bye-bye when you were dumping final fill. Other than that... good job. Lotta work. Appreciate the extra effort to video and comment the process.
Steve all that struggling there was know need bud if you had put a heat gun or torch on the pipe you can bend them all ways bud, and even enlarge one pipe to go over other. once you have it just put cold water on it will set to how you bent it and if you have a piece that small you can heat big one up collapse big to fit small save a lot of money$$$ on the expensive parts all the couplings and bends Remember this for Next job😮😊
Was I the only one who got nervous when he had the skid steer close to the slide out 😂 all I thought about was a mayhem Allstate commercial! Awesome video btw, very informative
I'm totally going to do this. I'm in the city but I have an acre lot with an outbuilding in the far back corner. There is probably not enough grade slope to get to my existing septic and there are too many obstacles to go around so I'm doing a tiny, stealthy DIY septic. But I'm not posting it on YT :)
I'm no expert but I've never seen a drain field made like that. The older ones I've seen have the rocks exposed to the dirt on the bottom so the water can seep into the ground over a large area. The newer ones have these plastic "tunnels" to do the same. It looks to me like you just built a large, rock filled pipe. I hope it works since you put so much time and effort into it.
Yes sir. It is hard to tell. That trench was maybe 30 inches deep 18 wide. Put down fabric, and one trailer load, 2.5 tons of rock. Probably 15 in thick first, then covered that with 2.5 more. So the leach pipe is right in the middle of that. Dang hard to film all of that, just wanted to work.🤣
This setup is not uncommon. You can put your landscape fabric above the pipe, or all the way around the pipe. It's porous, so it won't mess anything up. The main goal is to keep dirt from getting into the rocks, because the rocks provide the necessary surface area for drainage. The plastic tunnels that you see are probably not porous, so they need to be open on the bottom.
I use the barrels cut length wide as those infiltrator plastic pieces, just drill a 4in hole thru the top section of the barrel and run the drain pipe on top this way you have a large contact area for the water and need less area, lots of UA-cam on this
Steve doesn't respect the laws requiring approved OSSF's with permits and inspections. Maybe a near-by water well getting polluted by this boot-legger.
People didn't used to have their counties go after them for just trying to live and survive. You hear older people say it used to be easier to get permits and do things. Its the corruption and the big developers that have singled everyone out so only they can get what they want. People forget that people used to do stuff like this. You should be able to do this and not have people go after you.
This kind of stuff is very exciting because you start to think... I could live cheap. I don't need a ton of money to live a good life. And I can be more free. So thank you. Hope you do more videos. @@StevesBeyondRepair
Problem with this is, what happens when your neighbor installs this 10ft from your shallow well. For rural areas this is absolutely fine but unfortunately there's always somebody that does something stupid and ruins it for everybody.
It took me 5 seconds to see the nice slope you’re beside and I knew right then that your gonna be just fine regarding the leech field so it’s in the bag 👍🌎🔥
I think you did a great job of knowing how the tanks work. You did the baffling correct. The gravel under the barrels not necessary. It will just let water sit underneath the barrels around them. As far as the field goes everything seem fine except for I am, I don’t know if that rap was on the ditch that black material almost sound, like plastic was a perforated, the stone alone put some hay on top of the storm stop the dirt from going down the stone, actually collects any sewage that bypasses like a secondary filter helps perforate the soil on the sides and the bottom. All in all good job don’t know the usage I’m in a 200 gallon. Total is sufficient for one person have the solid drums pumped out now and then.
Did something similar to this. But the ground i was digging in (by hand) has rocks as big as your backhoe there. It was very difficult to get the job done. Then i rented a ditch digger to do my leach lines.
I watched the whole video in awe! Great job. And then i let out such a loud gasp at the end!!! I hope that was an easy fix after all that hard work...❤
I built a two barrel system, and it's been working for five years, two, 55 gallon plastic drums, with( the bottoms cut out) solids break down quickly, and liquids seep away. Good system for forty bucks, but completely illegal.
if you use a mascerator pump everything will disenergrate into the ground. The mascerator pump grinds everything pretty well. ive been testing a couple of small holes about the size a post stump digger. only problem is it takes forever to dry in the winter time.
I’m all for the project and great job by the way, Only thing I would worry about is if the trailer tires leak down or leveling jacks dropped down for some reason then your pvc plumbing will break.
I agree! I thought about that a bit too. I do re level every so often(automatic leveling with a push of the button). I'm going to end up taking the y valve off at some point, and tie in back at the 2 inch gray before it dumps into 3 inch(under trailer). Thanks for watching!
Hi Steve. I definitely like your idea of dealing with your RV's waste water. When I look at your system, I wonder how any solids will ever make it to the second drum/barrel. It seems like this is a single black water tank followed by three grey water tanks. Many regular household two-chamber septic tanks function this way (connection-wise), where the first chamber is for holding solids while the second chamber is for holding gray water prior to release to the leach field. Hopefully, that first tank doesn't fill up faster than the solids can decompose. Please let us know how it's going. Thanks!
You know...as I was putting that together, I was contemplating the same thing. Not really knowing the ins and outs, I treated the 30 or so gallons of black water you saw me dump, with a mixture of warm water and yeast. I'm hoping the little buggers eat up most of the solids before the next time I dump it. I think that's how that works. Just me out there, and not but just on the weekends. So not too much waste for sure. I started the empty black tank this time with 5 gall of fresh water, and a couple tablespoons of yeast to start eating away at the poop before it ever gets dumped. We'll see I suppose. I should have used a 275 gallon ibc tote as the black tank... oh well, what's the worst case scenario....dig er up!!😁
Cool. Is your septic the same as this one? Or how different? And what do you do when these get full? How do you service them? I'm interested in how to make one of these. The big money in the country is gone. Because big tech and others aren't going to share America with the rest of us. The future is going to be in do it yourself. So I feel like I need to gather information on how to build one of these on the cheap. Thanks.
@@noahriding5780 wish I took pictures.... Anyhow, our septic system is gravity flow... tank is 55-60 year old and pumped twice only. We upgraded our field system to two 75 foot 1/2 (2 ft dia) culverts...those 1/2 culverts are sitting on 16" of gravel... the gray water pipes are attached to the underside of each 1/2 culverts and drain onto that gravel bed. Culverts (galvanized) were old and FREE .... bit of work to cut in half... The trenches we dug with a borrowed back hoe... gravel we got free, but had to haul it.... SHYT flows down hill lol... But honestly, the system cost...can't remember... maybe $100 at that time...PIPE was all we needed...we drilled drain holes... HEY, THIS SYSTEM WORKS.... cheers
I see you said you need a dump trailer badly - I was just going to say in the meantime they sell a really affordable dump kit for your truck bed that is like a REALLY tough screen material that you lay down, and put your material for dumping on top of that and then it hand cranks super easily (even with stone or dirt). It slips on and off your truck easily. It also attaches to your trailer - just whatever you don't mind cranking but it comes with an extra crank bar for leverage and isn't hard at all. I think it costs about 100-120 and it's actually a workhorse. My dad in another state needed a driveway done and I used it on his truck for about 10 loads of dirt and about 20 loads of mixed sized agg. A full 150 ft driveway worth and it didn't even seem like it had even been used yet it was still brand new after all that. 10 years later he still uses it and it's in great shape. It's allowed him to do major projects in his senior years by himself without the need to rent expensive equipment on his budget.
