I was just wondering if anyone here smarter than me would be willing to help me along the way. I am I'm im the process of bidding an et bed in the next county over. I have installed lots of laterals but never an et bed. It is going to be roughly 33 x 50 and has to be excavated out 3 feet deep. I am comming up with roughly 184 cu yd. Is that close at all? Then I must install 12" of 3/4 washed gravel. I am getting about 92 tons? Then 2" of pea gravel. I am getting about 13 tons. Then 10" of sand. I am getting about 78 tons. Is this math close at all? If so dose anyone have any advice on how to price an et bed vs conventional laterals. Thanks in advance for all advice and criticism. That I will receive for posting this question as I am sure some one will say don't bid but hey everybody has to learn some how. I like getting an education its just I don't want it to cost too much
First of all what does et stand for? You are describing a septic sand filter I think? We have installed many septic sand filters and typically use 20 cubic foot = 1 ton of rock / sand. It is not a perfect science but is close to figure what tonnage amount is needed.
I moved this thread over to General Industry Questions as it fits better here. For crushed limestone I use 1CY = 1.33 tons but that's for the density of our local limestone. Something to keep in mind is what is your average tonnage per load of material delivered? If the average load is 15 tons per truck for example, if you calculate 13 tons needed, then order 15. The expense is in the hauling and 2 extra tons won't cost much more even if you waste it but will cost a ton if you need 2 extra.
All your math is good.
Et stands for evaporation transpiration according to the local code book not sure about them as this is the first time I have been around this system. The existing bed has failed and has to be removed and a new one installed in the same exact location
I've done several of them. Don't forget that you've got to get rid of the spoils that come out of the pit. Since this is a rework, it's going to be a #2 job if you get my drift. That's going to make it more costly. You need to up your quantities by 10% at least for shrinkage and slop. I just dig the pit and slope one side to get a backhoe or loader down into it to place the gravel. After you get your gravel down(or you can put your gravel down concurrently with your pipe),build your manifold, then start laying your pipe runs(and we have to cover pipe with gravel by 2", but I can explain a trick if I know what your state requires as far as pipe bedding), cover pipe with gravel(not sure where the pea gravel comes into play unless it's above the 3/4" gravel and your fabric would go between the two), then your geotextile fabric over all this, then your sand(we don't have to do this, but it has to be a sandy loam on top). It'll run about 2.25 to 3 times the cost of a conventional.
Well I submitted my bid about 2 hours ago. Took less than 5 minutes after bid was emailed to get a phone call from the customer. WHAT ARE YOU NUTS? Followed by do we have any other options? What do you all think about adding 300 sq feet of laterals higher than the et bed and lower than the tank outlet? After the et bed has all it can take then the lateral takes over? Think 300 sq ft of laterals will help out much? Perk rate of about 1/8" per hour. And water usage in the house of about 1200 gal per week
Will the permitting authority allow that? Anything will help. If I were the owner, I'd hire a plumber with a camera to run it into the drain line to see why the pit failed first. That pit is designed for part of it to evaporate through the sandy type soil by wicking to the top and the rest of it to be used by grass or trees. One thing that I notice is the fact that it's half the size that we're required to install. We have to do two pits that size with a valve between them that the homeowner uses to select which pit to use for a certain amount of time while the other one has time to recover. This is based on 240 gals per day.
What did you figure for your bid? And what sized machine are you digging it with? Also doesn't your county provide engineered plans of what they want? I would rather go off their plans so if it doesn't work they're to blame.
D9gdon you are correct to meet current code on a new system the et bed would have to be 2600 sq ft for a 2 bed room unit and any additional bed rooms require a 25 percent upsize. Since this is an existing system anything done to it is considered a repair even a complete replacement. The county inspector says " do what ever you have to do to make it work " my only limitations ate to stay 10 feet from all property lines and water lines. Problem is that leaves about a 100 feet by 4 feet strip up the edge of the drive way. The rest of the property is either house,driveway, or water line
No eric12 county makes contractors design system repairs that way when they don't work the contractor is to blame. Exact words from inspectors mouth. I am not willing to disclose my bid price exactly but I will say it was between 10 and 20 k. I would have been digging existing pit with my 690d Deere and replacing rock and sand either with a 580l or a 450 case ctl.
could you back the truck to the hole or use a stone slinger to reduce handling the material twice? its hard to reduce material costs. and thats too bad they stick you with all of the responsibility.
I always figure square footage then I multiply dig out depth and then divide by 27 and that gives you yardage and seems like thats how you figured it I came up with almost same numbers better to have more then not enough
A lot of homeowners don't want the maintenance, but you should be able to install an aerobic system with surface spray for under 10K. They take up very little space and have a lot of capacity.
Surface drip is not approved for use here by state regs. I wish it was as I was contacted by a company about 18 months ago to be the dealer/Rep for the entire state of Kansas for there products it looks like a great system. Also a chance to make good money maintenancing them.
To quote from a very famous movie: ''Now I know I'm not in Kansas anymore Toto.'' WOW is all I can say!How about looking out for the public's safety?Nothing like gray water[or worse] to spill over whatever,too close to a potable water source,stream,kids playground,etc.By me we have to have a PE design the system AFTER perc and deep tests are performed,the board of health inspects those results then oks[or not] the design,system gets built, an inspection is done by the BOH,then backfilled.