Septic Tank questions

[SW in IL]

Please forgive me if this subject has been dicussed into the ground. If it has, I never paid any attention because it never concerned me before. We've never lived anywhere that's had a septic tank.

 

A friend lives in a very small town (population anywhere from around 200 people to 500 people depending on which count you believe) and they have a septic tank. Their tank is backed up, and I'm trying to understand what he's talking about. He says that they can't use the toilet or take a shower. From what I've gathered, the tank is there to collect the waste, and every so often it needs to be pumped out. And if it isn't pumped out, the waste backs up into the house?

 

Is there a way to know when it's getting close to becoming full? What happens if it's not pumped when it needs to be? What are the health hazards of letting it back up?

 

Thanks,

Sue

mom.wilson@comcast.net

[Camy-7 boybarians 1 lady]

The septic tank is merely a temporary holding port for liquid/solid wastewater/material. It then is released from pipes into a drainfield where it percolates down through the sand/soil beneath to filter the water.

 

Perhaps I am not aware of your friend's type of system, unless it is similar to a motorhome or RV.

 

Blessings,

 

Camy

[TwinMominTX]

Does the entire town have a spetic tank? If so, that would be different than the types of septic systems I am used to, but they would likely work in a similar fashion.

 

We have a septic system. It actually consists of two cement tanks buried underground. The waste from the toilets, showers, sinks, washing machine, etc. go into the first tank. As time passes the solid waste degrades into liquid and then flows into the second tank. This second tank has holes in it which allow the liquid waste to gradually seep into the ground where it is absorbed into the dirt and taken up by plants, grasses, trees, etc. We occassionally (every 2-5 years) have the first tank pumped out.

 

Our septic tank system has a high water alarm that sends off a very loud beep to tell us that our tank is getting too high. I would imagine that the hazards of a backed up system are similar to what you'd get from any contact with raw sewage - bacterial contamination etc. However, the severity of the contamination would be determined from where the leakage was taking place. While the liquid that comes from our second tank is no where near potable, it isn't nearly as disgusting as the stuff that would come out should the first (solid) tank spring a leak or decide to back up.

[Heather in the Kootenays]

When I first moved to a place with septic, several friends assured me that you never really need to pump them out. In the next few years, each of these friends had to replace their drain field - a very expensive proposition. I never asked if pumping would have prevented these problems but I have my suspicions. ;)

 

I understand that the first sign is signs of sewage showing up on your drain field. I'm guessing that if your drainfield is getting clogged with sewage and your tank is full, it might back up into the house.

[TraceyS/FL]

My DH is in the septic business.... i seem to know more than i should on the topic. :tongue_smilie:

 

The septic tank gets everything into it - the liquids flow out to the drainfield, the "solids" fall to the bottom of the tank.

 

Over time, the solids build up and that tank needs to be pumped. Depending on the SIZE of the tank compared to the household use, that can be once a year, or every 10 years. Different areas regulate the size of the systems differently.

 

Drainfields do "go bad". If the drainfield is too small for the household size - there it too much liquid for the ground to deal with at a time. Also could depend on the type of drainfield (ours is gravel, new ones are plastic chambers with holes in them), it can just stop working at all - the ground becomes saturated.

 

In that case, the liquids can't flow into the drainfield - it backfills the tank, when then backs into the house. They have one house they are dealing with (new) that the retention pond in the neighborhood fills up the tank AND drainfield.

 

The only ones around here with alarms are ones with pumps - you only need those if you elevation is mucked up or it's a long distance.

 

Ours has backed up when we had an issue at the entrance to the tank - the pipe from the house wasn't installed properly (this was before DH was working in the business).

 

And for septic system humor of the day - DH and his boss are going to go repo a system today. It's been 9 months and they haven't paid! Taking the tank, pump and alarm... the drainfield will be destroyed when they drive over it to pull the tank (the lady was fired from her job at the bank for stealing a letterhead to send a letter saying it would be paid out of her next paycheck :blink: )

 

Anyway......... really, i wish i didn't know/hear about them so much daily you know??? :tongue_smilie:

[kokotg]

I called my mother up all worried a few months ago because we've been in our house 5 years and haven't had the septic tank pumped yet. "How often do you have your septic tank pumped?" I asked. "Uhh, we haven't yet," she said. She's lived in the house 35 years. This reassured me that I'm not the worst homeowner in the world (that would be my mother). I am just relaying a related anecdote, not suggesting everyone wait another 30 years to pump out their septic tank! My SIL says putting yeast down the drains is good for septic--the yeast eat up the bacteria for you.

