Kevin P. O'Hara on wed 7 may 97
Hello all,
I was wondering if anyone has had any problem rinsing glaze materials, when
the rinse water is draining into a septic tank and you have a well? I'm not
sure if this question has been addressed in the past or not. I don't use
anything very hazarous but since I do have a three year old, I want to be
concerned about something seeping into the ground water. I have a catch
basin for the clay, but it still drains out in the yard. Should I just
rinse everything into a five gallon bucket, drain the water off the top and
then dispose of it at a hazordous waste sight; or, am I just being over
sensitive?
Kevin P. O'Hara
Mudslinger Pottery
Bill Aycock on thu 8 may 97
Kevin- This question has come up in the past, but I'm not sure there is a
simple answer. At the earlier time, I intended to answer, but could not find
the reference I wanted to share. (my daughter had been "sorting" my library)
Each arrangement of Septic tank- well, and surroundings (soil type, drain
flow, etc.) is a different situation. At the minimum, you should trap as
much as you can, before it goes to the tank. Most of the insolubles will
settle in the tank, and you will need to have the tank "pumped" every few
years. The subject of Traps, and several offers for designs, has been
covered very recently. (within the last two weeks).
A book that may be of help- is:
"Constructing and maintaining your Well and Septic System"
by Max and Charlotte Alth.
From Tab Books, Inc.
ISBN 0-8306-0654-8, or 0-8306-1654-3 (paperback)
I do not know if it is still in print, but you may find it in a good
library. It was very popular with the Do-It-Yourself- Back-to-the-
fundamentals- groups, a few years ago.
At 08:22 AM 5/7/97 EDT, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Hello all,
>I was wondering if anyone has had any problem rinsing glaze materials, when
>the rinse water is draining into a septic tank and you have a well?
>Kevin P. O'Hara
>Mudslinger Pottery
>
>
Bill Aycock --- Persimmon Hill --- Woodville, Alabama, USA
--- (in the N.E. corner of the State)
also-- W4BSG -- Grid EM64vr baycock@hiwaay.net
Sam Cuttell on thu 8 may 97
At 08:22 AM 5/7/97 EDT, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Hello all,
>I was wondering if anyone has had any problem rinsing glaze materials, when
>the rinse water is draining into a septic tank and you have a well? I'm not
>sure if this question has been addressed in the past or not. I don't use
>anything very hazarous but since I do have a three year old, I want to be
>concerned about something seeping into the ground water. I have a catch
>basin for the clay, but it still drains out in the yard. Should I just
>rinse everything into a five gallon bucket, drain the water off the top and
>then dispose of it at a hazordous waste sight; or, am I just being over
>sensitive?
Hi Kevin:
No, you're not over-sensitive.
However, what I'm talking about here is your weeping field. If you
continually flush clay/glazes down the drain, there is the very real danger
of clogging the weeping tiles. If this happens, you need your whole yard
dug up and and new weeping field installed.
I keep a large bucket of water and wash my hands/tools/sponges etc. into it.
When it gets too "thick" I ladle the sludge into ruined pots and fire it.
The result is then able to be safely disposed of.
This extends to towels too - I hang them in the rain, or rinse them in
buckets prior to washing.
Hope this helps!
sam - alias the cat lady
Melbourne, Ontario, CANADA
http://www.geocities.com/paris/3110
scuttell@wwdc.com
The more people I meet, the more I like my pets.......
John Johnson on thu 8 may 97
Kevin:
This was a concern of mine as well. So, what I did was construct a trap using
a 5 gal. drywall mud bucket with the discharge line above the inlet line.
This allows the sediment to settle out in the bottom. I attached both the
inlet and discharge lines with what are called fernco couplings which are
made of rubber and attached with metal pipe clamps. To empty sediment, remove
ferncos, take bucket lid off and clean out! Works great for me. Hope it
helps!
John Johnson
JJohn98942@aol.com
Vince Pitelka on thu 8 may 97
>I was wondering if anyone has had any problem rinsing glaze materials, when
>the rinse water is draining into a septic tank and you have a well?
Kevin -
I cannot address the problem of chemicals leaching into the well water, but
you definitely want to keep all clay and glaze materials out of your septic
tank. When people install agricultural holding ponds they line them with
clay, as it flows with the water into every crack and pore in the soil and
seals it up completely. It will do the same to your leach-field or
seepage-pit, quickly.
- Vince
Vince Pitelka - vpitelka@DeKalb.net
Phone - home 615/597-5376, work 615/597-6801
Appalachian Center for Crafts
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
Lauren BAll on thu 8 may 97
Kevin P. O'Hara wrote:
>
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Hello all,
> I was wondering if anyone has had any problem rinsing glaze materials, when
> the rinse water is draining into a septic tank and you have a well?
One thing you might want to consider; since most glazes have clay as a
constituent, and clay is somewhat impervious to water. I would fear
that the clay would eventually plug up the drain field.
The other issue depends on the depth of your well and the location of
you drain field and the direction of ground water flow. There are
fluorescent dye tablets (they are about the size of your fist) that you
put in you septic system and then monitor the water removed from your
well with an ultraviolet light. Suppliers of septic tanks should be
able to help you with this, not to expensive either.
Lauren
enjoying wonderful spring weather in Orygun.
Cindy on fri 9 may 97
Kevin,
You got some good responses to your post, though I think what you were
concerned about was contamination of your well rather than maintenance of
your septic system. Maintenance is vital, of course, in avoiding
contamination. If your septic system was not properly placed, however,
there's a real danger that your well is already contaminated. I'm sure
that, if it was built according to modern codes, etc., that it's safe
enough, but if you, like me, live in an old farm/ranch house which was
owner constructed many moons ago, you might consider having a qualified
professional assess your system. A water test, too, may be a good idea.
I don't know what chemicals you're putting into the system, but my guess
would be that, since you're being careful about what you flush, the human
effluent would be more dangerous to your family's health than the iron
oxide or whatever. Frankly, though, the others are right in that you really
don't need any of those things in your drain field--bad for the system.
Cindy Strnad
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