I actually thought about that !! I decided to buy a dump trailer. Made a video of it. In the end when I think I'm done with it, and the high cost of used ones, will end up selling it. Also when I retire, since I have a bobcat, dump trailer that can haul it, could score some part time extra money hauling debris for people! Thanks for watching!
Great work Steve that’s a job well done. I built one similar recently. So why don’t you just run it all into a single pipe? Just like a home septic system…you ought to be able to enjoy the benefits of keeping both tanks open and not have to fiddle with going out and manually doing all that.
You are very right, and I could have. My thinking was since I used such small holding tanks (55 gallon), that I didnt want to waste any space in them with basically clean gray water from sink's and shower. Hindsight tells me I should have used a 275 gallon tote for the first tank. Oh well, it will work for just me, for now 👍 thanks for tuning in!!
I would have done things a bit differently. I don't the idea of using the 3 inch wye valve to seperate the grey/black water. If that valve doesn't seat properly or you forget to position it correctly you could end up overfilling the "black" portion of your septic with grey water or putting black water into the grey section. What i would do instead is cut the grey line between the grey gate valve and the 3x3x2 tee/wye were the 2 inch grey line connects tp the 3 inch dump line. Add another 2 inch gate valve near the 3x3x2 dump line tee. Then place a 2x2x2 tee between the two 2inch gate valves. After the 2x2c2 tee add a slip to female screw on connector. All of this should be black abs piping and connections. The female screw on connector allows the ability of adding a 2 inch plug if you ever sell the rv. You can then use white pvc from that point to the septic tank. Connect the white pvc to the black abs using a flexible connector. Now the only time you have to mess with valves is if you want to flush the drain line. Otherwise, keep the black gate valve open, keep the original grey gate valve open and the new grey gate valve closed. Every couple of weeks add poo bacteria to the black section of the septic via the insoection/vent line. Every few months close the black gate valve, add about 5 to 10 gallons of water and a dose of poo bacteria and let it sit for the weekend or longer. Then open the black gate valve again.
I noticed the same thing, no need for a Jandy... Steve and anyone else should get permits and inspections to meet local codes, as to not pollute the ground water that someone may be drinking.
I put a couple of 1" vents in my set up you can always fly on trailer vents but I just wanted extra. I made them the height of the trailer for on hot days it will vent above the trailer height
If you want to take plastic glued joints apart use gentle heat from a torch to heat the joint and it will break down the glue and allow it to come apart.
When it's time to move you van will it run the pipes over. Maybe you need a flex hose and the whole septic system 3 ft further away. I would have run the grey water into it's own leach bed. The soaps clog the drain media and make it water repellent. That's just my take and being a bit ocd about septic systems. Other than that. Wow. Great work. I'm glad you didn't glue all the top pipes. One day you may need to check on a blockage so your can use this entry point. Inspection caps at the bends above ground would make it easy too. I watched most of the video. It was strangely therapeutic.
@@StevesBeyondRepair thanks for the message. Keep making videos. It's always good to see old school practical workmanship. Cheers from Australia. We too have septic on oyr house as it's in the outer suburbs of the city(Perth) and have lived with our septic system for 40 years so have come to understand the little universe of bacteria that are. Lots of respect to you for understanding how they work. The step down between tanks and the T pipe for air break though the crust are the ones that no one seems to understand. Cheers.
When you backfill these to help them take the weight of the ground fill above them, how much do you need to fill them? I mean you probably don't fill them all the way because you don't want it too full before the sewage goes in right? I am wondering what the right fill % to be approximately? Also thank you.
I back filled around 12 inches on top, packed around ribbed edges of the barrels.i dont think they will come up, but then again we haven't had rain here in Texas for months!!😯😁 I did dump 25 or 30 gallons in that first tank that day. Have not been out there enough this summer to empty out what little is in the black water tank. I'm counting on it working fine for me. If not I'll fix it!👍👍
@@doreenwilliams9857 they are both clean out caps that I have not cut flush to the ground yet. Wanted to be able to look inside to see levels and such.
I dont ever think an in town city would ever let you do this unless you paid 5 different trades to layout, design, get design approval, perk test, and several permits. From a handful of comments here, j should be locked up. Maybe I should have dug a deep hole, built an outhouse over it, and pooped right in the dirt! 🤣😉
QUESTIONS: Why is there a riser at the end of the barrels? Where is the gray water going? Shouldn't there be some air vent in the system? What about some flexseal to seal around the pipes entering and exiting the barrels? Why use 4" PVC, wouldn't 3" be more than adequate?
I first riser is in the 1st black water barrel to inspect and empty if needed. Thec2nd riser is to just keep an eye on the forth barrel. All gray water will dump directly into lateral. It was all 3 inch line if I remember correctly. The whole system is open to the lateral line to vent.
You have a dump trailer, all you have to do is pick up the tongue of the trailer with the front bucket of the tractor or skid steer and voila instant dump trailer. I have been doing that for years and as long as you lift slow you can even control the spread very well till the trailer wants to hit the ground then you have to make a pile but it is extremely fast and a lot cheaper than buying another trailer.
That was my first try for sure! Tried it with the kioti tractor first. It would pick up until the trailer rotated to hit on the rear of trailer, and could not lift the 2.5 tons any higher. Then got the bobcat involved. She could lift it up pretty high, but not enough to get to to slide down. At that point I didn't feel comfortable about climbing out of the Bobcat to help neighbor mark manually shoved off the trailer. Was not going to do that again. That's why you see me trying to get it off with the backhoe. It was terrible. I sold my big trailer for almost 4 grand, and added some for a dump trailer.....made a video it.👍👍 one of the best things I've ever bought!!!
A heavy duty Lanscape fabric or road fabric would have been a much better choice over the black plastic you surrounded your drain field in, and why wouldn’t you pull in your pop out when you filled the hole?
If I ever need to, I do have the first tank with a built in 3 inch clean out, and I can monitor it thru that opening. Think it will be fine with just me. Thanks for watching
Very nice system, except for the fact that pvc pipe is not UV treated and will eventually break down due to the exposure to sunlight. That will take a while, of course, so it may not be an issue for you.
That will happen for sure. Brought out some heavy duty aluminum foil to wrap everything that is exposed. Hopefully will ward off the decay. I am eventually do away with the two way valve and tie in further back to the black and gray separately. Thanks for watching and commenting!!👍
I've got to have a permitted $15,000 engineered septic system installed by a licensed installer, so add at least $5,000 more. I live alone in a one-bedroom shack on 10 acres of woods and am not allowed to compost my poop. But my neighbor can have 80 head shitting all over the ground on 40 acres.
@@SteveHammer-b3k crazy stuff!! I totally agree with you! Cattle, horses, goats, open septic. With just you, 20,000 septic. Guess they would just have us dig holes, and go right in them, instead of us building a small no nonsense septic...