[bkpan]

We also are new to having a septic system, so we weren't sure how often or when we should have it pumped. So, dh calls the previous owners with some questions and they said that they have never pumped the system! That is around 25 yrs. Now, they raised two dc here, and we are a family of 8. Does anyone here with experience think we should have the system pumped preventatively?

 

I haven't seen any evidence of overload, but there are sections of the yard that are growing REALLY thick, extra-green areas of grass?

 

(I must confess that this is something I have deep-seated fears over - I get THE most awful images/nightmares in my imagination - eek!:ack2:)

 

Thanks,

Kim

[In The Great White North]

You really should have the septic tank pumped preventively. It's much cheaper than a new septic field, which would have to be brought up to current code. If you do not pump it, and solids go into the leach field, it will shorten the life of your leach field. Our estimate for a new system (to meet current code) was over $20,000. Pumping is only $200. Fortunately, we discovered it was only a clogged pipe before we got that far. (For some reason, they had usedPVC for the whole system except a 10 ft section of cast iron, which was totally clogged.)

 

Another thing to consider is that the pipes can get clogged, effectively preventing anything from leaving the tank.

 

After getting it pumped, try Roto-Rooter before replacing the whole system. The pipes in the leach field can also get clogged, especially if there are trees or invasive weeds with long roots too close.

 

The septic system backing up would be a health hazard but your first hint of a problem shouldn't be sewage in your house. We could smell it in the vicinity of the tank, when some of our pipes got clogged.

[Liz Mc in SC]

Funny to see this today, because I was thinking it was about time for us to do this. We built this house-- so we started with a "fresh" tank -- my brother and his dw and dd moved in with us while house hunting for two months (we'd been in our house 6 yrs)....during this time the water started to drain slowly. So I did the draino but nothing worked. My DH kept saying "oh, no -- it's not the septic -- that's just a hole in the ground" :001_huh: But I though well maybe with the extra people it could be.

 

Finally I called to have it checked. The kids yelled that the septic guy wanted me, I peeped out the window and he did that finger curl to say "come here" -- he wanted me to look -- I didn't want to look LOL!! We were so close to backing everything up into the house, and worse yet you can force solids into your drain fields which blocks them causing lots of repairs. We were lucky. He said we should have ours cleaned atleast every 3 yrs.

[Heather in the Kootenays]

3 friends within a couple of years - replacing drainfields that pumping probably would have saved. PUMP IT OUT. :)

[sjp]

we used to have one with a pump and an alarm. we had it pumped yearly by the man who installed it, since it was a special type of system and he was the only one certified or informed enough to work on it. the alarm went off a couple times when we lived there, i think it was the high water alarm alerting us to have it pumped.

[Carrie12345]

We should really get ours pumped soon. I like to try to stick to the 3-year rule. The septic at the house I grew up in was *awful. After years of having to have it pumped every 6 months (if that long), my mom finally had to have the system replaced in order to sell the house. To the tune of $20,000. I'd much rather pay for preventative maintenance, even if it isn't necessary!

 

Oh, and the town put sewers in a year after we sold that house!

[love2read]

We had ours back up once because one of the inlet pipes into the tank cracked and created blockage. We noticed the drains were very slow for a few days and then noticed water (sewage) in the basement. It was a lot of work cleaning it up the right way.

