I have a Camp House in the Bottoms, prone to spring flooding. Seems the original septic tank was metal and has collapsed. Was planning on using two poly barrels. Friend has a 300(?) gal IBC tank (wire basket surround square poly tank) unsure if this would be suitable for burial. Anyone familiar with these tanks. Do you think wire basket will help keep from collapsing? Thanks
The only thing I would recommend is tht you put a sheet of pressure treated plywood over the top. It would help out quite a bit
You could encase it with mortared cinder blocks then it wouldn't ever collapse. and if someone drove over it it would handle it.
Yep, those tanks will work with a big set of "ifs." 1) - Get a flood, they will float out of the ground unless they are also full (which of course, you don't want for normal use.) 2) - I'm not as sure as Nadja that a single sheet of plywood will hold much more than a lawn mower with a foot of earth on top. Consider treated planks, say used railroad ties, and anchor them as well against floods. 3) - Quigs is right, the side walls need to be reinforced somehow. Block is good. If the baskets are stainless steel, you might get by with plywood on the outside. Otherwise you will have collapsed tanks eventually, flood or not. The poly tank/basket combination is designed for internal pressure, not external. I assume you have a scheme to connect the tanks to an existing leach field ---
Thanks for your input. Thinking the two barrel method may be easier. But this tank definitely has more capacity; however, only have a tankless toilet and a kitchen sink hooking to it, shower on it's own tile. We're only down there weekends mainly May-November. Capacity not a big issue, floating and collapsing is the main problem.
Check with the local septic tank folks. You can pick up a 1K tank for about $300 or less if it has a defect. Years ago we cleared a lot and pushed up a RR tie tank that may have been 50+ yrs old. The ties still looked great and as solid as the day they went in. Landscape timbers will do the same. An old oil tank will outlast you--especially if you coat it will with a tar based sealant. Cement block walls and RR ties on top should last a lifetime, especially if you coat the top well with tar sealant(roofing cement or underground wall stuff).
If you went to the rouble of encasing the tanks with cinderblock, why not just use the cinderblock as a vault. You could fill the blocks and pour the top out of concrete. I think pictured container is 425 gallon. I would not just put 3/4 ply on top, but on the sides also. It is a very important oberservation about the plastic tank floating, a very real problem.
You would be better off getting a concrete tank from the septic tank people. They are not that expensive and would be just a little more than the 2 plastic tanks. Plus you have to dig the hole anyway. Then no more worries for many many years. (mine in ground for 30+ years.)
Around here we use tanks, similar to those, for Domestic Water Systems, as well as Septic Tanks. Our local Business uses them in the summer, when they are operating, and has to PAY to get rid of them, when they are empty. They generate about 50 or 60 a summer, and the locals come pick them up for free, if they promise to haul them off site. Since it is very cold, here in the winters, most folks put them in their insulated attics, for gravity flow, and then pump them from storage or local stream sources as required. Ours come in Cardboard Carriers instead of tubular frames. We also bury them in our local stream beds, near stream/trail crossings with culverts, to create pump out stations, for pumping domestic water. They work real well for that. They are NOT real good in a UV light environment, and get brittle and crack. If you paint them with a good thick paint, it cures the UV problem, or you can just keep them out of direct sunlight. Ours come wit NPT Male outlets, but some I have seen have female CamLok connections. I saw some Tube Framed tanks, that were used at an International Airport, that contained Aircraft DeIcing Fluid, and the empties were sold for $200 each, by the contractor. They never had a problem getting rid of the empties.
