We enjoy our lovely Isan village home . . .

[King Cotton]

 

 . . . except for a number of factors that come as part of the furniture for Thai life, things like:

1. Occasionally scary (as in house-shaking) stormy weather;
2. Mosquitoes, but this nuisance has subsided over the past 2 years;
3. Loose/stray dogs often spoiling a morning bicycle ride;
4. Random and often momentary power-cuts causing PC to crash with loss of unsaved work and an annoying quarter-hour wait for the BB router to restore connection;

And we’ve all had to learn to live with those, with various amounts of grumbling & cursing … yes?

There is, however, a further headache that poor KC has to cope with and that’s the all too frequent need to have the poo-poo tank emptied and I believe I’ve sussed the 2 causes of this expense and inconvenience:

1. Like most (if not all) other village homes, most of which have limited available tank-space, ours doesn’t have a ‘proper’ plastic septic tank, relying instead on the DIY approach of just having a 2 or 3 concrete ring ‘grey water’ hole, dug into the ground next to the house, which allows the waste to partially decompose and most of the liquor to filter out, through holes cut in the rings, into the surrounding sub-soil.
2. And here’s the xxgger in the woodpile: the local water-table, here on the fringe of a huge rice paddy, is so high that it more than adequately feeds the artesian well that was cut into the far corner of our garden and about 30-metres distant. The ground-water that keeps us washed and flushed is also and all-too-quickly leaching into the poo-poo tank and hence the frequent visits by the poop-sucker truck.

Being the practically-minded sod that I am, I’ve long toyed with the idea of having the poo-poo tank completely sucked empty and then concreting its base and cementing-in the ring joints and any holes in the tank sides, making it, in effect, an improvised septic tank that would require occasional emptying.

Sadly, however, my otherwise reasonable and equally practically-minded Thai wife always says ‘no concrete’ whenever I mention the problem; more likely than not ‘cos it was her dad that installed the failing system and to have it changed may cause some loss-of-face . . . and we couldn’t have that, could we.

Here’s a basic and well-presented website on the issue . . . https://tonyinthailand.com/building-isaan-week-8/

Any poo-poo experts out there?

 . . . with serious suggestions only, please (:-)

 

[Faraday]

Do you have a water filtration system?

We also live in bannork oop norf, & have 20 metre bore hole for the water. It's causes quite a bit of calcification though.

Plenty of bugs fly around at night, quite used to fishing 'em out of my beer when I'm having a 'swift half' on the patio.

Got a similar setup to you for the poop, & having to fork out for their monthly visits gets boring.

[Convert54]

10 minutes ago, King Cotton said:

 . . . except for a number of factors that come as part of the furniture for Thai life, things like:

1. Occasionally scary (as in house-shaking) stormy weather;
2. Mosquitoes, but this nuisance has subsided over the past 2 years;
3. Loose/stray dogs often spoiling a morning bicycle ride;
4. Random and often momentary power-cuts causing PC to crash with loss of unsaved work and an annoying quarter-hour wait for the BB router to restore connection;

And we’ve all had to learn to live with those, with various amounts of grumbling & cursing … yes?

There is, however, a further headache that poor KC has to cope with and that’s the all too frequent need to have the poo-poo tank emptied and I believe I’ve sussed the 2 causes of this expense and inconvenience:

1. Like most (if not all) other village homes, most of which have limited available tank-space, ours doesn’t have a ‘proper’ plastic septic tank, relying instead on the DIY approach of just having a 2 or 3 concrete ring ‘grey water’ hole, dug into the ground next to the house, which allows the waste to partially decompose and most of the liquor to filter out, through holes cut in the rings, into the surrounding sub-soil.
2. And here’s the xxgger in the woodpile: the local water-table, here on the fringe of a huge rice paddy, is so high that it more than adequately feeds the artesian well that was cut into the far corner of our garden and about 30-metres distant. The ground-water that keeps us washed and flushed is also and all-too-quickly leaching into the poo-poo tank and hence the frequent visits by the poop-sucker truck.

