Septic tank troubleshooting help requested

OK, that makes sense. Air pumped in to encourage different bacteria.

With any luck. Trying to do this on the frugal.

And, that's a very real possible. Thank you.

Sunday Oct 26, 2014 Just heard back. The tank is, again, totally full. He's done a little digging around. No sign of any kind of leach field. As such, it may be an open bottom old style cistern thing.

Plan for the moment is to get the tank pumped. Have the guy power wash the sides and bottom, might open up the percolation a bit.

Plans to divert the grey water, and use the tank only for toilet.

I'll report here, if I hear any thing more.

- . Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus

Maybe you don't have one. I've read that after WWII, when there was an exodus to suburbs, civil engineers recommended cesspools, where water was supposed to percolate from the bottom.

In 1965, my family of 8 moved to a 19th Century suburban house. My parents were there until 1978. I never saw evidence of a drain field (... the grass is greener). It may have been pumped once.

About 1900, epidemics affecting well water routinely killed a lot of people around here. In 1925, my grandparents bought a 19th Century farmhouse with a septic tank and drain field. Laundry water and kitchen water can wreck a drain field; so my grandfather piped them to their own drain fields and not the septic tank. I don't know about bath water.

If it's legal, running your laundry water elsewhere could help the toilet tank work better. Piping that greasy kitchen water elsewhere would also help.

When a drain field can't handle all the water, you get a stinky puddle on the lawn. Dogs love it! I've read that a university scientist, I think in Florida, studied those puddles and found them free of human pathogens. Apparently spending 48 hours in a septic tank kills them.

I've read that in some California counties, if your drain field fails, the law may require a construction process involving heavy equipment and costing $25,000. If the resident can get a waiver, a crew working with hand tools can build a better drain field for $900.

You know, that sounds totally correct. I'm not there to see, but it sounds reasonable. Thank you.

Agree. Cesspools were common in that era and didn't include a leach field. I know of some where leach fields were added decades later, when the cesspools became clogged and would no longer percolate sufficiently.

I think that $25K price isn't unusual today in many parts of the coutry. Around here, in some cases, folks have to build raised leach fields on trucked in dirt mounds, to get the required percolation.

If it is an actual tank - four sides, top and bottom - and it spews dirty water then that means the tank isn't draining. If the tank isn't draining, it means that either there is an obstruction in the outlet to the drain field - OR - that the drain lines themselves are clogged - OR - that the soil around the drain pipes is clogged. Or any combination of the preceding.

In any case, you need someone who does that stuff for a living to come look/diagnose.

Last I heard, he's got a pumper coming out. And they plan to pressure wash the inside walls of the tank.

The history of usage of the tank is uncertain, so it's wise to get someone out who knows this kind of thing. Thank you.

- . Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus

That sounds like a wonderful job......

As I and others have said, from your description it sounds like a cesspool. Made out of cement blocks, it's not a tank and it's designed to let water leach out.

The job is still in the early stages. We'll see how it pumps out. Thanks for your wisdom.

- . Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus

Depends on where you live I guess. People here have been having trouble selling houses with antiquated systems and I think the county makes them upgrade to current standard which includes an alternate drain field. Might be best to solve the problem yourself rather than risk a professional coming in, getting turned in, and having to pay a fortune for an upgrade.

I think a good septic tank has two chambers. The holes in the partition are at midlevel so neither the sediment nor the scum enters the second chamber. The second chamber drains at midlevel, to avoid sediment and scum.

That minimizes solids in the drain field, and there's evidence that it keeps waste in the tank long enough to kill pathogens. I'm waiting for some town to make drain fields obsolete. Just use a perforated pipe to distribute the purified waste water on the lawn. The town will become famous for the absence of sewer bills, the green grass, and the sweet smell of success!

J Burns posted for all of us...

No chambers, baffles at different levels for incoming and outgoing.

I believe I became aware of this type from my own, which was installed before 1925. Seems worthwhile: less solids in the drain field, and less chance of pathogens making it through.

Around here I've seen them as J Burns described, two seperate halves, built out of concrete blocks, no bottom. IDK exactly how the water moves from one half to the other, but would suspect it may just be that the cement blocks are not completely cemented together, continously, etc. The heavier waste was in the first section, mostly liquid in the second.