@@StevesBeyondRepair Yes, no codes, no zoning, no building permits here, but septic is required to get an address. They can't stop me from just camping.
I seen septic tank going for 500.00 ya a dump trailer or nice a heavy duty tarp next best thing put it under the dirt pull some out just need a heavy tie off point at 19.09 don't they have a flex line to a hard line conversion flex line to a hard line about 9.98 amazon I checked
Steve, this bootleg ossf (on-site sewage system) would be illegal where I live in central Texas unless you are on over 10 acres and no ground water considerations. It looks like you have some general knowledge, funds, equipment and skills to install a system to meet minimum code standards. An engineer or sanatarian would charge about $500 to do the perk test and design for your type 2 soil site. The homestead septic permit and county inspections should be less than $500. A 750 gallon 2 chamber concrete tank costs about $1500 delivered and placed in your hole with pea gravel bedding. The drainfield Leaching chambers for an approximate 800 sqft field would cost about $1000. You need about 200 ft of 3' W x 2' D trench for the legal chambers. You have the pipe fittings, pipe and Jandy valve already figured out. With your skills and labor your legal costs are about $4,000. Vs. $10.000 fine plus re-do per code.
Great comment and valid points, but... ground water is 250 feet. It was designed for one person, me. And, if I do build a home out here, I'm not even sure where I'd put it! This is temporary at best, and if I sell, I'll take this with me.😯 we also could not do this in fort worth where I live... I think it will be fine for now. Thanks for commenting!!👍👍
Should have used a diverter box right under your trailer sewer drain. Go to 4 or 6 inches right there. Don't understand plastic under the gravel. Would have gone with landscaping fabric or something else porous. As far as catching solids in 55 gallon barrel... I mean if you like digging it up every 2 years. But your project will get you through a year until you can build a house if that's the plan, and for that, disregard everything I said. It's a good cheap temporary solution to a daily problem. Although the diverter box I'd have done and maybe a septic clean out pipe filter. If I'm going to get to where I use a tractor and buy gravel.
It was road fabric. A little further back under trailer is the separate 3 inch black, and two inch gray. At some point I'll get rid of the y valve. This is all a temp solution to keep from pooping behind a tree!!
@@StevesBeyondRepair LOL! Hey sometimes trees need fertilizer. I did a septic system overhaul on a property grandfathered. But it's an outdated system and need to move it further from a watershed. Your video gave me a few ideas, but I can't cheat where I am. Long story. But also, the Texas Health Department engineer I met with told me all he does is look at properties people are under Homestead Exemption, and what's on file. So if there's no sewer tap or septic system, he adds it to his list to inspect. Central Texas depends upon water from aquifers under everything, and they crack down on Homesteads. But corporations can do what they need as long as they pay the tap fees. Real Estate Developers make the codes Homesteads have to suffer from. I'm not against good practices but it's getting like California here in Central Texas because of big Real Estate Developers.
Need a dump trailer, you got one. Unhook the trailer from the truck, lift the hitch area with the excavator and it will dump contents so says Sir Isaac Newton, something about the "Law Of Gravity".
Great job, but in the future the term "Poopy Water" is usually called "Black Water" and water used for bathing and washing dishes is called "Gray Water".
serious question, heaven forbid a zoning change, it's happened in my neighborhood, can you just walk away from it or are you obligated to deconstruct it?
I'd have to agree with that somewhat. But, since the black water tanks are pretty small, I didnt want to fill them up with clean water from the sink and shower. I put 5 gallons of warm water with yeast in it that first barrel that day(it was probably 20 or so gallons dumped that day), as well as started my empty black water holding tank with the same. I am at about 25 gallons right now in the holding tank on the trailer. Going to empty it soon, while it's open, will pour 5 more gallons of warm yeast water in. By the time it hits the second and third tank should be good an clean. I leave the gray open all the time to the lateral.
@StevesBeyondRepair I had thoughts so, thx. I was trying to duplicate it today but with 4"... harder to get the T's in the right location on the sides with 4". Thx again
I get why you use a T on the outlets from barrel to barrel However, is there any reason to not use a 90⁰ elbow pointing down on the inlet to barrels #2, #3 & #4 vs a T? (With a small hole drilled at the top to help flow.) Thx again.
You can see as I was digging and the different colors of soil down to 6 feet, there are several different types of clay. As far as shwt, I just had a water well drilled. After about ten or twelve feet it hit varying types of clay, shale, sandy shale, and finally around 200ft, hit gravel. Water table is pretty deep.
Your right, but its just me, no need to. Now, if it was a regular home, five kids, tons of showers, dishes, laundry, well of course I would have done a huge tank, and a large lateral line field. Thanks for watching!👍
So everything I gathered was 3 inch pvc. All the elbows and tees. I have a few different pieces leftover. I am going to get rid of the y valve I put in at some point and run direct gray from its drain, and black from its, since they are separate on this trailer further back.
I really hope I'm not the first to point out and tell you that your grey water isnt going where you think it is. When you were backfilling, the pipe failed at the coupling
I put 2 drums in a house with 3 people Its been 10 yrs and no prob
That's what I'm saying!!!😉
This doesn't make any sense, you could literally just shit in a hole and it would be "no prob". Septic system are designed based on effluent concentrations, which I assure you, you're violating. Really this is just to make yourself feel better, but it's certainly not anywhere near sufficient and you have no idea the damage you've caused to the environment.
@@StevesBeyondRepairwelp this guy hasn’t seen my 💩 Turds. Booooy I’m telling you.
@@Mr.SuperDuper-idk Hahaha!!
Have u had to pump drums in 10 yrs?
Skills, persistence, patience, strength, curiosity, desire, determination...these are some of the qualities that make us in awe of you, Steve! Wow! That worked out great!
We live in a class A motor home full time on land that we own and we have a 1,000 gallon septic tank. However, we use a urine diverting toilet. So, the gray water and pee water goes into the septic but the dry waste (poop) goes to the land fill or it can be composted. Because no solids make it to the septic tank, there will never be a build up requiring it to be pumped out. We have Stainless steel strainers for all of our drains which prevents even kitchen scraps from making it to the septic. We literally use a garden hose for our drain line to the septic tank. We live in a very strict county and they gave us a pass on the urine diverting toilet. Even if you didn’t want a dry toilet system you still could have run all your water through the four 55 gallon barrels and used septic aids to add bugs to break down the solids. By the way I have two degrees and licenses in the wastewater field and was superintendent a wastewater treatment plant before retiring.
I would like to see how these stainless steel strainers work and where they are placed etc... very interesting concept especially for me that knows nothing lol. Curious how u remove the solids? Shortly in nxt few months plan on building off grid cabin so doing alot of searching... this idea sound awesome to me..thanks
@@kirksimpkins6711 We got the screens at a dollars store and they just sit in the drain area. we have them for the kitchen, bathroom and show tub drains. they can not remove super tiny solids but those are going to break down in the system on their own.
That's just it. There's really nothing "expert" about it. It's big money. Permitting and keeping contractors greased. And we're the dumb sheep, just about to sell, then surprise!!! you need $30,000 for a septic, by the way, here's contact information for local contractors!
