Price $18K

SOIL/SITE EVALUATION...0 - 13” Class III brown silty clay loam. No evidence of ground water.Less than 30% gravel. 13 - 66” Class III tan silty clay loam containing greater than 30% gravel. Ground water present at 56 inches. Site unsuitable for standard gravity septic system disposal.

Went through County Public Health to get approved design.

APPROVED DESIGN:
- Maximum daily discharge rate: 300 GPD (Q)
- A two-way cleanout placed within three feet of the house and every 50 feet between the house
and tank.
• A Buchanan 1500-gallon three-compartment septic tank. Tank must have a minimum 5’ setback
from the foundation and be level within 1". Tank should be bedded with a minimum of 4’’ of
washed sand. The tanks will be connected to the house with 3 or 4-inch SCH 40 PVC. The inlet
and outlet devices for the septic tank(s) shall consist of “T” branch fittings. The outlet “T” of the
2-compartment tank will protrude the effluent to a depth of 9 – 18 inches (tank bottom 36 inches
from bottom of outlet). There will not be a “T” branch fitting installed on the outlet of the pump
tank or pump chamber as the outlet will remain sealed and the supply line will exit the top of the
tank.
• Man hole inspection ports for the septic tank will be backfilled below finished grade and must
extend to within 12 inches of the finished surface grade not requiring additional safety measures.
• The tank excavation will be backfilled with soil or pea gravel that is free of rock larger than 1/2
inch in diameter. Class IV soils and gravel larger than 1/2 inch in diameter are not acceptable for
use as backfill material.
• There will be a minimum of 1/8 inch of fall per linear foot between the structure and septic tank.
• Approximately 138' of 2 inch supply line (SCH 40 PVC).
• The drain field will consist of 798 square feet consisting of 275 linear feet of lateral line. The
lateral lines shall be placed on 3’ centers.

PUMP TO BE USED:
• Liberty 280-Series
• This pump can push 40 gallons per minute @ 19 feet of total dynamic head to leach field

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Wow.  Nice looking but VERY expensive.  I just had a septic installed for $4000.

Where and how big?  How often does it need to be pumped?

I'm thinking of building soon and will have a two-generation home.  Daughter/Son in law/ 2 rug rats, then me and MeeMaw.  (6 total).

FYI....the engineered design of a septic system (OSSF) in by Texas TCEQ is based primary on numbers bedrooms, soil type and water table

^^^ that's pretty much the case everywhere.

OP: keep in mind that during a power outage that pump has to be able to run in order to transfer black water.

ar-jedi

^^^ that's pretty much the case everywhere.

OP: keep in mind that during a power outage that pump has to be able to run in order to transfer black water.

ar-jedi
..................................
 Thanks ....been thinking about that and select backup power....I suspect a small manual transfer switch for a 30amp generator connection and generator to power a couple circuits will be in my future will be in my future.

So this is via an application process with an engineered response to make sure you're in compliance?

Shouldn't have to be pumped ever with as few people as we have putting waste into it.  

1000 gallon tank.  Sized for a 3 bedroom home.  There's about 300 ft of lateral line.

Noted for future reference.  But why this: "Site unsuitable for standard gravity septic system disposal" ???  Was it the silty clay that did not allow water to pass easily?  And if you didn't get a "standard gravity septic system" installed, what do you call the system you're paying for?

the above is an expensive term for "the septic tanks and/or leach field are UPHILL from the discharge point of the dwelling".  

in practice, what that means is there must be a powered ejector (sewage) pump to periodically discharge accumulated black water from either inside the dwelling or at the tanks into the leach field.

this is opposed to a gravity system where, well, "shit flows downhill".

gravity systems do not require AC power, and don't include pumps that occasionally fail.
so ideally, you would want a gravity septic system, but in some cases it just can't work out that way.  

a plot plan, for example, may reserve an area in the back yard for future installation of an in-ground pool.
obviously, the leach field can not go in that area.
so, in that case the leach field would be engineered for the front yard.
and, if the front yard is uphill from the structure, you are going to need a pump.

ar-jedi

The site elevation change, poor clay silt soil type and the required separation distance between leech field and ground water (determined by two site eval test holes) was the primary reason that that the lower cost,typical standard two chamber tank and absorption gravel/sand leech field could not be constructed.  These system require only a Class I license installer

Two alternative types of system were left: 1.) low pressure effluent dosing system using a 3 chamber tank and leech field. or 2.) a more complicated 3 chamber tank, high pressure surface applied effluent (ie. think sprinkler system) on a leech field which requires periodic TCEQ monitoring.  These systems require a Class II licensed installer and must have an alarm for the high/low level and the pump.

The low-pressure dose soil substitution / mound system was recommended and county approved.  Glad I did cause its a simpler system than spraying gray water around a designated leech field and having periodic monitoring.  The soil substitution (excavate down 2ft replace with gravel and sand) would still be required either way. ground water at 52".  

I inspected/accepted the system today with my licensed ClassII Installer and was oriented on its operation. Also recieved the county inspection cert.  Depending on household use Chambers 1 & 2 will require pumping for sludge every 3 years.  Finished graded pixs below  Best of luck

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I am now enlightened.  Thank you for explaining it to me. So the bulk of expense was the extra tractor work and wiring/power for the pump?

I'm a licensed septic installer here and that's about what I would charge for a similar system.

So I started a separate thread about this but I came back here.  One of the local (Waco) installers (my land is in Crawford) told me that is they found rock about 12' below the surface that they would probably recommend a soil substitution system.  Which means you basically dig out then make a leach field with sand and gravel I think.  Could cost 15-20k.  Seems like you landscape looks a lot like mine, do you have rocks when you get down below the topsoil?

Edit:I re-read your posts, you have a loamy soil.

The designer (aka registered sanitarian?) indicated to me that the design only really considered soil type down to 6 feet. He had the installer dig test holes in advance to check and also see where the water table was at.      Think the soil type west of I35 is similar...lots of clay some loam but little sand.    If the existing soil does not percolate then they have replace with a soil type that does.