Mick's House Build

Post by **Barney** » October 13, 2015, 7:54 am

Lookin' good Mick, good to see sunny weather for your progress.
My progress has stalled as the Boss is with me in china with the daughter for a couple of weeks. She needed an R&R break.

Can you explain the set up and how it works for the sewer and concrete tubes being buried?

Post by **mickojak** » October 14, 2015, 4:28 pm

Barney.
I can't say that I know exactly what's going on here.
Language difficulties and my wife does not understand any of this.
The drawings say that the shower & sink water will run out to the paddock and only the toilet waste will go through the septic, (black tank i presume)?
Whether the concrete tanks are for the shower/sink water to fill before running off, or for the sewage, I'm not sure.
i will just have to wait and see!

All i care is that it works:)

mick

Post by **fatbob** » October 14, 2015, 7:41 pm

At a guess your sewage will run into the plastic tank, the clear water at the top will then overflow and run into the concrete rings and absorb into the ground. There is no real need for the plastic tank, you can run straight into the concrete rings which is what I have had for the past 8 years with no problems. I also let my grey water run onto the ground, no need for tanks as they will end up smelling.

Post by JR » October 14, 2015, 8:01 pm

Mick, the concrete rings are for draining greywater as I understand. We have the same.

Post by **waanjai** » October 14, 2015, 8:51 pm

Just a few facts how things are being done in "modern" Thaiand and even Esan.
Your three bathrooms have sinks that transport used water from the handwash basins and the showers out of the house. This used water is called "greywater".

In Esan this greywater is usually being transported into your main drainage pipe that goes into the next klong (as no sewage treatment plants are available yet). Depending on the location of your land the greywater as well as the rain drainage water (from the rain gutters) might also go to the left side of a soi. (That is where the municipality will in the future install drainage pipes). Normally, the majority will go into your big drainage pipe ending in the next klong.

Coming to the water toilets in your bathrooms: You are producing so-called blackwater but also greywater thru peeing and to flush the toilet.
Both types of waste will be directed into the DOS plastic sewage tank following Canadian standards. You sh.i.t like the Canadians do!

.

Have a look at the upper side of this tank:

First, You see it is a four-holer. How sexy.

Even more important, You see two holes with the name "in" and "out". In comes everything and out comes? The greywater, which is then normally transported to the next klong via your main drainage pipe. The harder parts of the waste fall into the plastic tank and will be pumped out regularly (depending on how many toiletts are feeding the sewer tank).
As the fourth hole You see one with the name "air vent". From that hole there will be a small pipe going away from your house that transports the smelly air - something you never saw with the long outdated soakaways.

As you see, at least your blackwater will not pollute your groundwater. The current situation concerning greywater is still far from being perfect but the Thai people work on it.

P.S. Maybe the 4 cement rings are there as there might be no klong nearby. Happy smelling (as the ground is already concrete).

Post by **kopkei** » October 15, 2015, 7:50 am

the black (septic)tank is toilet use only , all the other waste waters go to the cement rings , if you connect your waste waters also to the septic tank , your home will start smell from the septic fumes ....in our old home the new owner had removed an urinoir and made a sink there , well you could smell it in the bathroom ...so keep toilet and wastewater separate as it is easy to do so...as advice ...

Post by **fatbob** » October 15, 2015, 8:10 am

Water traps will stop any smells.

Post by **kopkei** » October 15, 2015, 8:51 am

indeed coxo , if they do not forget to install them

, more easy keeping everything separate to be sure ...as advice

Post by **fatbob** » October 15, 2015, 9:23 am

Yes they must be seperate. As said my grey water runs on the garden at two points and I have two septic tanks, one for each toilet but I used concrete rings only, water from septics absorbs into the ground at base, eight years later no problems at all.

Post by **kopkei** » October 15, 2015, 9:32 am

indeed again , all depending in what area you reside , a lot groundwater present or not , all depending the level of groundwater in the rainy season , you could have problems flushing your toilet (or empty the bathtub) when your concrete rings also get filled up (full) by the rising groundwater , if have had a friend with these problems ...
so beware ...every situation is different

Post by **mickojak** » October 15, 2015, 7:11 pm

Thanks for all the waste water comments.
Builder explained all tonight.
The sewage goes into the black tank, then overflows into the concrete tank at far end of photo.
Sink/shower/hand basin water goes into the nearer concrete tank.
Each concrete tank then overflows into a pipe that runs out to the farm behind the house.
No breather pipe.

I've been away for a couple of days but progress is moving well.

Post by **fatbob** » October 16, 2015, 10:53 am

Personally I would not run your grey water into a tank, the fats and oils in soaps will in no time prevent any absorption from the tank, you will be holding a tank full of grey water for what? Just run it out onto your paddocks direct, just before it runs out put a water trap in the end of the pipe to prevent stink coming back up and will stop nasties like snake's, lizards etc living in the pipe, use both your concrete ring tanks for sewage, run a balance pipe between the concrete ring tanks.