My "contractor" the Creator God said that waste is filtered and fully treated in four feet. Additionally outlaw systems have been tested to perform the same as 1000gal. tanks. The reality is avoid water source and waterways. And I thought pumping of tanks is for too much water, not solids.
The old saying. Make money by fixing people's problems. But get rich by creating problems, then formulate costly solutions.
It's the way of the world!
I am looking to buy a few acres of land in Arizona and I would like to do something like what you described😊
I absolutely am so grateful to all who share their knowledge and experience with this septic DIY projects❤
I was hoping if possible you could do a step by step process on exactly what you used parts wise etc😊
I would like each home set up with a flushable system that works like you mentioned and can go straight to the composting piles ❤
Also same thing but separate basically grey water can also go straight to trees and gardens❤ if thats possible as I'm sure it is
Then I would like to have a rain catchment system that would accommodate at least 2 to 3 people per home I plan on building ❤ and will buy property with water rights or better yet it's own well
Also looking at plenty of solar panels to accommodate each home sufficiently never to run out of energy everything would run off of electricity and I was thinking I could also use other ways of collecting energy from the sun or windbinds? Not sure I'm saying that right😂
That's art thNk you for sharing
It's not horrible and should work fine for a single person. However, if you do this again, or anyone else that is considering this, don't wrap the stone in fabric. Fabric on top only. If this were a french drain or a seepage bed to get rid of clean water - then yes fabric all the way around the stone to prevent infiltration of fines. When you are dealing with sewer effluent you want direct contact between the stone and the soil. At that precise location is where the bacterial action takes place to further brake down the sewer effluent. This action not only makes the system last longer but helps purify the wastewater to prevent ground water contamination. As a civil engineer we design the size of systems not just based on the capacity of water it needs to handle, but also the proper amount of time before the water perc's into the soil to actually allow the bacteria to treat the water.
Was it fabric or plastic? Looked like and sounded like plastic to me.
@@McDIY it's fabric.
Best common sense simple explanation I've heard for describing this critical process. Thank you for sharing.
I think you meant to say vines, roots maybe, but Fines from the local health department are more likely.
@@bryanbaker-m2o I actually did mean to say fines. Fines are the smallest particles that make up soil. Almost dust like. These are the particles that will plug up stone. In fact these are the particles that make up clay or silt. Sand has fewer fines, clay type soil has more fines.
Awesome job!
If you detach your trailer from your truck and use the loader to lift on the tongue, you can turn it into a dump trailer 😂
I am in awe of how you can figure out how to do anything you need to do. Great job, Steve.
its call you either pay some one to do it or you do it yourself if you are broke so now I can build an entire house, fix electronics. rebuild engines, cut heart pine flooring and many other trades all because I was born broke. I can even do survival if needed.
Again... great job, very inspiring! I had previously built a 2 barrel system but yours motivated me to do better on a 2nd new system. Last week, 14 months later of full time use, I cleaned out the 2 barrel versions & made some plumbing modifications, including the gray water bypass that you have & it should work much better. (Dumping all 3 RV tanks at once overwhelmed the system. ) The bypass is genius & we had started to do that by default but externally.
That said, I put a 2nd system in for separate RV. I went with a 4-55 gal barrel ($8 per) system like yours with a few modifications. (ICB's are nice concept but more expensive ($125+ per in my area & I'm not sure I trust them unless the HD black German ones.) I just don't think it's needed; 220 gal total is more than enough for casual use or constant use for a small family. If more is needed, one should ante up for a true 500 gal septic tank & be done.
I used all 4" fittings everywhere instead of 3". In all barrels, I used standard T's with tails for effluent vs clean out T's.. they are tad smaller & easier to place in the barrels higher. I used 90⁰ elbows on the inlets with small breather holes drilled on the top. I have a separate dump cap & plug for black & grey vs a valve like yours; I couldn't find a valve I liked & also wanted to standardize it for multiple RV's or maybe even a small cabin at some point. All 4 barrels have full cap & threaded plugs for quick access to each for viewing & cleanout. That said after cleaning some of these out recently...the rectangle cutout access panel works much better for access anyway. I also only put perforations on the front 2/3 & bottom of barrel #4 1/2 way up. (Wanted to keep it unidirectional. ) This barrel is completely surrounded by gravel all the way up for support but extend completely into the drain field.
I put a 4" viewing/access port at the end of the 75' drain field via a 90⁰ elbow, cap & threaded plug. I used a double layer of cloth on top but not sides but a 2' wide trench with 18" total gravel. The perforated pipe is also in a drain sock. Thx for the video, motivation & inspiration.
That sounds great!!! I to donr really trust the thin ibc totes we have around here. A friend gave me two totes a while back, i was going to cut up the plastic liners and use them to store firewood. One tote liner was thin, like the liner I have for rain water, the other was super thick like the black German ones! Could have used it. I was out there yesterday. We have had alot of rain and they are still underground. Several mentioned they will pop right up after a good rain. I checked black water tank level in the trailer, 25%. Its been quite of time since I did that first 20 or 30 gallon dump of black in that first tank. I this this setup will be a good start for just me. I also treated that first tank with warm water and yeast, as well as 5 gallons fresh with yeast in the black tank on trailer. I should have put inspections on the middle two as well.. Really glad you got yours up and going!!
@StevesBeyondRepair thx for the reply!
My 1st 2 barrel RV system is surrounded by the same washed gravel to the top of the barrels that then leads into the pipe & rock drain field. I should add that both systems are on a natural slope. The 2 combined together in addition to decent draining clay soil...no floating. (Last year was the wettest & coldest winter in 30 years.)
Also, I've been using the 2 barrel full time since installation while we build. With the changes I recently made & clean out... I'm not worried even though I may eventually extend the 30' drain field & goto 4 barrels. After next summer it will goto very casual occasional use at best. I'm definitely not worried about the new 4 barrel version at all, even with full-time use...which it will likely only see for 4-6 weeks in the summer anyway. (Unless we put a small cabin in eventually. )
We haul water in clean food grade ICB totes on converted boat trailer ($300)... thin wall totes are fine. We also use another one elevated to gravity feed our clothes washer...in above freezing seasons. (Colorado 6,850' elevation) Lastly, we use a $200 2" HF trash pump to pump out the tanks/barrel to a non-food grade ICB tote. When cleaned out again, this can also used to store a tanks worth for potential fire control in the summer as we live off-grid.
I would like to pick up a few ICB cages for firewood as you note. Like you, having a tractor, I have pallet forks, which make these so easy to move around. BTW, I have only seen the black German ones online, never locally.
