System types

What actually goes in the ground, explained plainly.

Two common system types. Which one fits your property depends on your soils, your available area, and your daily flow.

Conventional

Conventional septic system with leaching chambers

A tank separates the solids, and the clarified effluent soaks into the soil through buried chambers.

How it works: Wastewater flows from the house to the tank. Solids settle as sludge, grease floats as scum, and the effluent in between flows out to the leaching chambers where the surrounding soil filters it.
Best suited to: Properties with deep, permeable soil and enough usable area for a dispersal field set back from wells, structures, and property lines.
Owner responsibilities: Pump the tank every three to five years, keep heavy traffic and deep-rooted plants off the field, and avoid flushing non-biodegradables.

Aerobic

An aerobic unit treats the wastewater further and disperses it across a designated area of the lawn.

How it works: Aerobic bacteria use injected oxygen to break down organic matter inside the unit. A control panel runs the pump cycles, and treated effluent is sprayed evenly across a designated area for final treatment by soil and grass.
Best suited to: Sites with shallow or tight soils, high water tables, limited area, or stricter discharge requirements.
Owner responsibilities: Keep power to the unit on at all times, keep the spray field clear of structures and vehicles, and stay on a maintenance schedule so the aerobic process keeps working.

Reference drawings

Reference sheets for both system types. Open either one full screen to read the dimensions and notes.

Send us the property details on the estimate form and we will tell you what is viable.