Question about septic system--Update, I have further questions post 62 another update 74

[gumtree]

@JanM

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.

“The more modern mound systems are the ones that are very susceptible to weight on top of the drain field”

“Mounded systems” aren’t more “modern” they are generally expensive “engineered systems”. These have to be install at great expense on properties that have slow perking soil conditions. A LOT of extra “engineered” dirt and rocks.

Be it an engineered system or a standard system buried somewhere out side the house. Nothing is allowed or should be built on top of it. Parking lot, pool, heavy equipment etc. This will compact the soil and cause premature failure.

“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”

Unless they built without a permit, or the zoning and building code is very lax in your area. There is no way anyone is allowed to build anything even partially on top of a leach field. When an addition is being added or any kind of construction is being done. The building department usually make the contractors rope off the leach field area so no heavy equipment is driven over and or park on it. This is pretty universal across the land. Can save the owner a ton of money down the road.

“If your system is the older, conventional system”

The “system” design hasn’t change much for decades and decades. Pretty simple in design and function. Kind of like the original mouse trap.

[gumtree]

@Zu Zu

Thank you gumtree - you are a wealth of ’ septic system’ information . I thank you - learned many many parts here.

Thanks, but only because I have built and fixed this stuff out of necessity. Being horse rich, cash poor.

[soloudinhere]

You should really plan to have your septic pumped and inspected at least every 5 years if not more often. It’s cheap prevention. I can’t imagine your system is NOT starting to back up after 15 years. Your leach field may be failing or your pipes TO the leach field, which happened recently at a house we looked at purchasing.

A local farm had an illegal septic for the barn toilet/apartment/wash stall under their outdoor. It recently failed and caved in part of the foundation for their outdoor and left a huge crater of raw sewage. You can imagine how the health department felt about that.

[JanM]

Gumtree-Amazing but true, my county doesn’t inspect new builds unless the buyer has an issue with a particular system. From what I’ve heard some builders here only put the minimum required by building codes. Since the neighbor’s huge addition (easily 40% more added to the house) was mostly done on weekends, or late afternoons, and took years (I think at least 2 years, maybe more) to build and finish, I suspect the workers were working side jobs. Some of the construction on it was appalling to me, and I don’t know that much about construction requirements. I know the two huge posts for the deck off the second story are right in the mound too.

The other neighbor’s above ground pool is huge, and right in the middle of the back yard, so it must be on top of the distribution field (or whatever it’s called). I doubt any permits were pulled on any of the construction, and I don’t know what the county would do if someone told them about the finished addition. The people with the pool also park their ice cream truck (a short, heavy yellow school bus type of vehicle) in the back yard during the off season, but I think the pool takes up most of the space over the mound.

I know some of the older houses here (almost 20 years old) across the street have had to have major digging and repair to the septic lines. One house I’ve heard cost almost $20,000 to fix. Apparently, the lines collapsed or failed in some way, but I didn’t get the details.

The next county over inspects the daylights out of everything, requires permits, and does a good job, but not this county. I wish I knew that before I bought in this county.

[Manni01]

@soloudinhere

You should really plan to have your septic pumped and inspected at least every 5 years if not more often. It’s cheap prevention. I can’t imagine your system is NOT starting to back up after 15 years. Your leach field may be failing or your pipes TO the leach field, which happened recently at a house we looked at purchasing.

A local farm had an illegal septic for the barn toilet/apartment/wash stall under their outdoor. It recently failed and caved in part of the foundation for their outdoor and left a huge crater of raw sewage. You can imagine how the health department felt about that.

This…^^^ I have a septic as well and for my personal piece of mind I have it pumped every 4 years. And the septic guy told me that usually when he gets called he knows already that most of the time everything backed up into the house because usually nobody pumps their septic until its too late… its not very expensive to pump it and I feel a lot better about it this way.

[trubandloki]

@JanM

The other neighbor’s above ground pool is huge, and right in the middle of the back yard, so it must be on top of the distribution field (or whatever it’s called).

Around here it is not uncommon for people to put their leach fields in the front yard so they can have their backyard for fun things like a pool.

Could this neighbor have their system in the front yard?

[JanM]

trub-Nope, same developer on the entire subdivision. The only difference is a few of the main tanks are on the right side, instead of the left side of the house, and all mounds (for the leach field) are in the back yard. If you know what to look for, you can tell where they put the leach field in on most of the houses.

Unfortunately, the older houses across the street (my subdivision was first occupied in 2009, until the present) are almost 20 years or so old, and their leach fields are in the back yard. Some of those yards have big ripples in the dirt, and I suspect they correspond to the areas between the distribution pipes. In some cases I’ve heard that the leach fields have collapsed, and had to be replaced. Fortunately, my builder is different, and competent.

[saultgirl]

We get our septic pumped every 2 years, and we don’t have anything on top of it.

It is in our front yard.

[JanM]

Some of the other subdivision builders here are so incompetent that the houses are virtually unsellable. They were all built on old farm land, and for a huge influx of personnel from Fort Knox to Fort Benning. Some of the other subdivision residents called the county inspectors (they don’t inspect new builds, only after when you have an issue), and found their AC is too small for the house. Some have very high ceilings in the living room, and some have smoke alarms in the living room ceiling-very tough to change the batteries without hiring someone. One friend from work was going to retire here, and if his house didn’t sell, he was going to buy a fixer upper locally, and then walk away after closing from the current house. Many in the bad subdivisions have major issues with items like chimney flues, and fires. I’m so glad I have another builder, and keep up with maintenance.