We use the ibc totes alot in our area for offgrid drinking water storage, rain catchment and septic tanks. We don’t have access to the black german tote’s. We just make sure and use plywood to encase the tote’s before lowering into the ground and back filling or the weight of the backfill will crush them. One fella forgot and his half poop filled tote crushed leaving him the messy job of digging it all up by hand and bailing it with a small bucket- lesson learned
Good job & vid, nice effort too. i would have done things a bit differently & had the black & grey go together. I built a quick, rough system years ago in far North Queensland, Cooktown, Australia, it was in the middle of rain forest. I used a rusted out 44 gallon drum, dug a hole 50mm wider, thin concrete bottom, then 50mm around outside of drum, a tee in & a tee out to 4 meter’s of slotted 4” PVC with heaps of rocks, stubbie bottles etc in a trench a couple of meters longer with black & grey going in this lasted for about 5 years before it needed pumping out with several people using this dwelling. I dont know how long it lasted after that, but I had expected the rainforest tree roots to clog the whole thing up well before that first clean out anyhow so was pretty impressed with the end results of 2 days manual work it took to create this system. TFS. Cheers
Thanks for the comment!! Cheers!
I as a septic system installer do not see any benefit to more than 1 barrel as I don't believe that the solids will leave the first barrel however for most campers limited use 1 barrel will prob last forever under most circumstances. I am also wondering why you put the rock on the plastic instead of plastic over the rock, The plastic will prevent the waste water from leaching in the ground, even if it is a cloth fabric I would be concerned about the pores getting clogged with grease soap ect therefore preventing the waste water from leaching into the soil. One word of advice is make DARN SURE that you do NOT leave your camper valves open, Even though you now have a septic system you MUST treat it the same as before or you will end up with a poop pyramid in your black tank and a very stinky food and particle buildup in your gray tank as you MUST have large volumes of water to remove the solids from your camper tanks!
Now this is some solid advice!!
Maceration is key😃
That is exactly what I thought 🤔
@mattdg1981 how much solid comes out of macerating types? No toilet products will be flushed... is it pretty much just liquid such as leaching?
This is some overdone hillbilly BS maybe he should have just put a real POWTs system in... cant be as expensive as that RV
27:49 I believe the gray water half of the T went bye-bye when you were dumping final fill.
Other than that... good job. Lotta work. Appreciate the extra effort to video and comment the process.
Yes you are right! Had someone mention that. Need to just hand dig er up, and throw some glue on it! Thanks for watching and commenting!!
Nice job. I like when folks post this content. Shows what can be done and others can try it or tweak it on their own. Thanks
Thanks!
Steve all that struggling there was know need bud
if you had put a heat gun or torch on the pipe you can bend them all ways bud,
and even enlarge one pipe to go over other.
once you have it just put cold water on it
will set to how you bent it
and if you have a piece that small you can heat big one up collapse big to fit small save a lot of money$$$ on the expensive parts all the couplings and bends Remember this for Next job😮😊
Great advice!!!
I hand dug one of these 20+ years ago for a guy that was living in an RV and needed a septic system!!
Whew!! I cannot imagine how hard that would have been!!!
Was I the only one who got nervous when he had the skid steer close to the slide out 😂 all I thought about was a mayhem Allstate commercial!
Awesome video btw, very informative
I did just almost hit it!!!
I'm totally going to do this. I'm in the city but I have an acre lot with an outbuilding in the far back corner.
There is probably not enough grade slope to get to my existing septic and there are too many obstacles to go around so I'm doing a tiny, stealthy DIY septic. But I'm not posting it on YT :)
Love it!!
I did one very similar , no plastic sheet , about 20 years ago , still working
Love it!!
I'm no expert but I've never seen a drain field made like that. The older ones I've seen have the rocks exposed to the dirt on the bottom so the water can seep into the ground over a large area. The newer ones have these plastic "tunnels" to do the same. It looks to me like you just built a large, rock filled pipe. I hope it works since you put so much time and effort into it.
Yes sir. It is hard to tell. That trench was maybe 30 inches deep 18 wide. Put down fabric, and one trailer load, 2.5 tons of rock. Probably 15 in thick first, then covered that with 2.5 more. So the leach pipe is right in the middle of that. Dang hard to film all of that, just wanted to work.🤣
This setup is not uncommon. You can put your landscape fabric above the pipe, or all the way around the pipe. It's porous, so it won't mess anything up. The main goal is to keep dirt from getting into the rocks, because the rocks provide the necessary surface area for drainage.
The plastic tunnels that you see are probably not porous, so they need to be open on the bottom.
@@dper1112
Is that landscape fabric? I thought it was black visqueen. If you are correct, then that makes more sense.
It is fabric. But it sure looks like 6mil black plastic!!😂
I use the barrels cut length wide as those infiltrator plastic pieces, just drill a 4in hole thru the top section of the barrel and run the drain pipe on top this way you have a large contact area for the water and need less area, lots of UA-cam on this
Nice project! Wish we could get away with this here, I bet your system will run just as good as a $10,000 "two bedroom" system around here.
Steve doesn't respect the laws requiring approved OSSF's with permits and inspections. Maybe a near-by water well getting polluted by this boot-legger.
This might sound strange but I have always wanted to learn how to do a DIY septic system. Thank you 😊
People didn't used to have their counties go after them for just trying to live and survive. You hear older people say it used to be easier to get permits and do things. Its the corruption and the big developers that have singled everyone out so only they can get what they want. People forget that people used to do stuff like this.
You should be able to do this and not have people go after you.
Totally agree. Great observation!!
This kind of stuff is very exciting because you start to think... I could live cheap. I don't need a ton of money to live a good life. And I can be more free. So thank you. Hope you do more videos. @@StevesBeyondRepair
Problem with this is, what happens when your neighbor installs this 10ft from your shallow well. For rural areas this is absolutely fine but unfortunately there's always somebody that does something stupid and ruins it for everybody.
It took me 5 seconds to see the nice slope you’re beside and I knew right then that your gonna be just fine regarding the leech field so it’s in the bag 👍🌎🔥
Yes!!!👍👍
As a retired,master plumber, I wouldn't have glued that.
I think you did a great job of knowing how the tanks work. You did the baffling correct. The gravel under the barrels not necessary. It will just let water sit underneath the barrels around them. As far as the field goes everything seem fine except for I am, I don’t know if that rap was on the ditch that black material almost sound, like plastic was a perforated, the stone alone put some hay on top of the storm stop the dirt from going down the stone, actually collects any sewage that bypasses like a secondary filter helps perforate the soil on the sides and the bottom. All in all good job don’t know the usage I’m in a 200 gallon. Total is sufficient for one person have the solid drums pumped out now and then.
Great comment! It was a black road base fabric I used to wrap the rock. I just wanted to try to keep any roots out of the lateral line.
Maybe a permit for a legal system?
Did something similar to this. But the ground i was digging in (by hand) has rocks as big as your backhoe there. It was very difficult to get the job done. Then i rented a ditch digger to do my leach lines.
Oh man!!! Well, lucky, no rocks here!👍👍
I watched the whole video in awe! Great job. And then i let out such a loud gasp at the end!!! I hope that was an easy fix after all that hard work...❤
Hahaha! Yep, it was just below grade.😉 thanks for watching and commenting!!
I built a two barrel system, and it's been working for five years, two, 55 gallon plastic drums, with( the bottoms cut out) solids break down quickly, and liquids seep away. Good system for forty bucks, but completely illegal.
if you use a mascerator pump everything will disenergrate into the ground. The mascerator pump grinds everything pretty well. ive been testing a couple of small holes about the size a post stump digger. only problem is it takes forever to dry in the winter time.
