I've dug up and replaced a few of these systems. It will somewhat work for a short period if you don't flush paper. You have 200 gallons of storage here and most states require 5 times that. The first barrel will fill with thick sludge and eventually that sludge will pour directly to the next one and so forth. The effluent in the leech pit will be very similar to the effluent exiting the first barrel. I say this because I've seen it. The leech barrel and pit eventually gets thick sludge in it. Also, the majority of leach field water is supposed to go up as evaporation not down as most people think. Thats why leach fields are spread out to cover alot of surface area at a similar depth. This system creates a seepage pit in one spot with little evaporation because it cant breath below 18". This type of a system puts untreated effluent under the root level and directly into the water table. I'm not trying to downplay your diy work here but I just want everyone to understand why this system is not EPA or Health Department approved and could include a hefty fine.
OK now do you know what aerobic anaerobic is ???? … This leads to the major question the system that you’re talking about if it had air injected at all points and vented correctly should not have any issues at that point …. ??? Right .. just seriously curious …
Interesting that you say that it’s designed to evaporate it up and not going into the water table I’m having issues with my tank mainly because I have clay soil and I didn’t take care of my treating my tank solids got into my leach field anyways everything I’ve read the showing water going back into the water table leach field, I don’t have that option Because I’m sitting on Clay but I hope I can find more information on evaporation versus leaching into the water table and also the best method to redo the Leach bill
@@user-xs7dw8et6jthe water just evaporates within that spot, like a potted plant when you water it, it eventually evaporates from the pot. I think what he's saying is in the Leach field there's supposed to be some kind of fabric that doesn't let the water leach into the ground so it can sit there until it evaporates
@@aquariusknowsbest5379 google IBC Tote says $250 to $300 and then figure in delivery shipping cost. Walmart says IBC Tote is $525 with free shipping. 275 gallons.
I did this on a 1500 sqft home and only connected the toilet. It lasted 2 years before I had to do it the right way but it survived long enough for me to rent out the house to make money to do it legit
Ive had my rv which I live in full time ran into a single barrel with 2 50ft pieces of pipe coming off and it’s been fine for close to two years zero problems
I have one of these for a sump in the ground. Unless you fill it with water and seal the lid then pour cement around the barrel to strengthen the barrel wall the tank can collapse when it is empty. This case is when weather is very wet. Do not underestimate the weight of soil pressing in on the sides of the barrel. New thought I plan to try. Wrap the tank with stiff wire fencing then spray foam two to three inches of poly sprayfoam. I'm hoping the sprayfoam will stick to the fencing and being bumpy on the outside will hold the tank in the ground when the tank is empty and the ground is saturated with rain water.
I do this stuff for a living, I'd just have one of those barrels as a settling tank and put at least a 750gallon tank in there before it that has some retention time that is more serviceable. that first little barrel tank is going to clog up on you quite fast. that leach would work better than people think but extend that leach barrel into the middle of the stone. elbows for outlet baffles are fine but I would recommend drilling holes on the top so they can breath or they will siphon, bottom of the outlet baffles should land halfway down too. as everyone said already, not code, not something id be posting.
First ....Always dig a level ditch with gravel instead of a deep pit. Subsoils ( the first 18-24" is what absorbs your water) . A deep pit only holds water (like a pond).
What that system will do is likely pollute the groundwater. Getting rid of the wastewater is just one objective. The other is biological treatment of the effluent which this system's lateral tank won't do, due to the depth the lateral "field" is buried to. Laterals should only be in the top 30 inches of the ground at a maximum. Unless you have aroebic biological action taking place in the lateral field (not a tank but anywhere from 200 to 500 feet long total shallow dug trenches comprised of each trench generally not more than 100’ long), you will provide a direct conduit for the dangerous pathogens to get directly into your and your neighbor's groundwater. The system depicted here is much too deep to provide any necessary biological cleanup of the water before it enters the groundwater they'll be drinking from soon. All soils in even closely adjacent areas can vary widely in their ability to effectively handle wastewater effluent properly. There is a systematic approach to this and it's been developed by your local health departments for your and others safety. I am a licensed wastewater treatment professional. Do the proper research to understand how important it is to get this installed properly to protect yourself and others.
Very good. That's adequate for one person. 150 gallons. EPA says you need 125 gallons per person per day. Minimum of 7 day storage. Preference is for 28 day storage. So for ideal situations use 10 days or 1250 gallons of storage. Since you didn't do that, assume incomplete digestion of wastes. Place a biofilter on the final outlet pipe to keep solids from entering the drain pipe to you "cesspool" 50 gallon tank. The filter will make your system last the longest. Also assuming your doing this without permits, minimizing the wastewater loading by keeping it down to 25 gallons a day will help. Good job.
When I was a kid my parents used to flush active yeast down the toilet about once a month and living in the same house until after high school we never had a single problem with the septic tank.... Although it was a huge tank and professionally installed all those years we were not on a city water system. Most of the neighbors had problems with their systems but we never did. Don't know if the yeast was helping or not, but we never had problems with our septic system.
That's not a septic system, but an oil water separator connected to a French drain. The first barrel will fill with paper as the effluent passes through, until it can't. Then it will be a mess.
Timothy Carleton - I think he hopes it does just that, with the first three barrels (so close to the surface), which he will pump out periodically through the ports in the top of the barrel and anticipated access channels at ground level. This reduces the clogging of the rock field and hopefully extends the life of the field.
Dude, this is literally how a normal full size septic system works. The only thing you can really could criticize him for is the size. For this size I would probably just get a composting toilet.
