Review oddness

mrblaine

mrblaine

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Nov 20, 2015
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28,992
Location
Quail Valley, CA
I need to have a septic question answered. Do a search for locals so they have some familiarity with the silliness that is our lack of percolation. Call a couple, no answer. 3rd one answers and while I'm chatting, I get over to Yelp and the reviews.

Someone left a 3 star review. His reasoning? They never showed, finally showed, didn't pump the tank, sent them a bill anyway, had to hire another company to pump the tank.

How does that garner 3 stars? What would have warranted less than 3? Open the front door, run the hose through the house, out the back door and then have it break while pumping and flood the house with sewage?
 
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Mr. Bills said:
What I find amazing is the number of plumbers who don't know shit.
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The horde is slamming a semi local Jeep Shop on Facebook. One guy is up in arms because he had to force the shop owner to come in on a Sunday to stand behind his work. The problem was the axle tubes twisted in the casting and somehow the owner is responsible for that since he installed the axle under the rig. What the hell?
 
Blaine what do have out there, cesspool systems or hooked up to county sewers? Where I am each house has it's own cesspool system, I had to replace mine (house built in 1965) at a cost of $3800. Now there is a new law that the cesspools must be some sort of a filtration system to reduce nitrates and such, this pushes the price to over 20K.

We have big problems here after large rains that beaches are closed due to unsafe bacteria levels.
 
cliffish said:
Blaine what do have out there, cesspool systems or hooked up to county sewers? Where I am each house has it's own cesspool system, I had to replace mine (house built in 1965) at a cost of $3800. Now there is a new law that the cesspools must be some sort of a filtration system to reduce nitrates and such, this pushes the price to over 20K.

We have big problems here after large rains that beaches are closed due to unsafe bacteria levels.
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Here they are referred to as septic tanks. The typical installation is a tank, then the liquid effluent exits the top of the second chamber into a series of leach lines in a leach field. Our leach field is about 100 feet long with at least 2 runs of perforated leach pipe presumably in gravel filled ditches and then more gravel and finally covered over with top soil. The ground does not percolate well.

The field runs across a slope since we are built on a hill. At the fence line, the yard drops down 2-3 feet on our side and I want to know if I can add some good dirt over the top of the field to sort of even things out a bit.

The locals over on the one way streets are going to get city sewer on grade. That means no slope, no drain, pump only. Each one has to install a 10,000 dollar grinder pump to replace the septic tank. The city is going to own a lot of grinder pumps.
 
pagrey said:
Sad to say I always have to read the reviews these days, you can't trust the stars. People just don't seem to get the concept. Went to a Mexican restaurant and they wouldn't serve me a burger, one star.
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I read one where the reason for a 4 star instead of a 5 star was they didn't like the color of the box it came in.
 
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I am shocked CA allows leaching fields, here we have a 1000 gallon main cesspool with perforated cement rings with an over flow tank of 500 gallons (at least that was the the law). The house I am building in PA uses a grinder pump into a county wide sewer district, a much better way to treat the waste.

Here on Long Island the water table is high thus the cesspool systems are leaching into the surrounding water shed, the Island is only 20 miles wide and about 120 miles long.
 
YELP

Noun -

A website used to threaten businesses and get free stuff.

Verb -

To bemoan irrelevant topics while being snobbish and methodically ignoring all reason. Originates from Yelp food reviewers.

To think that everyone who disagrees with you knows nothing and only you know the truth. Example: "Do you want to listen to me or you going to keep yelping?"

To scream like a dog.
 
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Mr. Bills said:
YELP

Noun -

A website used to threaten businesses and get free stuff.

Verb -

To bemoan irrelevant topics while being snobbish and methodically ignoring all reason. Originates from Yelp food reviewers.

To think that everyone who disagrees with you knows nothing and only you know the truth. Example: "Do you want to listen to me or you going to keep yelping?"

To scream like a dog.
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There's a good South Park episode about this.
 
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mrblaine said:
Here they are referred to as septic tanks. The typical installation is a tank, then the liquid effluent exits the top of the second chamber into a series of leach lines in a leach field. Our leach field is about 100 feet long with at least 2 runs of perforated leach pipe presumably in gravel filled ditches and then more gravel and finally covered over with top soil. The ground does not percolate well.

The field runs across a slope since we are built on a hill. At the fence line, the yard drops down 2-3 feet on our side and I want to know if I can add some good dirt over the top of the field to sort of even things out a bit.

The locals over on the one way streets are going to get city sewer on grade. That means no slope, no drain, pump only. Each one has to install a 10,000 dollar grinder pump to replace the septic tank. The city is going to own a lot of grinder pumps.
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Actually a septic tank and a cesspool are 2 different creatures, generally what you have and called a "septic system" is what you described where a cesspool is really just a holding tank that generally need pumping on a regular basis.
 
