Bought this house last year. For this area, "conventional" well/septic. Water gravity drains from house to "Inlet" (aka "settling" in some places) tank, from there gravity drains to "outlet," where lift pump injects to field. Last Thursday, began having slow drain problems and lots of gurgling noises when toilets flushed. Plumbers snaked the line from the cleanout just outside the house to the Inlet tank; about 15 - 18 feet. No OBVIOUS problems, i.e., snake not impeded. Plumbers did not uncover inlet tank, but observed only a "trickle" flow into lift pump chamber. Lift pump works OK. After using snake, with no improvement to flow in house noted, he used garden hose and inflatable bulb into pipe at inlet to try and pressure blow any obstruction. This did no good; in fact, now toilets in house would not drain at all, or so imperceptibly it took overnight to draw down. His theory: inlet tank full, line from that tank to outlet was deteriorated or crushed. Recommended we call septic service, which we did. Septic came and pumped tank -- he said tank was at normal service levels (not full). After tank pump, he inserted hose in cleanout and sucked that line for a number of minutes. All toilets ran fine, gurgling noises disappeared, no more standing water in cleanout. That was last night. Since then, we've run the washing machine through a cycle and used the toilets. Now starting to note more gurgling, toilets slow to clear, i.e., the old situation is returning. Any theories on what the problem might be? Six months ago, we chopped down a spruce tree that had been established within 3 feet of the line between cleanout and inlet tank -- that line is five to six feet below ground. If it were a root problem, it seems that we would have had the problem while the tree was alive, not six months after it died.

My cold water sink valve had two 3/8 outputs, and I just connected a 1/4 freezer line to it using a transition coupling and then the 1/4 pipe compression fitting. It’s dripping a bit at the 3/8 threads. Should I loosen the 1/4” before tightening the 3/8 or just tighten the 3/8 first and then the 1/4? Does it matter?