Recently if I flush the toilet right after I shower the toilet bowl is very slow to drain. Could it be that the septic system is water logged due to excessive rain we have had. Part of my outdoor ring is over the septic field but I am the only one riding out there. Also I haven’t been out there all winter. There are no external signs of problems. I have only had the cistern emptied once and that was because of an interference in the line when my addition was built.
I have thought of buying an over the counter product first to see if the problem clears up.
A quick pump out, and check up for my system was $250 (I’m in the process of selling my house, and you have to get the tank inspected before sale here), and they check the levels, the screen, and if there are any clogs in the system from the house (you have to flush the toilet a couple of times). If you delay, and something goes wrong, and you get a back up, it could cause a lot of disgusting issues inside the house.
What you describe is an overloaded septic system. Either the septic has absorbed a bunch of surface water or the original capacity of the septic is impaired. A search of the internet is not supportive of flushable treatments.
Amen Jan. In one quick 2 hour span I had a slow toilet flush that became a shower backed up with eeeewwwwwwwww.
The plumber snaked the shower drain, 27 bucks, on a weekend! and fixed! Good luck
Definitely don’t use a pour-down-the-drain tool – they destroy your system. In my area the recommendation is annual pumping. We actually end up pulling the filter ourselves every few months (and by us, I mean my spouse ;)) because our water softener clogs it up with salt residue.
I’m fascinated that your ring is, in part, over your leach field – my septic advice has been to treat it very gently and never ride on it. How long have you been using it this way?
A septic should be pumped once a year…Have someone out to do that, it should cost a few hundred. They should have you flush the toilets while they have it open to make sure everything is coming out from the house properly. We have an old house with a very old septic and almost had a huge issue. We were told we would have to replace the system. We got a system (pirana I think it’s called) and it has solved our issues for now. Septic systems are very expensive to replace, you do not want to let it go for too long. I would get someone out asap to take a look.
I would snake out the drain first to see if that fixes the problem. Where I live you dont have to pump out your septic every yr. might depend on the laws of your town. We havent pumped out the tank for at least 5 yrs. it works perfectly fine and is doing what its suppose to do. I’d call a plumber first. See what that person recommends.
I can’t comprehend how a riding arena on a septic field (I assume that is the drainfield?) would be a good idea. I won’t even ride on mine just crossing the property, as compaction is not something you want to encourage. But maybe different systems or parts of the country don’t have such issues.
But I’d contact a plumber or septic person and see what they say about the issue you are describing. Just describing your issue might trigger one or the other to say they need to come out or call the other guy. Just getting the septic system inspected costs us ~$100 here and will catch things like if there is water intrusion that shouldn’t be happening (we did have that problem - water was infiltrating the septic tank through a crack and causing the system to work much harder than it should, which could have caused problems down the line). We do have to have annual inspections here. Pumping only as needed. I’d be reluctant to try something down the drain but I’m pretty protective of our system. It isn’t cheap to fix when you have a major problem.
If you try to drain something else after the shower does it have a problem too?
In other words - is it just the toilet? Does the shower drain slowly too? What about other toilets in the house? If you fill the kitchen sink and drain it right after you shower does it drain at its normal pace?
Add me to the group that is :eek: about having your riding ring over part of your leach field.
If you aren’t using septic safe toilet paper, you can have an issue too.
I don’t believe a certain brand advertised by cartoon bears (I hate those commercials) is septic safe, though they now advertise it that way. I’ve had two plumbers tell me that they love the money they collect from owners of septic or sewer systems that use that brand, because it does cause issues.
I have to wonder, because here the leach fields depend on percolating, not on how packed they may be above them?
The local gravel pit has their office by the entrance and their leach field is right where the scales are, full, big gravel trucks, many a day, drive right over it, have for decades and it still works.
Then, a local restaurant opened and they fenced off their leach lines, so no one would park there?
Our leach lines to the house are right in the horse pasture, their sand pile partially over them, where horses take a nap and the certified installer, has been at it decades, gets re-certified every so many years after hours of credits on continuing study about septic systems, is the one that told us that was fine, no problem.
He is putting in our barn bathroom septic tank and leach field and located the field where we can park trailers over it, but out of the way of constant traffic.
When questioned he said it was fine to drive over those leach fields, they were engineered for that.
So, maybe that is the difference, some are made to drive over, others maybe not?
Assuming you have a “standard” septic system. The first thing to do it open the manhole cover and check the wastewater level. It should be several feet below the top. You should be able to see the inlet pipe. If not this will cause slow draining. But it would effect all of the drains in the house. Assuming you have low flush toilets there is only 1.5± gallons going down. Not much compared to a shower/bath.
The average septic system is a pretty simple design. Wastewater drains into the holding tank, along with any “solids”, human and man made. The solids settle to the bottom of the tank and the waste water rises and flows into an outlet pipe and out to the leach field pipes. The leach field pipes have holes in them and the waste water is dispersed through out the leach field to percolate down through the ground.