I’m all for the project and great job by the way, Only thing I would worry about is if the trailer tires leak down or leveling jacks dropped down for some reason then your pvc plumbing will break.
I agree! I thought about that a bit too. I do re level every so often(automatic leveling with a push of the button). I'm going to end up taking the y valve off at some point, and tie in back at the 2 inch gray before it dumps into 3 inch(under trailer). Thanks for watching!
That's what I was going to ask. Thanks for the question.
When dry fitting PVC pipe, mark (index) both fittings with a felt pin. Then when you glue them you don’t have to guess where they should meet.
Make sure to fill the barrels with water. If not they will float out of the ground in case of a big rain! Ask me how I know that.
Hi Steve. I definitely like your idea of dealing with your RV's waste water. When I look at your system, I wonder how any solids will ever make it to the second drum/barrel. It seems like this is a single black water tank followed by three grey water tanks. Many regular household two-chamber septic tanks function this way (connection-wise), where the first chamber is for holding solids while the second chamber is for holding gray water prior to release to the leach field. Hopefully, that first tank doesn't fill up faster than the solids can decompose. Please let us know how it's going. Thanks!
You know...as I was putting that together, I was contemplating the same thing. Not really knowing the ins and outs, I treated the 30 or so gallons of black water you saw me dump, with a mixture of warm water and yeast. I'm hoping the little buggers eat up most of the solids before the next time I dump it. I think that's how that works. Just me out there, and not but just on the weekends. So not too much waste for sure. I started the empty black tank this time with 5 gall of fresh water, and a couple tablespoons of yeast to start eating away at the poop before it ever gets dumped. We'll see I suppose. I should have used a 275 gallon ibc tote as the black tank... oh well, what's the worst case scenario....dig er up!!😁
Agree, but some of the solids start decomposing and they do maike it to the second tank, maybe the third , this video is great, don’t u agree,👍👍
@@StevesBeyondRepair you wrapped the leach line trench with plastic, wont that prevent the leeching into the soil?
@@tukek88 that is fabric. Kinda hard to tell and sounds like plastic, but it is road fabric
@@StevesBeyondRepair ok, that makes sense. Thanks
Hell ov a job Sir great job. Just finished my septic too also had to dig it the ol fashioned way tho 😂 and my weepers are like half your length.
55 yrs and our home built septic system is STILL FUNCTIONING JUST FINE
Love it!! I did get a bunch of nay sayers on this one.😁
@@StevesBeyondRepair NICE
Cool.
Is your septic the same as this one? Or how different? And what do you do when these get full? How do you service them?
I'm interested in how to make one of these. The big money in the country is gone. Because big tech and others aren't going to share America with the rest of us. The future is going to be in do it yourself.
So I feel like I need to gather information on how to build one of these on the cheap. Thanks.
@@noahriding5780 wish I took pictures.... Anyhow, our septic system is gravity flow... tank is 55-60 year old and pumped twice only.
We upgraded our field system to two 75 foot 1/2 (2 ft dia) culverts...those 1/2 culverts are sitting on 16" of gravel... the gray water pipes are attached to the underside of each 1/2 culverts and drain onto that gravel bed.
Culverts (galvanized) were old and FREE .... bit of work to cut in half... The trenches we dug with a borrowed back hoe... gravel we got free, but had to haul it.... SHYT flows down hill lol... But honestly, the system cost...can't remember... maybe $100 at that time...PIPE was all we needed...we drilled drain holes... HEY, THIS SYSTEM WORKS.... cheers
Thank you very much. I'm glad it worked for you. That means others can make it work too. :) @@Mooseracks
That's amazing! You're a hard worker.
Steve, I really like your video. I had never seen this set-up, thanks for sharing. Have a great week.
Thank you Luis!! Almost didnt film it, but thought, what the heck! You have a good week too!!
I see you said you need a dump trailer badly - I was just going to say in the meantime they sell a really affordable dump kit for your truck bed that is like a REALLY tough screen material that you lay down, and put your material for dumping on top of that and then it hand cranks super easily (even with stone or dirt). It slips on and off your truck easily. It also attaches to your trailer - just whatever you don't mind cranking but it comes with an extra crank bar for leverage and isn't hard at all.
I think it costs about 100-120 and it's actually a workhorse. My dad in another state needed a driveway done and I used it on his truck for about 10 loads of dirt and about 20 loads of mixed sized agg. A full 150 ft driveway worth and it didn't even seem like it had even been used yet it was still brand new after all that. 10 years later he still uses it and it's in great shape. It's allowed him to do major projects in his senior years by himself without the need to rent expensive equipment on his budget.
I actually thought about that !! I decided to buy a dump trailer. Made a video of it. In the end when I think I'm done with it, and the high cost of used ones, will end up selling it. Also when I retire, since I have a bobcat, dump trailer that can haul it, could score some part time extra money hauling debris for people! Thanks for watching!
Great work Steve that’s a job well done. I built one similar recently. So why don’t you just run it all into a single pipe? Just like a home septic system…you ought to be able to enjoy the benefits of keeping both tanks open and not have to fiddle with going out and manually doing all that.
You are very right, and I could have. My thinking was since I used such small holding tanks (55 gallon), that I didnt want to waste any space in them with basically clean gray water from sink's and shower. Hindsight tells me I should have used a 275 gallon tote for the first tank. Oh well, it will work for just me, for now 👍 thanks for tuning in!!
I love the thinking behind all this. Achieveing what you need with limited resources ❤. The bigger equipment is the bomb
Great job brother, good information. 🤠👍⭐⭐⭐
Nice work,great video!👍🏻👍🏻
I would have done things a bit differently. I don't the idea of using the 3 inch wye valve to seperate the grey/black water. If that valve doesn't seat properly or you forget to position it correctly you could end up overfilling the "black" portion of your septic with grey water or putting black water into the grey section.
What i would do instead is cut the grey line between the grey gate valve and the 3x3x2 tee/wye were the 2 inch grey line connects tp the 3 inch dump line.
Add another 2 inch gate valve near the 3x3x2 dump line tee. Then place a 2x2x2 tee between the two 2inch gate valves. After the 2x2c2 tee add a slip to female screw on connector. All of this should be black abs piping and connections. The female screw on connector allows the ability of adding a 2 inch plug if you ever sell the rv.
You can then use white pvc from that point to the septic tank. Connect the white pvc to the black abs using a flexible connector.
Now the only time you have to mess with valves is if you want to flush the drain line. Otherwise, keep the black gate valve open, keep the original grey gate valve open and the new grey gate valve closed.
Every couple of weeks add poo bacteria to the black section of the septic via the insoection/vent line.
Every few months close the black gate valve, add about 5 to 10 gallons of water and a dose of poo bacteria and let it sit for the weekend or longer. Then open the black gate valve again.
I noticed the same thing, no need for a Jandy... Steve and anyone else should get permits and inspections to meet local codes, as to not pollute the ground water that someone may be drinking.
