Plumbers HELP Needed!!!

[bigun]

Okay let me state this to start off I'm an electrician, I can hum some of the plumbing song because with all my years working in construction you tend to learn the basics of the other guys trade.
1. Sh!t runs down hill
2. Hot water is on the right
3. Payday is on Friday
Here is my problem, I have a friend who wants to move in a 12 X 24 cabin onto my property. He is an older guy who has spent the last 13 summers riding around the SW on his BMW with a side car. He recently sold his property in Terlinga TX because while he was gone somebody had stolen his solar array. He has also had back surgery and one hip replacement and is looking at having the other replaced. After his hip surgery he realized that he couldn't live 400 miles from the nearest hospital, which was another reason to sell out and look for something closer to town.

Anyway the idea is we're going to run water, sewer and electric from the house to him I am guessing about a 100 feet or so up the hill behind the pine trees. Now our septic tank is sized for 5 people and 3 baths of which now there is only two people and 2 baths used regularly, so size isn't a problem, the thing is the tank is about 6 feet below grade then the pipe would have to run up hill which I know must be at a 1/4 inch drop per foot, what I need is does it need to be a straight run or can I have 90* bends in it, or do they need to be 45* and when it gets to the cabin can the drain from the cabin be straight down. I may have to have 2 bends since there is no straight shot.
The cabin will have a shower, toilet and a kitchen sink, the arraignment will be something like in the picture below except the kitchen will be wider by about 2 feet or so.

[Tatsadasayago]

The problem with steep drops in the waste lines is that the water outraces the solids; thus the 1/4" per foot fall that is standard.
It cost a lot more but setting up a zig zag waste line is the cheapest way to go. The other option is a sump pump in a pit at or near the level of your upper main waste line that collects the waste then pumps it to your main system.
Another option is to install a cesspool/septic tank at the upper location that allows the liquids to flow down once it fills then have it pumped out every so often.
The benefit to this arrangement is the rate of fall doesn't matter as the solids are kept in the cesspool/septic tank to break down or be pumped out. For a solo dwelling under normal circumstances, the time between pumpouts will be long.

[tedlovesjeeps71]

Concur^ a small septic tank would be the easiest option. Considering its just one guy who isn't in the best health, I'd be surprised if he created enough waste to warrant the efforts of tying it into the main system. And if you keep the system on a regular enzyme treatment it would keep the tank pump outs to rarely. You could even make your own leech field for that tank which again, wouldn't need to be that large.


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[Tatsadasayago]

A composting toilet/septic system would likely be able to service a single dweller house. A PERC (Percolation) test would tell you if a leech field system would be usable as well. For a typical two bath house, around 200 lineal feet of leech field was required back in the day, so a solo dweller house would likely take a lot less and could be located laterally from the dwelling thus eliminating the sump and drastic fall to tie into the existing main. This all depends on the soil at your location.

[Tatsadasayago]

By the way, the HOT water is always on the left
The rest of the rules you got correct Sparky

[tedlovesjeeps71]

A composting toilet/septic system would likely be able to service a single dweller house. A PERC (Percolation) test would tell you if a leech field system would be usable as well. For a typical two bath house, around 200 lineal feet of leech field was required back in the day, so a solo dweller house would likely take a lot less and could be located laterally from the dwelling thus eliminating the sump and drastic fall to tie into the existing main. This all depends on the soil at your location.

Sounds like the occupant isn't in the greatest of health? Don't composting toilets require more hands-on attention? Aren't they shaped different than standard ones? May not be a solution for someone alone in medical recovery and probably just extra work for the OP?? Just asking .


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[bigun]

Thank you for the responses!
Right now his health problems are as outlined, he is looking at having to get the other hip done this fall. He will be turning 70 in a year also. He is still hoping to continue his yearly wandering just in a cab over camper sleeping in a tent on the ground no longer holds much romance for him, he has found he likes having a refrigerator also! Cabin would be in use only during the winter months, so the suggestion of setting some sort of tank in the ground and running a line over to the main tank to carry solids has validity and could be a cost saving idea for him. Once you are below the calche it is all gravel so percolation is no problem if we run a separate drain field. Like anybody who has gotten used to living with minimum hot water he is used to getting wet shutting off the shower lathering up and then washing off, in fact he is only wanting a 10 gallon or so water heater. Hmm Here is an interesting idea
http://www.wikihow.com/Construct-a-Small-Septic-System

[bigun]

By the way, the HOT water is always on the left
The rest of the rules you got correct Sparky

DUH
And don't chew your fingernails!

[tgreese]

... the suggestion of setting some sort of tank in the ground and running a line over to the main tank to carry solids has validity and could be a cost saving idea for him. ...

No expertise in this, but an interesting post.

I understood the suggestion was to put a small settling tank for SOLIDS close to the cabin, and then run an overflow for LIQUIDS steeply downhill to the main leach field. The tank would accumulate solids slowly and have to be pumped out occasionally.

"Another option is to install a cesspool/septic tank at the upper location that allows the liquids to flow down once it fills then have it pumped out every so often. The benefit to this arrangement is the rate of fall doesn't matter as the solids are kept in the cesspool/septic tank to break down or be pumped out. For a solo dwelling under normal circumstances, the time between pumpouts will be long."

[bigun]

To all who contributed to this exercise thank you. Ara ended up buying an older single wide and lot, in Alamogordo, NM. He decided it was a better area because he would be in town close to doctors, hospitals, and grocery stores, all of which are 75 miles away here. For all that don't know him or his story, here is as short a version as I can make it.
He was born in France, trained as a chef in Switzerland, after he graduated from culinary school, his dad, a Doctor, handed him fifty dollars, and a plane ticket to Philadelphia! He told him I raised you, educated you, now you are on your own! That was around 40 years ago, since then he had several restaurants on both coasts, then about 13 years ago he was working as a private chef in Jupiter FL. had a sail boat, an apartment in town, drove European sports cars provided by his clients, had close to a million dollars in savings, was making a grand a day, and was booked for two years! Then son Lance got Leukemia, in less than a year the money was gone and so was Lance. He bought a BMW with a sidecar, rescued a pit bull he calls Spirit and set out to see America.
I met him off of Pirate where he started a travel thread called "With a 1X3 homeless on the road with Spirit" under the handle Beemerchef.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/general- ... pirit.html
In it he would show pictures of places he was camping and give travel logs. I met him, when he came up from Terlinga, to Alb. to do a show at the BMW dealership on how to pack your motorcycle for a trip, something BMW paid him to do. On the way up the bike started running bad and he sent me an email to let me know just in case he needed help. He made it to the dealership only to have the motor come apart in the driveway! He did his show then asked if I could take him down to Terlinga, so he could wait while they found a used motor and put it in for him. I told him yeah as long as he paid for the gas, made arraignments to pick him, and Spirit up and took him home. After that he used us as way stop when he was coming or going. Three years ago his mother who lived in Germany died, then 2 years ago he got a call from a neighbor that the solar panels he had bought with his inheritance, had been stolen, then came the back surgery and then hip replacement, and the realization he could no longer live 250 miles from a doctor, along with the general lawlessness that has invaded the Terlinga area, made selling out and moving a priority. He has a book out "Freedom at both ends of the leash" Here is his blog just in case I haven't bored you all to death!
http://theoasisofmysoul.com/