For a septic system in good soil, is a chamber system better than 10″ pipe?
user-982027
| Posted in General Questions on
Hi,
Installing a septic system in Zone 4A. Soil is good — 60 MPI.
Asking if chamber system is better than 10″ pipe ? Has anyone installed a chamber system and how did it go? Are they better than 10″ pipe without gravel system?
GBA Detail Library
A collection of one thousand construction details organized by climate and house part
Search and download construction details
Replies
Chambers are all we use for both septics and bigger ones for rainwater harvesting in rain gardens. they do take a little bit of gravel to cover but not very much and they work really well in our North Carolina clay soil. I've never heard of using 10" pipe with out gravel but we have seen a lot of the ones that use styrofoam peanuts in net bags around 4" distribution pipes and I prefer the chambers.
Hanford even makes them with recycled plastic. they dramatically reduce the footprint of the septic area (leaving more room for any future repair or expansion) and the trucking involved in hauling in all that gravel. Great system.