So, my septic is backing up...

Topic: So, my septic is backing up... (Read 3567 times) previous topic - next topic

So, my septic is backing up...

January 06, 2009, 11:59:09 AM

Good attention grabbing headline - no?

Well, actually it is - real nice having your soapy laundry water backing up into the basp00get carrying "paper" products with it :(

Soooo - it's winter now and there is snow on the ground - which isn't so bad. But then we had a wicked ice storm a few weeks ago and a 40' long, 1' diameter base limb from my maple tree broke off and fell guess where? - yep, directly over my septic tank cover :(

So, last Friday I spend the day cutting a path through the snow to the tank cover, then I procede to chainsaw the mess into a somewhat neat pile near the other tree that was completely crowned and split down to half it's former self (luckily my house wasn't hit). I then get a spade shovel and chip through the frost (fortunately only 3/4" thick) and uncover the septic tank cover. I tried to lift if with a pry-bar, but couldn't, so I figured I'd let the pros handle it. Cool, hard work but it was done!

I called the septic tank pumping company and they make an appointment - for 4 days later :( I figured I could deal with the issue and the weather showed fairly warm and no snow. She asked if it was "uncovered" and I said "yes". Now, these people say in their ads "consult with us - the professionals". Hmmm, so why didn't they suggest I recover the lid or insulate it until they got there :( Well, we had a little bit of frozen rain in between and when the tank dude came with the pry-bar, all he did was chip up the cover - doh! I kept asking him if I could help - boiling water maybe? "Nah, boiling water freezes faster than cold water." Umm, I knew what he meant, but this was a short-term deal and it's fairly warm at 25 degF at this time of the morning with sun beating on the cover. Oh, well. Then I suggested "I'd heat it with a torch, but there's a lot of methane in there now and I don't wanna blow the top off". The gears start working in his head and he gets his propane heater from the truck and works it for like 10 minutes. He prys a little more and I ask if "something chemical" might help. No answer. He comes to the front door and says "I give up". Great - I work at home and I got no toilet. Well, he's gone now so I better see if I can do something to this cover before calling another service (that might not be able to make it before it snows tonight!!!) I think - well, I'll first pour a small amount of this 50/50 antifreeze mix around the rim of the lid, let it seep in and then pour boiling water over it - the antifreeze will keep the water from refreezing as fast and the heat will melt the ice. The antifreeze seeped in rather quickly, so I added a little more (no more than a couple of pints mind you.) I figured I'd get the pry bar (mine is only 4' versus his 6' bar) and give it a shot. It broke loose in 1 minute.

I turned off the boiling water and called a different service. So much for "let our professional staff work for you...". The guy they sent was not too bright and even though he was a large man, he could barely breath after a few blows with the pry bar. He did suggest I "wait for spring", but then he felt bad after I told him it was backing up into my basp00get. Good help is hard to find these days :(

So, my septic is backing up...

Reply #1 – January 06, 2009, 12:08:58 PM

I had a similar experience 3 yrs ago, moved here to western NY from FL( I know not to bright) anyhow middle of December same thing as you have. So I am outside snowblowing my yard which I would imagine probably made me look just as nuts to the neighbors down the road as moving from FL to here, anyway found the lid, couldnt get it to budge but by the time the dude with the pump truck got here he informed me there were 3 access doors on my tank(still dont know how he knew that) so I dug and found them and he started from there while I worked on the stuck one and I dont know if it was opening the others or not that did it but it popped right open then.

So, my septic is backing up...

Reply #2 – January 06, 2009, 12:26:50 PM

My parents' septic system backs up rather frequently. Ever since the guy behind them built his house ~15 years ago, and cut a driveway along the right-of-way at the edge of my folks' property, the leach bed doesn't work quite as well as it used to.

It never fails: septic systems usually fail during the winter. I can't tell you how many times I've helped my father clean out the system in below freezing temperatures with the winds howling. Fortunately he's paying someone to do that now, since he's getting older and isn't as mobile as he used to be. But I tell you, their backups are a LOT less frequent now. Why the change?

They're using a different brand of toilet paper. No kidding. They switched to Angel Soft...apparently it breaks down a lot better and faster than other brands. Now they're on a once- or twice-yearly schedule for pumping out the system, whereas it used to be 4 times a year or more.

I thought they were being corny when they told me this. I thought, "They're just nuts." But it's true. No shiznit.

So I don't know what caused your backup, but if it's not a frozen ground or blocked-up leach bed, you might want to try out a different brand of T.P.
Sorry to hear about your bad experiences, though. Hopefully you'll find a better company. Good luck!

So, my septic is backing up...

Reply #3 – January 06, 2009, 02:44:22 PM

Well Eric, I think you're onto something! I had recently had some "issues" (getting older sucks) so I switched over to a new brand of ultra soft toilet paper. This surely didn't help the situation. Well, that and the fact that I've only had it pumped once in the past 20 years

The new guy showed up and we talked about everything "septic" :hick: Since I had already loostened up the cover, he just removed it and started pumping it out. It was full of all sorts of soliditousness right up to about 1' from the top (not sure how high the leech field pipes are, but it wasn't "water" on the top.)

Anyway, we chatted (I asked him question after question) and he said:

1) use single-ply toilet paper,
2) Ridex doesn't do anything (it's a minute amount of bacteria compared to what's already in there),
3) I should get it pumped more frequently (than every 10 years) :D
4) the other company should have told me to insulate the cover since they weren't going to be there for 4 days
5) he could tell I used root eater based on the smell

6) a garbage disposal can easily double the amount of solids in the tank over a given period of time (yes, I have one, but I try to be very careful what I put in it)
7) my girlfriend uses too much toilet paper (no, he didn't say that, I did

)

Anyway, we checked flow and the main line is flowing OK which was a huge relief.

I verified this by doing a full load of laundry - not a drop out the top of the main! Woot!

Oh, and here's an appropriate smilie for this post

So, my septic is backing up...

Reply #4 – January 06, 2009, 03:15:11 PM

So, my septic is backing up...

Reply #5 – January 06, 2009, 03:54:26 PM

So, my septic is backing up...

Reply #6 – January 06, 2009, 04:31:23 PM

Well that's good news, glad you're flowin' again (in the proper direction LOL). Sounds like you were packed pretty solid in the tank.

I was also told that Rid-X is not really all that great. I'm sure for people that have older, smaller systems or those that are too close to the house, it might help some...but for larger systems it's not enough.

I remember when I was younger, my dad would do all the honeydipping himself...he was always abnormally cheerful whilst shoveling poo, I'll never understand that. Anyway, once it was cleaned out but before he put the lid on, he would have me walk up and down the street to find some small roadkill, dead bird, whatever, to throw in the tank so that the bacteria would start activating again.

Fortunately life has gotten much better since then.

Now I guess it's my turn...10 years? 20 years? Bah, that's nothing. Mine has NEVER been pumped and the house is 45 years old! The previous owners were old and had no kids...they would take a bath once a week, laundry was done once a week (if they were lucky), and no garbage disposal unit or dishwasher. There were never any issues to warrant pumping them out, let alone digging them up. I mean, how much poo can an old couple produce, you know?

So I move in, it's just me in the house, and I usually try to do all my "heavy offloading" at work. I do laundry once a week too. The county health board has been sending out letters to everyone in my township, reminding them to have their systems pumped and to submit that for their records.

Yeesh. I *think* I know where the lids are LOL.

This might be the year to do something with it, though. I'm having a friend (excavator) come over with a Bobcat this spring to level out my back yard (so that the dirt slopes away from the house for a change) and we are going to dig up the lids. I asked him what he thought about getting it pumped, and explained how it's just me in the house. His theory matches mine: if it ain't broke, don't mess with it. But I do want to peer into the cisterns to see if they're cracked or leaking. If they're bad enough I'll get them pumped. Otherwise we cover it all back up.

Because I don't need any of that . Yeah.

So, my septic is backing up...

Reply #7 – January 06, 2009, 05:34:22 PM

Geez Eric, 45 years huh? Makes me look like a regular "up on my maintenance" person - lol.

honeydipping?

This is the first time I actually looked into the tank - that root eater burned my nose - lol. What a vile chemical.

Funny, but since I have some Rid-X and the tank is empty, now is probably a good time to "seed" it, so I'll be using it with every flush for a while. My tank is only 500 gallons, so when my girls and my girlfriend come over, paper use goes way up.

Getting yours wet-vacced can't really hurt - it'll just remove some of the junk that won't breakdown at all (how did the pieces of shingle wood get in there?)

BTW, you might want to look into that "little voice" that types [SIZE="1"]in really small text[/SIZE].

So, my septic is backing up...

Reply #8 – January 06, 2009, 11:16:01 PM

this is one topic ive got a lot of research on as far as methan is concerned with brown water. Unless your willing to sacrafice the vent pipes with a one way flap check valve up at the top that pulls in while draining is going, collecting methane is impossible. Since you have vent pipes, the odds of a flameable methane collection being present is low.