You will be living in a hotel room the first time the health department pays you a visit. Would expect this to be somewhere in the backwoods not next to a busy road. This is crazy af 🤣🤣🤣
Bruh... don't do this. Take it from a licensed sewer layer, that volume isn't even close to what is necessary for even a single person. Not to mention that pit is going to become a Cholera pond. Gotttdamnnnn, take this down.
@FF Film Crew you can flood that first drum with enzymes, but there needs to be adequate volume to support a large enough colony to process the solids and 50 gallon drums are far too small. Even for a single person living in a permanent residence, you want a 1000 gal tank. With that volume it should only need to be pumped every 5-10 years because there are certain solids that can't be broken down by enzymatic or bacterial processes. This system would likely need to be pumped every 2-6 months, making it a glorified porta-john
Pretty good I remember back in the day you just dig a hole and put in a 55 gallon drum upside down with rock on the bottom and run the 4-in PVC into the tank and that was it No permits you used to be able to just buy a lot for 50 bucks an acre and pay a couple kids to cut the trees down and pay a farmer to come in with a tractor and pull out the stumps and dig a well and dig a hole for the septic and level the land and then you'd put down Stone and get a concrete mixer and pour a floor and get concrete block delivered and build the basement and then build the single story house on top of the block foundation No permits whatsoever as a matter of fact we didn't even have a town building we had no services at all there was no water no sewer no Department of public works nothing and it was all farmland huge farms that were family owned for hundreds of years that ranged from 1,000 acres to 4,000 acres and in an area the size of Manhattan there was only about 400 people It was great The roads were dirt and you didn't have to lock your doors and everybody helped everybody out and we had farm fresh produce and fresh chickens and eggs and beef and pork and we had local streams where we caught trout There were a couple taverns that had been here since the 1600s that served farm fresh food and they would have fresh caught fish on Fridays I miss the old days so much You literally could stand in the middle of the road from 9:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. and there was not a single car and now even at 3:00 a.m. there's four lanes across of traffic on that same road bumper to bumper I hate it
A friend recently replaced the exact setup at his home which he'd inherited from his dad some years ago. As near as he could figure it'd lasted over 30 years before the metal drums failed. The thing that bewildered my friend wasn't how this simple setup had endured decades of use but that he had to take out a sizable loan to install a new system.
3 barrel systems have been working fine for years. If people only knew. I like the added leech field. Most folks just run perforated pipe for a leech field about 3 feet deep and 3 lines off last barrel.
@@arnoldchildress8053 Correct. It’s just my pole building with a single toilet and sink. It isn’t used much. I thought that’s what he said his was too. It wouldn’t work with a lot of volume.
In 1950 my grandfather bought a farm and buried 2 steel 55-gallon drums for his septic system. They outlasted him and had to be replaced in the mid-80s.
I love the disaster in this comment section 😅 you have on one hand people like me who are quite confident it’ll work as long as the first tanks are pumped regularly, and then you have people who say it’ll never work, who probably have never seen a setup like this, which is the only reason they think it won’t work
@@HciContractor Yes l know what is required in the PNW, as l've installed a few in Lake, Klamath, Douglas and Jackson Counties of Oregon, l also know what can work in a pinch, when a little common sense is used, and why on God's earth would anyone want to piss in a well
You’re right. I put a lot of overkill in this one. I really didn’t know what I was doing, and only posted the video for my records. I guess a lot of people were interested in seeing it too!
SCOTTA1 that is code here when you are over the aquifer and No more than 3 feet deep, The fluid is supposed to wick up, not down but that won’t work for some soils around here.
@@jtmeyer2490 all systems are designed for your soils. Around here we can get away with 1000 gallon septic tank and a 100 foot long drainfield that’s 3 foot wide giving you 300 ft.². Inside the tank we have a T fitting that keeps the solids from running into the leach field and ruining it. The 4” pipe from the leach field runs into the tank and connects to the T. In this way the liquid climbs up the Ter and then flows through to the Leach field. For the Leitchfield sometimes we use 10 inch gravel those ADS drain field and other times I’ll use Domed pipe. It’s simple and really quick
@@HciContractor lol the guy is using illegal tanks with an illegal ground excavation due to no permits and you are worried about local codes? 😂 Psshhh!
Dude you literally did an amazing job on the digging which is the hardest part. Why not build a system that will last a lifetime? Forget those barrels and get a tank.
Nice, straightforward video. I'm here because I met the family of the man behind the camera IRL, but I'm baffled about how a 53-second video about a DIY septic tank got at least 835,000 views in five years. Did a homestead blogger share it or something? Or maybe because it's so short? I dunno. It just never crossed my mind to build my own septic. LOL
Advise from a licensed plumber: buy once cry once. This is going to be a mess to dig up and replace correctly or a costly maintenance nightmare. Get a real septic system engineered by a licensed professional, even if you do the install yourself.
What that system will do is likely pollute the groundwater. Getting rid of the wastewater is just one objective. The other is biological treatment of the effluent which this system's lateral tank won't do, due to the depth the lateral field is buried to. Unless you have aroebic biological action taking place in the lateral field (not tank), you will provide a direct conduit for the dangerous pathogens to get directly into your and your neighbor's groundwater. You should use this widely watched video to help people understand the absolute necessity to install a correctly operating system that won't endanger the environment or the people living in it. I also am a licensed wastewater treatment professional. Do the proper research to understand how important it is to get this installed properly to protect yourself and others.
JT Hey JT you'll have to pour in ammonia or chlorine to help digest the waste and the paper or the enzyme they use to clean out septic tanks you can get it at any plumbing supply store just tell them you need a box of chemical to digest the material in the septic tank and that'll help eat up the paper and keep the system running.
@@ajfox031 well, I’m one guy, and even the 10-12 days per year I’m out there, most of the “shit” had fully run the composting process. I have one of those chamber pot chairs with a hole in it. Just stick a 5 gallon bucket under it, and cover the matter with cedar saw dust.