Being the practically-minded sod that I am, I’ve long toyed with the idea of having the poo-poo tank completely sucked empty and then concreting its base and cementing-in the ring joints and any holes in the tank sides, making it, in effect, an improvised septic tank that would require occasional emptying.

Sadly, however, my otherwise reasonable and equally practically-minded Thai wife always says ‘no concrete’ whenever I mention the problem; more likely than not ‘cos it was her dad that installed the failing system and to have it changed may cause some loss-of-face . . . and we couldn’t have that, could we.

Here’s a basic and well-presented website on the issue . . . https://tonyinthailand.com/building-isaan-week-8/

Any poo-poo experts out there?

 . . . with serious suggestions only, please (:-)

In two different locations I have installed  a double concrete ring system duplicating a split septic tank setup. One advantage is the second tank can be located well away .

The result is the primary tank lasts years before needing emptying. That one is sealed with a concreted bottom. The second is the soak tank deliberately made porous and surrounded by coarse gravel. Same in principle as in the illustration. It is the height/reach of the inlet and outlet pipes that is crucial to it working.

Final outlet irrelevant to my installation because nowhere to send it.

But I do have concerns about the possibility of contamination eventually reaching our deep bore despite it being as separated as possible .

[King Cotton]

Thanks @Convert54! I do like the look of that double concrete ring tank system and, with a not impossible amount of space clearance, this may be feasible at our place . . . given the wife's and her dad's approval (:-)

[King Cotton]

25 minutes ago, Faraday said:

Do you have a water filtration system?

No . . . no room for that, with only 3m between the house and perimeter wall and as I mentioned, the surrounding high water-table may make that unworkable, assuming such a system would require dry/dry-ish surrounds.

Thanks, anyway (:-)

[Convert54]

13 minutes ago, King Cotton said:

Thanks @Convert54! I do like the look of that double concrete ring tank system and, with a not impossible amount of space clearance, this may be feasible at our place . . . given the wife's and her dad's approval (:-)

I forgot to mention that to initiate good  decomposition in the primary "digesting" tank I have flushed in as much of my wife's evil  Issan fish sauce as I could steal ! Seems to work ! lol

[King Cotton]

5 minutes ago, Convert54 said:

I forgot to mention that to initiate good  decomposition in the primary "digesting" tank I have flushed in as much of my wife's evil  Issan fish sauce as I could steal ! Seems to work ! lol

You're joking @Convert54. . . no? That fish sauce is so foul I make sure it's not used in any Som Tum that I eat. Can't imagine the mindset of the person who first thought of putting it into an otherwise delicious salad!

[Convert54]

43 minutes ago, King Cotton said:

You're joking @Convert54. . . no? That fish sauce is so foul I make sure it's not used in any Som Tum that I eat. Can't imagine the mindset of the person who first thought of putting it into an otherwise delicious salad!

Actually not joking !

[riclag]

2 hours ago, King Cotton said:

 . . . except for a number of factors that come as part of the furniture for Thai life, things like:

1. Occasionally scary (as in house-shaking) stormy weather;
2. Mosquitoes, but this nuisance has subsided over the past 2 years;
3. Loose/stray dogs often spoiling a morning bicycle ride;
4. Random and often momentary power-cuts causing PC to crash with loss of unsaved work and an annoying quarter-hour wait for the BB router to restore connection;

And we’ve all had to learn to live with those, with various amounts of grumbling & cursing … yes?

There is, however, a further headache that poor KC has to cope with and that’s the all too frequent need to have the poo-poo tank emptied and I believe I’ve sussed the 2 causes of this expense and inconvenience:

1. Like most (if not all) other village homes, most of which have limited available tank-space, ours doesn’t have a ‘proper’ plastic septic tank, relying instead on the DIY approach of just having a 2 or 3 concrete ring ‘grey water’ hole, dug into the ground next to the house, which allows the waste to partially decompose and most of the liquor to filter out, through holes cut in the rings, into the surrounding sub-soil.
2. And here’s the xxgger in the woodpile: the local water-table, here on the fringe of a huge rice paddy, is so high that it more than adequately feeds the artesian well that was cut into the far corner of our garden and about 30-metres distant. The ground-water that keeps us washed and flushed is also and all-too-quickly leaching into the poo-poo tank and hence the frequent visits by the poop-sucker truck.