Nice tutorial and just what I needed!
I put a couple of 1" vents in my set up you can always fly on trailer vents but I just wanted extra. I made them the height of the trailer for on hot days it will vent above the trailer height
If you want to take plastic glued joints apart use gentle heat from a torch to heat the joint and it will break down the glue and allow it to come apart.
Use a street 90°and that 4×3 bushing. But I'm sure you got it
When you backfilled the gray water pipe at the tank, it sunk into the ground thus causing a bad spot in the line 28:09
When it's time to move you van will it run the pipes over. Maybe you need a flex hose and the whole septic system 3 ft further away.
I would have run the grey water into it's own leach bed. The soaps clog the drain media and make it water repellent.
That's just my take and being a bit ocd about septic systems.
Other than that. Wow. Great work.
I'm glad you didn't glue all the top pipes. One day you may need to check on a blockage so your can use this entry point. Inspection caps at the bends above ground would make it easy too.
I watched most of the video. It was strangely therapeutic.
Thank you! I doubt I'll ever move the trailer. Funny, it was therapeutic for me too!!
@@StevesBeyondRepair thanks for the message. Keep making videos. It's always good to see old school practical workmanship. Cheers from Australia. We too have septic on oyr house as it's in the outer suburbs of the city(Perth) and have lived with our septic system for 40 years so have come to understand the little universe of bacteria that are. Lots of respect to you for understanding how they work. The step down between tanks and the T pipe for air break though the crust are the ones that no one seems to understand.
Cheers.
@@lynpatnat Cheers!!
looks good. If I did that here it's a 10k fine. Dig a hole & dump.
When you backfill these to help them take the weight of the ground fill above them, how much do you need to fill them? I mean you probably don't fill them all the way because you don't want it too full before the sewage goes in right? I am wondering what the right fill % to be approximately?
Also thank you.
I back filled around 12 inches on top, packed around ribbed edges of the barrels.i dont think they will come up, but then again we haven't had rain here in Texas for months!!😯😁 I did dump 25 or 30 gallons in that first tank that day. Have not been out there enough this summer to empty out what little is in the black water tank. I'm counting on it working fine for me. If not I'll fix it!👍👍
I really appreciated the fact that the valve on the outlet from the trailer is labeled "1" for gray water and "2" for black water. (poop) Hahahaha!
I'm old..I might forget!!🤣
I wish you were near me to build one of these for mine.
Just watching b and learning . What is long length of pvcover the drums for
@@doreenwilliams9857 they are both clean out caps that I have not cut flush to the ground yet. Wanted to be able to look inside to see levels and such.
Great job Steve, Your just like me don't give up...😊😊
Thank you George!!
You need to use a couple of stainless steel screws on each coupler to hold them together without glue ..
Man u did a awesome job. My girl and myself would like to know WHERE we can use this design, Land wise????
I dont ever think an in town city would ever let you do this unless you paid 5 different trades to layout, design, get design approval, perk test, and several permits. From a handful of comments here, j should be locked up. Maybe I should have dug a deep hole, built an outhouse over it, and pooped right in the dirt! 🤣😉
QUESTIONS: Why is there a riser at the end of the barrels? Where is the gray water going? Shouldn't there be some air vent in the system? What about some flexseal to seal around the pipes entering and exiting the barrels? Why use 4" PVC, wouldn't 3" be more than adequate?
I first riser is in the 1st black water barrel to inspect and empty if needed. Thec2nd riser is to just keep an eye on the forth barrel. All gray water will dump directly into lateral. It was all 3 inch line if I remember correctly. The whole system is open to the lateral line to vent.
This is a great design thanks.
You have a dump trailer, all you have to do is pick up the tongue of the trailer with the front bucket of the tractor or skid steer and voila instant dump trailer. I have been doing that for years and as long as you lift slow you can even control the spread very well till the trailer wants to hit the ground then you have to make a pile but it is extremely fast and a lot cheaper than buying another trailer.
That was my first try for sure! Tried it with the kioti tractor first. It would pick up until the trailer rotated to hit on the rear of trailer, and could not lift the 2.5 tons any higher. Then got the bobcat involved. She could lift it up pretty high, but not enough to get to to slide down. At that point I didn't feel comfortable about climbing out of the Bobcat to help neighbor mark manually shoved off the trailer. Was not going to do that again. That's why you see me trying to get it off with the backhoe. It was terrible. I sold my big trailer for almost 4 grand, and added some for a dump trailer.....made a video it.👍👍 one of the best things I've ever bought!!!
Getting ready to build one myself
A heavy duty Lanscape fabric or road fabric would have been a much better choice over the black plastic you surrounded your drain field in, and why wouldn’t you pull in your pop out when you filled the hole?
It was black fabric 👍
Hmm nice, a dig and a open latch swing top, for stationary cleaning, what is better how hard is it going to try and suck my big logs 😂?
WHY THE METAL PLATE ON TOP? ALSO, HOW DO YOU PUMP OUT THE FIRST TWO SOLID WASTE BARRELS WITH SUCH A SMALL OPENING IN THE BARREL?
I also use the ashes from the wood stove to do the same job as ridX cause its free
But how do you plan to pump them out? That 2" bung isn't big enough for the average septic truck hose.
If I ever need to, I do have the first tank with a built in 3 inch clean out, and I can monitor it thru that opening. Think it will be fine with just me. Thanks for watching
Looks like you knocked the grey pipe loose at 27:50
Wow! I plopped that dirt right on that poor pipe!! Better take a look at it. Good eye!
I did mine by using caulking. That way, i can change , fix and repair if needed😊
A normal septic company will pump this without issue?
Not sure. Hopefully with just me, and plenty of additives to help the solids dissolve, it will push out to lateral, clean gray water.
Very nice system, except for the fact that pvc pipe is not UV treated and will eventually break down due to the exposure to sunlight. That will take a while, of course, so it may not be an issue for you.
That will happen for sure. Brought out some heavy duty aluminum foil to wrap everything that is exposed. Hopefully will ward off the decay. I am eventually do away with the two way valve and tie in further back to the black and gray separately. Thanks for watching and commenting!!👍
I've got to have a permitted $15,000 engineered septic system installed by a licensed installer, so add at least $5,000 more. I live alone in a one-bedroom shack on 10 acres of woods and am not allowed to compost my poop. But my neighbor can have 80 head shitting all over the ground on 40 acres.
@@SteveHammer-b3k crazy stuff!! I totally agree with you! Cattle, horses, goats, open septic. With just you, 20,000 septic. Guess they would just have us dig holes, and go right in them, instead of us building a small no nonsense septic...
@@StevesBeyondRepair Yes, no codes, no zoning, no building permits here, but septic is required to get an address. They can't stop me from just camping.
I seen septic tank going for 500.00 ya a dump trailer or nice a heavy duty tarp next best thing put it under the dirt pull some out just need a heavy tie off point at 19.09 don't they have a flex line to a hard line conversion flex line to a hard line about 9.98 amazon I checked
So what do you do when it has to be pumped out. Because we all know it will need to be pumped out.
