septic help needed

[Hockey4mnhs]

niiice thats pretty good

[Bill in Houston]

A coworker of mine says that RidX is crucial and kept her dad from having to have the tank pumped out anywhere near as often as their neighbors. If you already have some solids, you might want to put the stuff into the tank and try to stir it up so that the enzymes and bacteria all get reshuffled.

[mpg_maniac]

Whenever the guy comes out to empty it (anually) he says that I'm doing it earlier than I need to. There is not too much solids in the tank. My problem seems to be too much water caused a backflow in the leech field

[CO ZX2]

Originally Posted by mpg_maniac

Whenever the guy comes out to empty it (anually) he says that I'm doing it earlier than I need to. There is not too much solids in the tank. My problem seems to be too much water caused a backflow in the leech field

Eyeball the ground of the field and surrounding area to see if you can spot a drainage problem, i.e. rainwater or lawn water running onto your field. A new leech field is an expensive proposition.

If your field is permanently saturated and you can't get it better with drainage, the next step would be a new leech field. You may never have had a proper field, lacking the rock, gravel and sand it should contain to work properly.

[basjoos]

Originally Posted by mpg_maniac

Hi psyshack,

I was wondering if you could elaborate a little?
What is a Honey Wagon?

what does "If you have latrial lines they can become packed and nothing will move." mean exactly? Do you mean lateral? as in a lateral pass?

"I would get the septic tank serviced" I would assume you mean emptied?

What is a "perk test"?

Sorry for all the questions but I am still quite new to septic systems and would like to avoid $10,000 repair bill...

Thanx

Honey Wagen is a slang term for the tank truck that pumps out the contents of your septic tank. The term dates back to the 1800's horse-drawn manure wagens that used to haul urban manure out to the truck farms surrounding the city. "Honey" being a reference to the odor.

Drain fields usually are branched like a tree, with several lateral arms. If the lateral arms of the drain field become totally clogged with solids from the septic tank, then liquids can't move through that arm.

"Serviced" means having the septic tank pumped dry by the "Honey Wagen".

A perk test is digging a 2 foot deep hole in your drain field, filling it with water and timing how long it takes for the water in the hole to drain away. It gives a idea of how well your drain field can theoretically function.

[Bill in Houston]

If you don't have a solids problem then I don't think that enzymes or aeration will help. Your problem is not with the tank, but with the field lines. I would look for evidence that the lines are crushed or plugged somewhere, and try to make a repair at that point.

You may just flat be exceeding the capacity of the lines, though, in which case psyshack had good input about making sure rainwater and irrigation water are being diverted away from the area where the field lines are as much as possible. You might end up having to install more field lines...

[CO ZX2]

Originally Posted by Bill in Houston

If you don't have a solids problem then I don't think that enzymes or aeration will help. Your problem is not with the tank, but with the field lines. I would look for evidence that the lines are crushed or plugged somewhere, and try to make a repair at that point.

You may just flat be exceeding the capacity of the lines, though, in which case psyshack had good input about making sure rainwater and irrigation water are being diverted away from the area where the field lines are as much as possible. You might end up having to install more field lines...

Bill, you know a lot of SH**.

[Bill in Houston]

:blushing: :-)

[GasSavers_Ryland]

first off you need to remember that all sewer systems are living things, both home septic tanks, and public sewer systems, and you can kill them, the most commen poison is bleach, dumpin even half a cup of bleach down your drain can nearly kill off the living enzimes that brake down the organic matter in the tank, we only use viniger, and bio-degradible soaps, and other then having to repair the main pipe entering the tank, it's been working great for many many years