Missing drain field ??


  #1  
Old 03-02-21, 10:01 AM
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Missing drain field ??

So we have had issues with our septic system since moving to current house in 2017. There was water pooling in the yard and septic company believed the distributor boxes needed cleaning. They excavated the yard and found no distributor boxes and...no drain field pipes. They looked more and there was one pipe which led to a distributor box next to an old grease trap near corner of my house. This old grease trap has a sump pump in it which now pumps collected water to drainage ditch but...the septic tank is separated from this by a wall of cement from the walkway to my house!

Can I keep this set up? Is this a danger and is it toxic? Do I need to have a full on drain field? Do I just need to connect to distributor box which is in an odd place? Can someone tell me what's going on and what to do next?
 
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Old 03-02-21, 10:26 AM
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Also how do I find out where this water is going? Is it going straight down to the lowest place it can go?
 
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Old 03-02-21, 11:19 AM
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Where are you located?
How old is your house?

I would get a different contractor out to look. Grease traps are highly unusual for residential systems and I seriously doubt you have a septic tank leading to a sump pit discharging openly onto the surface.
 
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Old 03-02-21, 11:48 AM
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I'm in suburb outside chicago Homewood IL. House was built in 1955. The contractor said they would break up concrete to lead to pipe and then have it go to distribution box but I'm thinking that wouldn't be sufficient for drain field.
 
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Old 03-02-21, 01:25 PM
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You will want to map out what you got before breaking up the concrete walkway.Where does the distributor box exit (discharge) to? Where does the main drain line exiting the house foundation go to?

 
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Old 03-03-21, 01:56 PM
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R, -

Don’t know what your situation is, but sometimes a septic system doesn’t have a distribution box and a drain-field. My neighbor told me I had a distribution box, but it turns out my septic tank empties directly into a seepage pit (and I think an overflow seepage pit from that pit) – no distribution box or drain field. I don’t think that’s common any more (my house built in 1967 and only 2 bedroom), but your house is pretty old also.
 
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Old 03-03-21, 02:03 PM
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The layout of your drain field determines whether or not you have a distribution box. My septic system in fla had one and it dispersed the effluent out to the various lines. My system here in tenn doesn't have a distribution box because the entire drain field is one continuous line.
 
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