Chamber Septic Trenches
What is a septic chamber system?
Chambers are plastic domes that are used in septic system trenches instead of the traditional “pipe and stone” (gravel) trenches.
Here are some of the benefits of chambers over gravel:
- Easy to transport (stake in back of pickup truck)
- Lightweight
- A cleaner installation (no messy stone to clean up after wards)
- Higher storage capacity than stone (if you are putting water into the system faster than it can be absorbed into the ground)
- No need for a skid loader (often a Bobcat) to haul stone to trenches
- Look like something from Star Wars
Here are some of the drawbacks of chambers:
- More expensive than stone (typically)
- A pain to install when roots are protruding into the trench
- The trenches don’t breath as well as gravel trenches do (venting the chambers helps)
- Slightly limited trench configurations due to the way they connect to each other (cannot make harp 90 degree turns)
Update 01/29/09. Infiltrator has introduced a new line of “Plus Chambers” which includes a low profile unit that is only 8″ tall. The new inlet invert elevation is only 3.3″. More information on these units and Indiana’s approval of these unit by viewing the following PDF file. Infiltrator Quick 4 Plus
The following is a schematic of Infiltrator brand Quick Four Chambers:
Related: Gravel Trenches