Building your own cesspit in Thailand

[Spin]

All the ones I have seen are connected straight to the road drainage

Main street in Chaweng is the living stinking proof that this is 100% true

[BillyZ]

Man, that's gotta be nasty. Why bother using the primary tank if you're just going to run the outlet to the nearest body of water?

Well, the idea is that whilst the shit is in the tank, it's being broken down by microbes. Not that it smells any better that the fresh shit, but it should break down in the sewer that much faster if it's been through the bacteria.

[man with no head]

That's the theory, but, you need heat (and time) to destroy the pathogens. If you don't have heat then you need more time to kill them, and, if it flows too easily into the nearest khlong it likely isn't going to be sanitary.

Smell is one thing. Even water that's been through tertiary treatment still smells like rotten eggs. But at least it's safe.

[dirtydog]

This picture shows the inner workings of a cess pit. Not sure if the mesh is to keep turds in or rats out.

[dirtydog]

Delving deeper into a finished thai cesspit we find this, little round plastic things.

[Dougal]

There is a lot of information on septic tanks on the internet - just a different type of shit I suppose.

Here's one for starters.

SEPTIC TANKS

And another

How Septic Systems Have Evolved

[man with no head]

Maybe the plastic things are to increase the surface area for bacteria to grow on?

[Rigger]

you guys seam to know alot about shit. All I know is I have 4 cement tanks down the side of my house and the lids make a funny noise when I walk down the side of the house to get another beer

[Dougal]

Maybe the plastic things are to increase the surface area for bacteria to grow on?

I think they are to break up the solids on their way into the tank.

[dirtydog]

Chuck a bucket of Somtam down the toilet once perweek, that stuff seems to be very good at breaking up solids in the human body

[man with no head]

^LMAO, how true.

That and mystery meatballs from the typical sidewalk vendor

There's some damn good som tom in the food court in Platinum Fashion Mall.

[Marmite the Dog]

I turned the downstairs tap on for the first time in my new place at the weekend. I was rewarded with a nice rotten eggs type of smell. I trust this is not a permanent feature of my cesspit?

[Thetyim]

I trust this is not a permanent feature of my cesspit?

Yes it is.
The water in Ayuthaya is high in HydroTetraphosperine Sulphates

This re-acts with the plastic water pipes and makes that awful smell
Everyone living there complains about it, didn't you know ?

I had to cut short my holiday there because it gave me sinus problems.

[man with no head]

Perhaps the sulfur is coming from bacteria in the water lines.

Maybe someone took a dump while hooking up the water main?

Hydrotetraphosphorus sulfates can be quite nasty.

[Gerbil]

I turned the downstairs tap on for the first time in my new place at the weekend. I was rewarded with a nice rotten eggs type of smell. I trust this is not a permanent feature of my cesspit?

Well, if you've got your plumbing set up so that you have your taps in the house being fed from the cesspit, then I'd say yes.

[Marmite the Dog]

I do hope you guys are just joshing!

[Thetyim]

My understanding of it is that these sulphates are heavier than water and so will always collect at the lowest point.
Any one know if this is true ?

[man with no head]

Last year near where I live 2 lower floor apartment blocks became uninhabitable due to sulfates collecting in the pipes due to settling (the upstairs ones were OK).. our water source is near Mt. Hood which is a volcano, after all....

[Skeets]

This is a shity topic, but it has caught my attention. The question I have is it important to glue or cement each ring together to prevent ground water from seaping into the cesspit? I would think so, but haven't seen it mentioned. Also, it was mentioned that stones should be added around the rings, is that really necessary?

[dirtydog]

The cement ring type cess pit is for use as a soakaway, ie you want the water table to be lower than the cess pit, the reason we put stones between the rings was so we could concrete over the whole thing and build a garden on top of it.

[Dougal]

DD I suspect that Skeets needs a bit more info.

i.e. there are two types of hole for getting waste from your house. One for bath, shower and sink stuff (grey water) and a different design for shit (black water).

The type that consists of a stack of concrete rings with a surround of stones should only be used for grey water.

If you are considering doing this at your house Skeets, then look some of the more exhaustive information on the internet first.

[DrAndy]

I think we have mentioned this before somewhere

There are some terminology problems, as well. A cesspit is a big tank that gets filled with shit and associated water. When full, you have to have it pumped out. When I lived in Nigeria, we had one outside our office and they actually drained it manually with buckets. One guy even got into it near the end and passed up the buckets....it stank in the office, never mind outside.

A septic tank is what we are talking about here, I think. This is a tank, as pictured by DD, which has concentric rings inside, through which the shit gradually passes, being broken down as it does.

The concentric rings just make the journey as long as possible, giving the bacteria lots of time to work properly. The concentric ring design therefore lets you have a septic tank in a small a hole as possible.

When the shit eventually reaches the outlet, it should have been broken down to just a liquid. The bacteria should have eaten all the solids and a lot of the nutrients in the water. This liquid should be relatively smell free, and fairly safe hygenically.

This liquid should then go to a soakaway, along with the other household water (like shower and kitchen water), and slowly soak into the ground.

The septic tank should never need opening or draining out if the bacteria are working well. They are usually happy as long as you dont use strong chemicals to clean the toilet.

The soakaway does not depend on bacterial action, so you can use bleach etc to clean the kitchen sink.

[corvettelover]

when you have your tank pumped out or install a new one fill with water and through in a handfull of lime this will make a healthy enviroment for the bacteria to live in. We also use to use absorbition trenches the liquid outlet goes into a trench with plastic pipe with holes drilled into it the bottom of the trench is filled with gravel (blue metal) and covered with same and then topped up with soil.
Then plant some nice water loving trees or shrubs around pit.
Ensure you mesh the outlet pipe to stop the solids getting out otherwise your absorbition pipe will become blocked and your septic tank will over flow.
When installing tank think about putting a plastic tube down the full length and inserting a copper rod inside it and mark a level on it that is below the top of the tank,then put a screw cap on top of pipe so you can dip test the level of your tank without having to pull the inspection cover off. dont stink as much.

[Dougal]

If you buy a plastic tank it will be constructed with a couple of chambers, and some bits of plastic designed to break up the solids as they flow in. The tank should always be full of liquid as it is only the overflow which has been broken down by the bacteria in the tank which is supposed to flow away to the leach field.

A systen that is working effectively should only need emptying when the broken down solids reach such a level in the tank to inhibit correct operation.

[blackgang]

Dougal said it, and they do make and sell a septic tank made in black plastic that has two chambers and they sell bacteria culture to use in the thing, and you do run leach lines from it into a drain field as Corvette said, works well especially if above the high water mark during monsoon so it doesn't flood.
They sell them at HOME MART here in Phetchabun. or you can get plans off the net under septic tanks and build one out of concrete, it will be a 2 cell tank..