Being the practically-minded sod that I am, I’ve long toyed with the idea of having the poo-poo tank completely sucked empty and then concreting its base and cementing-in the ring joints and any holes in the tank sides, making it, in effect, an improvised septic tank that would require occasional emptying.

Sadly, however, my otherwise reasonable and equally practically-minded Thai wife always says ‘no concrete’ whenever I mention the problem; more likely than not ‘cos it was her dad that installed the failing system and to have it changed may cause some loss-of-face . . . and we couldn’t have that, could we.

Here’s a basic and well-presented website on the issue . . . https://tonyinthailand.com/building-isaan-week-8/

Any poo-poo experts out there?

 . . . with serious suggestions only, please (:-)

Being a city dweller all my life has caused  me  to rely on city sewage and many other services  that my tax dollars payed in too.

I must confess I have little knowledge of what your discussing other than the basic terminology ,that is ,“water” ,”concrete” and “ septic tank”  lol.

We have a saying back in the states when people are discussing activities ,life experiences ,that  one has no knowledge or haven’t been introduced to “It all sounds Greek to me “ !  No disrespect to  that country’s inhabitants meant.

My experiences  and skill sets were far less complicated until I bought property. I never used a hammer or screwdriver only until I had “Shop Class “ in High School.

Taking on the responsibility of maintaining property  can be fun and trying at times especially when a DIY attempts to fix something only  for that remedy to cause more damage  

I remember years ago I had bought a winter home on the island of Aruba . To save money ( labor was very costly) I dug up my grey water pipes and rerouted  them to drain off into my garden ,instead of the septic tank.

Living in Thailand and owning property is similar to my past experiences when living on that island. Fortunately the costs for labor is cheap here . Big projects are sourced out!

A tip of the hat to you folks who have managed to live and have a working knowledge of a rural lifestyle .

 

[Yinn]

1 hour ago, King Cotton said:

You're joking @Convert54. . . no? That fish sauce is so foul I make sure it's not used in any Som Tum that I eat. Can't imagine the mindset of the person who first thought of putting it into an otherwise delicious salad!

It taste good, but give you liver cancer. Up to you.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1954307/silent-killer-claiming-thousands

[Faraday]

54 minutes ago, Yinn said:

It taste good, but give you liver cancer. Up to you.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1954307/silent-killer-claiming-thousands

That's just the unpasteurised sort, surely?

 

[Convert54]

55 minutes ago, Yinn said:

It taste good, but give you liver cancer. Up to you.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1954307/silent-killer-claiming-thousands

Just the smell has prevented me from eating it ! It also looks like what it is . Commercial fish sauce is ok. Funny fact thing is that Worchester sauce is basically fish sauce  too.

The cancer connection? Yes, I have seen worms in it ! Maybe not the same the organisms that infect the liver but a very very visual warning !

[Convert54]

7 minutes ago, Faraday said:

That's just the unpasteurised sort, surely?

Pasteurized?..past your eyes ! Many still eat it fresh from the rotting bowl !

[Convert54]

2 hours ago, King Cotton said:

You're joking @Convert54. . . no? That fish sauce is so foul I make sure it's not used in any Som Tum that I eat. Can't imagine the mindset of the person who first thought of putting it into an otherwise delicious salad!

A overlooked detail. I run waste water from shower, washing machine to the second tank rather than passing it through the sewerage tank. It ends up there anyway but reduces the through flow volume which I figure inhibits the digesting process.

[JamesE]

13 hours ago, Convert54 said:

In two different locations I have installed  a double concrete ring system duplicating a split septic tank setup. One advantage is the second tank can be located well away .