Nice video! I think the solid tanks could use a diffuser filter on the line out to the next to keep solids in. I think one end of the pipe is a few slight inches lower out than the other line that comes in. Also not sure if that leech barrel method is better for that size hole than 2 or 3 40' leech lines since you have such a big hole. The barrel area might clog up with any solids that make it through, where as long lines with a 90 up clean out at the end might be better. I am just a DIYer that looked up a ton of septic diagrams and codes for our family cabin in the desert.
Licensed plumber here. That's essentially an oil separator for a garage floor drain. The last thing you should ever do with that is connect a toilet to it.
So let me help you learn a bit. Anaerobic digestion in ideal conditions needs 30days of retention in a system to work properly. Septic tanks are an anaerobic digestion system. You have to size a septic system on your flow rate. size your septic tank to hold 30 days worth of sewer. And your leachate field needs to be even larger. Leach sewer pipe the ones with holes are cheap and inexpensive. The rock and diging grading is the expensive part. with your setup I would suggest going to an active digestion or aerobic with air to speed up decomposition. You'll need an airpump to diffuse oxygen into the tanks to break down the organics quickly. It has an energy cost but you could potentially get away with the setup you have by having all your barrels be aerobic instead of anaerobic. You will need a vent pipe and for neighbour's and your sanity add an hydrogen sulfide scrubber to it so the smell won't be so bad. I Hope that helps alittle but what you have now will not be safe or functional.
To everyone hating on this dude: How do you think people survived before there were “codes?” For almost all of human history people have thrived without the use of codes and inspections... Relax.
They dug a hole, built a wooden shack over it, and shit in it. IMHO, he’s free to fuck up his house any way he likes, right up to the point where I’m pumping his shit water out of my well. That’s where dumb things like building code really helps people thrive in the first world.
Some people just have to struggle through what others have already blazed already. A 50 gallon drum is almost good enough for strictly gray water from a single adult.
It works, I have seen many put in and I put one in on my property and it's been perfect for almost 20 years, and depending on what part of the country you live in,,,, yes it's legal!
Oh my God! I just realize this was a five-year-old video. I was going to ask for a part two! Instead I need an update video..to see how the process has been working out for him.
Why would you tell them? You should see mine, its just 1/2 of a bbl with the bottom cut off buried 3ft deep. It is really just the perk tank, been that way for 15 years, cleaned it out once, but grey water went out on the ground in a different spot.
I had a septic inspection on a property that I was buying the property had a 30-40 year old 50 gallon round steel tank and then it went into the leach field. The property had had three bedroom mobile home on it with the family living in it for well over 30 years. It'll work fine if you don't overuse it. kids today with their 30-minute showers and parents that won't tell him not to are the problem. That is the parents are the problem not the kids
I was so expecting to see this as some part of a hunting camp or something that gets used half a dozen times a year maybe. Looks like some of the work I dug up in a central Florida trailer park, seriously this would have probably been better.
You're going to have so many issues with that... I'm sorry I know you mean well, but it's bad on a lot of levels starting with direct to ground leech, and roughly 120 gallons of tank capacity.... Just no....
I know families that have been using barrels for septic system for 40 years and they are still working just fine, and never have any smell or overflows, and of course plumbers want you to build a 5 to 10.000 dollar septic system,
This sort of pit sewer treatment is common the only stipulation is that the last tank in this case the hole where the tank is going has to be filled with water and the water has to drain in a specific amount of time to qualify if the land has high amount of clay preventing the water to drain in a minimum amount of time the pit leach tank will not work properly, this is per California Plumbing Code book. His idea is good in my book.
Ur wasting ur time and money. In a matter of months ur gonna have to dig it all up and have a professional install a real system. Septic isnt the thing to try to diy smh
Um, yuup, crap and paper fills your first tank, thus, the reason you have to pump your tank every few years to empty the 1st tank, the second tank is liquid, when that is full it fills the leach lines, keeps poop and paper out of the lines, i doubt that system will last long
Folks are so quick to throw their negativity out there and try to put this man down. Well I will tell all of y'all God don't like ugly. What ever happened to constructive criticism?maybe give him a few tips kindly. And let him make what he will of it. My husband happenes to be a master plumber and if you are looking for a temporary cheap quick solution, there's nothing wrong with this at all. Actually, I applaud the creativity bc we are currently facing an issue with having our own water on. Seems where I live, if you happen to be lucky enough to have bought your property on the side of the road the water line is running $80 , but since that's just not the case here so it's $900 if ur on the wrong side. So for people like us struggling to get by and with a baby on the way might I add,this is a great idea.
Your pipe from the toilet down to the first of the three tanks is going to plug up way before those barrels do. You have to have 1/4 inch drop per every 1 foot of pipe or 1 inch for every 4 foot of pipe drop. So that your liquids don’t run to fast and leave the solids behind. With the proper drainage the liquids will carry the solids all the way to the tank. Then about every third month flush down some live enzymes and you should be good for quite some time. Make sure you have a “clean out lid on your first two tanks, so that you can call to have them pumped out on occasion… just some helpful hints… take’m or leave’m. 😎
All the keyboard technicians. I ran a very similar system for years out on a farm and everything was fine, the feild plans lines take out all the water, and solid waste slowly gets suggested by bacteria in the barrels (which are acting as a septic tank). It's not legal, but it works
@@integr8er66 lol. Fair enough. No human litter box. I've been watching reviews on the RV type units, due to plans to hit the road. They look pretty cool. But, I suppose if you don't have to... They have some larger units for sale through the big box stores. But, they're in the $2-3 range. Interesting tech, nonetheless.
