Hello all, I am new to this site but found it very interesting and maybe you all can help.

I have a three year old house on traditional gravity fed septic tank and drain field system. 1000 gallon tank with 4 60' drain lines. I recently observed water/sewage accumulating above the beginning of my 4th lateral drain line and all other lines were soggy above the first three feet of the line. I Had the tank pumped due to this and was told that I had to much grease in the system and that my lines were clogged.

My family is very careful not to put grease or clorox down the drain. My question is how did this happen in three years time? Also it was advised that I should have my lines Hydrojetted out and that my soil should not have failed in three years and this would fix the problem. Any suggestions/comments, Thanks

 

Yes, it does sound like either your field is failing or you are overcharging it.
How many people live in the home ?
I'm not sure of the effect of 'grease' .. but as you say, you dont dump oils/grease into the system.. so what's that about ? Good idea to wipe out frypans etc before they go into the dishwasher anyway.

Some other things that can cause field failure is laundry 'threads' (the wee bits of fibre ), and some people say that dumping water softener discharge into the septic can salt-clog the field (although I dont subscribe to the theory,.. ours discharges to the field). We have a field filter installed inside the tank at the outlet. This filters out threads/etc and can be pulled to rinse off during tank cleanout time. This really helps fields in my opinion, but the drawback is that if you dont maintain it, it can clog up and shut off your field (ie, backup into the house).

If you can dig up the ends of the field pipes, they can rod/suck them clean.. but if there's really alot of grease/etc , then it has already come out of the drain holes in the pipes and would also be clogging the surrounding crushed rocks. It might buy you some time, but you could possibly be back to the same situation in the future.

When you dig out the pipe-ends, check that the depth of pipe is correct. Pipes that are too deep (ie, someone graded over more topsoil etc) cannot get proper air supply for the bacteria to work in the field. I would think more than 2 feet deep is too much.

 

Thanks Dave!, There is only my wife and child in the house. Are tank also has an outlet filter. I guess it is possible that to much grease has gotten into the system but I still doubt this. Maybe the one time it leached out onto the lawn was an overcharging of the system. I hope this is it and not a failed field with biomat. Hopefully hydrojetting will unclog the drain field pipes.

Do you think that the surrounding soils have begone to fail already. Or do you think this was an acute situation that occurred and the system can be saved. Again the house/septic system is only three years old. Thanks

 

In spite of what you think you are probably not careful enough with grease. It is quite easy to spot grease in a septic tank and when confronted with it nobody ever admits that they pour grease down the drain or cook with it much yet it magically gets in there. Even if you don't pour grease down the drain there can be enough left on pots & pans and plates to accumulate and cause trouble because it breaks down so slowly.

First thing to check is if your septic tank has a filter on the outlet end. Since your home is relatively new it should have one but check to make sure. It will help prevent solids and large accumulations of grease from making it out into the drainfield. I like the type pictured below that have a valve or ball on the bottom that closes off the outlet when the filter core is removed. This allows it to be cleaned without letting unfiltered effluent out into the drain field. As Dave mentioned they can clog but they only clog if improper things are put down the drain. And, if it does clog it is for a good reason and is a warning that you are doing something wrong.



Leach fields can repair themselves over time, especially if given a rest. Getting your drain lines cleaned out is a first step and I would also consider having the tank pumped regularly and even frequently until you get a handle on the situation. Frequent pumping will reduce the load on your drain field to help it recover and it will provide an opportunity to monitor what's getting into the tank and allow you to correct your lifestyle if needed.

 

Thanks Pilot Dane, this place is a lot of help. I do have an outlet filter. I will be getting the lines jetted out on saturday. Hopefully this will give the system enough time to rejuvinate. And I will be having a long talk with the Mrs about the dos and don'ts. I guess leaving grease and fat residue on plates is enough to damage. I also read that powder detergent is a no no and that is all we used. So I will changing over to liquid detergent now on.

Hopefully is not to late to bring a three year old system back to life.

 

Also, does anyone have an idea as to why only the first three feet of the drain lines are showing are soggy/wet/holding water and not the ends of the lines?

 

Possibly you can take some pics ???.....

But did you check the d box?

That does not sound right that 60ft laterals 3 years old are backed up all the way to the first three feet...

What type of filter do you have? Is there an inlet and outlet port?

What are they charging you for jetting?

Something aint right here.....Hmmm let me think....

 

I checked D Box, it was level and water was flowing into them only thing I saw in the D Box was a grey slime around pipes. Not sure what type of filter but it is one that you pull out and clean. I pulled it out and it was dirty but not completely incapsulated with grey sludge. The filter is only located on the outlet port. Jetting cost $400.

I do agree lawrosa, something is not adding up here. Only other note is that the drain lines go against grade so the first few few of the laterals are very close to the surface maybe 2-3 inches below grade, where as the ends are a lot deeper close to 15". could this be a factor? The water accumulated on the surface only once after two loads of laundry back to back. Maybe it got to much use and since the first part of the lines is so close to the surface it showed water?

 

Possibly you had a toilet run on you?

Did anyone dig a hole next to one or two laterals towards the end and middle to see if there is effluent?

The will tell you if your water locked or not.... If so jetting is not going to accomplish nothing.

 

I can think of a few reasons why you are seeing water at the surface. No, it's not normal and should not happen with a properly installed and operating system.

1. It could indicate clogged lines not allowing effluent to get to the rest of the line. Unable to go down the pipe it takes the path of least resistance, the surface.

2. It also could be from the installation of the lines. The infeed end could be buried shallower making it easier for the water to make it to daylight.

3. The front of the drain lines see all the waste all the time. As it proceeds down the line effluent is being absorbed so the further down the line you go the less waste it gets. So, the ground at the infeed end of the line is always receiving water and staying wet.

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How much property do you have? Since the house is relatively new many counties in NC require there be enough land to have two approved locations for a leach field. I'm not trying to scare you but if so it gives a pretty solid plan B if everything fails to rectify your current drain field.

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I can't stress how important it is to get the grease situation under control. Nothing will kill a septic system faster. Leach field lines can be cleared and there are remediation methods for the field but they are only repairs and the root cause must be solved immediately.
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Good luck tomorrow. Hopefully there are just plugs somewhere near the front of the lines and clearing them will get the rest working.

 

Thanks everyone, this place is a lot of help and will tell others about it.

I will definately get the grease situation under control. However I am a novice and relying on septic pump guy saying there was grease problem. He said that the grey slime around pipes indicated grease is this correct?

Also, lawrosa what did you mean by water locked? wouldn't jetting take care of clog causing water lock or am I missing something here?

Thanks again for all the help

 

If you say you do not pour grease down the drain, I believe you. Grease usually congels and stays in the septic tank as the scum layer. Plus you have a filter....

Make sense?

The slime is probably, and most likely:

microbial colonies catabolizing soluble organic compounds from the septic tank effluent will adhere to soil particles and reduce the interstitial area available for water flow between soil particles. These colonies tend to form a low-permeability biofilm of gelatinous slime at the soil interface of the disposal trench

Normal bio mat....


Now if you dig a hole and there is water all around the laterals that means the laterals are working. But the ground all around is so saturated with water that new water introduced has no where to go. This is called water locked.

Example. My septic say can handle 500 gallons a day. I put 500 gallons in and the next day it perks in the ground and then I put another 500 gallons in ...etc, etc.

But if a toilet runs and runs and runs my field becomes water locked. Now I try to dump 500 gallons in there with a already saturated field, and viola....Water up through the grass....

Now additionally since your field is shallow if you get a lot of rain this can happen. Any rain???????

Is this a pipe and rock lateral????? Infiltrator?

 

I am just giving you feed back. Now it is possible you have another issue, but IMO I doubt its grease.

But hey, you never know right? Its just I have seen a lot of septic guys rip off homeowners.

An educated consumer is a smart consumer.....

 

thank lawrosa,this all makes sense now. I have a pipe rock lateral. with a small child I believe that the system got overloaded and waterlocked after a birthday party the day before. When my wife ran the two loads of water it came to surface in the shallow area. What do you think? makes sense?

I think I am still going to have jetted, it wont' hurt except for the pocket but at least all will be exaberated. Hopefully if was just waterlocked low use and having it pump will help it perk and let it come back to life?

 

I dunno if you have to go as far as wiping each dish down due to a trace bit of grease.. but for sure bag out the drippings from frying burger or bacon etc. We throw ours in a coffee can and toss it when get another empty can.

I hadnt heard about powdered detergent.. we use powdered tabs in our dishwasher (and concentrated liquid in the clothes washer). Hopefully those tabs aren't doing a number on the field. Thats the problem with fields, you see the damage once its (usually) too late.

Is it possible that your water table has come up and the far end of your field is submerged ? If you have lower, dry areas nearby then thats out. Otherwise dig a hole down 2ft or so somewhere and see how long it takes to fill up.

 

well I had my drain field lines hydro jetted yesterday. Did not see much if any solids come out. company still claimed grease for surfacing onto lawn. When looking at the d box after hydro jetting the fluid in the d-box was not draining very fast into the drain lines. A little would go in one than stop, then another would take some water than stop, etc.. It just seemed like the water was level about an 1/8 to 1/4 inch above the drain field lines with water and not moving much. Is this normal.

Then the company poured some type of chemical in the dbox that they said would help clean out the rocks in the drain lines. I dunno

I gues I will just wait now and see.

 

Nothing moves very fast in a gravity system so unless things were backed up in the tank seeing water barely moving in the distribution box is normal.

Grease is still a possible cause for the water backing up but if they did not bring much out it also leads credence to the system being water logged. Honesty though I'm not sure which is better or worse. Grease you can watch what you put down the drain but waterlogged or saturated ground is more difficult to rectify.

Does your leach field area seem to be in a low lying or naturally wet area?

The soils at my house are marginal at best and my leach field is located near the bottom of a hill so all the rain that soaks into the ground uphill heads for my leach field. I've got an underground interception system just uphill of my field to divert the water traveling underground and drain it off to help keep my leach field dry.