It has been awhile since we have touched on this topic, but during a recent series of inspection workshops we conducted, there were a number of comments about how installers have hurt the ability to inspect and maintain systems by the way they installed them.

So we thought now would be a good time to go over some basics in terms of making all parts of the onsite system accessible. The first thing to remember about access is that in general, the shallower the system, the easier access will be.

So here is our KISS principle at work again. Remember Keep It Shallow, S___, where you get to fill in the last blank! Shallower is better for all the treatment reasons we’ve talked about in the past, but here it means that an inspector or maintenance person has less difficulty locating the system and performing maintenance if the components are near the surface.

Starting from the house, with the house sewer, a cleanout should be installed in the house sewer line to the septic tank. This is generally placed near the house foundation on the outside so it can be accessed without having to go into the house.

There should be another cleanout near the stack, and generally inside, that is a part of the house plumbing. The outside cleanout should be made with a full branch Y-fitting and should extend two inches above grade for easy access. The cleanout should be of the same size pipe as the house sewer. For 4-inch pipe, additional cleanouts should be placed if the length of the run exceeds 100 feet.

For septic tank access, risers should be brought to the surface over each tank access port. This allows access to the tank for pumping and cleaning. These risers and covers can be made of concrete, polyethylene or polypropylene. Just remember that they must be watertight to prevent infiltration issues, as well as root intrusion.

With the advent of effluent screens at the outlet baffle to protect the soil treatment area, it is critical to provide access over the top of the screen so that it can be removed and cleaned. It is amazing to us how many tanks we see where the access is offset away from the screen, making it difficult if not impossible to reach.

In these situations, there are products on the market to extend the outlet pipe so the screen is accessible through the manhole. If you are installing, you can put this in at time of installation. If you are on a service call, this would be a good time to talk to the homeowner about providing this as an upgrade to the system that will save time and money in the future.

For safety purposes, since the manholes are brought to the surface, consider using one of the dual-cover products or ropes or screens to prevent people or items from falling into the tank.

For pump stations, access to the surface should also be provided by way of risers. Here, another critical element is to bring a quick disconnect up into the riser so that the pump can be disconnected and brought to the surface for repair or replacement.

This also means the method to remove the pump (rope, chain, etc.) should be present at this location. One item often overlooked is to make sure at installation that the block that the pump is set on to keep it off the bottom needs to be large enough so that the pump can be easily set back on the block when it is replaced.

Another good idea is to install the pump floats on a separate float tree. This way, the pump can be removed without affecting the floats — or if the floats need to be replaced, they can be removed without taking out the pump.

For gravity systems in the soil treatment area, we are seeing more inspection pipes brought to the surface out of the distribution and drop boxes. This allows for easy inspection of the box to evaluate the level of water in the trenches, as well as the condition of the box itself.

If there is evidence of sediment or roots in the box, that means it is not watertight, and some work will be required to make it watertight. The boxes also offer the opportunity to use caps or levelers to rest parts of the system and to direct flow to parts of the system that have not been used as much.

At the very least the tops of the boxes should be near the surface so they can be opened and inspected periodically. Having access can help not only with management but with troubleshooting the system if there are problems.

We have always been proponents of having inspection ports at the end of the soil treatment trenches, or in the beds of pressure distribution systems. Here again, this offers an easy opportunity to evaluate the level of effluent in the trench or bed and see if the system is operating properly. The inspection pipe itself is regular PVC with holes below the rock (where rock is the media), and then solid pipe to the surface, preferably with a screw cap.

The inspection ports can be brought to the surface and cut off level with the surface to allow them to be mowed over. The inspection ports need to be secured so they will remain in place and cannot be pulled out of the system when accessed.

There are a variety of ways to do this. A 12- to 18-inch piece of rebar can be placed in the pipe, the pipe can be tied into the distribution pipe using a T, or a toilet flange can be installed at the bottom of the pipe under the rock. In chamber systems, the inspection ports are attached to the chamber in the designated location.

One last item: In pressure distribution systems, for low-pressure pipe applications such as mound systems, it is important to provide access to each of the distribution laterals. This is so they can be periodically jetted to remove solids and slime buildup. This keeps the holes from becoming plugged over time and affecting the equal distribution of effluent.

The typical way to do this is to install sweep 90s at the ends of the laterals and to bring those to the surface or near surface in a protective box.

Well, there is a very brief rundown of the things installers can do to make life easier for service providers, while at the same time providing a high-quality, long-lasting system to the homeowner.