Any summer resident or owner of a private house is faced with such a problem as the need to systematically pump out cesspools or septic tanks. Regardless of the volume of the septic tank, it will fill up sooner or later. When such a moment comes, owners of suburban real estate, as a rule, turn to vacuum cleaners for help.
Methods for pumping out cesspools
There are two main methods that allow you to pump out a cesspool:
- On one's own.
- Using a sewer truck.
The second option at first glance looks much simpler: just contact a specialized company, and the problem will be solved.
There are a number of nuances here that must be taken into account - otherwise the risk of trouble is quite high. So:
- the cost of services for pumping out cesspools is quite high: calling a specialized vehicle will cost a large amount;
- any machine for pumping out cesspools has rather large dimensions, and they do not always allow one to approach the pit at a distance sufficient for pumping;
- some companies provide services for pumping out cesspools without having special permits for this: in this case, all pumped out waste can be taken to an illegal place, and all responsibility for this will fall on the owner of the pit;
- ordering a sewer truck does not always guarantee high-quality pumping, and a poorly cleaned pit will not perform its duties efficiently, so calls for sewer trucks will become more frequent.
All these shortcomings allow us to come to the conclusion that pumping out cesspools can be done with your own hands, because a good owner will definitely take care of the high-quality and competent operation of this system.
Methods for lifting water without an electric pump
If you are deciding how to raise water to a height, you cannot do without a pump. Only for lifting you will have to use not electric, but hand-made home-made devices, the operation of which will require the application of muscular force or the energy of the current water flow.
Archimedes screw
The invention of a screw device for supplying water to heights to fill irrigation canals was made by Archimedes around 250 BC.
Fig.1 Operating principle of the Archimedes screw pump
The device consists of a hollow cylinder, inside of which a screw rotates; during operation, it is lowered into the water intake source at an angle. As the propeller blades rotate, they capture water and the propeller lifts it up the pipe; at the top point, the pipe ends and the water is poured into a container or irrigation channel.
In ancient times, the impeller was rotated by slaves or animals, in our time there may be problems with this and you will have to additionally build a wind wheel to drive the propeller into rotation or strengthen the muscles yourself.
Rice. 6 Automatic water supply by airlift using a compressor
It is quite easy to make such a device for supplying water in the absence of a pump with your own hands and automate the process if there is a compressor supplying air.
Pumpless pumping techniques - drainage and waterproofing
When water appears in the cellar, you must first remove it, then install a drainage system. It is necessary to dig a trench along the foundation walls around the entire perimeter. Its width should not exceed 130 cm. The depth of the hole exceeds the base of the house by half a meter.
Geotextiles are laid at the bottom of the trench. Then it is covered with gravel. Drainage pipes are located on top. They must be connected to inspection wells.
Then backfilling is done: first with fine-grained crushed stone (layer thickness 12 cm), then with sand (10 cm) and again with crushed stone, but with coarse-grained crushed stone (15 cm).
After this, the drainage system is covered with a layer of soil and filled with cement mortar on top.
You can reduce the likelihood of moisture entering the basement by using waterproofing. Internal walls and floors are treated with a penetrating compound. Then use coating waterproofing. The top is covered with reinforcing mesh and then filled with concrete mortar.
External insulation of the base surface from moisture is carried out using water repellents (penetrating mixtures), coating and roll materials (they alternate).
At the last stage, the structure is plastered after installing the reinforcing mesh. If you are deciding how to pump water out of the basement, you should also take care of ventilation (vents are made on opposite walls).
Thanks to this, the dehumidification of the room after flooding is accelerated, followed by the removal of liquid.
How to pump water out of a basement with and without a pump - effective drying methods
The most common problem that city dwellers and summer residents have to face sooner or later is basement flooding. As a rule, water appears in the basement in early spring - during the period of snowmelt, heavy rains and floods.
There are several proven ways to solve the problem of annual flooding of private basements, which will make them suitable for economic and domestic use.
Creating a pit for drainage
The easiest and most affordable way to remove water from the basement is to create a pit. Even a novice master can install a pit near a private house for effective water drainage.
All work is carried out according to the following scheme:
- A hole with a volume of 1 cubic meter is dug in the central part of the basement. m. The larger the basement area, the larger the recess.
- In the center of the pit, another hole is dug the size of an ordinary bucket.
