To help others considering building on the beach in Yucatan.
We were lucky enough to build on the beach and the architect building it did a great job. However, the past four years since we built it, we had increasing problems with drainage from washing machine, toilet and kitchen sink. Finally, in one miserable morning all stopped.
It turned out that the design of the sewer was a bottomless set of concrete rings, relying on diffusion into the ground. The problem of such design is exaggerated by the level of the water table near the beach. The design of this "septic tank" was wrong and did not even accounted for pumping out.
With the kind help and advise from a well known local constructor, we installed a proper septic tank at a very reasonable price and all our problem were eliminated.
If you are selecting a design for a septic tank, invest in proper distance from the house, free overflow into the ground of the clarified liquid and easy access to pump-out maybe in 10 years .
Feel free to ask for more information, will be glad to help.
(And by the way, the usual Mexican advise of not flushing down toilet paper does not apply if your septic is designed properly...)

Ted

Thanks for the advise Tedvanya! I will take your advise and check how my architect is doing the septic tank.
What brand of septick tank would you recomend?
What is a good size for it?.

Thanks!

Hi Kurt:

I am sorry, but I do not know the name of the tank. You can buy it in Merida, Google it.
As far as size, I was advised to oversize it. The choices were 3 person in the house, which theoretically would have been large enough for us, the next size up was for 10 people, and they had even a bigger one, but I got the 10 people size. It took some time and effort to get it on short notice, but with the help of good people, we got it in 2 days, installed it the next morning. I told my friend and adviser Adam, that the best sound I heard in The Yucatan was the healthy sucking sound of the sink as I drained it.
While I was writing this, I remembered that I put away the receipt for the tank, so, I do know where you can get it, and I have the price too:

Hidromecanika del Sureste S.A. de C.V.
Calle 6 No. 75x7x9 Col. Carrillo Puerto Norte
Tel. 926 83 89,926 53 13, 926 82 90 y 926 57 63
hisusa@prodigy.net.mx
The price came to 4,235.89, including the installation kit and taxes, "Filtro Merus 19"
Just for comparison, I had an estimate for a concrete tank, built from blocks, 11000 pesos.
This is black plastic, it needs a concrete rim to spread the traffic load and a concrete box to house the pump-out access.
Good luck,

Ted

thanks Ted,
Just one more question about this tank, does it have to be clean? How often?

Hi Guys
The place we are buying our septic tanks is called Septi-k, and you can find more info on their website. http://www.septi-k.com.mx/
The first one we installed in 2004, works well and hasn't been emptied since, we have installed around 30 units since and only one was emptied and cleaned up.
Adam

What is the difference between this type of septic tank and those available in Nipplito ?

Hi
I don’t think there are any major differences between those to tanks, but as far as I remember “ Septik” was the first company to introduce cone shaped bottom part of the tank which according to the experts totally eliminates all the waste. Other guys follow with the same design of the tank later. I like “Septik” because they were first to introduce this and on top of it they give me good prices on their products.

In your opinion, what would be the fair price to pay for material and labor to install new septic tank and about 30 ft of 4” pipe? I like to use my driveway area for new septic tank location and since we are located in Telchac, there should no problem with digging – all sand.
Thanks

What size tank you are going to install? Or how many people this system will be serving?

Just the two of us and the occasional guest.

Hi
OK, you can use small tank 600 lit. Last time I checked it was around 3000 pesos, 30 some feet of 4” pipe some fittings, glue another 500 pesos and then the labor- let say 1 guy for 3 days. Since you are going to do it in Telchac, it is a good practice to do it after the rain or to completely flood the area before digging. You don’t want to dig in dry and soft sand, because of cave-ins.