 

We can't tell when ours is full unless we take the lid off and stick a very long stick down. It usually looks full, but that's just yucky water. The stick tells you--well, you don't want to know. Because of the number or people in our house, we now have it pumped every fall when it's cold, but before the snow. We do this to be on the safe side, but it is expensive. When we had fewer children, we did it every two or three years and a couple of times they told us if we had waited another few weeks we would have been in trouble. It's not easy to determine when to have it pumped, so I can understand this happening to your friend. If it got in her basement, she might appreciate a nice, scented candle from you :)

[LizzyBee]

I did some research when we bought a house with a septic tank five years ago. I read somewhere on the internet that whether you need to have your tank pumped and how often depends a lot on the soil you have, as well as your family size. For ex. If you have sandy soil, you might never have to have the tank pumped. IRRC, I think clay is bad for septic and you'd have to have the tank pumped more often.

 

I've also read that if your soil is favorable and there's no need for pumping out the tank, don't do it. Removing the contents of the tank removes all the bacteria that is breaking down the solids, and it will take time to build up a decent amount of bacteria again.

[Jackie in NE]

We also are new to having a septic system, so we weren't sure how often or when we should have it pumped. So, dh calls the previous owners with some questions and they said that they have never pumped the system! That is around 25 yrs. Now, they raised two dc here, and we are a family of 8. Does anyone here with experience think we should have the system pumped preventatively?

 

I haven't seen any evidence of overload, but there are sections of the yard that are growing REALLY thick, extra-green areas of grass?

 

(I must confess that this is something I have deep-seated fears over - I get THE most awful images/nightmares in my imagination - eek!:ack2:)

 

Thanks,

Kim

 

 

I've lived in several homes with septic systems. (All my life, really). We are a family of 6. We have bought a couple of ranches where the systems were installed eons ago, before anyone paid attention to family size. So on our last place, after the system kept failing, and we were having to pump every year, we finally had new tanks put in AND A NEW LEACH FIELD THAT WAS ACTUALLY PLANNED for our family size. Not wanting to have to deal with a faulty system again, I was sure to tell the septic guy that we were homeschoolers, so we're home ALL THE TIME, and use our system hard. You know, the norm is that most people get up in the morning and go and spend the day somewhere else, either work or school. So he actually made the leach field even bigger than code required. Thankfully, I don't remember how much it cost.

 

I quickly try to forget the costs of big ticket items like septic systems and adoptions! ;)

 

OK, so all of this to say, maybe you can get a septic guy out and see if your current system will meet your needs. Is there any paperwork on it anywhere? It's much easier to hand him records, than it is for him to go out and poke around trying to figure out how big the leach field is....

 

Good luck, and pump. The $200 bill is much easier than a septic wreck. BTDT :ack2:

[Carrie12345]

I've lived in several homes with septic systems. (All my life, really). We are a family of 6. We have bought a couple of ranches where the systems were installed eons ago, before anyone paid attention to family size. So on our last place, after the system kept failing, and we were having to pump every year, we finally had new tanks put in AND A NEW LEACH FIELD THAT WAS ACTUALLY PLANNED for our family size. Not wanting to have to deal with a faulty system again, I was sure to tell the septic guy that we were homeschoolers, so we're home ALL THE TIME, and use our system hard. You know, the norm is that most people get up in the morning and go and spend the day somewhere else, either work or school. So he actually made the leach field even bigger than code required. Thankfully, I don't remember how much it cost.

 

 

Before we decided to move, we were considering adding bedrooms on to the house (Surprise baby, lol.) I called the township and was pleasantly surprised to discover that our septic was built when the codes were much stricter, and our 3-bedroom-home-septic was built to support a 5 bedroom home.

 

Hmm... think I could turn that into a selling point?

[G5052]

In some areas it's actually the law that you must pump every five years. If you do, be sure to get someone reputable that will also inspect. You don't want just a quick pump, and you want them to look around. Ours actually has a digial camera on a long scope that he uses to show people what's wrong if he finds something.

 

We decided to pump at five years "just in case" -- four people in house (babies part of that time though), clay soil, modern/decent system, but just the minimum sized tank for four bedrooms. The guy said he'd probably do it again in four years. So we did it four years later, and he said that was just right. He did note though that he pumps annually for some homeschool families with a lot of children if they only have the size of tank that we do.

 

He didn't recommend yeast or any kind of additive. He say normal "flow" is just fine as long as you minimize bleach and anti-bacterial products (we don't use anti-bacterial hand soap).