Its not legal or permanent, but I have seen this setup before and it will work for single bath applications that aren't used much, such as garage or shop bathrooms. Enzymes do wonders. I know of a similar setup that has worked for 15 years.
No the reason for the bend is so you keep both the floaters and the sinkers in the source bbl, its not 100% so you do it 3 times. Straight pips would pass the solids
The design is essentially a real septic system but the holding wells are to small each bucket that has elbows is the holding area the last bucket is wash out for the leach field
+simcorp69 idk how he did it i like to know as well but seen another video with some Mexicans just putting bricks over the hole must have work who knows
People who say this won’t work obviously haven’t seen the systems that were and are used by many very old houses. Some just have a single buried brick lined tank and it works fine. I have one and it’s been working for over 120 years.
I've dug up and replaced a few of these systems. It will somewhat work for a short period if you don't flush paper. You have 200 gallons of storage here and most states require 5 times that. The first barrel will fill with thick sludge and eventually that sludge will pour directly to the next one and so forth. The effluent in the leech pit will be very similar to the effluent exiting the first barrel. I say this because I've seen it. The leech barrel and pit eventually gets thick sludge in it. Also, the majority of leach field water is supposed to go up as evaporation not down as most people think. Thats why leach fields are spread out to cover alot of surface area at a similar depth. This system creates a seepage pit in one spot with little evaporation because it cant breath below 18". This type of a system puts untreated effluent under the root level and directly into the water table. I'm not trying to downplay your diy work here but I just want everyone to understand why this system is not EPA or Health Department approved and could include a hefty fine.
OK now do you know what aerobic anaerobic is ???? …
This leads to the major question the system that you’re talking about if it had air injected at all points and vented correctly should not have any issues at that point …. ??? Right .. just seriously curious …
Great explanation from a professional. So water comes up from my leech field and evaporates? The dirt "cleans" it on its way up?
Interesting that you say that it’s designed to evaporate it up and not going into the water table I’m having issues with my tank mainly because I have clay soil and I didn’t take care of my treating my tank solids got into my leach field anyways everything I’ve read the showing water going back into the water table leach field, I don’t have that option Because I’m sitting on Clay but I hope I can find more information on evaporation versus leaching into the water table and also the best method to redo the Leach bill
So your say use bigger barrels 4 1000ltr drums.perhaps with that make a difference?
@@user-xs7dw8et6jthe water just evaporates within that spot, like a potted plant when you water it, it eventually evaporates from the pot. I think what he's saying is in the Leach field there's supposed to be some kind of fabric that doesn't let the water leach into the ground so it can sit there until it evaporates
I wouldn't have shown anyone this.
Barrel one clogged. Abandon ship. Levels rising fast 🤣.
Highly illegal but hey send it😂
Highly against the building code.
I definitely wouldn’t show the world how your hack is bound to fail.
Good for about 3 weeks! Lol!
Are you using a macerator, the pipework looks a bit small bore.
Came for the comments .. DID NOT DISAPPOINT!
This one is poop
So many pessimistic Karen's, LOL unbelievable as to the lack of common sense anymore
Same here 🤦
Dude, you've done the hard part by digging. Just buy a tank and run some leech lines.
Home Depot sells the tanks for around $500. 😂
2000 where I live
Ibc tote would be larger and a use one with cage is only $80 bucks
Literally
@@aquariusknowsbest5379 google IBC Tote says $250 to $300 and then figure in delivery shipping cost. Walmart says IBC Tote is $525 with free shipping. 275 gallons.
The best part is how serious he is about it
I did this on a 1500 sqft home and only connected the toilet. It lasted 2 years before I had to do it the right way but it survived long enough for me to rent out the house to make money to do it legit
That's exactly what I'm planning to do with my old house here in Japan's countryside!
When you found the guy that will do it way cheaper than the other guys....this is literally a shit storm waiting to happen
Ya won’t work
Actually this will last years and years!! Seen a one barrel operation last twenty years
Ive had my rv which I live in full time ran into a single barrel with 2 50ft pieces of pipe coming off and it’s been fine for close to two years zero problems
Does this shit pass inspection?
@@phillipmorgan4260 yep me too. Know of a single barrel one put in in the 80s that's still in use today!
I have one of these for a sump in the ground. Unless you fill it with water and seal the lid then pour cement around the barrel to strengthen the barrel wall the tank can collapse when it is empty. This case is when weather is very wet. Do not underestimate the weight of soil pressing in on the sides of the barrel.
New thought I plan to try. Wrap the tank with stiff wire fencing then spray foam two to three inches of poly sprayfoam. I'm hoping the sprayfoam will stick to the fencing and being bumpy on the outside will hold the tank in the ground when the tank is empty and the ground is saturated with rain water.
Good advice
Draining our fiberglass reinforced tank caused it to implode. No joke jr
The bathroom session after Thanksgiving your family will fill this up.
No kidding
Hahaha
Don't worry, folks. It's only for draining the used oil from his quickie lube business.
Give it a few years and you've got another episode of the Poop Lady from Hoarders...
A few months!
I had not heard of the Poop Lady from Hoarders and I'll think I'll pretend I never did.
I do this stuff for a living, I'd just have one of those barrels as a settling tank and put at least a 750gallon tank in there before it that has some retention time that is more serviceable.
that first little barrel tank is going to clog up on you quite fast.
that leach would work better than people think but extend that leach barrel into the middle of the stone.
elbows for outlet baffles are fine but I would recommend drilling holes on the top so they can breath or they will siphon, bottom of the outlet baffles should land halfway down too.
as everyone said already, not code, not something id be posting.
