Tweet
About two weeks ago we had a septic calamity. Water from the draining tub came shooting out of the basement drain for the washer!!! Prior to this event, we were having some "unknown" issues with the washer draining. When running the washer, at what seemed to be random times, it would spew water from the drain during the rinse & spin cycle. At least now we know what the issue was!
Back to the major problem.... I opened the septic cover and it was filled to the very very very top
. I called the happy septic pumping guy and he sucked us dry. We surmised that the leach field was most likely saturated and thus was draining very slow, hence the previous issues with the washer. We (me, not the septic guy) figured I was in good shape now. An empty septic tank would buy us lots of time for the leach field to drain. Wrong.
During the next week or so, I checked the level of "stuff" in the tank, all looked good. We weren't even close to capacity. Then, this past Saturday, I went and looked in the septic tank and the level was above the top of the outlet pipe. I called the septic guy back to discuss and he says that something might be frozen and we would have to wait for it to thaw out. No problem, I can hold it for a couple of weeks.
The past few days we have been VERY water conservative. Super short showers, minimal dishes, pee at the neighbors (ok, so I go out behind the garage....don't tell my wife) and no laundry! The level slowly went down so that today it is at the bottom of the outlet pipe. If you looked at my septic tank right now, you would think nothing was wrong.
I garnered some advice from self-proclaimed experts on septic systems (i.e. think-they-know-it-all friends) and one suggested running hot water into the pipe to melt any ice...great if that's the problem, if not, now I have a very full septic tank again... the second said find the distribution box and see whats up in there...the third, snake it out and see if there's a clog.
I tried option number three first. I ran a small (indoor use only?) snake and when I retracted it the end was filled with some very black material, but I really didn't have any resistance til the end of the snake. So on to option two... find the d-box. I dug about 10 feet from the edge of the tank where I thought the d-box might be. This spot was in line with the discharge pipe and just past the corner of the garage. What I found was loam, sand and such and then water as my shovel hit gravel. No pipe and not d-box.
Back to square one. I dug about 2 feet from the septic tank, inline with the discharge and found the white pipe a couple of feet deep. I followed it back about another 2 feet and encountered a similar sight. I could see the white pipe, but water was filling up around it! I stopped digging for fear that I may make things worse (or find things I didn't want to see).
What did I see? Was it normal? Bad? Is this a clear sign that the water table is just very high right now and I simply need to wait this out, or should I be very worried??? I do not know how old the leach field is but my neighbors have had theirs working fine for longer than our house has been here so I'm assuming that the surrounding area is not bad for septic designs. Are there other things I should look for?
Back to the major problem.... I opened the septic cover and it was filled to the very very very top
. I called the happy septic pumping guy and he sucked us dry. We surmised that the leach field was most likely saturated and thus was draining very slow, hence the previous issues with the washer. We (me, not the septic guy) figured I was in good shape now. An empty septic tank would buy us lots of time for the leach field to drain. Wrong.During the next week or so, I checked the level of "stuff" in the tank, all looked good. We weren't even close to capacity. Then, this past Saturday, I went and looked in the septic tank and the level was above the top of the outlet pipe. I called the septic guy back to discuss and he says that something might be frozen and we would have to wait for it to thaw out. No problem, I can hold it for a couple of weeks.
The past few days we have been VERY water conservative. Super short showers, minimal dishes, pee at the neighbors (ok, so I go out behind the garage....don't tell my wife) and no laundry! The level slowly went down so that today it is at the bottom of the outlet pipe. If you looked at my septic tank right now, you would think nothing was wrong.
I garnered some advice from self-proclaimed experts on septic systems (i.e. think-they-know-it-all friends) and one suggested running hot water into the pipe to melt any ice...great if that's the problem, if not, now I have a very full septic tank again... the second said find the distribution box and see whats up in there...the third, snake it out and see if there's a clog.
I tried option number three first. I ran a small (indoor use only?) snake and when I retracted it the end was filled with some very black material, but I really didn't have any resistance til the end of the snake. So on to option two... find the d-box. I dug about 10 feet from the edge of the tank where I thought the d-box might be. This spot was in line with the discharge pipe and just past the corner of the garage. What I found was loam, sand and such and then water as my shovel hit gravel. No pipe and not d-box.
Back to square one. I dug about 2 feet from the septic tank, inline with the discharge and found the white pipe a couple of feet deep. I followed it back about another 2 feet and encountered a similar sight. I could see the white pipe, but water was filling up around it! I stopped digging for fear that I may make things worse (or find things I didn't want to see).
What did I see? Was it normal? Bad? Is this a clear sign that the water table is just very high right now and I simply need to wait this out, or should I be very worried??? I do not know how old the leach field is but my neighbors have had theirs working fine for longer than our house has been here so I'm assuming that the surrounding area is not bad for septic designs. Are there other things I should look for?
Comment