- A stainless steel bucket is placed in the recess and compacted around the perimeter.
- The inner walls of the future pit are lined with solid bricks and fixed with a layer of cement mortar. The optimal height of the cement layer is 3 cm.
- Next, a belt of reinforcing bars is installed. The width between the rods should allow for convenient pumping of wastewater using a basement drainage pump.
- To arrange the drainage, narrow ditches are made in the finished pit and covered with tiles. The resulting seams between the individual tiles will perform a drainage function for the pit.
Do-it-yourself pumping of a cesspool
Cleaning out a cesspool yourself is not that difficult. Of course, some conditions must be met: firstly, the pit should not be very large, since large volumes of waste are difficult to remove, and secondly, most of the drainage should be dirty water. If these conditions are met, then you can begin cleaning the cesspool yourself. There are several main methods that will be discussed below.
How to pump out wastewater
You cannot use a regular pump to pump out liquids containing feces. This can lead this unit to rapid failure, since it is simply not suitable for this. Therefore, you will need to purchase a drainage or fecal pump that is designed to work with contaminated liquids.
using a sewer pumping machine
Today the buyer has a choice of:
- Submersible pumps;
- Semi-submersible pumps;
- Surface pumps.
For the majority, they have virtually no difference, since everyone is engaged in pumping wastewater from any containers and reservoirs. But in fact, these units have differences that determine their use on a site or house.
Cleaning a pit without a pump
How to clean a cesspool without pumping? If there is no pump, but the hole needs to be pumped out, then you will have to do it yourself. Improvised tools will be suitable for the job, but the work process itself will be quite unpleasant.
The algorithm for performing actions will be as follows:
- A few days before cleaning, it is necessary to homogenize the liquid using special substances.
- To carry out cleaning work, you need to wear suitable clothing, and you need to choose from those things that you don’t mind. All things must cover the body from accidental ingress of waste.
- Now you can take an ordinary bucket and rope, with the help of which you scoop out the waste. When the next portion of sewage is raised, it must be poured into a specially prepared container for further waste disposal.
- The pumped out sewage is disposed of. The water raised from the pit can be poured out, but sewage waste must be taken to specially designated places.
- After cleaning, the pit must be rinsed with water, preferably using pressure, so that deposits do not appear on the walls of the tank, interfering with normal functioning.
- The last stage is cleaning the sewer pipes, which must be done as thoroughly as possible.
This process is very unpleasant and quite complicated, so many homeowners still prefer to use pumps (pro
Groundwater in the basement - assessment of the situation
Before deciding to pump water out of the basement yourself, you need to evaluate the need for pumping and the available capabilities.
Why you need to take into account and analyze:
- Is it worth pumping out the water immediately or is there still time to wait and prepare.
- How prepared are you for immediate pumping of water? Do you have experience, tools and devices for this procedure.
- What is the rate of water inflow? It is important to understand whether the rate at which the basement is filling with water exceeds your ability to remove it. For example, if water continues to flow intensively, and you scoop it up with a shovel and take it out in buckets, is it worth doing this? After all, this can turn into a protracted and useless process. And if you use a pump with sufficient performance and automatic switching on when the liquid reaches a critical level, then most likely you need to start pumping out the liquid now. If the rate of water influx is not high and, moreover, the level stabilizes, then, of course, there is a need to proceed to the process of pumping it out immediately, using one of the methods discussed below. Example, if the basement has a size of 3x6 m with a depth of 2 m and it is flooded by 0.5 m, then when the water level rises by 50 mm per hour, you can start pumping out water if the pump has a capacity of at least 4-5 m³ /hour.
- What means will be used and methods of pumping water will be used. This will be discussed further.
How to clean, methods
Each method of keeping wastewater treatment plants clean and operational has its pros and cons. Effective cleaning depends on the design of the specific cleaning facility and the financial capabilities of the owners of country houses or private houses. The main ways to get rid of impurities include:
- using sewage pumps to pump waste fluid out of the structure;
- manual cleaning of the mine with a bucket is used after removing the liquid fraction from the pit;
- a sewer truck pumps the mass into a tank using a vacuum pump;
- the use of biological products in a septic tank with a sealed bottom for the decomposition of solid waste and recycling into water;
- chemicals are used in sealed septic tanks to process waste into water with subsequent pumping into a sewer machine:
- the use of a sludge sucker for the solid layer of sludge and waste at the bottom of the mine.
