What is the difference between a septic tank and a soakaway?
1 Answer
Answered by Castle Heights Building & Maintenance
19th March 2019
Castle Heights Building & Maintenance answered the question "What is the difference between a septic tank and a soakaway?"
A septic tank is a buried watertight container that receives all the waste water from a house via a series of underground pipes. Once the waste water reaches the septic tank, the solids (faecal matter) settles to the bottom of the septic tank where it forms a sludge that is broken down further by anaerobic processes. The liquid passes through the tank and is discharged through pipework that has perforations along its length, to allow the liquid to leak out in a controlled manner. Periodically Septic tanks require emptying by a company equipped with a specialised suction tanker. A soakaway in its simplest form is a hole in the ground that is filled with stone, allowing water from gullies and guttering to be dissipated into the ground.