Sewage Out Flow Issue
#1
03-31-19, 05:13 PM
Sewage Out Flow Issue
Rural home with a septic tank that was cleaned out about 18 months ago & only two adults living here. Only toilet paper goes in the toilet. Nothing else. (Yeah I know, but we do).
Sitting in my office & I hear the toilet gurgling across the hallway. The toilet is low.. about 2 or 3 inches in the bottom. So, I grab the plunger. I work on it & after about 3 or 4 flushes, the bowl finally fills with water, but then I notice sewage in the bathtub. (the wife was also washing clothes)
So, a little while later, the wife calls me from the kitchen & says there is a leak under the sink. I check & the old metal (whatever) pee-trap has a hole in about the size of a pencil.... just out of the blue. A hole that big? Hum, now granted the pee-trap was rusted when the hole was. But still, a hole that big all of a sudden? If it was a just a leak like the size of a pencil lead, ok. So, I remove the pee-trap & head to town, buy a new one, come home & install the new one.
About 4 or 5 hours later, I hear the gurgling again. Same thing.... toilet bowl almost empty & the tub has sewage in it.
So I go out & open the clean out & sure enough, way down in there, water is standing. So, I flush the toilet 3 times & run the tub. I grab the plunger & try to push the suspected blockage out. No luck. The water was rising in the clean out, which eventually, leaked back down.
I am suspecting a blockage between the clean out & the septic tank. I need to call a plumber to run a machine in there? Is that your opinion?
Sitting in my office & I hear the toilet gurgling across the hallway. The toilet is low.. about 2 or 3 inches in the bottom. So, I grab the plunger. I work on it & after about 3 or 4 flushes, the bowl finally fills with water, but then I notice sewage in the bathtub. (the wife was also washing clothes)
So, a little while later, the wife calls me from the kitchen & says there is a leak under the sink. I check & the old metal (whatever) pee-trap has a hole in about the size of a pencil.... just out of the blue. A hole that big? Hum, now granted the pee-trap was rusted when the hole was. But still, a hole that big all of a sudden? If it was a just a leak like the size of a pencil lead, ok. So, I remove the pee-trap & head to town, buy a new one, come home & install the new one.
About 4 or 5 hours later, I hear the gurgling again. Same thing.... toilet bowl almost empty & the tub has sewage in it.
So I go out & open the clean out & sure enough, way down in there, water is standing. So, I flush the toilet 3 times & run the tub. I grab the plunger & try to push the suspected blockage out. No luck. The water was rising in the clean out, which eventually, leaked back down.
I am suspecting a blockage between the clean out & the septic tank. I need to call a plumber to run a machine in there? Is that your opinion?
#2
03-31-19, 06:01 PM
Member
Could be a bunch of different issues.
In my area there's been record rains so lots of leach fields are failing.
Simple way to check, remove the tank cover and see if the tank is full all the way to the top of the tank.
There will always be water up to the baffle where it overflows out to the leach field, but if the waters all the way up to the top of the tank there's an issue with the field.
How old is this system?
Yes if your lucky it could be just a clog, before I'd hire someone I'd be removing clean out plugs and be running a snake down the drains.
In my area there's been record rains so lots of leach fields are failing.
Simple way to check, remove the tank cover and see if the tank is full all the way to the top of the tank.
There will always be water up to the baffle where it overflows out to the leach field, but if the waters all the way up to the top of the tank there's an issue with the field.
How old is this system?
Yes if your lucky it could be just a clog, before I'd hire someone I'd be removing clean out plugs and be running a snake down the drains.
#3
03-31-19, 06:23 PM
Thanks Joe......
Plumbing aint my thing, LOL, so I dont have a snake. Plumbing & painting is two things I dont do unless its really basic like the pee-trap under the sink today.... lol.
I don't know how old the system is but we bought this place about 18 months ago & the septic system was cleaned out & serviced etc at that time. They did all that & moved some lines/drains etc per code during the buying process. We got the approval report form the parish (county) for the bank etc. Its all greek to me but all this was done to get all the septic & sewer up to code due to selling/buying etc. So, I feel sure its all done correctly but again, they could lie to me from now till dooms day & I wouldn't know the difference (related to plumbing/sewer etc).
This is a 1968 ranch style brick home in north Louisiana.
Plumbing aint my thing, LOL, so I dont have a snake. Plumbing & painting is two things I dont do unless its really basic like the pee-trap under the sink today.... lol.
I don't know how old the system is but we bought this place about 18 months ago & the septic system was cleaned out & serviced etc at that time. They did all that & moved some lines/drains etc per code during the buying process. We got the approval report form the parish (county) for the bank etc. Its all greek to me but all this was done to get all the septic & sewer up to code due to selling/buying etc. So, I feel sure its all done correctly but again, they could lie to me from now till dooms day & I wouldn't know the difference (related to plumbing/sewer etc).
This is a 1968 ranch style brick home in north Louisiana.
#4
03-31-19, 09:57 PM
Group Moderator
If the septic system was installed to code originally...... there should be a record on file for it with the parish. They may even have a plan of it.
#5
04-01-19, 04:42 AM
Group Moderator
You've either got a clog or the septic is backing up. Hopefully it's a clog as that's easy and relatively inexpensive to take care of.
Don't bother with the plunger if you have poo backing up in the tub. That indicates that the problem is further downstream and plunging at the toilet won't have much affect.
Don't bother with the plunger if you have poo backing up in the tub. That indicates that the problem is further downstream and plunging at the toilet won't have much affect.