The exhaust side have to be lower than the intake so the pipe can drain completely,also barrel have to be like in steps 1 feet lower from each other
This guy is my neighbor, I love the smell
Lol oh my God
@@JamesSmith-xg5bi rolling 💀💀😂😂
😂 way to represent for your homie... ✊🏿🖖🏿
I would like to know how he closes up the tops
Then your too close 😆
A TEE fitting works better than an elbow as it provides a vent in each bend..
Good tip
Would love to see an updated video after they tried to use this for 6 months 🙃
I die one similar for grey water. Been working great for 6 years
@@glenfry5871 grey water is totally different situation, you know this.
Be a alright set up if your planning on not defacating.......
Crossing my fingers on this one... Urinal septic system.... Or mop sink.
If it's a work area, that's entirely possible.
First though i had was dry well for washing machine. Keep the harsh chemicals out of the real septic system. But. Noooo. He is for real
First ....Always dig a level ditch with gravel instead of a deep pit. Subsoils ( the first 18-24" is what absorbs your water) . A deep pit only holds water (like a pond).
I was gonna say, wheres the base gravel and sand?
What that system will do is likely pollute the groundwater. Getting rid of the wastewater is just one objective. The other is biological treatment of the effluent which this system's lateral tank won't do, due to the depth the lateral "field" is buried to. Laterals should only be in the top 30 inches of the ground at a maximum. Unless you have aroebic biological action taking place in the lateral field (not a tank but anywhere from 200 to 500 feet long total shallow dug trenches comprised of each trench generally not more than 100’ long), you will provide a direct conduit for the dangerous pathogens to get directly into your and your neighbor's groundwater. The system depicted here is much too deep to provide any necessary biological cleanup of the water before it enters the groundwater they'll be drinking from soon. All soils in even closely adjacent areas can vary widely in their ability to effectively handle wastewater effluent properly. There is a systematic approach to this and it's been developed by your local health departments for your and others safety.
I am a licensed wastewater treatment professional. Do the proper research to understand how important it is to get this installed properly to protect yourself and others.
Doug that was a lot to pull out of your @$$
@@katelintaylor627 : That’s nothing at All , you should try to understand the propulsion of a alien UFO device .. not joking..
LoL
Very good. That's adequate for one person. 150 gallons. EPA says you need 125 gallons per person per day. Minimum of 7 day storage. Preference is for 28 day storage. So for ideal situations use 10 days or 1250 gallons of storage. Since you didn't do that, assume incomplete digestion of wastes. Place a biofilter on the final outlet pipe to keep solids from entering the drain pipe to you "cesspool" 50 gallon tank. The filter will make your system last the longest. Also assuming your doing this without permits, minimizing the wastewater loading by keeping it down to 25 gallons a day will help. Good job.
When I was a kid my parents used to flush active yeast down the toilet about once a month and living in the same house until after high school we never had a single problem with the septic tank.... Although it was a huge tank and professionally installed all those years we were not on a city water system. Most of the neighbors had problems with their systems but we never did. Don't know if the yeast was helping or not, but we never had problems with our septic system.
Cow or horse manure will do the same thing,,
It’s alright for a cabin you spend a few weekends a year in.
That's not a septic system, but an oil water separator connected to a French drain. The first barrel will fill with paper as the effluent passes through, until it can't. Then it will be a mess.
Timothy Carleton - I think he hopes it does just that, with the first three barrels (so close to the surface), which he will pump out periodically through the ports in the top of the barrel and anticipated access channels at ground level. This reduces the clogging of the rock field and hopefully extends the life of the field.
@Crotch Banister shut the hell up boi
Never heard of a honey truck? Pump it out every 6 months and no trouble to be found
Dude, this is literally how a normal full size septic system works. The only thing you can really could criticize him for is the size. For this size I would probably just get a composting toilet.
Maybe eats a lot of fried food 🤔
You will be living in a hotel room the first time the health department pays you a visit. Would expect this to be somewhere in the backwoods not next to a busy road. This is crazy af 🤣🤣🤣
Bruh... don't do this. Take it from a licensed sewer layer, that volume isn't even close to what is necessary for even a single person. Not to mention that pit is going to become a Cholera pond. Gotttdamnnnn, take this down.
EXACTLY!!!!!
Please listen to C R !
Y’all ain’t no fun 🤣
Crotch Banister 🤣😂🤣😂
@FF Film Crew you can flood that first drum with enzymes, but there needs to be adequate volume to support a large enough colony to process the solids and 50 gallon drums are far too small. Even for a single person living in a permanent residence, you want a 1000 gal tank. With that volume it should only need to be pumped every 5-10 years because there are certain solids that can't be broken down by enzymatic or bacterial processes. This system would likely need to be pumped every 2-6 months, making it a glorified porta-john
Pretty good
I remember back in the day you just dig a hole and put in a 55 gallon drum upside down with rock on the bottom and run the 4-in PVC into the tank and that was it
No permits you used to be able to just buy a lot for 50 bucks an acre and pay a couple kids to cut the trees down and pay a farmer to come in with a tractor and pull out the stumps and dig a well and dig a hole for the septic and level the land and then you'd put down Stone and get a concrete mixer and pour a floor and get concrete block delivered and build the basement and then build the single story house on top of the block foundation
No permits whatsoever as a matter of fact we didn't even have a town building we had no services at all there was no water no sewer no Department of public works nothing and it was all farmland huge farms that were family owned for hundreds of years that ranged from 1,000 acres to 4,000 acres and in an area the size of Manhattan there was only about 400 people
It was great
The roads were dirt and you didn't have to lock your doors and everybody helped everybody out and we had farm fresh produce and fresh chickens and eggs and beef and pork and we had local streams where we caught trout
There were a couple taverns that had been here since the 1600s that served farm fresh food and they would have fresh caught fish on Fridays
I miss the old days so much
You literally could stand in the middle of the road from 9:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. and there was not a single car and now even at 3:00 a.m. there's four lanes across of traffic on that same road bumper to bumper
I hate it
A friend recently replaced the exact setup at his home which he'd inherited from his dad some years ago. As near as he could figure it'd lasted over 30 years before the metal drums failed. The thing that bewildered my friend wasn't how this simple setup had endured decades of use but that he had to take out a sizable loan to install a new system.
