Should I add butyl sealant rope around access covers
I am doing some landscaping and have some questions about what I should do with my septic tank. I plan on having it pumped while I am at this stage. When I pulled the inlet and outlet covers, there was quite a bit of dirt in them as shown in the pics below. I cleaned the holes and on the inlet side there was a thick blanket of crap on the surface that I broke up with a stick and a heavy stream of water from a hose. I am going to rise the center 20 hole used for pumping before I bury the tank again. A question I have, is should I use some of the butyl rope that I have coming for the riser install to go around the edges of the inlet and outlet covers to keep dirt from filtering in around the covers? When I pulled the center 20 cover I noticed that there was quite a bit of cement left (shown in pic below). Should I break that back to the edge of the hole when I rise it to make it easier to access when pumping? The inlet section is quite small and the outlet is just a @ square hole about 1 square foot, as deep as I could reach, with some sort of hole in the baffle to allow water to flow out. Should I be concerned that there are no T's on either my inlet or outlet? Sorry I was so long winded, new to septic and don't want to screw anything up. Inlet Outlet Center Hi, and wecome. Definitely use some type of sealer around the riser. I don't think I would break it out bigger if I did not have to. It may break a larger hole than you want. While you have access to the pipes, I would put T's on both inlet and out let. Run a pipe from the T going down about half the depth of the tank., on inlet and outlet T's. Travis Thanks, I was planning on using the sealer around the riser ring. I think I will use it around the inlet and outlet as well. I am not going to rise them. I will put the T's on while I have it completely exposed. On the center hole, the cement that is in the center of that hole, is only about a half inch thick and looks to be cracked around the edge. I am going to have it pumped while I at this stage as well. We have only been here a year and not sure if the previous owner had it pumped 2 years ago like he claims. I will talk to the company that pumps it out before I break it out. Thanks again for the reply. The butyl definately wouldnt hurt on the riser part to the tank. I'll tell you this from experience...... 1. If you put butyl on the lid, it will do at least one of two things.... A. If it sticks real good to the lid and riser, it will be tough and messy to get the lid off for cleaning. B. It may not stick to either and fall off into the tank or on the ground once the lid is taken off. I've put more risers on tanks than I care to remember and never use butyl on the lid. If the area is dry and well drained around the riser, then it shouldn't get any water into it. If it's wet then I use foam backer material that I silicone to the riser. Use a lot of silicone and let it dry. Then flop the lid on and its virtually water tight. From a cleaner point of view, break out the flash (the thin stuff in the center lid). If the guy who comes to clean it does a good job, he's going to bring along a spoon. It's a large thing shaped like a spoon at one end, used to stir the tank up as it's being pumped. If the flash is there before he cleans it, then it will probably be on the bottom of the tank after he's done. Also, if I saw that flash on a customers tank (and we do), then we'll clean it up for them so it doesnt damage our hoses going in or coming out. As for the baffles, the inlet side has a concrete plate baffle. Its about 16 deep and runs from side to side on the tank. Used for many years. Has a tendency to plug up. Putting a T type on the inlet is OK. Good luck on the outlet side. There is no possible way for you to glue on a 4 T to the discharge pipe in that tiny area. The only way to do it is to break out the old concrete baffle and let it drop into the bottom of the tank. Then you can glue up a 4 T. The outlet baffle is actually a U shaped piece of concrete thats cast onto the side of the tank. It doeant go side to side like the inlet. It's only a hollow cone. But they have wire mesh and are the toughest thing in the world to get off. We use a 30 lb x 6' steel long pry bar that we keep on the pump truck. It sometimes takes a half hour or so of constant pounding to get it to fall off. Sometimes it doesn't and we use a hammer drill to get it to drop. Sorry for the confusion. I wasn't planning on using the butyl on the lid to the riser, but on the cement covers to the inlet and outlet, which I am not rising. I am planning on doing away with the lid that is on the tank and using the safety pan to cast a new cement cover at the top of the riser, I am rising it just 15 with a 12 section and a 3 safety pan. I plan on bringing the grade up to the top of the riser and then covering the whole area with crushed stone. I will break out the flash before they get here. I will T the inlet, I saw what you mean about having a tendency to plug up. When I first opened it I thought that the inlet side was full of gunk to the bottom of the tank. It wasn't that bad, but was gunked up pretty good. The outlet looked pretty clean except for the dirt that filtered through the cover. I think that I will leave it alone instead of trying to bust off the U. Thanks for the advice. Jim
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