Is there a septic system design that allows you to drive over the drain field?

Need some help guys/gals
My employer is building a new shop/office and space is at a premium her. I am wondering if there is a septic system that you guys have heard of or installed that would allow you to drive over the drain field with light duty traffic(Parking lot) with out damaging the lines?

Thanks in advance,
Todd

I do not know if this will help but the the location is in northern North Dakota.The drain field will be deeper than southern states.

Saw a pic of exactly that just recently, think it was in the heavy equipment forums on Lawn site, will have a look and see if I can find it for you...

"NOT" A Good idea at all !!! ointhead ..... Its not the crushing of the pipes you should worry about, it's the compaction of the soil that makes it a BIG NO-NO ..... when you compact the soils it totally makes the soil impermiable ...... even if you were able to use alot of aggregate .... thats not how a septic field works, just getting rid of the water is not what its all about ..... the soils do about 75% of the effluent treatment in a Type 1 system (tank only with a field) ... if you compact the soil to a point where the effluent will not filter thru the soils,(thats where all the good bacterias hang out for treatment) it becomes a clogged field ... the next thing to happen will it will come to the surface and well ? ... soft spots for ever, and a health risk.
My suggestion to you would be, if the space is that cramped, you will have to up the anty $$$ and have a system designed that treats the effluent to a standard that the water coming into the dispersal area (septic field) is almost like pure water .... these are usually called Type-2 and Type-3 systems, aerators and ultra violet lights are added to these as well as a pressure distribution field.
When these systems are used the field sizing drops HUGE ......eg: I had a customer that had a lake front property .... he decided to build this 5 bedroom monstocity (hugemungeous ...LOL) house on a lot that was sooo small, with normal gravity fed field it would have been about a 80'x120' min area requirement, so we had a Type-2 system designed for it and the field wound up to be 20'x30' (keep in mind that the type of soils played a major roll in this) ..... cost was a bit higher, but he wound up with a field that will last 30yrs or more, with proper preventative maintenance.
I have been an installer for over 26yrs and well ... if you do it cheap you'll do it twice. ..........

In the eighty"s several local contractors used CEMENT chambers under the paved driveways . The theory at the time was - by the time the system failed the driveway would be cracked and it would be time to replace it and that would be cheaper than landscaping .
As far as I know they stopped doing it when plastic chambers came out

which certainly flies against the evaporation theory

Talk to the state sanitarians and find out what systems are allowed in your state and also your area, there are a lot of types of systems allowed and you can even go with a pumping system, just pump it out say once a month or so instead of having a drainage field at all, weigh the cost of pumping vs. the land needed for a drainage field or whatever you install, just a suggestion. We can tell you lots of systems but if they are not allowed in your area then its pointless to consider. If the county or city sanitarian are not helpful go higher and find out who their boss is and start there. They can even make considerations when none of their systems will work for you, its on a case by case deal but they don't like to or will tell you they can't but all that means is they don't know how or aren't going to take the time to do it, then go higher up the chain. There are digesters, grease digesters, grease pits and sludge pits, filter systems that need to be cleaned often, sand traps/filters beds, there are pump systems that literally pump it to a different area that a drainage field can be installed, there are systems that can and do work but they are not the first choice to say the least, most are high priced and take considerable patience to make work and maintain, there are lots of systems out there but the thing you need to remember is the less space for a drainage field the higher priced the system will be to install and maintain. Best of luck

Madeen2 said:

Need some help guys/gals
My employer is building a new shop/office and space is at a premium her. I am wondering if there is a septic system that you guys have heard of or installed that would allow you to drive over the drain field with light duty traffic(Parking lot) with out damaging the lines?

Thanks in advance,
Todd

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I have the perfect,fairly inexpensive system for you that I install all the time.By me,there are 2 different names given,the first is called a flow diffusor,it is a 4'x8'x 18'' high concrete shallow drywell.Standard operating procedure is to over-excavate in depth by 1 foot[after you determine and set your header lines coming off the D box] and the width by 1 foot on each side so you end up with a 6' trench.You place 1 foot of 1.5'' to 2'' stone on the floor of your trench,set the box and then place the same size stone on the sides right up to the top of the concrete.The bottom of these is all open and the sides have rectangular slotted holes.The beauty of these is that you have a combination of leaching and storage capabilities.Hopefully,the ground will absorb all the gray water immediately but if it shouldn't for whatever reason,you have the storage both in the box and all the voids in the stone.You also have some head pressure here in that the weight of the water will tend to force more water into the ground,both vertically and horizontally.They are tongue and grooved,both on the sides and on the ends.If possible,you should try and run multiple rows lenghtwise with at least 6' of virgin earth between each row.These come both H10 and H20 load bearing.I've used each both under grass and under parking lots for over 30 years.Unfortunately,at least by me,the precasters don't make this design anymore but I'm quite certain they are still around in different areas.For the last 6 years I've been using something very similar called a tri-galley,basic same design except they are narrower at the top,creating a triangular resemblance.These only come in one format,they are indeed designed for traffic.Forgot to mention, just like traditional leach fields,these are either set all level or with a 1/16-1/32'' to the foot slope.You cover over the stone with geotek when done of course.Whenever I have a postage stamp of a backyard,I always spec these out.

Forgot to mention Madeen to use SDR35 pipe instead of lightweight white S+D pipe since this system will see traffic.Depending on depth of course,but you should compact the granular material of your choice all around the pipes to avoid egging.

CRAFT said:

"NOT" A Good idea at all !!! ointhead ..... Its not the crushing of the pipes you should worry about, it's the compaction of the soil that makes it a BIG NO-NO ..... when you compact the soils it totally makes the soil impermiable ...... even if you were able to use alot of aggregate .... thats not how a septic field works, just getting rid of the water is not what its all about ..... the soils do about 75% of the effluent treatment in a Type 1 system (tank only with a field) ... if you compact the soil to a point where the effluent will not filter thru the soils,(thats where all the good bacterias hang out for treatment) it becomes a clogged field ... the next thing to happen will it will come to the surface and well ? ... soft spots for ever, and a health risk.
My suggestion to you would be, if the space is that cramped, you will have to up the anty $$$ and have a system designed that treats the effluent to a standard that the water coming into the dispersal area (septic field) is almost like pure water .... these are usually called Type-2 and Type-3 systems, aerators and ultra violet lights are added to these as well as a pressure distribution field.
When these systems are used the field sizing drops HUGE ......eg: I had a customer that had a lake front property .... he decided to build this 5 bedroom monstocity (hugemungeous ...LOL) house on a lot that was sooo small, with normal gravity fed field it would have been about a 80'x120' min area requirement, so we had a Type-2 system designed for it and the field wound up to be 20'x30' (keep in mind that the type of soils played a major roll in this) ..... cost was a bit higher, but he wound up with a field that will last 30yrs or more, with proper preventative maintenance.
I have been an installer for over 26yrs and well ... if you do it cheap you'll do it twice. ..........

Click to expand...

Yep, this is what I would do. In Idaho, you can take these systems and use them to water your lawn or trees.