Anyone seen one of these?

I have a friend buying a 2004 home.No city sewage.No septic a alternative system.I have’nt seen the system yet but he says it’s double canister type system outside against the home.I’m assuming the tank(canister) are solid waste storge and the liquid is leach into the soil by leach feild.Anyone know or seen these system and could give information on a inspection of this system.

                                                C.Petty

Sounds interesting. In the rural mountain areas I’ve come across different types of waste disposal systems, various setups that are supposed to be environmentally friendly. The setup you described doesn’t sound familiar, but you’ll know more once you see it.

Those types of systems seem to work best under “light-use” conditions. In other words, the alternative systems seem to be best for just one or two people, not a larger family. Perhaps for a vacation home. The ones I’ve seen haven’t performed well with heavier use.

In most places any kind of waste disposal system will have to be approved by the local health department. So that’s a good place to ask questions about your particular system. If it’s not approved by the health department, be sure to state that in your report. The health department can also tell you the last time that they inspected it.

James,
he told me when he first looked at the home it was after a rain and he had a small odor of sewage smell also.He wants me to take a look.I told him it has to have some (the holding of solid waste tanks above ground)would have to have some sort of venting wouldn’t you thank.Otherwise the vent at the roof would would pull air when flushed and push into the holding systems tank which would create pressure.I guess,then the liquid would move to the leaching field.

NACHI SOP: Not required to: [size=4]"[/size][FONT=Verdana]Excavate or otherwise uncover the private sewage system or its components to determine size, adequacy or efficiency."

Your state SOP is probably similar. I wouldn’t worry about what it is. Disclaim it.

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I wondered about the septic SOP, too. In this case, it sounds like you won’t have to “excavate” it or “uncover” it, since it’s sitting out in the open?

So you need to walk that fine line between wanting to help your friend, versus your level of experience with this type of system. Don’t get in over your head, but at the same time, try to be helpful. It could end up just being a case where you have to say, “I don’t know.” There’s nothing wrong with that when it comes to alternative systems. After you’ve seen it, you could tell your friend that you’ll try to find more info, and get back to him.

Is the person who installed it available to help?

And yes, it makes sense that it would need a venting system of some sort. I’ll be interested to hear more about it after you have seen it.

Try and get a name model type and as much information as possible .
Post this and look out these are some of the greatest amateur detectives around .
I would be surprised if they do not give you a good amount of information . Roy Cooke Sr… Royshomeinspection.com

Other possibilities are it could be…

  1. Simply a holding tank.

  2. A composting type using low volumes of water.

Check to see if grey water also flows in to this above ground tank or if it dicharges elsewhere.

Wouldn’t you know it. I had some great literature on these types of tanks and just recently threw them all away.

Anyways I have seen these systems installed with homes built on property where the land will not pass a proper perk test. They are chemically activated tanks. About once a month a qualified technician comes to the home and opens the system, does his little test, and activates chemicals as needed.

The water dispensed from these holding tanks is as clean as rain water. Sure wish I hadn’t thrown all that info. It is really an amazing system. If I remember correctly it is not uncommon to smell small amounts of (yukky) in the air after a rain.

Wish I could remember a lot more about the system.

Just my two cents worth - for whatever it’s worth. Basically, I should have just stated - Yea, I’ve seen them. :smiley: