Did you guys already forget about the Cleveland mayors' hair catching on fire in 1972! ?
Stuff like this you just can't make up. Actually it wasn't as bad as it sounds. If you've ever done any sewer or drain work, you've actually experienced worse.
True enough, septic tanks don't freeze, but they are usually dug well below the frost line. Does effluent freeze? Probably does as reported here. Effluent is the run off from septic tank or sewage treatment systems in which the leach bed fields should be buried at least a foot below the frost line.
Does a mixture of raw sewage freeze? According to the farmers who did this no.
Why does the manure pile stored above grade steam in the middle of January when you bulldoze it with the loader? It's because of decomposition or composting, bacteria at work. The same principle the septic tank is based on. Maybe the manure pile is where the concept originated.
A healthy septic system of adequate capacity should theoretically never need serviced or vacuumed out. The bacteria should thrive breaking down the solids into liquid effluent which runs out the top of the tank.
The first two sewage laden tires I encountered were tire changes mounted on a tractor, the liquid was vacuumed out and disposed of with only conversation about the find.
The shop ballast tanks had clear plastic tubes running from top to bottom forming a sight glass or liquid level gauge. At first I thought I was evacuating used oil. The older hands in the shop clued me in to what it actually was. Of course I didn't analyze it beyond smell, but if it smells like sewage, it probably is sewage.
The third one was a flat repair off a tractor laying in a pick up bed which was quite a bit messier.
lazyuniondriver wrote:One older gentleman explained to me when water has bacteria swimming around in it, it will not freeze and it will live for years with a little top up once in a while.
This tire was brought in loose by the elderly gentleman who confirmed what I had been told the black liquid was. I'm sure this guy was a penny pincher as most folks with loaded tires would opt for our farm & field service for a little extra instead of handling a loaded tire.
I'm sure I asked him how it was put in but my memory fails to recall that detail.
According to the old hands at the shop, this ballasting method was found on occasion in very old tires on very old machines.
They are out there, perhaps only in the regions surrounding Medina County Ohio. If you would aquire an old piece of rubber tire equipment with loaded tires from around here, I'd skip the taste test.