3 barrel systems have been working fine for years. If people only knew. I like the added leech field. Most folks just run perforated pipe for a leech field about 3 feet deep and 3 lines off last barrel.
I’m now just waiting for the city inspector to show up!! Thanks for the great idea!
Yeah I don’t think that would pass inspection!😲
You better hope your sanitation inspector ,doesn't see this!
Damn that's a lot of digging for something that ain't going to work
It deserved a proper burial.
It will work fine. Mines been working for 17 years.
@@ericanderson8556 must not dump a lot with a whole family
@@arnoldchildress8053 Correct. It’s just my pole building with a single toilet and sink. It isn’t used much. I thought that’s what he said his was too. It wouldn’t work with a lot of volume.
@@ericanderson8556 my bad
This is how people built their own septic back in the 50s 60s and early 70s before the county made permits and inspections were required
In 1950 my grandfather bought a farm and buried 2 steel 55-gallon drums for his septic system. They outlasted him and had to be replaced in the mid-80s.
I love the disaster in this comment section 😅 you have on one hand people like me who are quite confident it’ll work as long as the first tanks are pumped regularly, and then you have people who say it’ll never work, who probably have never seen a setup like this, which is the only reason they think it won’t work
Is that in Venezuela if so, that's a perfect system
You must pump the solids from those first tanks every few years? It doesn’t seem like much storage for solids
Every few weeks maybe
Just add a packet of bakers yeast once a year
@@lonniecarter1762 it’s not enough. It’s like pissing in a well... a 3 bedroom home requires 1000 gallon septic tank here in the northwest
@@HciContractor Yes l know what is required in the PNW, as l've installed a few in Lake, Klamath, Douglas and Jackson Counties of Oregon, l also know what can work in a pinch, when a little common sense is used, and why on God's earth would anyone want to piss in a well
I even commented that her should have just used a old unworking van.
My uncle has used this same system since 1996, no problems.
For a two man every day shop.....a tank with a baffle and or a filter, 100 foot drain line ditch is all you will ever need. Easy and simple.
You’re right. I put a lot of overkill in this one. I really didn’t know what I was doing, and only posted the video for my records. I guess a lot of people were interested in seeing it too!
SCOTTA1 that is code here when you are over the aquifer and No more than 3 feet deep,
The fluid is supposed to wick up, not down but that won’t work for some soils around here.
I’m getting ready to do another install on a system. Can you explain what you mean a baffle or filter?
@@jtmeyer2490 all systems are designed for your soils.
Around here we can get away with 1000 gallon septic tank and a 100 foot long drainfield that’s 3 foot wide giving you 300 ft.².
Inside the tank we have a T fitting that keeps the solids from running into the leach field and ruining it. The 4” pipe from the leach field runs into the tank and connects to the T. In this way the liquid climbs up the Ter and then flows through to the Leach field.
For the Leitchfield sometimes we use 10 inch gravel those ADS drain field and other times I’ll use Domed pipe.
It’s simple and really quick
@@HciContractor lol the guy is using illegal tanks with an illegal ground excavation due to no permits and you are worried about local codes? 😂 Psshhh!
I basically have the same system, but I used 5 gallon buckets instead. I like to conserve.
John Matrix i shit once a week too
Remind me not to buy your house.
You could have used Solo cups! WASTER!
🤣🤣🤣
Dude you literally did an amazing job on the digging which is the hardest part. Why not build a system that will last a lifetime? Forget those barrels and get a tank.
I'm sure the health department loves this video
DO NOT DO IT! THIS IS NOT EVEN CLOSE ENOUGH OR ADEQUATE RIGHT FOR 1 CAT-DOG.
Stfu.
I'm sure the County Board would love to know the address of this place. LoL
He could plan the other side then; call it portable?. The "switch outhouse."
That's exactly what I did here in the Philippines. And works great been in ground now 3 years..
Nice! Most people say it won’t work. lol
Use to make them with my grandpa but he'd use two. Always for some guy that just wants a shitter in his shop.
Go out back and drop some turds. No need for the shop shitter.
As long as he’s above the water table, this will last longer than you would think
Nice, straightforward video. I'm here because I met the family of the man behind the camera IRL, but I'm baffled about how a 53-second video about a DIY septic tank got at least 835,000 views in five years. Did a homestead blogger share it or something?
Or maybe because it's so short? I dunno. It just never crossed my mind to build my own septic. LOL
Cause its possibly the stupidest way to set up a septic tank or field. There is not even a single run....
My great grandfather just used to dig a hole and squat…his system still works today.
You have to leave access to the barrel 6 inch pipe up to the surface is a must you have to be able to look in there and see if it’s clogged or damaged
This looks very interesting, but do do you have any advice for someone who wants to try to get this approved and permit issued?
Homme de Towne can’t help you there. I don’t think you can get a permit on it. Sorry.
Advise from a licensed plumber: buy once cry once. This is going to be a mess to dig up and replace correctly or a costly maintenance nightmare. Get a real septic system engineered by a licensed professional, even if you do the install yourself.
What that system will do is likely pollute the groundwater. Getting rid of the wastewater is just one objective. The other is biological treatment of the effluent which this system's lateral tank won't do, due to the depth the lateral field is buried to. Unless you have aroebic biological action taking place in the lateral field (not tank), you will provide a direct conduit for the dangerous pathogens to get directly into your and your neighbor's groundwater. You should use this widely watched video to help people understand the absolute necessity to install a correctly operating system that won't endanger the environment or the people living in it. I also am a licensed wastewater treatment professional. Do the proper research to understand how important it is to get this installed properly to protect yourself and others.
