anyone have a "Mound" type septic system?

**cmu** · 04-14-2005, 11:27 AM

I just found out that our new house (to be finished by the end of the month) has to have a Mound type septic system....

Anyone here have any experiences with these...

I would like to know the pros and cons on this before we actually buy the house (we don't go under contract until the house is complete)

TIA!

**oreo** · 04-14-2005, 03:49 PM

Mine wasn't a mound, but it was still a septic tank. My understanding is that new code requires tank instalation above ground, hence the big...ugly...mound. If you have them pumped every three years at about 150, they should last a long, long, time. I also live in FL and am now on city sewer. The monthly cost of city sewer is more, as long as you don't have to replace tank and drainfield (proper maintenance IS worth it)!HTH

**DaisyLady** · 04-14-2005, 04:24 PM

We have an engineered raised bed system. It pretty much takes up the whole back yard and raised it by 32".

**Kimmomo3** · 04-15-2005, 09:41 AM

We have a mound system. We have just lived here 6 mo. but I did a LOT of digging (pun intended) about mound systems when I learned that is the kind we had to have. We have 4.5 acres and a 4 bedroom house(that is what determineds the size of the tanks and mound) The only con I found between the mound and gravity feed septic(which is the other common kind in my area) is that the mound has a pump that regularly pumps the "liquid" into the mound to be dispersed.
So if that goes out you really shouldn't use water untill you get it fixed, and they do have alarms on them when they go out but if the electricity goes out you then do have a problem. BUT on our system (and I am sure all systems are different) when the alarm goes off we still can use 100 gals of water before the tank is filled.
The other pain is the actual mound we have a "hill" in our back yard approx. 10ft wide 30-40ft.long. You can't plant anything with long roots on it or drive on it. I am currently trying to figure out how to hide it or ues it somehow in the landscaping so you don't automatically know it is the septic mound.

If you are buying a house with the system I would have them pump it, or proove it was pumped with in 6 or so months of purchase. Know the brand of the pump and how old it is, and get a new one in if it is twards it's end of life, or get a discount to cover it.

Hope that helps!

**DaisyLady** · 04-15-2005, 10:54 AM

Keep in mind also that the pump needs to be replaced about every five years or so. At least that has been our experience. I don't know what prices in the U.S. are but we paid $1000 for the pump and installation.

**cmu** · 04-15-2005, 11:57 AM

If you are buying a house with the system I would have them pump it, or proove it was pumped with in 6 or so months of purchase. Know the brand of the pump and how old it is, and get a new one in if it is twards it's end of life, or get a discount to cover it.

Originally posted by DaisyLady
Keep in mind also that the pump needs to be replaced about every five years or so. At least that has been our experience. I don't know what prices in the U.S. are but we paid $1000 for the pump and installation.

THe house is a new construction, the Lift Station (that's what the pump is called) is brand new installed the beginning of this week with the septic system.

As far as when it may need to be replaced, my DH is an electrician and works on these regularly at local appartment complexes and soroity houses.

My concerns are if the power goes out and hurricane season (as the new house is about 15 minutes from the Gulf of Mexico), and I have also been warned by my father not to get a house with a mound system because he feels that they have problems more than standard systems.

We went out yesterday to see how it looked (it is in the side /front yard) and it really does not look too bad, we did ask the contractor to get a load of fill dirt dumped so the front yard could be leveled off (dh cannot push a mower up a huge hill due to his heart condition) and our real estate agent said that if the contractor wouldn't pay for it (he probably will) then she would. The other end of the mound ends at our driveway (which is on the side of the house) and DH was talking about getting some landscape stones and build a little wall there with some flowers.