The result is the primary tank lasts years before needing emptying. That one is sealed with a concreted bottom. The second is the soak tank deliberately made porous and surrounded by coarse gravel. Same in principle as in the illustration. It is the height/reach of the inlet and outlet pipes that is crucial to it working.

Final outlet irrelevant to my installation because nowhere to send it.

But I do have concerns about the possibility of contamination eventually reaching our deep bore despite it being as separated as possible .

There's another option with this setup that bears mentioning. If you put a filter (as shown on the right) between the two tanks you will have a much nicer effluent -ahem- in the second tank. Then, instead of allowing overflow egress as shown, you pump the second tank down from time-to-time - essentially forcing the wastewater into a drainfield (which it sounds like you don't have yet?). 

The only part that is a pain is cleaning the filter. We've got a 4.5Kl concrete setup and I have to clean the filter 1 or 2x/year and get it pumped once every 7 years. But we don't have a problem with water getting in all year long as our drainfield actually drains pretty well.

Edit - Had another thought... If you aerated the second tank, you'd get both anaerobic (first tank) and aerobic (second tank) decomposition. You'd probably be able to use the final product water for irrigation around the garden.

Edited September 24, 2021 by JamesE
Added air

[GMoney2312]

On 9/24/2021 at 11:33 AM, Convert54 said:

But I do have concerns about the possibility of contamination eventually reaching our deep bore despite it being as separated as possible .

Thanks for the graphics, really helped.

[Johncat2]

On 9/24/2021 at 2:22 PM, Convert54 said:

Just the smell has prevented me from eating it ! It also looks like what it is . Commercial fish sauce is ok. Funny fact thing is that Worchester sauce is basically fish sauce  too.

The cancer connection? Yes, I have seen worms in it ! Maybe not the same the organisms that infect the liver but a very very visual warning !

Yes interesting fact about worcestershire sauce. Until recentley whilst checking the ingredients in the sauce I found out it contains anchovies. Which greatly surprised me as I love it in Tomato juice and but I cannot eat fish. Now I uses worcestershire sauce sparingly.  I always check the ingredients in Thai food as I am allegic to chilli, even the smell of roasting Chilli gives me a severe reaction.  

[Convert54]

11 hours ago, Johncat2 said:

Yes interesting fact about worcestershire sauce. Until recentley whilst checking the ingredients in the sauce I found out it contains anchovies. Which greatly surprised me as I love it in Tomato juice and but I cannot eat fish. Now I uses worcestershire sauce sparingly.  I always check the ingredients in Thai food as I am allegic to chilli, even the smell of roasting Chilli gives me a severe reaction.  

I am sympathetic to the chilli reaction because I too am extremely sensitive /reactive to it in any form. I am not sure if I would say I am allergic because despite the extreme  intensity of reaction to eat or even inhale fumes the effect  that obliterates my sense of taste, smell and respiration compromised completely for at least an hour dissipates rapidly although never less on next occasion.

As the original component in tear gas I would be incapable of being a staunch protester in a situation where it became involved ! lol

[Marc26]

Just now, Convert54 said:

I am sympathetic to the chilli reaction because I too am extremely sensitive /reactive to it in any form. I am not sure if I would say I am allergic because despite the extreme  intensity of reaction to eat or even inhale fumes the effect  that obliterates my sense of taste, smell and respiration compromised completely for at least an hour dissipates rapidly although never less on next occasion.

As the original component in tear gas I would be incapable of being a staunch protester in a situation where it became involved ! lol

My wife would divorce me 5555

[Convert54]

3 minutes ago, Marc26 said:

My wife would divorce me 5555

My wife just taunts me by eating them like snacks. I respond by offering tissue to clear the tears that roll down her cheeks but do not offer any sympathy for the inevitable burning stomach pains that follow.

[Marc26]

55 minutes ago, Convert54 said:

My wife just taunts me by eating them like snacks. I respond by offering tissue to clear the tears that roll down her cheeks but do not offer any sympathy for the inevitable burning stomach pains that follow.

Ahhhh........the "hurt stomach" that my wife refuses to admit is from eating her food at inferno levels

 

I know it all too well C54!!!   5555