Just dig the other side and call it the "portable switch house."
The local health board will look at and approve or deny any drawing of a system you wish to install. For free. And provide advice.
The day after a family corn boil should just about do this system in.
Y’all have get togethers to boil corn?
Lolol I remember going to wastewater plants for generator service and seeing corn and tomato plants growing in the solids 🤣🤣🤣
Yeah it never got used that much
How do I share this video lol
JT
Hey JT you'll have to pour in ammonia or chlorine to help digest the waste and the paper or the enzyme they use to clean out septic tanks you can get it at any plumbing supply store just tell them you need a box of chemical to digest the material in the septic tank and that'll help eat up the paper and keep the system running.
I did this, but gray water only in a hunting cabin. I burned my shit.
I don't know what's worse a pool of shit in the back yard or a giant burning pile of shit. Both sound disgusting.
@@ajfox031 well, I’m one guy, and even the 10-12 days per year I’m out there, most of the “shit” had fully run the composting process. I have one of those chamber pot chairs with a hole in it. Just stick a 5 gallon bucket under it, and cover the matter with cedar saw dust.
@@LtColDaddy71 does it burn good?
Never heard anybody say that before!
@@ajfox031 burns like shit
So what happens when those barrels fill up in a couple months
Try a week :)
I think the first one will fill up, clog the line going into the second barrel and that's all she wrote
It will last that long?
Nice video! I think the solid tanks could use a diffuser filter on the line out to the next to keep solids in. I think one end of the pipe is a few slight inches lower out than the other line that comes in. Also not sure if that leech barrel method is better for that size hole than 2 or 3 40' leech lines since you have such a big hole. The barrel area might clog up with any solids that make it through, where as long lines with a 90 up clean out at the end might be better. I am just a DIYer that looked up a ton of septic diagrams and codes for our family cabin in the desert.
Eric S. Thanks for the input!
Licensed plumber here. That's essentially an oil separator for a garage floor drain. The last thing you should ever do with that is connect a toilet to it.
So let me help you learn a bit. Anaerobic digestion in ideal conditions needs 30days of retention in a system to work properly. Septic tanks are an anaerobic digestion system. You have to size a septic system on your flow rate.
size your septic tank to hold 30 days worth of sewer.
And your leachate field needs to be even larger. Leach sewer pipe the ones with holes are cheap and inexpensive. The rock and diging grading is the expensive part.
with your setup I would suggest going to an active digestion or aerobic with air to speed up decomposition. You'll need an airpump to diffuse oxygen into the tanks to break down the organics quickly. It has an energy cost but you could potentially get away with the setup you have by having all your barrels be aerobic instead of anaerobic. You will need a vent pipe and for neighbour's and your sanity add an hydrogen sulfide scrubber to it so the smell won't be so bad.
I Hope that helps alittle but what you have now will not be safe or functional.
To everyone hating on this dude: How do you think people survived before there were “codes?” For almost all of human history people have thrived without the use of codes and inspections... Relax.
I don't think code is his biggest worry here. But there's good reason why this wouldn't pass.
They dug a hole, built a wooden shack over it, and shit in it.
IMHO, he’s free to fuck up his house any way he likes, right up to the point where I’m pumping his shit water out of my well.
That’s where dumb things like building code really helps people thrive in the first world.
Septic tank 750 gallon capacity for a family of 2... Just saying
Some people just have to struggle through what others have already blazed already.
A 50 gallon drum is almost good enough for strictly gray water from a single adult.
What I guess all states are different because for a family of 5 louisiana in a 2.5 bathroom house it's only 450 gl capacity
Ain't nothing like giving it a go, good for you! I hope it works out, great experience if nothing else.
Thanks man.
It works, I have seen many put in and I put one in on my property and it's been perfect for almost 20 years, and depending on what part of the country you live in,,,, yes it's legal!
Oh my God! I just realize this was a five-year-old video. I was going to ask for a part two! Instead I need an update video..to see how the process has been working out for him.
I would be prosecuted if i would do that out here.
Where do you live?
🤫🙈🙉🙊😄
Mr. Choplanskie same here. Washington state
@ papa John ; Belgium 😉
Why would you tell them? You should see mine, its just 1/2 of a bbl with the bottom cut off buried 3ft deep. It is really just the perk tank, been that way for 15 years, cleaned it out once, but grey water went out on the ground in a different spot.
A little overkill never kills
Very simple and good septic tank.Thanks for this info..👍👍
I had a septic inspection on a property that I was buying the property had a 30-40 year old 50 gallon round steel tank and then it went into the leach field. The property had had three bedroom mobile home on it with the family living in it for well over 30 years.
It'll work fine if you don't overuse it.
kids today with their 30-minute showers and parents that won't tell him not to are the problem. That is the parents are the problem not the kids
Note to self: Do not let these guys anywhere near my property.
Nobody wants to anyways, Karen.
OMG LOL 😆 🤣
Your HEAD is full of #3's too !
I was so expecting to see this as some part of a hunting camp or something that gets used half a dozen times a year maybe. Looks like some of the work I dug up in a central Florida trailer park, seriously this would have probably been better.
That's what they do in eastern Kentucky
Unless you live near a creek, river, stream, river. Then it goes straight into the drink!
Yep, that explains it. I bet they do it in bare feet too.
You're going to have so many issues with that... I'm sorry I know you mean well, but it's bad on a lot of levels starting with direct to ground leech, and roughly 120 gallons of tank capacity.... Just no....
