Waste line from house to septic tank is old (I'm guessing this tank was put in in the late 20s/early 30s) and runs through concrete basement wall under(!) an enclosed porch to the tank. Overall length is roughly
8-10 ft.
Problem is there appears to be one area which is at least cracked and while is still functional at present and open am afraid this isn't going to last.
Does anybody here know of possible way to successfully line one of these suckers or other way to repair this that would save a _major_ effort to otherwise replace this beastie at some time?
OBTW, it's a 3" line and is roughly 3-4' below grade.
Have access via a cleanout at the inside end which is a straight shot down the line. The tank has baffle so that is only about a 3' clearance on that end which makes access at a fairly sharp angle.
The problem spot seems to be roughly 3-4' from the exit end.
Commercial firms who will re-line tile, but I bet it will be too expensive to consider. Also, I don't think I would line a pipe only 3" size. And if it's cracking/settling, won't last.
I would exit the house on a different side (away from porch).
Can't tell that it's settling based on visual line of sight through the cleanout. Very small, of course, wouldn't be detectable at this point.
Doubt the expense would be much more than the expense of doing whatever it will take at whatever time to rig up to get access to do anything else.
I, too, am/was concerned about the 3" size unless there were something quite thin-walled that could be utilized.
Not a practical solution in this case...to get this drainline to another wall would entail a major renovation of the entire plumbing system in the house plus relocating the drain field/drain lines.
It would be cheaper/simpler to knock the porch down temporarily and rebuild it after moving the tank farther away from the house and replacing the drain line to the new tank location (in line w/ present, but just farther away).
That, of course, brings in another set of problems in that there's only so deep one can go and to move the tank much farther away will require a longer line to get there and the present line is essentially horizontal already and the outlet of the tank is just below the inlet already as well...
I really don't want a system that relies on a lift pump as this is farm on rural REA and power losses are a fact of life.
I suspect the long term solution will be to simply "get by" as long as possible and hope that it's my kids or someone else who will have to actually deal w/ it. :)
If not, I suspect we'll simply do it as mentioned above--tear the porch down, replace the tank and the drain line and put it back. The alternatives that I've come up with to date are simply far more complex than even that. :(
I could note that the drain field and line to the drain field are nearly new and the rest of the house sewer/drain lines were, while not new, replaced when the house was renovated w/ plastic so the only original left is this one cast iron tee and the exit tile line. This, of course, wasn't replaced at that time owing to the major problem of access and that it was working.
There are companies that can pull a plastic line through the old one. A special head expands and cracks the existing pipe, so they replace a 3" clay pipe with a 3" plastic pipe. I've seen information on this process, but couldn't locate a source right away.
Hmmm...that would be a neat trick. Something new/novel like that of which I hadn't heard was why I posted the question. I'll have to do some looking to see if I can find any info on it.
Unfortunately, being in a pretty sparsely populated area, it's unlikely there's anybody within 300 miles, but would certainly sounds like a nice solution if possible.
Look up directional boring contractors in your yellow pages. They are equipped to shatter the existing pipe and swage in new pipe. They usually do this outdoors where their machinery fits. I don't know about your basement situation, but they are still where I would start.
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