Clogged sewer lines

fishhead · #21 02/09/10, 12:55 PM

Another solution to a clogged drainfield might be to pump ozone from an ozone generator into the drainfield. That would also oxidize the waste and kill the anaerobic bacteria film.

I wonder if that might help break down the solids in the tank itself.

I know some indoor aquaculture facilities generate ozone and use it as a disinfectant in their systems.

agmantoo · #22 02/09/10, 01:06 PM

As the other men have referenced I too think the drain field is saturated. That is why I asked the question above. One thing you can do is to verify that the toilets do not have an unrecognized constant leak. A continuous leak into a drain field is more than most tanks can tolerate. Put some food coloring into each water closet (tank on back of toilet) and in a few minutes see if the water in the toilet bowl has turned the color of the food coloring. If the color is present in the bowl it is absolutely mandatory to correct the problem ASAP. Good luck...you will need it with the drain field. PS.....if your toilets are the older style that use a lot of water to flush you could help yourself by installing the low water use type. Try to minimize the number of clothes washings also. In an older washing machine it take 42 gallons of water to do a full cycle wash/rinse.

countrysunshine · #23 02/09/10, 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sanza

Wow that was expensive!! Why did they have to dig? Aren't they all made to be accessible from the top (above ground)?
I have a removable lid on both the solid and liquid tanks - is that called an inspection lid? I thought all you have to do is remove the lid, stick the hose down and pump it out.....no digging up the whole tank.
...

Where I live I don't know anyone that has a cleanout. You have to dig to get to the tank. I had never heard of a cleanout until I was reading on here. I will admit most homes I am familiar with are at least 30 years old. I also had never heard of a "leach field". Had to look that one up!

fishhead · #24 02/09/10, 03:57 PM

My 3 chamber tank has 3 cleanouts. They were insulated with a 2" foam plug set inside the riser and covered with a heavy concrete cap.

**Cabin Fever** · #25 02/09/10, 04:40 PM

Those 4" PVC pipes coming up from your septic tank are NOT clean-outs! They are inspection pipes typically used to check on the levels of sludge and floating scum inside the septic tank.

To properly pump a tank, the pumper must remove the large...and heavy....concrete manhole covers in the top of the tank. The reason for removing the covers is so he can break up any crust...with a shovel if needed....and get the entire contents of the tank circulating. The moving wastwater helps to slurry up the heavy sludge in the bottom of the tank.

If your septic tank pumper simply sticks a hose down the inspection pipe, he is not removing most of the scum and sludge in the tank. He is removing just the wastewater that would eventually discharge to the drainfield anyways. In most states, code requires the pumper to remove the manhole cover(s), break up scum crusts, agitate all the solids into suspension, and inspect the inlet and lutlet baffles before pumping. It's impossible to tell if all the solids have been removed and the condition of the inside baffles unless the manhole cover is removed.

fishhead · #26 02/09/10, 05:56 PM

The 3 cleanouts on my tank are about 24" in diameter.

TJN66 · #27 02/09/10, 09:44 PM

Yeah..the removed the heavy concrete manhole covers. Along with the last coffin like lid next to them. Took long poles with some sort of paddle on the end and moved the muck all around then sucked it out. They kept doing that until the tank was cleaned out. They had me flushe the toilet several times and you could hear it draining into the bottom of the septic tank. They were very helpful when asking them about drainage into the leach beds. They didnt think anything was blocked up there just that the tank was full from not being emptied.
If it does turn out as Cabin Fever thinks we have a new sewer line that was put down our street last summer. I just dont want to pay that $3000 to hook up to it if my tank is working fine.

**Cabin Fever** · #28 02/10/10, 08:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishhead

The 3 cleanouts on my tank are about 24" in diameter.

As they should be. I'm glad you know the difference, I wish more people did. You'd be surprised at how many people I run into who think that the 4" PVC pipes coming out of their septic tank to the surface are for pumping out the tank.