Anyone else having this issue

[Bucksaw]

With all the rain the last few months, my septic system is swamped. Its to the point that the toilets quit flushing, and everything drains slow, and we are even having the drain in the garage under the water heater back up. I went out this morning and watched the water boil up out of the tank while my wife brushed her teeth. Never had any of these problems until this year. Just wondering if its because of the rain, or if the rain just triggered a bigger issue.

Had the tank pumped out in March thinking that was the problem, but it wasn't. They pumped 1200 gallons of water out of a 600 gallon tank. Yeah, the backflow from the saturated field line was that bad. Everything worked for a couple hours, but then we were right back to square 1. Im just tired of the poop water running into my garage and all over my yard.

Any suggestions on how to remedy the problem, or any ideas as to if there is a different problem than just saturation?

[curtintex]

Put in an aerobic system. If the ground is saturated, the water from your aerobic spray field may not seep into the ground like it's supposed to, but at least it'll be treated.

[Lungbustr]

Yep, time for an aerobic system.

[WhiplashTX]

How old is the system? If it's old the field drains may be clogging up. I had a similar problem and it required drilling new holes in the pipes.

[Tmag]

Aerobic or this, it will get you through the high water table troubles.

[oneisnone]

Tmag, what exactly is that?

[gatorgar]

Trash pump from Lowes or Home Depot. They pump water out of your tank when it reaches a certain level. Plumb it with 1.5 or 2 inch PVC and send it wherever you want

[Briar Friar]

Limit or stagger your water use to minimize the load on your system during the heavy rainfall periods. At minimum 90 minutes between dishwasher loads and especially washing machine loads.

Dig a post hole to 36" near your drain field into the native soil. Fill it up with water while the soil is saturated. If it drains off (roughly within 12 hrs) youve likely got clogged lines. If the hole doesnt drain, its just the limiting infiltration rate of your soil maybe coupled with a high water table.

I live in a flood plain and weve had no problems with our septic. My warehouse septic is uphill (out of flood plain) and is mound type b/c ground water was present during soil eval and install.

[dustoffer]

I got by this problem temporarily by piping the washing machine into a large plastic trash can with a sump pump in it--pumped the gray water onto the lawn instead of into the septic. Septic was from '82 and we were scheduled to hook up to the new city sewer line in a couple of months, so worked for me. Easy since the wall the washer backed up to was common with the garage.

[Tmag]

Tmag, what exactly is that?

Dirty water pump from Harbor Freight. We keep one on my FIL's black water tank for when the rain backs his line up.

http://www.harborfreight.com/1-hp-st...gph-69300.html

Paid $20 for the 2 year warranty, total was $85.

[oneisnone]

Dirty water pump from Harbor Freight. We keep one on my FIL's black water tank for when the rain backs his line up.

http://www.harborfreight.com/1-hp-st...gph-69300.html

Paid $20 for the 2 year warranty, total was $85.

Where do you connect it into your system?

[Tmag]

Where do you connect it into your system?

Pull the inspection cover off the black water(or 2nd) tank and drop it to the bottom of the tank. A water hose hooks to the discharge, once you reduce it down a little.

[Jaycar85]

Plumb it with 1.5 or 2 inch PVC and send it wherever you want

lmao! i just had a visual of pumping it straight into the neighbors front yard.

[Bucksaw]

How old is the system? If it's old the field drains may be clogging up. I had a similar problem and it required drilling new holes in the pipes.

System is original from late 70s.

Trash pump from Lowes or Home Depot. They pump water out of your tank when it reaches a certain level. Plumb it with 1.5 or 2 inch PVC and send it wherever you want

Don't think the city would appreciate it that much if I did that. I live in a small city that doesn't have city sewer, but Im pretty sure pumping it above ground will get me into a different kind of poop storm, violating some sort health code or something.

Limit or stagger your water use to minimize the load on your system during the heavy rainfall periods. At minimum 90 minutes between dishwasher loads and especially washing machine loads.

Dig a post hole to 36" near your drain field into the native soil. Fill it up with water while the soil is saturated. If it drains off (roughly within 12 hrs) youve likely got clogged lines. If the hole doesnt drain, its just the limiting infiltration rate of your soil maybe coupled with a high water table.

I live in a flood plain and weve had no problems with our septic. My warehouse septic is uphill (out of flood plain) and is mound type b/c ground water was present during soil eval and install.

We have been doing that, even when the septic was flowing fine in between rains. We are to the point now that we don't limit our use, we stop our use completely. The only water going into the system from the house is strictly necessary, like brushing teeth or showering. We have been bringing our laundry to my in-laws, and only washing dishes when the cabinets are getting empty. We aren't talking about the system stopping just during rains. It stops working for days until the water table drops back below a certain level. It may take 3 days to a week after a good rain for the system to get back to a workable state. Just depends on the weather.

Pull the inspection cover off the black water(or 2nd) tank and drop it to the bottom of the tank. A water hose hooks to the discharge, once you reduce it down a little.

System is so old, there is no inspection cover or cleanouts. Just the 5' lid to the tank and the field line going to Who-knows-where.


Maybe you guys are right. Maybe we need an aerobic system. At least then, like said before, we have a way to get the water out of the tank. It wont soak into the soil, but maybe it will run off into the ditch.

[Hart8]

A properly installed septic system does it's job as it was designed to..An aerobic system would be a last resort option in my opinion