Septic tank woes...

I think we've got an issue. We moved in last May, after the house had been very lightly used for about five years - the owners died, and their son used it as a weekend place occasionally.

He assured us that the septic tank had been recently emptied, but we noticed it overflowing and generally being a bit whiffy - so we assumed he was mistaken, and had it emptied. Now, barely six months later, it's overflowing and being a bit whiffy again. So the obvious conclusion is that the drainage field is blocked up, right? There's damp bits of garden below the lid, and nowhere else that we've found.

It's an old-school square two-chamber concrete pit, right on the boundary with next door - so the drainage field is either going to go under their garden or be inevitably compromised in design.

Short of getting a JCB in, is there any realistic hope for any of the "healthy tank" products? The postie brought a shiny leaflet for "BioGard Muck Munchers" this am -

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- with various "emergency treatment" and "deep clean" options.

What reckon you lot? Waste of money, or flushing good money down the bog?

Reply to
Adrian
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Is it a septic tank or a cess pit?

How old? Any paperwork/ building regs drawings/certs?

When you say overflow from the lid, I'm thinking cess pit TBH, doubtful leach field could be on someone else's property.... unless previously all one bigger property and the bit of garden w leach field was sold for a new/er build?

Jim K

Reply to
JimK

Definitely tank rather than pit. Healthy, apparently, under previous owners - rarely needed to be emptied. But that was before the place was

99% empty between '08 and last year.

Old-old, we were told "Oooh, '60s", but that might just be a wet-finger guesstimate - and no paperwork at all relating to it.

No, next door's an old house too. The fence line may have changed over the years, of course.

Reply to
Adrian

What's in the second chamber? Just liquids?

How big / volume overall would you guess?

How many people is it serving?

Jim K

Reply to
JimK

I've not looked that closely, nor do I have any desire to, nor would I know what to look for... so "Stuff". The bloke that pumped it out reckoned it looked healthy enough.

~900gal, I think the pumpout guy said.

Just the two of us living here.

Reply to
Adrian

Or was it 900 litres? That might make more sense...

Reply to
Adrian

The idea is bacteria break down solids in the first chamber and liquids plu s broken down solids pass into the 2nd chamber. This process might not have started, or has been killed by the use of bio washing powder. You can get stuff to help this process to start.

2 of us here, emptied once in 13 years. Allan
Reply to
Al

...

If you mean 1960s, rather than 1860s, that is recent. I've never lived in a house that young.

Reply to
Nightjar

I've not looked that closely, nor do I have any desire to, nor would I know what to look for... so "Stuff". The bloke that pumped it out reckoned it looked healthy enough. /q

Better get a man in then.

/

~900gal, I think the pumpout guy said.

Just the two of us living here. /q

900 litres would be small for a septic...

Jim K

Reply to
JimK

Ta.

900gal, then. Definitely 900. I think.
Reply to
Adrian

On Wed, 30 Jul 2014 17:16:13 +0100, Nightjar >> How old? Any paperwork/ building regs drawings/certs?

I mean the tank is 1960s. The old bit of the house is ~1700.

Reply to
Adrian

It is not going to solve the fundamental problem that the drainage filed is blocked. Sorting that is going to require a lot more than a JCB. Do you know the details of where the outflow goes?

Reply to
Peter Crosland

Advice: lay a cable and fit a motorised shit aerator. Run outflow to ditch or pond

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

That was my gut feel.

As ever, downhill, I would assume. It's at one edge of the front lawn, which slopes down towards a small stream.

Reply to
Adrian

That was my gut feel.

As ever, downhill, I would assume. It's at one edge of the front lawn, which slopes down towards a small stream. /q

Oh dear... probably time for the klargester style aerated system with ahem 'approvable' stream discharge.

Does the stream run 365 days/ year?

Jim K

Reply to
JimK

As there are two chambers, this points to being a septic tank as opposed to a cesspit (that just stores it) Modern septic tanks are of the big plastic"light bulb" variety (ie in the last 25 years or so.)

Have it emptied and see if you can determine where the outflow pipe is (If any) while it's empty.

Some of the older designs have no outflow pipe as such , they just have lots of gaps in the brickework and are surrounded with gravel.You have to find out what you've got which may involve some digging. The problem with the old septic tanks is that they let a lot of sediment through which blocks up the gravel in the leechfield. Newer one have a "clarifier" that reduces this problem.

You might be able to have the leechfield water jetted out but not likely to be practical.

It sounds to me like you have a major job/expense on your hands (?10,000-?15,000 unless you can DIY it. ie to replace everything.

Check out with the neighboura & see what they'vw got, may give some ideas how to proceed, it may be possible to join the main public drain as an option.

The stuff you buy and flush down the toilet (bacterial culture) is bollix.

There are lots of cowboys in this field, be careful who you get in. It's a job that needs doing in Summer ie dry weather. So, a bad time to find all this ou but time to think & plan for next Summer. Remeber excavating is expensive especialy if you can't dispose of the excavate on site.

Reply to
harryagain

Both look the same, the difference is a cess pit doesn't have an out flow and just fills up until it overflows and needs to be emptied.

900 gallons of waste water isn't a lot I'd expect two people to produce that much in significantly less than 6 months.

Or very blocked leach field, to OP needs to get stuck in and investigate a bit closer. B-)

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

I wouldn't like to put money on it.

Reply to
Adrian

This isn't.

About in the middle of the "downhill" edge.

What "main public drain"? There isn't one of those for _miles_.

That's the easy bit.

Reply to
Adrian

/Does the stream run 365 days/ year?

I wouldn't like to put money on it. /q

Oh dear #2 :*(

That's probably going to hurt a bit more then as a soakaway (maybe a reed bed?) will be needed away from the watercourse for a klargester or equiv to discharge into...

Did you have this surveyed before purchase?

Treat it as a cess pit (empty it when full) whilst you decide what & who to sort it somehow. What do neighbours do? Anything more recent nearby to guide you?

Jim K

Reply to
JimK

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