O/T sewer problems

Growing up on the farm we never had sewer problems. There is the time or two Dad had to dig a new hole and move the little house. The bath water just ran outside.Now about 50 years later I have my own house. I have two seepage pits about 20 ft deep. The water from the septic tank runs to them and the water soaks in to the ground. After about 35 years of use the water just about doesn't seep in to the ground anymore. I have my septic tank pumped about every three years. Does anybody know of a magic solution that will help my seepage pits work better? Thanks stan

Use to dump some caustic soda in them

Actually, the drain fields that we put in now are supposed to be shallow so that the moisture works up and evaporates rather than being absorbed into the ground.

Need to know two things, your soil type and your rate of evaporation. If you are in heavy clay soil, the effluent (water) just sits in the pits and eventually begins to form biological mat. Also, the pits should be about 18 inches deep to allow for pulling the effluent to the surface for evaporation/transpiration. Just think of the slime mold in the roadside ditches in the spring that stays wet all the time. This biological mat fills the void spaces between the rocks and thus reduces the storage volume to zero. The latest practices use two pits (beds)and you alternate between beds, allowing one to fill and the other to dry out. Doing this reduces the volume of the biological mat by 80%. If you are in heavy clay soil so that the effluent does not percolate through the soil then you need lots of surface area to evaporate the effluent. Works great in most of Texas where we have lots of sunshine and wind. Not so good in parts that get lots of rain. Another thing to consider is water usage. Your grandparents and parents were probably very water saving. Over years folks have gotten acustomed to using more water. Check your consumption. 20 years in the business as an inspector and designer. Can give you the whole speech if you want, contact me by e-mail. Hope this helps.

pour a package of yeast down the pot every week for a while and the once a month, you can pour all your old milk anytime..

The water usage we use today is too much for the ground to absorb and is slow to evaporate unless you have a lot of hot sunshine. Most families today have a dishwaher and an automatic washer. Taking baths and using the commodes puts even more water into your sewer system. Here in MD you cannot sell a home if there's sewage problems without telling the new owners. The sale can be voided. I sold my other home before that took effect and I know the former owners had problems with the sewage. We looked for homes with metropolitan sewage and water when we had this home built.

Back in the early 1980's or late 70's my late mom was having a problem with her well water since it made them itch when taking a bath and the taste was bad. They found benzine in their well water and all the homes in that area had that in their wells. I went with her to the town council to see if they could connect to the town water and sewage. In 1982 she was connected to the town's sewage and water. Hal

I heard of lateral lines, never heard of seepage pits. Maybe you need to add a drain field, it would appear to work better. Actually I've never run into what you describe. You might check with your health department about what they require without getting them to come out and condemn your system. May best guess of what's wrong with your system is the walls of your pits are coated and water can't drain.

You may need to put in a drain field per the sketch in the earlier reply. If you do, and regulations permit, put in a diverter valve so you can go back to your old system. After a few years of drying out and decomposition it will probably rejuvenate itself to the point of working again. Then just switch systems when you pump your tank and it shold go a long, long time. This is what I did about 20 years ago, and no problems since.

Have you looked at an aerator tank? My mom has one and the water just drains out at the road ditch. It comes out crystal clear and is supposed to be drinkable. (No, don't think I'll test that)

Nice diagram. I don't think he wants to call the local health department, since they might just fine him or force him into something expensive. Yeast won't do much, since yeast needs oxygen, and septic systems are anaerobic.

I would be careful who you tell about this, in MN a new sewer system can cost anywhere from 10 -15 K! You could probably rent an excavator and put in a drain field that would work well for a lot less, the diagram below looks good to me.

I can't help with a solution, but have a fun story.
In my old home town, all the ground is basically solid volcanic rock, with just a bit of sand covering things up. Years ago they figured out it was basically impossible to dig leach pits to dispose of septic water, so instead, they would just drill a 4" or so "well" down to the nearest fracture in the rock, and run the water down there to be disposed of... Well over time these "drill holes" get plugged with "stuff" and back up. every few years they need treated with caustic soda, or lye to clear them up, but when I was about 8 years old, none of the regular solutions would work, so one old plumber says "Call ol' "Jim", tell him your problem, but don't tell him I gave you his number" So a fella of about 80 shows up with an old pickup with a case of dynamite, and blasting box, lowers one stick down, lights er off, black "water" shoots up 10' out of the ground, and he says "nope, to high try er again"...... Well, after the 4th blast the "black water" only shoots up about 3' above the top of the hole, he says " just right, ya should be good as new"
Think it was another 20 years before we had to give the drill hole another lye treatment.

Ben

There is company in my area that rejuvenates leach fields with high pressure air blasts to fracture and open up the soil. The result is similar to lawn aeration or using a ripper in a compacted farm field.

Learn from your dad, dig a new pit, your old one is choked with grease, soap and oils.

I put in a new leech field about six years ago.
BTW the town supervisor drives by daily and did so the day I put in the new field(and a D-box too) and just waved.LOL.Any ways I had the perferated pipe with the old field(was bout 20yrs old)and had the tanked pumped out every year.I went with the new triangle shaped units instead of the pipe.No stone required.Havent had any problems yet and no pumping of tank either.
But the downfall of slipping by the red tape of installing a new field is when I sell the place(which Im thinking of doing soon)is that I cant boast of a new field because I dont have engineers design,permits,etc.The buyers lawyer will be looking for these documents.Anyways go with the triangle shaped units if able to.you wont regret it.

Good Luck

Stan

Well,.. I suggest a drain field. I had two new tanks installed and a new drain field three years ago. The cost was 6K for all material and excavating. One 1,200 gal. tank and an 800 gal. tank. The drain field covered 750 sq. feet. It was for my cottage on a lake,so the codes were pretty strict. This system was considered sufficient for a three bedroom 2 1/2 bath house family of four.

What ever you do. Run the blackwater from only the toiets to it's own system.
Sink,bath, wash and water softeners drains need their own drainage system.
Disinfectant handsoap, chlorine and salt degrade a septic system.

House was built in 1968. In 1987 before the house could be sold with a VA loan, septic had to be upgraded. 2 years ago I wanted to build a pole barn on the property. Before I could get a building permit, the county board of health wanted to know if I had an approved septic. There was no water of sewage in the pole barn. Because it had an approved septic, I was able to put a room addition on the house this past summer.

Do yourself a favor, don't cut corners. Sooner or later you will have to upgrade your septic.

I don't know where you live, but around here, doing anything with a septic system is a huge bureaucratic hassle, and can be extremely expensive.

35 years ago, I did my septic system the legal way, and it has worked just fine all these years. I have had the tank pumped a few times and am careful about limiting driving vehicles over the drain field area. So far, so good.

But most of my neighbors, who build in the last 20 years have been forced to put in "pressure mounds", which require an electric pump to push the effluent up into the mound. Building such a system usually costs at least $10K, but I know of a couple of systems that cost way more. It wouldn't be so bad, except that many of the mound systems fail after a few years, and end up with effluent flowing out on the surface of the mound. So the environmental health people make the owners redo the mound part of the system.

If my drainfield failed and started leaking effluent to the surface, I would get a backhoe, dig some new ditches, put in the perforated pipe and gravel and cover it up some weekend and never notify the bureaucracy. But with any luck, it will not fail, and will continue to work fine by gravity.

But hopefully, your local government does not insist on interfering as much as ours does. I would put in a proper drainfield, maybe like the diagram posted earlier. And if I had any 20' deep pits on my property, I would fill them in with something--they sound kind of dangerous. Good luck!