privy keepsfilling with water

[josh69att]

havent had time to get into it the past few days, but the damn thing keeps getting about a foot or two of water in it. it is block walls for the first 6 feet or so and then looks like the rest was wood. it has been raining but when it wasnt i think it was ground water coming in. any ideas? have a sump pump but if i get it drained out and cover it will it fill back up?

 

[diggerdirect]

Sounds like its going to be a sloppy one no matter what![] Could be the ground water table is high enough that its filling. We just bail them as we dig when they are like this. (& Way to many of them seem to be certain times of the year) Have ya probed for bottom to see how much farther to go?
That sump pump should work to keep water down while you dig it. If it keeps filling up probably wont stay dry until another dry spell.

Good Luck!

Al

 

[Basil.W.Duke]

keep bailing till you get caught up then keep a 5 gallon sized hole in the bottom to drain the privy as you go down. If you dont you will get privy slop soup. Also be careful..most wood liners that i have dug in cincinnati would collapse around my wood boxes....at 16 feet deep that spells death

 

[RICKJJ59W]

Here is how us Red Necks take care of excess privy water.


http://youtu.be/l26PLXguaHk

 

[Poison_Us]

Thanks, Rick! Now I dont want breakfast. [:'(]

 

[RICKJJ59W]

ORIGINAL: Poison_Us

Thanks, Rick! Now I dont want breakfast. [:'(]

[]

On a more serious note Mr Martian is correct,that is EXACTLY what you have to do. You need to bail as you dig down. keep a hole open and bail dig bail dig until you hit bottom. The water will go down as you dig down until it is gone.

A sump pump wont do it,it pumps to fast and clogs to much it is a pain I tried it.

 

[diggerdirect]

Be interesting to hear how different diggers handle the water problems. I've tried the sump pump routine as well and didnt work for me, was in the way. Got one of those pumps that goes on the end of a drill thought that was going to be the cats meow but they wont draw very high and without a foot valve gets ya a privy shower when it was pulled up. Clogging does seem to be an issue with any pump setup. We just bail dig bail some more as well. Keep the bail water in a drum(s) to dump back in, one guy said to dump it out on his garden but we ended up hauling in alot of extra fill on that one, amazing the amount of volume 10-20 buckets of water takes up. [] Them wet ones always seem to need some extra anyhow.

Al

 

[lexdigger]

Yes! You will need to Bail the water as you dig. In certain towns/areas... this is common. Especially when you get towards the Bottom. While it is a definite Pain to deal with, the rewards can far outweigh the headache. Water in pits can preserve some very cool things that would have never survived a dry pit.

 

[lexdigger]

Once you get down to the bottom, you may not be able to bail out ALL the water. At some point you have to just start rooting around in the soup. Stinks to high heaven, but that's usually where the goodies are!

 

[josh69att]

well the concrete is about 6 feet and im down about a foot passed. we probed andit goes at least another five feet. the water dosnt smell bad. best thing i found was in the first two feet of the dig and it was a piece of a bottle from the 1870s. but all im finding is newer stuff. this is my first time digging so please dont thinkim an idiot, just dont know to much yet. when i say newer i mean like a little bo peep amonia bottle and god knows how many ketchup bottles. but the ketchup bottles are gettin a bit older cause these ones dont have threads on them any more. also could anybody give me and idea of when they used shells?