dhill
12-16-2004, 11:32 AM
Anybody want to confess their stupid mistakes? I have a number of them, but I'll start with my septic tank. I was advised to fill it full of water before I covered it. I was told it would float out of the hole if I didn't fill it. Well, I filled it about 1/4 and said I'd add a little water each day. We had a 2 inch rain and no problem. Then, the 9 inch rain came. Guess what? My septic was floating half way out of a mud hole. The other half of the mud was under the tank. Needless to say, I had to dig out, pump water out of the tank and the hole, dig all the mud out of the hole and reset the tank. Now, here's the stupid part. I put the tank back in, but I didn't cover it with dirt this time. I did put more water in it, probably about 1/3 full. We got another rain. My tank floated AGAIN. But I didn't get mad. I just pumped the water out of it and pulled it again. I will not set the tank again until I can fill the sucker full of water! By the way, when I was advised that a rain would float it out of the hole, we were experiencing major drought in the area. But true to ole' Murph' about the time I got the septic set, the drought ended and record rain fall began. Don't tell the county health inspector. He'd probably condemn my septic system based on my stupidity.