TJ4Jim said:
Actually a septic tank and a cesspool are 2 different creatures, generally what you have and called a "septic system" is what you described where a cesspool is really just a holding tank that generally need pumping on a regular basis.
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The pumpers generally recommend that you pump every couple years or so. Oil manufacturers also recommend 3 mo/3000 mile oil change intervals. I know several of my neighbors have never pumped theirs out, we had ours done when we moved in 9 years ago and not since.

We do however, have watershed issues. In fact, that was the impetus behind Canyon Lake forcing Menifee to annex Quail Valley when they voted in cityhood in 08. Most of QV drains into Canyon Lake. Any decent rain overflows the systems over on the one way streets and it makes its way into CL. There were also a lot of abandoned and not running vehicles scattered around. The fluids and batteries were a hot topic of concern put forth to be dealt with.

How big is a cesspool? Our typical tanks are 500-1000 gallon systems. It doesn't take long to fill that up.
 
cliffish said:
I am shocked CA allows leaching fields, here we have a 1000 gallon main cesspool with perforated cement rings with an over flow tank of 500 gallons (at least that was the the law). The house I am building in PA uses a grinder pump into a county wide sewer district, a much better way to treat the waste.

Here on Long Island the water table is high thus the cesspool systems are leaching into the surrounding water shed, the Island is only 20 miles wide and about 120 miles long.
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If I start at the top down, I miss important details. If I start at the bottom up, same. Septic is very common in CA out away from the ocean. Lots of rural that has no other choice but self serve, so they do septic with a leach field where the soil can percolate properly. We are borderline so I can't screw around "close enough" as to whether it can or can't be covered further. Research reports both actions as acceptable and both as OMG you're gonna die. Best to consult someone who is familiar with the area.
 
mrblaine said:
The pumpers generally recommend that you pump every couple years or so. Oil manufacturers also recommend 3 mo/3000 mile oil change intervals. I know several of my neighbors have never pumped theirs out, we had ours done when we moved in 9 years ago and not since.

We do however, have watershed issues. In fact, that was the impetus behind Canyon Lake forcing Menifee to annex Quail Valley when they voted in cityhood in 08. Most of QV drains into Canyon Lake. Any decent rain overflows the systems over on the one way streets and it makes its way into CL. There were also a lot of abandoned and not running vehicles scattered around. The fluids and batteries were a hot topic of concern put forth to be dealt with.

How big is a cesspool? Our typical tanks are 500-1000 gallon systems. It doesn't take long to fill that up.
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I grew up living with septic systems and my 1st house had one, now I'm back on septic and have never had one pumped yet. I properly installed system should provide many years of service but as you mentioned percolation rates can be a factor. With the house I'm in now we requested a professional inspection prior to closing and all was/has been good.
 
I'm in the country in California and have a septic system. Have no choice. Had it put in in 1987 and haven't had to pump it yet. We also have our own well, on the up hill side of the property.
 
TJ4Jim said:
I grew up living with septic systems and my 1st house had one, now I'm back on septic and have never had one pumped yet. I properly installed system should provide many years of service but as you mentioned percolation rates can be a factor. With the house I'm in now we requested a professional inspection prior to closing and all was/has been good.
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Ours has been flawless. The neighbors above not so much, the ones to the west of them, not so much. Both have overflowed into the yard/street. There were sunflowers last year behind their fence. They grew tall enough to reach the lower phone and cable lines. We don't water over there so they got water from somewhere.

What I would like to find is the gray water pit/system. The laundry and master bath shower go into it and it has to be monstrous.
 
mrblaine said:
Ours has been flawless. The neighbors above not so much, the ones to the west of them, not so much. Both have overflowed into the yard/street. There were sunflowers last year behind their fence. They grew tall enough to reach the lower phone and cable lines. We don't water over there so they got water from somewhere.

What I would like to find is the gray water pit/system. The laundry and master bath shower go into it and it has to be monstrous.
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Grey water systems are a nice way to retain groundwater and ease the burden on the main system. I have to get my ass in gear and get one in the ground for the garage.
 
I don't use Yelp but I have found the reviews on amazon for different products worded very similarly, almost makes one think that these are the paid for reviews. That's why I am kinda skeptical reading them sometimes.
 
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andy29847 said:
The whole survey system is screwed. Most businesses consider anything less that a 5 is a fsil.
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I feel the same way about work performance evaluations. Everyone expects the highest rating, even though all year long I talked to my people about output and explained what they have to do to get the top rating.
 
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