When deciding what to do with silted drainage, you need to familiarize yourself with all the options for removing sewage and use the one that is more effective in a particular cesspool. 1) To pump out the sump, fecal, deep-well pumps . When choosing a pump, we focus on the following parameters:
— depth of the shaft and distance to the container from which the pumped liquid is removed;
— pump performance and power depending on the chamber volume;
— density of the pumped waste mass.
The most reliable and productive model for this work is a fecal pump with a grinder, which allows you to crush and pump household waste. 2) Manual cleaning of the cesspool is a forced procedure when there is no access to the drain. A popular method of cleaning, the work is unpleasant, but less expensive if you do it yourself.
For this operation you need inventory and the correct sequence of actions:
- used for work: shovel, bucket, rope; scraper, metal brush, gas mask;
— to remove sediment and dense deposits, the liquid mass is first pumped from the bottom of the well into the storage tank;
- using a gas mask, remove grease deposits from the walls of the shaft with a scraper and brush;
- silt deposits are removed from the bottom of the well, using a shovel and a bucket with a tied rope; it is necessary to attract an assistant who will pull out a bucket of waste and take it to a storage container;
— after cleaning is completed, a layer of gravel is poured onto the bottom of the pit for better drainage, and the walls of the shaft are disinfected with a special antiseptic or chlorine.
The same procedure can be applied to a silted outdoor toilet. Preliminary pumping of moisture is not required due to the lack of drains from the room.
Manual waste removal is possible with small dimensions of the drainage area. The construction of volumetric chambers must be planned near the road, for the access of specialized equipment. 3) It is convenient to pump waste liquid out of the mine using a sewer truck . For the equipment to operate, it is necessary to have access to the chamber so that it is possible to lower the suction hose to the bottom.
A vacuum pump uses a hose to pump liquid waste into a container on a vehicle for further disposal at a designated area.
The cost of the service of sewage disposal equipment is determined by departure, so a chamber with a small filling volume (less than the capacity of a car) will require frequent visits, which is disadvantageous for the home owner. In this case, it is more economical to have a storage tank with a volume no less than that of a sewage disposal unit and to invite equipment to pump out waste after it is filled. 4) The use of aggressive chemicals is effective, but environmentally unsafe. Nitrate oxidizers dilute sludge and solid waste and help eliminate odors.
But in order for the liquid after treatment with the drug to be safe, like nitrate fertilizers, it is necessary to monitor its concentration in the waste chamber.
Cleaning the pit with biological products
How to pump out a cesspool if the methods described above are not suitable for one reason or another? Modern science makes it possible to clean holes using chemicals. For example, a good solution would be biogranules, which greatly accelerate the decomposition of waste and eliminate unpleasant odors. There is an alternative way of cleaning pits: to destroy sewage, specially bred microorganisms are used, which settle in the pit and process all waste.
Conclusion
Pumping out cesspools can be done either independently or with the assistance of specialists or special devices. The last two options are the best solution, but the final choice must be made by the homeowner himself. In any case, the cesspool needs to be cleaned, and then it will serve for a long time and efficiently.
Main stages of work
For this homemade product, you will need two check valves with ½-inch threads (but you can take valves with a different thread - for a specific pipe diameter).
Then you will need to cut the plastic pipes into pieces of suitable length and thread the edges so that you can “seat” the check valves.
In principle, you can use ready-made adapters for plastic pipes. But if you have a lathe, it will be cheaper to cut the threads (using a lathe you won’t be able to cut straight, since the plastic is soft).
At the next stage of work, we assemble the entire structure. In addition to the pieces of plastic pipe, you will also need two tees and one corner. Please note that the check valve on the center pipe is installed with the arrow up, and the second one with the arrow down.
Injection method
Currently, the method of waterproofing a cellar using construction injections is becoming increasingly popular. Carrying out work using this method will cost you a fairly large sum, and it must be carried out by professionals who have the necessary skills and the necessary equipment. The essence of the method is to create a moisture-proof polymer membrane and anti-filtration curtains. In this case, there is no need to dig a foundation or perform other labor-intensive work. This method is not only environmentally friendly, but also durable. However, using it yourself, without special skills, is strictly not recommended.
