Fire on Top of Drainfield

[treillw]

I've had a few people tell me that there is no issue burning on top of a drain field and I have burned some huge brush piles on it from new house construction.

Just had another guy who is a certified drain field installer tell me not to do it, when I was talking about putting a small fire ring on top of it. He is very likely correct and more knowledgeable than the other people.

Anyone have experience with this?

Are there some sort of fire pans or something that you could place in the bottom of the fire circle to provide an additional buffer?

I don't really have another great place to put the fire ring, except on top of the drain field.

Thanks!

 

[nodakian]

I'm no expert, but if a fire can burn on top of ice all day while only melting 2-3" at most, I don't see how it could hurt a drain field 2+ feet deep. I understand the different dynamics of soil vs water under a fire, but the heat mainly goes up, and dirt is a good insulator, so I wouldn't expect trouble. On the other hand, I'd be curious about the installers reasoning. Good luck.

 

[gman82001]

Instead of a ring how about an all in one “pit” like they sell at Lowes? keeps it off the ground that way

 

[hunterjmj]

The only thing I know not to do is drive on it. I've never built a fire on ours but I can't imagine it would get so hot it would go down 12" or whatever and cause damage.

 

[packer58]

Methane bomb ?????

 

[gbflyer]

I would not hesitate to put a campfire ring on a drainfield that I install. Our regulations require 3 feet of cover minimum.

Also, the infiltrators we use are H10 rated which is 16,000lb per axle. We have one under a parking lot, the only place it fits on this particular lot. It’s been working for many years.

 

[Pony Soldier]

Drainfields are only so wide. I would build it off to the side, mound it up with rock or dirt and confine it in a truck rim or commercial fire container. It will make it easy to keep cleam and control the size of your fire.

 

[treillw]

Instead of a ring how about an all in one “pit” like they sell at Lowes? keeps it off the ground that way

They seem like a pain. I probably wouldn't like one that's not way too expensive also.

 

[treillw]

You would think that putting a layer of fireplace firebrick down would help a lot...

 

[49ereric]

Drain field or raised bed?
if the certified installer can’t tell you why not to then I would ignore him.
drain fields I installed long ago had 10’ between the lines usually but not always if room was short.

 

[Silveroddo]

I would not hesitate to put a campfire ring on a drainfield that I install. Our regulations require 3 feet of cover minimum.

Also, the infiltrators we use are H10 rated which is 16,000lb per axle. We have one under a parking lot, the only place it fits on this particular lot. It’s been working for many years.

Regulations in MN require the bottom of the drain field to be no more than 48" deep with the tendency being to keep them as shallow as possible for a variety of reasons that are situational. Just pointing out the variation in local codes.

OP
When you say you've burned some big brush piles do you mean at this location, or you've just done it in the past other places?
You probably really need to get ahold of the design or the guy that installed it and figure out what you've got going on, do you know what kind of drain field it is and how deep? On the "if it can go wrong it will go wrong" side of things I'd be cognoscente of any inspection or maintenance caps and any alarm or pump wiring. Avoid those things and you're probably generally going to be OK, its not optimal but within reason the negative impact is probably negligible.
If you like having camp fires year round and you live in a region that experiences frost to any degree I would say not to do it because you'll exponentially increase the opportunities to drive the frost down and freeze up your system. Doesn't always happen, but easily half the systems I've seen freeze were due to that.

 

[Iowafarmer]

I've had a few people tell me that there is no issue burning on top of a drain field and I have burned some huge brush piles on it from new house construction.

Just had another guy who is a certified drain field installer tell me not to do it, when I was talking about putting a small fire ring on top of it. He is very likely correct and more knowledgeable than the other people.

Anyone have experience with this?

Are there some sort of fire pans or something that you could place in the bottom of the fire circle to provide an additional buffer?

I don't really have another great place to put the fire ring, except on top of the drain field.

Thanks!

I assume you have plastic chambers in your lateral system if it’s a gravel system it would be difficult to damage. Depth of the chambers would make a difference Iowa code requires minimum 6” coverage. I would think it would be awful tough to make enough heat go down through 6” of soil to melt plastic. Laterals are normally 10’ on center so locate your fire pit in between the runs no problem. Try to avoid compaction in your field area. I’ve been a certified installer in Iowa and Illinois but never covered fire pits in classes.

 

[WoodBow]

I wouldn't even hesitate to do it. If you are concerned, dig down where you plant to put it and see if you actually hit any pipes. If you happen to, shift over a few feet. Are we talking septic drain field? I think LPD systems are about 18 inches deep. Conventional lateral lines are usually at least 2 feet deep. Not gonna be an issue.

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[Geewhiz]

Out of curiosity, what would the reasoning be to not burn above a drainfield? There is no way it would heat the ground enough to melt/burn the infiltrators.

 

[BRTreedogs]

One thing for sure, if you do damage your drain field.
It will cost thousands to fix.

Good luck

 

[WoodBow]

One thing for sure, if you do damage your drain field.
It will cost thousands to fix.

Good luck

It will cost thousands of dollars to dig down a few feet and replace a few feet of pipe? Come on now.

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[KenLee]

Lye from the woodash seeping down and killing the good bacteria in septic system?
Only possible logical harm I can think of.

 

[BRTreedogs]

It will cost thousands of dollars to dig down a few feet and replace a few feet of pipe? Come on now.

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Maybe not if you do it yourself.

But in my area if you can get anyone to even show up to do a repair. Little loan one while a poop blockage they are going to charge you a minimum of 3k to show for a day.

Just an excavators is $150 plus an hour. Dump truck time is $150 for fresh drain rock. Laborer cost is $50 hr.
Yeah man.

 

[WoodBow]

Maybe not if you do it yourself.

But in my area if you can get anyone to even show up to do a repair. Little loan one while a poop blockage they are going to charge you a minimum of 3k to show for a day.

Just an excavators is $150 plus an hour. Dump truck time is $150 for fresh drain rock. Laborer cost is $50 hr.
Yeah man.

Maybe i need to go into the septic repair business.

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[BRTreedogs]

Maybe i need to go into the septic repair business.

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Go step in, shovel and dip your hands in 50 gallons of human poop before you make a career swap.
It may not be what your hoping for.