Fire pit to cover septic cap

RatLabGuy

RatLabGuy

You look like a monkey and smell like one too
Joined
May 18, 2005
Location
Churchville, MD
Our septic is in the back yard. The cap is a 2'-ish cement cover that is buried about 4-6" under ground, right in the middle of the grass. The previous owner had it covered w/ mulch and a cement bird bath so you knew where it was. The bath cracked and fell apart, and grass has been slowly covering it.

I got a metal ring fire pit to set there as a marker. This worked ok but the bowl rusted out, and grass keeps growing up under it which is a pain to deal with.

I'd like to drop a more full sized but semi-removable fire pit on top of it. I figure I don't mind a little bit of work prepping to have it pumped every 5 or so years.

What I'd really like to do is build more of a nice stone ring with a big center ring, like this:
Shop 43.5-in W x 43.5-in L Ashland Concrete Firepit Kit at Lowes.com

The problem is, that thing is just an open ring, and you fill w/ rock/sand etc. I idon't want to dig throug hall that. What would be awesome is if instead I could get a giant bowl, or a way to put a bottom on that ring. Then I would leave the septic cap unburied underneath, so when the time comes I would just lift the bowl off and remove stones as necessary to get the cap off.

Any ideas? Not sure where to get a bowl that big. Most "fire pit bowls" are pretty small and like <30" diameter. Iron ring inserts seem to be just rings, no bottom.
Ohh - what about something like the bottom 18" of an oil drum or similar? Whets the diameter on those?
 
find a tractor wheel. I know a guy that did it that way, it was a john Deere wheel but that is all I know about. I guess that might be a little on the heavy side though....?

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I'd think you'd want a little more insulating material between the hot bottom of that bowl and the septic tank cover. They're brittle as hell brand new and I would thing repetitively being heated and cooled would make it even worse. It would suck for it to cave in. That would make for a shitty party
 
I shopped around for a 5-6' OD pipe section about 2' tall for the longest and settled on building a square box out of steel plate.
In your situation I'd probably look at building a 5 sided cube, maybe?
I poured a 7'x7'x4" concrete slab and constructed 6'x6'x2' 3/8" sides for the Pitt in my yard but of course it's way more permanent.
 
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Oh and try to save all the ash you can. It makes for a wonderful fertilizer.
 
There's a place (or used to be) at the Raleigh farmer's market that had giant iron bowls for firepits and such. 5-6' across. Several hundred bucks....and you're not in Raleigh.
 
Maybe line the top with firebrick then put whatever you want up there? They'll be for sale at tractor supply soon if they're not already
 
Skidder rims work pretty well :D Not sure I'd want a fire pit over top of my shitter tank lid though, but that's just me.
 
Let me clarify on the lid.
It is solid cement, about 2-3 feet across, and about 40+ years old. Probably weight 40+ lbs. plus it's sunk under the ground several inches.
I'm not the least bit concerned about heat being a problem. I'm not forging steel in this pit and the heat would be well above the top anyway.
What I'm talking about is a bowl or something that would be either suspended by the brick ring or mounted on something over the lid so the bottom of the pit, where ash and wood etc would be would be a good 6-12" away from the top of the lid. Plus I could always leave the lid buried by dirt as extra insulation if that was ever an issue.
I think what I need is literally a big cylinder that is maybe 3-4' diameter but w/ a bottom on it. I'd probably want to drill holes so rain water can drain through and it doesn't become a pond.
 
Semi truck wheel?

Matt
 
Look for an old fuel/heating oil tank and cut off the end and use that. I would not put heat or weight on top of the lid, they aren't made with any reinforcement and I have seen them break and fall in on a couple of occasions.
 
Cut a 6" hole on each end of the septic tank and insert a 6" piece of plastic pipe and grout in place. Go to HD supply or your local plumbing supply company and get two mushroom lids for a valve box-the kind the water department uses. Cut the pipe off flush with the ground and put the lids on. The next time you need to have the septic pumped just take off the lids and let the pump guy do his thing. You can put whatever fire pit you want on top without having to worry about moving it later.
 
I know that this wouldnt really happen with it being a septic tank lid, but still after reading fire pit and septic tank, my mind went immediately to this scene.



Frankly, I am a little disappointed that I am the first one to post this with the caliber of members we have here, lol.
 
thebrotherinlaw said:
Cut a 6" hole on each end of the septic tank and insert a 6" piece of plastic pipe and grout in place. Go to HD supply or your local plumbing supply company and get two mushroom lids for a valve box-the kind the water department uses. Cut the pipe off flush with the ground and put the lids on. The next time you need to have the septic pumped just take off the lids and let the pump guy do his thing. You can put whatever fire pit you want on top without having to worry about moving it later.
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I think you missed the part where the tank is buried several inches under ground. And it's cast iron. Adding an access tube to it is not going to happen.

I could just let the grass grow over the septic access hole and put firepit elsewhere.
But then I'd have no way to remember where it is when it needs to be accessed. that's why the PO put a bird bath there...

The damn well hole and pump are buried and the PO didn't leave a marker for them..
 
RatLabGuy said:
I think you missed the part where the tank is buried several inches under ground. And it's cast iron. Adding an access tube to it is not going to happen.

I could just let the grass grow over the septic access hole and put firepit elsewhere.
But then I'd have no way to remember where it is when it needs to be accessed. that's why the PO put a bird bath there...

The damn well hole and pump are buried and the PO didn't leave a marker for them..
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I didn't see where you said it was cast iron but ok. Mine was two 55 gal drums and a leach field filled with coal... I switched to the city line, lol
 
That's an up north thing. As my uncle from MN explained, it's because of the temperature and litterally, freezing crap.
 
ord.sgt.26NC said:
cast iron?
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R Q said:
I didn't see where you said it was cast iron but ok. Mine was two 55 gal drums and a leach field filled with coal... I switched to the city line, lol
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That's what the guy running the poop pumper said it looked like when he drained it. Who knows. Whatever it is, it's not like I'm gonna dig it out.
It's also like 1000 gallons. According to the county, the original was replaced in the 70s for some unknown reason with a bigger one.

2 55 gal drums? lolz
 
I know that this isn't your plan- but hear me out. when I have raging fires directly on the ground it sucks all the moisture out and there is a deep 4" imprint where the fire was. keep that in mind.
 
I should have been more clear. Dig down to the top of the septic tank and cut two 6" holes in the top of the tank. One on each end because there are two chambers. Install the pipe about 5" through the top and cement it in place. This way you never have to dig down to the two concrete covers on the septic tank again to have it pumped. It is extremely helpful especially if you have a septic tank that has two feet of cover like I do. If you have a metal top you can still do the same thing.
 
Do what we did. We took two concrete well houses and set on to of our hole. they stack. then we put the lid on the top on and it ended up just below flush with the dirt. then you can put whatever you please there, or just leave it. If you have an idea of where its at, just poke around and youll find the lid.
 
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