Any plumbers or home inspectors in Massachusetts?

We just bought a house a week ago in MA. Our dishwasher died after day 3 so we bought a new one and tried to have it installed saturday. The installer looked things over and told us we needed to exchange it for a different model because our hook up was odd and not technically legal according to MA standards.

The dishwasher and sink are routed out the side of the house to what the installer called a dry well, the rest of the house is routed out the front to the septic system. According to the installer, in MA everything needs to be routed to the septic system.

I've tried reading through the regulations but it's all just gibberish to me and I can't figure out what the actual law says, so if anybody here is living in MA and actually understands the regulations, please let me know.

We are contacting our attorney who we used to close on the house, our inspector missed seeing this but said it should have been disclosed when we were looking at the house.

 

While it is hard to make a legal grey-water system in MA, they are still doable. The DEP is quite strict in the design standards but they used to me much more relaxed....it all depends on when your house was built and what the current setup is designed like.

Today, you can design a greywater system but it needs a septic tank and a soil absorption system (SAS). Chances are your house is old enough there is no tank, just a leaching pit (which is out of code today, but you are covered under a grandfather clause). Basically if you ever had to replace your septic system or decided to add another bedroom, you will have to make both systems code compliant.

It is a little wordy and hard to understand for the general public, but you fall under section 15.262 of the following manual:
http://www.mass.gov/eea/docs/dep/service/regulations/310cmr15.pdf

But you should of been warned of this from the get go. After you speak with your attorney, you could call the Board of Health and see what files they have on record for your house. I wouldn't tell them WHY you are calling, just that you bought the house and would like to go through their records of the property. When going through the files, look for a septic system design plan or an as-built plan - it will show you exactly what you are dealing with.

 

Thank you, very helpful post and I'll try to see what I can find for records. If the septic system passed title 5 inspection I'm assuming it is up to code standards, so if needed I could have a plumber connect the dishwasher to the rest of the septic system fairly easily, right?

 

If the Title 5 inspection passed, then the greywater system SHOULD of been noted and looked at. Unfortunately most Title 5s are performed by septic pumpers who have never designed systems, just pump it out, turn the shower on and make sure water flows through the system. If they didn't use the sink in the kitchen, they may have completely missed the greywater system. If you have a copy of the Title 5, it may say something about it - if not, the board of health would have a file somewhere on it.

If you want the system to run to the septic, there may be some minor plumbing work to get the sink drain into the main septic line running to the system, but its by no means impossible. BUT if the greywater system was inspected and passed (has a tank and SAS), then I wouldnt even worry about rerouting it and let it stand.

Most septic tanks are 1,500 gallons and using a greywater system lets the designer reduce the size to 1,000 gal. It may not be an issue, but to route the kitchen to the system may require replacing the septic tank to a larger size or putting another one in series. We have to do this often on the Cape where the tanks are not large enough to comply with 310 CMR 15.00

 

In general, and only in general as local laws over-ride all: A house only has to be up to 'code' for the day it was built, not for current building codes. If the place was built back in 1706, (making up a date there) that's how good the house has to be. Otherwise every time new 'code' came out, every person in existence is rebuilding their house. If there have been 'major' renovations, that system has to be brought current. So you may have updated electrical and old plumbing or vice-versa. Swapping out a dishwasher isn't a major renovation.

Now if what was allowed is a major safety problem, that can change. Ungrounded wells are really common, but ungrounded wells kill people, so a well head HAS to be grounded even if it hasn't been touched since it was drilled.

As a side note, there's a reason that atty's exist, and it's not to be good at real estate.

Actually, having a hard time thinking of any reason atty's exist, except because of other atty's