New, modern yurt build in Mongolia

[UKadventurer]

Lots of new work has been going on in the last week or so. Some of it quite scary.

The law in Mongolia states we must have septic tank(s) for toilets etc. I talked to my trusty handyman who I've been hiring for years. He designed a system that wasn't too expensive but would NOT need emptying often. With 2 people it might be years before the system needs emptying. So this is what he did.

A black water septic tank 2.5m diameter and 3m tall. This is fully enclosed and will need to be pumped out every time we fill it. However, it's just for the toilet only.

A grey water septic tank 1.5m diameter and 3m tall. This has no bottom and simply holds water while it drains into the soil. This is for sinks, washing machine, bath, etc.

A narrow but deep trench to the well for water supply. A big hole for the 2 septic tanks (3.8m deep). And a trench from the septic tank to the spot where our bathroom will go.


Precarious looking trench between gers and containers.

My man Paul preparing the bottom of the pit.

This required 3.5 days of excavator work. The operator was brilliant and I was impressed with his skills. In hindsight, we should've done this excavation BEFORE we built the gers but, hey ho, we didn't.

I was worried about the trench collapsing too and somebody getting hurt. Mongolians generally do not taken seriously. OSHA would have a fit. Luckily, no accidents happened.

Here are the parts before assembly.



We coated the concrete on the outside with tar for increased longevity. Each section/ring was sealed with PU foam. Finished and ready for burial, it looked like this:



After burial (with notes):



All pipes are insulated and heated (in the 7 freezing months).




Now we can proceed with a foundation for the bathroom. Keen observers may note the insulation of the drain pipes. It's EPS and all joints/seams are further insulated liberally with PU spray foam. Underground there is even more insulation (fiber glass AND/OR foam blankets). In addition, there is a heated wire in each pipe wrapped around to keep it from sub-freezing in the cold months (October to April). There might be a thermostat too.

Since we STILL don't have an indoor bathroom, we had an outdoor toilet which also has a septic tank (1m diameter x 3m deep). It's basic but it's better than what we had before - squat over a trench which is now full. Ah, the luxury.



I wasn't impressed with this company's attention to detail. No tar coating, no foam in the seams of the rings in the septic tank. Also, the toilet structure wasn't well made. The roofing in particular is shoddy work (no drip edge). I could complain or fix myself.




In any case, it'll do the trick and it will take 2 people years to fill up.