Factor in the sink, bath and washing machine dumping in "anti-bacterial stuff like bleach ,, your bacteria count most often than not is very very low. I live out in the country and a couple of years ago i joined my "clear water" drain lines to irrigate directly to the leach bead bypassing the septic tank.

You may want to consider this as it is very easy to do. I joined all the clear water line (sinks, tubs, dishwasher and washing machine into a single 1 1/2'' pvc out through the foundation hole i drilled. Next i stuffed that into 4'' black solid flex tubing which i burried up to and joined into the existing leach bed. My leach bed is 150' of gravelless 10'' line which i also installed. It was back work with a maddock and a spade shovel but it is working fine.

Now i have confidence knowing my septic maintains a great amount of bacteria for breaking down brown water solids and the 1000 gal tank is working like it should.

About 3 years ago i collected some methane gas form the septic and filtered it through lime water in a tall tank with iron fittings (
Since im not willing to add check valves to the top of my vents fearing build up of presure and kaboom of some real methane, my experiment was a success.

Glad to hear you got it done though, sux about the tree limb in the per area though.

So, my septic is backing up...

Reply #9 – January 06, 2009, 11:18:54 PM

impressive idea with the antifreeze though, i bet you felt like a real honey truck man!

So, my septic is backing up...

Reply #10 – January 07, 2009, 09:56:09 AM

Quote from: jcassity;250567

impressive idea with the antifreeze though, i bet you felt like a real honey truck man!

Yeah, I felt smarter than the big yellow-toothed ogre that didn't think to pull out the heater until I mentioned "heat" - lol. I did a little internet reading after he left and someone said that boiling water helped loosten it, so I tried the "chemical" approach first - worked like a charm! :D

I think the strong methane-like smell that I was getting in the basp00get (which had me worried about the % in the tank) was due to the "root eater" stuff I put into the main line to ensure that it wasn't clogged.

I could re-rout my clear water lines to minimize flow in the septic, but I think using better TP, minimizing disposal usage and not using clorine bleach in my wash should keep things under control. If I have it pumped every 5 years though, it's really not a huge burden.

Your orange flame experiment sounds interesting. :D

So, my septic is backing up...

Reply #11 – January 07, 2009, 03:29:00 PM

Ten years ago my septic backed up in the yard, thankfully not in the basp00get.
The pcv exit pipe from the septic tank cracked by the tee. The tee is to keep the surface scum from getting into the outlet pipe.
I have a leaching pit instead of a drain field. The scum clogged up leaching pit.
I had this outfit come in that had a "Terralifting" machine. It pile drives a hollow rod into the ground. It has an air compressor with two big tanks. They blast that air into the ground. It lifts the ground and it ripples out like waves on water. The cut off stub of the 4" pcv on the leaching pit gushed water like a fire hydrant. They went all the way around the pit about 8ft out with this thing.
It cost me $1500 but it has been working fine for 10 years since then.

I also put this "Septic Protector" filter on my washing machine 10 years ago.

So, my septic is backing up...

Reply #12 – January 07, 2009, 06:33:49 PM

I am looking into that Septic Protector filter now. Anything I can do to save my drainfield at this point. How often do you change the filter and can it be cleaned?

Eric, you really need to go to this site and read. It talks all about the "if it ain't broke it, don't fix it" view of septic systems - I think it'll be an eye opener - I know it got me a thinkin'

So, my septic is backing up...

Reply #13 – January 07, 2009, 07:19:38 PM

I bet noone has the tp use that I do one male to 5 females... The
6th is still diapers so shes good for now...

So, my septic is backing up...

Reply #14 – January 07, 2009, 07:42:18 PM

sorry to hear about your problems.

i live right across from my parents for the last 8 years.(want to keep there youngess grand-son close to them). my parents have live there for over 43 years. both houses where put up in 1965. when the parents move into theres , there was only 3 house in 1 mile circular and it was in the country.
now the lots are 250 ft by 250 ft.
in my house there two men here(my son and i).
we only pumped our's(both places) out one time and that was parents 10 yrs ago and mine was 8 yrs ago to replace the metal tanks with a concrec one's.

we never had any one freeze up because we both have our septic tanks completely under ground below the frost line. so to get to the lid we have to dig about 3 ft down.
we now use rid-x every 6 months because they down size there box. before it was 1st a year.
we use only 2 ply paper. my garbage disposal is my dog's. our drain fields is in 99percent sand from one hill to the other.(yes, we live in a valley)