Post by **Barney** » October 16, 2015, 11:26 am

coxo wrote:Personally I would not run your grey water into a tank, the fats and oils in soaps will in no time prevent any absorption from the tank, you will be holding a tank full of grey water for what? Just run it out onto your paddocks direct, just before it runs out put a water trap in the end of the pipe to prevent stink coming back up and will stop nasties like snake's, lizards etc living in the pipe, use both your concrete ring tanks for sewage, run a balance pipe between the concrete ring tanks.

Mick
You have a little tricky situation here.
Coxo is just about on the money.
If you are not going to re-use the grey water then you do not want to store it. Once the rings fill you will only, in the future have your 1000 ltr's of water in the tank for no reason with the remainder constantly flowing away over the top of any accumulated sludge. Grey water should be used and not stored and should be released often.
BUT , if you are going to use the grey water in the future by storing in the rings and then pumping out of the tank, lets say for watering the trees, garden or lawn, then you must put a grease trap in prior to the tank, because as Coxo says it will very quickly fill with unwanted oils, soaps etc.
Just have a think now while the ground is still open.

By the way the house is going well and looking good and solid. $\:D/$
Goodluck.

Post by **parrot** » October 16, 2015, 2:09 pm

Food for thought on 'gray water tanks'.....not only will that grease start to build up in the tank......it will start to smell as well. On top of that, undoubtedly you'll wash a few grains of rice down the drain each time you wash dishes.......and that'll smell as well. God forbid anyone in your family pees while in the shower!

Post by **kopkei** » October 16, 2015, 3:48 pm

what we always did when we used the concrete rings for waste water , was leaving them empty every 2 years same as the septic tank , it costed us 100 baht a piece ..(the septic was 200 baht)...

Post by **waanjai** » October 16, 2015, 4:27 pm

Today: the wastewater treatment. Insufficient solution for the greywater.
In a few weeks from now there will be the question: what to do with all the water from the rain gutters, what to do with all the rain on concrete or tiled areas or used water from the pool?

Why not doing it Thai-style: Have a joint solution for greywater and rainwater and a bigger solution, even if everything ends somewhere in a drain field and not in a pond or klong.

Consider that You most probably will have 9 types of "greywater" in a broad understanding:
1. from the hand-wash basins
2. from the showers (if no bathtub yet)
3. from the bathroom floors (typically 5 cm lower than the rest)
4. from the kitchen sinks (inside and outside). greywater from outside kitchen does often contain rain water too.
5. from the washing maschine (with excess washing powder)
6. from the rain gutters (e.g. as long as the roof tiles are not yet washed clean)
7. rain water from concrete or tiled areas (grabuean) around the house containing dirt
8. pool water that is being changed
9. excess water from the DOS sewage tank (flushing toilets, peeing)

Post by **fatbob** » October 16, 2015, 7:28 pm

waanjai wrote: by waanjai » October 16, 2015, 4:27 pm

Today: the wastewater treatment. Insufficient solution for the greywater.
In a few weeks from now there will be the question: what to do with all the water from the rain gutters, what to do with all the rain on concrete or tiled areas or used water from the pool?

Why not doing it Thai-style: Have a joint solution for greywater and rainwater and a bigger solution, even if everything ends somewhere in a drain field and not in a pond or klong.

Consider that You most probably will have 9 types of "greywater" in a broad understanding:
1. from the hand-wash basins
2. from the showers (if no bathtub yet)
3. from the bathroom floors (typically 5 cm lower than the rest)
4. from the kitchen sinks (inside and outside). greywater from outside kitchen does often contain rain water too.
5. from the washing maschine (with excess washing powder)
6. from the rain gutters (e.g. as long as the roof tiles are not yet washed clean)
7. rain water from concrete or tiled areas (grabuean) around the house containing dirt
8. pool water that is being changed
9. excess water from the DOS sewage tank (flushing toil

Admit it, you were an accountant and know nothing about construction, it's obvious by your posts, I could go on but I won't, bring on google chrome! Silence is golden.

Post by **mickojak** » October 16, 2015, 7:50 pm

Hi Fellas,
Thanks for the advice and all makes perfect sense to me.
Waan, All waste will be running into the many rai of family farmland behind our house.

I lived on a farm in Australia for 10 years and I am sure all our waste water went through the septic including toilet paper.
No special detergents were used & never had a problem and I am sure that's how it's done all over.

So, what to do.
Run everything through septic tank or
just the sewage and run the grey water straight out.

The builders have filled the hole in, but only today, so no big deal to make the changes now, but i would like to make the decision ASAP.

Reply comments quickly if possible:)
Thanks
Mick

Post by **waanjai** » October 16, 2015, 8:18 pm

mickojak wrote:So, what to do.
Run everything through septic tank or
just the sewage and run the grey water straight out.

just the sewage and run the grey water straight out
That is, what we are doing. And so do very many.

Btw: what comes out of the septic tank is not "an overflow" but a "filtered out/separated" greywater. This we send out too immediately.

Post by **maaka** » October 16, 2015, 8:29 pm

we are doing our septic now..plastic poo tank then runs out to concrete rings 3m deep, then thru holes in the rings to
the ground..
the rest is separate pipe to sludge box then to other concrete rings