Nah
Steve, this bootleg ossf (on-site sewage system) would be illegal where I live in central Texas unless you are on over 10 acres and no ground water considerations. It looks like you have some general knowledge, funds, equipment and skills to install a system to meet minimum code standards. An engineer or sanatarian would charge about $500 to do the perk test and design for your type 2 soil site. The homestead septic permit and county inspections should be less than $500. A 750 gallon 2 chamber concrete tank costs about $1500 delivered and placed in your hole with pea gravel bedding. The drainfield Leaching chambers for an approximate 800 sqft field would cost about $1000. You need about 200 ft of 3' W x 2' D trench for the legal chambers. You have the pipe fittings, pipe and Jandy valve already figured out. With your skills and labor your legal costs are about $4,000. Vs. $10.000 fine plus re-do per code.
Great comment and valid points, but... ground water is 250 feet. It was designed for one person, me. And, if I do build a home out here, I'm not even sure where I'd put it! This is temporary at best, and if I sell, I'll take this with me.😯 we also could not do this in fort worth where I live... I think it will be fine for now. Thanks for commenting!!👍👍
I used 2 1000l flow bins for mine.
Should have used a diverter box right under your trailer sewer drain. Go to 4 or 6 inches right there. Don't understand plastic under the gravel. Would have gone with landscaping fabric or something else porous. As far as catching solids in 55 gallon barrel... I mean if you like digging it up every 2 years. But your project will get you through a year until you can build a house if that's the plan, and for that, disregard everything I said. It's a good cheap temporary solution to a daily problem. Although the diverter box I'd have done and maybe a septic clean out pipe filter. If I'm going to get to where I use a tractor and buy gravel.
It was road fabric. A little further back under trailer is the separate 3 inch black, and two inch gray. At some point I'll get rid of the y valve. This is all a temp solution to keep from pooping behind a tree!!
@@StevesBeyondRepair LOL! Hey sometimes trees need fertilizer. I did a septic system overhaul on a property grandfathered. But it's an outdated system and need to move it further from a watershed. Your video gave me a few ideas, but I can't cheat where I am. Long story. But also, the Texas Health Department engineer I met with told me all he does is look at properties people are under Homestead Exemption, and what's on file. So if there's no sewer tap or septic system, he adds it to his list to inspect. Central Texas depends upon water from aquifers under everything, and they crack down on Homesteads. But corporations can do what they need as long as they pay the tap fees. Real Estate Developers make the codes Homesteads have to suffer from. I'm not against good practices but it's getting like California here in Central Texas because of big Real Estate Developers.
Great job! I like how you pay attention to details and don’t take short cuts. I would trust your ideas on anything.
Need a dump trailer, you got one. Unhook the trailer from the truck, lift the hitch area with the excavator and it will dump contents so says Sir Isaac Newton, something about the "Law Of Gravity".
Great job, but in the future the term "Poopy Water" is usually called "Black Water" and water used for bathing and washing dishes is called "Gray Water".
serious question, heaven forbid a zoning change, it's happened in my neighborhood, can you just walk away from it or are you obligated to deconstruct it?
I would definitely deconstruct.
I was with you until you put the plastic sheeting down. What is that for? I thought you wanted the liquid to leach into the surrounding ground.
Sounds like plastic, but its road fabric. 👍
was that Typar or some membrane?
TerraTex GS, geotextile, from barnsco
why did you split the gray water off separately? Dont you need liquid going thru the poop tank?
I'd have to agree with that somewhat. But, since the black water tanks are pretty small, I didnt want to fill them up with clean water from the sink and shower. I put 5 gallons of warm water with yeast in it that first barrel that day(it was probably 20 or so gallons dumped that day), as well as started my empty black water holding tank with the same. I am at about 25 gallons right now in the holding tank on the trailer. Going to empty it soon, while it's open, will pour 5 more gallons of warm yeast water in. By the time it hits the second and third tank should be good an clean. I leave the gray open all the time to the lateral.
That plumber tried to get you to leave a POOP 💩 shoot cannon loose. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 he prolly snapped his fingers like damnit he almost fell for it.
The black tarp. What exactly did you use for it?
That is road fabric. Keeps dirt from filtering into to cavities of the rock, and roots from possibly growing in as well.
How is it going to leach if you put plastic in to trench and then laid your leach pipes?
Its road base fabric.
Cool,! But how about using the methane ???
That would be handy, but I think with the yeast bacteria I put in the tank to eat up the waste, would limit the amount of methane.
@@StevesBeyondRepair I mean capture the gas and use it to cook & heat
Plenty of videos on UA-cam
Nice job! 👍
Is that 3" pipe & fittings or standard 4" septic? Thx
If memory serves me, 3 inch
@StevesBeyondRepair I had thoughts so, thx. I was trying to duplicate it today but with 4"... harder to get the T's in the right location on the sides with 4". Thx again
I get why you use a T on the outlets from barrel to barrel However, is there any reason to not use a 90⁰ elbow pointing down on the inlet to barrels #2, #3 & #4 vs a T? (With a small hole drilled at the top to help flow.) Thx again.
Looks like your grey water line came apart while you back filled.
What type of soils did you install this in and where is the S.H.W.T.
You can see as I was digging and the different colors of soil down to 6 feet, there are several different types of clay. As far as shwt, I just had a water well drilled. After about ten or twelve feet it hit varying types of clay, shale, sandy shale, and finally around 200ft, hit gravel. Water table is pretty deep.
Very nice.
Excelente vídeo, I mean exelent, but why not to install a regular 1000 gallon septic tank, it seems like u have an extra 2000 bucks, 👍👍👍
Your right, but its just me, no need to. Now, if it was a regular home, five kids, tons of showers, dishes, laundry, well of course I would have done a huge tank, and a large lateral line field. Thanks for watching!👍
how is that going to soak away wrapped in plastic?
It’s a filter fabric that keep the dirt out and let’s the water pass through.
Exactly 👍
Why did you put the first tank so close to the camper outlet?
No reason not to. Will just empty trailer when neccessary. Havent needed to empty trailer since I made this vid.
Will a septict company empty that knowing what that is.?
You should've made your connections at the RV first and worked your way out.
Dump your black and then the gray so you rinse the pipe.
Note to Self ...Build from My RV out when I Start....Thanks Buddy....Great Video 👍👍
You can always glue another coupling
Could you tell me everything you used and the size please?
So everything I gathered was 3 inch pvc. All the elbows and tees. I have a few different pieces leftover. I am going to get rid of the y valve I put in at some point and run direct gray from its drain, and black from its, since they are separate on this trailer further back.
I really hope I'm not the first to point out and tell you that your grey water isnt going where you think it is. When you were backfilling, the pipe failed at the coupling
Fixed👍👍
So much easier to do it the right way.
Well really probably not much easier just more money
Like his sorry ass can't afford it
I need to figure out how to do this.
Hindsight. Wish I would have used a 275 gallon ibc tote. But this should work well for just me! Thanks for clicking on it!
If I was a turd 💩
That could be a fun slide
Wait am I a turd?
To help get the trailer unloaded just unhitch it and grab the tunge with the excavator and lift it up