I was watching one of the real estate shows for Hawaii, and they said when you buy in the country side (I don’t remember if it was Maui or Kauai) on one island, the ground is lava, and doesn’t perk. There the septic was only a holding tank, and you have to get it pumped four times a year. Yuck!

[PeteyPie]

Cat Tap, I hope you follow up and let us know what the problem is and how you resolved it; it’s a learning experience for all of us.

[Cat_Tap]

I’ll get on it next week. Have to make some inquiries as to who to contact. Fortunately there has never been an odor problem, May get both a plumber and then the septic guy. It seems that all me previous professionals e.g. plumber, electrician etc. have retired.

I will update once this has been resolved.

[avjudge]

I add a third - or is it fourth or more now? - to “pump your tank on a regular basis!!!” It’s important maintenance.

In addition to the solids settling to the bottom of a septic tank, scum floats to the top. The outflow to the leach field should be at a depth between these two. If either layer gets too thick so it reaches the outflow pipe, so that the solids or scum flow out to the leach field, they’ll plug up the pores in the soil and eventually you’ll be faced with an EXPENSIVE new leach field.

With enough time it will plug up anyway - that’s how leach fields die - but it should be many decades. Solids from an unpumped tank will cause that to happen quickly.

When we had a septic system I was always there when it was pumped and got feedback from the guy doing the pumping on how things looked. He (or she? I’m sure - I hope - they’re out there but haven’t run into it yet) should let you know if you caught it in the nick of time (or not) or could have gone longer between pumps.

However, back to the original question, with a slow drain my first call would not be to a septic company, but to a plumber or drain-clearing company. Especially since it seems the problem is in a single bathroom.

[JanM]

I would get the plumber out first, to look at the toilet with drainage problems, then get the septic serviced. When the septic service happens they will have you flush the toilet a couple of times, to check if the line is clear to the septic tank. So if you flush the problem one, you can tell if the drain is flowing OK, and the problem is fixed.

[Fred]

@Cat Tap

I’ll get on it next week. Have to make some inquiries as to who to contact. Fortunately there has never been an odor problem, May get both a plumber and then the septic guy. It seems that all me previous professionals e.g. plumber, electrician etc. have retired.

I will update once this has been resolved.

Cat Tap, we used this company: Mount Pleasant Septic Service. 519 484 9996
They came right away, did a good job, had a nice clean truck (this matters!) and were very pleasant.
As others have said, it may just be the line from that toilet to the septic - and that is easily fixed, so I would address that first.
The plumbers we have used for years is Adams Plumbing in Lynden.
No matter what, I would get your tank pumped.
With just the two of us, we get ours done every 3 years.

Gumtree, thank you for all that excellent information!

[China_Doll]

With the age of your system most likely it needs replaced and updated

[fanfayre]

@China Doll

With the age of your system most likely it needs replaced and updated

Maybe, but not necessarily. With the (low) loading rate of only 1 person, it may still have several years yet (or it may need replacing- won’t know until a professional gets in there and looks)
Signed,
A Septic Professional

[susanne]

@China Doll

With the age of your system most likely it needs replaced and updated

It doesn’t necessarily need replacing – my sister’s (formerly my parents) septic system is 60 years old and is working fine, at least partly due to careful maintenance.

Be sure to also check the distribution box (easy to do) and all pipes leading from house to tank, tank to distribution box, and distribution box to leach field. Each of these can be a problem in old systems and are much easier to fix than the drainfield.

My husband and I lived on our property for 11 years before finally building our house. I had carefully fenced the corrals to keep the minis off the septic, but the property map had the drainfield in the wrong place and because of the misinformation I had three little horses living on top of the drainfield for years. Fortunately our heaviest horse weighs about 375 lbs.

When the county environmental services director came out to inspect the entire system for our building permit, she noted first that the distribution box was in great shape – no soap scum or yuck. She could see that horses had been kept on the leach field but said that the d-box would have been crusty if there had been a problem. She did ask that our excavator check to see if the pipe from tank to d-box was galvanized, which could have corroded and closed off. It turned out to have been replaced with ABS fairy recently, so the only issue was that we needed to have the tank pumped.

When you hire someone to pump the tank, DO YOUR RESEARCH. An acquaintance urged us to hire his friend, but we checked him out and learned he was known for only pumping the liquids, not the solids. Your building department, builders, and excavators who include septic work all should know who is good and who is not.

[avjudge]

@susanne

An acquaintance urged us to hire his friend, but we checked him out and learned he was known for only pumping the liquids, not the solids.

:eek: Wow, that would have been a waste of money! Getting rid of the solids is the reason you pump - how does this guy stay in business?

[Bluey]

Here, when they come pump the tank out, the take it all to the bottom, then have us flush several times, pump that out too and consider the tank clean for a few more years.
Part of the fee is where they take the stuff to be disposed off.

They write a report to the state of all they do and when, the tank location, size and what they did, where they dumped and we get a copy later from the state, notifying us that it was reported.

Here all that is state regulated.

[trubandloki]

@avjudge

:eek: Wow, that would have been a waste of money! Getting rid of the solids is the reason you pump - how does this guy stay in business?

People do not know what the guy is supposed to do and/or people do not watch what the guy is doing.