The holding tank retains the majority of the solids. A lot of which breaks down into small “bits” and mix with the wastewater that drains into the leach field. The remaining solids settle into a sludge which needs/should be pumped out from time to time. Once a year maybe necessary depending on the number of people in the household and what is being dumped down the drains.
Septic systems do have a “life span”. Depending on age, care and usage and how well the leach field “perked” when installed. The leach field can and does “clog” which slows down the whole process and the tank fills above the inlet pipe. Yes, lots of heavy rain can effect the the leach field draining process and slow things down because the ground becomes water logged. But this is usually temporary. If the tank was installed properly and the access cover (man hole) is tight rain water should not be able to get in. Or as another commented there is a possibility that the tank has cracked allowing ground water in.after heavy storms.This doesn’t happen often unless the system is old and or the wasn’t installed correctly.
So, the easy and hopefully cheap fix is to have the main drain snaked. Sludge can and does build up. It only takes some small “junk” to create a small “dam” which gets bigger with time. Which gets exponentially bigger and the 6-8" main drain pipe becomes 2".
But the “dam” can be caused by a slow draining tank, slow draining leach field. Causing the wast water to back up in the house side main drain pipe. If this is the case, be prepared for sticker shock. Because there is a good chance the the system will need to be rebuilt/replaced. There is no “over the counter” product that will clear/clean a failing/clogged leach field. The only short term “fix” is to have the holding tank pumped on a regular bases.
One of the first question you will be asked when you call a septic repair company is when the system was installed. This should have been included with the “paper work” when the property was purchased.
I never realized how complicated this would be. I have been here 36 years and have no idea when the septic system was installed. I am assuming that it was shortly before I purchased this farm. The house was built in 1850. The bathroom was new as the outhouse was still behind the house. I have lived here alone for 18 years and my SO lived with me for 18 years until 2 years ago.
The septic tank is in front of the house and my ring was installed 15 years ago about 30 feet from the house. I assumed at the time that part of the ring was over the septic drain pipes. The only time in all those years that I had the tank drained was 15 years ago when the contractor tried to join my drainage from the new bathroom in the addition and broke the pipe. There do not seem to be any problems when flushing my upstairs toilet or running water anywhere else in the house. It is just when I flush the toilet which is beside the shower in the main floor toilet right after having had a shower.
I suppose to avoid any disaster I best consult a septic professional
With the additional information I would probably start with a plumber. If everything else is working fine you probably have a small clog in the branch that serves those rooms that gets backed up when you add all the water from your shower.
Though at this point it is probably timely to have your septic pumped too.
I agree with trubandloki, call the plumber first. Hopefully the plumber will take care of what’s wrong with the one toilet, and all will be fine. After reading your description of the issue, my guess is that it’s the one toilet line, and the plumber will fix it.
The more modern mound systems are the ones that are very susceptible to weight on top of the drain field (or whatever it’s called), Last week when they were working on the pump/alarm wires, I asked them exactly where the drain lines are. They said that it’s the built up part of my back yard (confirming what I guessed), and never to put anything heavy on top, such as an above ground pool. However, some of the neighbors have built a huge addition that I suspect is at least partially on top of their drain field, and the people up the street have a huge above ground pool right on top of theirs.
If your system is the older, conventional system, then the time to worry is when there is any hint of a back up from the other drains, or if you smell a strong sewage odor. A lady I know that has lived in the same house for over 50 years now, said the sewage odor was the first symptom of a problem. She said that she only had the system worked on twice in that time, but the strong sewage smell was the sign to call the septic service.
By the way, I’ve had two local plumbers say they never use the powdered additive in their septic tanks, and say they’ve had many emergency calls about septic tanks that they attribute to the additives causing issues.
When we have an air inversion, mostly a few times in the winter bad enough for it, we get septic smell from the vents not doing their job outside, the air heavier than the septic air and so venting in the house.
That goes on for a few hours, then it goes away and doesn’t happen for another month or two.
There is not much they can do for that, according to the plumber.
A little tidbit many people don’t know - if you septic system backs up into your house, your homeowners insurance may not cover it… Might want to check that. I added a policy on to cover mine in case.
Also, our county requires us to have ours pumped every 3 years. I think I’m due this year…
I agree, if the leach field is failing this will cause the holding tank to drain very slowly. But there could be sludge build up in the outlet pipe and or the leach field pipes, There are various ways to diagnose this. None of which I am sure the OP is interested in learning. In any case it will effect all of the drains toilets, etc. If it is just happening in a branch line most likely something is “daming up” that line.
There are very effective for DIY to clean out branch and main waste lines. They come in different size diameters, hook hose to it and insert into the drain line of choice. Turn on the water and it fills like a balloon making a tight fit, When the pressure builds enough it has a small “slit” that opens the pressurized water jets out. Works like a champ.
I am sure there are U-tube vids showing how to use it. Well worth the investment and time. Can save a LOT off $$$ for a simple clean out by a plumber. Most charge $100 just to show up.