I know families that have been using barrels for septic system for 40 years and they are still working just fine, and never have any smell or overflows, and of course plumbers want you to build a 5 to 10.000 dollar septic system,
After watching this , I had to read the comments ! Good luck Buddy, it's definitely creative, Good luck 🤞
I was hoping "surely this is like a hunting cabin out in the wilderness."
*truck drives by on a road*
Ugh.
You were hoping? Why would you care what someone else does on their property? You love the gov.
@@timbodnar6711 lol tell the native americans that.
@@rjskum688 ok
Looking like a gold claim 😂
Rich
Nice idea 💡
This sort of pit sewer treatment is common the only stipulation is that the last tank in this case the hole where the tank is going has to be filled with water and the water has to drain in a specific amount of time to qualify if the land has high amount of clay preventing the water to drain in a minimum amount of time the pit leach tank will not work properly, this is per California Plumbing Code book. His idea is good in my book.
Ur wasting ur time and money. In a matter of months ur gonna have to dig it all up and have a professional install a real system. Septic isnt the thing to try to diy smh
Thanks
Um, yuup, crap and paper fills your first tank, thus, the reason you have to pump your tank every few years to empty the 1st tank, the second tank is liquid, when that is full it fills the leach lines, keeps poop and paper out of the lines, i doubt that system will last long
Cool mate 👍 nice system do you put polypropylene over the top like we do in the UK 🇬🇧?
Licensed plumber disagrees. Do it right.
@@tbcarleton carm down
A little over kill, Tim the tool man Taylor would be arrrr arrrr arrrr so proud!
Folks are so quick to throw their negativity out there and try to put this man down. Well I will tell all of y'all God don't like ugly. What ever happened to constructive criticism?maybe give him a few tips kindly. And let him make what he will of it. My husband happenes to be a master plumber and if you are looking for a temporary cheap quick solution, there's nothing wrong with this at all. Actually, I applaud the creativity bc we are currently facing an issue with having our own water on. Seems where I live, if you happen to be lucky enough to have bought your property on the side of the road the water line is running $80 , but since that's just not the case here so it's $900 if ur on the wrong side. So for people like us struggling to get by and with a baby on the way might I add,this is a great idea.
How do you pump out the solids? He needs a holding tank first to catch the solids!!
I wounder if he had a permit for this.🤫
😂
Would you mask up and go to the state building and stand in line for that!
Yeah, it was drawn up on the inside of a Busch 30 rack, with a dried out sharpie.
Really lol
This looks white and southern
Something only a Florida resident would’ve done 😂
Your pipe from the toilet down to the first of the three tanks is going to plug up way before those barrels do. You have to have 1/4 inch drop per every 1 foot of pipe or 1 inch for every 4 foot of pipe drop. So that your liquids don’t run to fast and leave the solids behind. With the proper drainage the liquids will carry the solids all the way to the tank. Then about every third month flush down some live enzymes and you should be good for quite some time. Make sure you have a “clean out lid on your first two tanks, so that you can call to have them pumped out on occasion… just some helpful hints… take’m or leave’m. 😎
All the keyboard technicians. I ran a very similar system for years out on a farm and everything was fine, the feild plans lines take out all the water, and solid waste slowly gets suggested by bacteria in the barrels (which are acting as a septic tank).
It's not legal, but it works
It does need to have field lines run out from it though
As a Plumber / Fitter for 37yrs plus
This does not look like a good idea!
Serious joke
Agreed.....45 years experience....
This is super illegal in most states. Betting you didn’t get a permit from the health department. Better hope a neighbor doesn’t get pissed at you.
Thanks for the advice, Karen.
I've just had this fitted three times over with with apartments in London. 😂😂😂
Great work! Sorry that I'm 5 years late! Subscribed
Thank you!
🤦🏻♂️ dont have to be a genius to see how this is going to play out
He is definitely proud of this
@@shawnbrannon2114 .... those are BRAND NEW BARRELS!
Why not just get a composting toilet.
EXACTLY!
Because hauling poop out of my house each day doesn't appeal to me, and storing poop INSIDE my house for days appeals even less
@@integr8er66 lol. Fair enough. No human litter box. I've been watching reviews on the RV type units, due to plans to hit the road. They look pretty cool. But, I suppose if you don't have to... They have some larger units for sale through the big box stores. But, they're in the $2-3 range. Interesting tech, nonetheless.
Or build an outhouse. They are very environmentally sound.
Its not legal or permanent, but I have seen this setup before and it will work for single bath applications that aren't used much, such as garage or shop bathrooms. Enzymes do wonders. I know of a similar setup that has worked for 15 years.
Actually someone who knows what they are talking about. Thanks!
I bet the epa approves of this.
Did it siphon from tank to tank with those elbows? should be straight pipe for the manifolding
I got this design off the internet. It seemed to work great for me!
No commeny
Yo no
No the reason for the bend is so you keep both the floaters and the sinkers in the source bbl, its not 100% so you do it 3 times. Straight pips would pass the solids
The design is essentially a real septic system but the holding wells are to small each bucket that has elbows is the holding area the last bucket is wash out for the leach field
The local health dept would like to know your location
How to back up the pipes to your property 101
I may or may not have 3 variations of this on my property. Well done… probably over kill but well done
Thank you.
How have you sealed the large openings on the top?
+simcorp69 idk how he did it i like to know as well but seen another video with
some Mexicans just putting bricks over the hole must have work who knows
This shit bomb ever go off, talk about some RUclips Views. You’d be rich
Come on!! Show the full explanation!... Looks very well done!
Thanks.
People who say this won’t work obviously haven’t seen the systems that were and are used by many very old houses. Some just have a single buried brick lined tank and it works fine. I have one and it’s been working for over 120 years.
Yeah, let's keep the same shitty practices.