Concrete Septic Tank Weight Limit

Driving parking or building infrastructure over septic tanks risks damaging your septic tank lid possibly leading to a cave in.

Concrete septic tank weight limit.

Remember the tank is not traffic rated until a licensed professional engineer in good standing states the maximum design capacity in writing. Septic tank is a devise which deals with the sewage from water closets. Eric barger is president of barger sons inc a manufacturer of septic tanks grease traps pump tanks catch basins and other precast concrete products based in lenoir city tenn. Any precast concrete septic tank shall be certified by its manufacturer or distributer as meeting the applicable requirements of astm c1227.

A precast concrete septic tank will never float to the surface as some lighter weight tanks can do in certain situations. Our precast concrete residential septic tanks give new england homeowners a reliable solution for wastewater management systems. Septic tank shape size dimensions. Consider that unless you have installed a septic tank with a vehicle traffic rated or highway traffic rated strength cover a typical concrete residential septic tank following the university of minnesota design guide as a typical standard is built to carry the weight of the soil covering the septic tank and a vehicle wheel load of 2 500 lbs.

Typical top loading strength requirements for concrete septic tanks that in our opinion should also apply to septic tanks drywells cesspools of any construction range between 500 and 1100 psf or a top load of 2 500 lbs wheel load soil other loads with the warning that for systems subject to heavier vehicle loading or other heavy loading the strength of the entire assembly top walls bottom must be adusted accordingly. Subjecting your underground septic tank to heavy weight from cars trucks or tractors and the like especially over an extended period of time risks damaging the tank. Hdpe has a specific gravity of 0 97. 2 the opening of a manhole access that extends above ground shall be insulated to an equivalent r 8 insulation value to protect the tank contents from freezing.

In other words it is a watertight single storeyed underground tank in which sewage is retained sufficiently long to permit sedimentation of suspended solids and practical digestion of settled sludge by anaerobic bacterial action. With a specific gravity of 2 40 precast concrete septic tanks resist buoyant forces better than other septic tank materials.