Failed soakaway

[partystress]

We’re not on mains sewers and have a treatment tank thing that drains into a soakaway. It is apparently beyond saving and needs to be replaced.

We’ve had an exorbitant quote from the only person locally we can get to quote. Before I look further afield, if anyone has recentish experience and could say what they paid, that would be really helpful. Thank you.

Is the quote just to sort the soakaway or to replace everything?
We currently have a cesspool and have had a quote to replace it with a 6 person domestic sewage treatment plant. The treated water will feed through a pipe into a water course at the bottom of the garden rather than a soakaway, but the cost for the whole complete job (labour, equipment, making garden 'good' again etc etc) is £8k.

What kind of treatment tank do you have? Maybe post a picture of it and the soakaway.

We had a soak away until we recently went on to mains drainage. When our soak away was replaced I think it was about £2500.
Our was dug out and the pipes ( think they are also called finder drains) and the shingle they sit in replaced. It had failed as over the years the small holes in the pipes block with fat etc and thus the water can't drain away as fast as it would normally.

We had a similar problem recently and tried "muck munchers" for problem septic tanks. It cost about £80 and is tonnes of bacteria and some strong degreaser to restart everything. I was hugely sceptical it would work.....but it has!! After a couple of days of treating our tank it started bubbling and another day or so later the blockages cleared, the 'water" level inside dropped (it was constantly above the cover) and we've had no problems since. I can't tell how the drain field has been effected as we've had a lot of rain, but there's no longer any smell which I take as a good sign!
I don't work for them btw. I'm so impressed I brought a monthly treatment pack to keep things flowing smoothly. If you Google it, it's the "bog buster tank activator" (can't link for some reason). Can't hurt to give it a try?

Had to replace ours earlier this year. The land failed its drainage test horribly so we had to put in a much broader soak away field / much longer pipe work (so very looped if that makes sense). The drainage test was about £600 and the work itself was over £10k (to put into context, four diggers for two days. Painful). I think it’s very much dependent on whether you are able to use the same drainage field and the distance from the tank / the land / etc. I have never resented spending money more though! (& I may have cried a little bit when the diggers were at work)

Oh and we have a treatment plant so it only drains clean water

Thanks everyone. The plant is a one of a kind that we inherited. Basically a cylinder in the ground with chambers and a ‘beehive’ that sits alongside and buzzes - I think it powers kind of stirrers and blowers. It is a treatment plant so should only be sending clean water out, but apparently it ‘runs high’. We are over a barrel as only the company that installed it will service it.

The soakaway is I think more properly called a drainage field maybe. Herringbone pattern of perforated tubes.

The garden isn’t huge - about 30M long - and currently the drainage happens at the far end, so we’re looking at digging up the middle section of the garden I guess.

The 10k is a bit over what we’ve been quoted, so maybe it’s not hugely out then? Painful indeed if that’s the way we have to go

@justaweeone your cost looks much more reasonable. Do you mind saying how big an area had to be dug?

Op Sorry I really can't remember but it wasn't massive ( maybe 20 odd feet long). I think a lot of it is depending on the land it sits in, access to the site etc.
Our was a brick lined septic tank to very basic. There are many new rules and regs regarding them now.
Have you looked at connecting to the mains?

You may need to take into account changes in regulations between your original system being fitted and now, as they may have to comply.
We had our system fitted about 10 years ago and it was about £10k then, so just depends on how much of your existing system can be used.
I would always shop around though, as if you have to replace, there may be cheaper systems

There have been new regulations on the legalities of these drainage systems and anything installed more than 3 yes ago is no longer compliant.
Our new one is a drainage field rather than a soak away and is 100ft total length hence higher cost, and it’s also at a distance of about 20ft from the treatment plant.

The water company has ruled out connecting us to the mains unfortunately.

I think we’ve been complying with the regulations, even the new ones, as the plant is supposed to only discharge clean water, and it is being dispersed beneath our garden, well away from any streams etc.

The problem is the age of the drainage system and the unreliability of the plant. Had been saving for a new bathroom, but looks like that’s going to have to be put off again. Think I was forlornly hoping for MNers who’ve been there and done it to tell me there was a cheap option!