It was me who was coming across as argumentative. I just reread my post realized it isn't a very good idea to just ask questions one right after the other. Sorry. I would have guessed that a septic tank had quite a bit of sugar in it. These were real questions that I don't have answers for but may have mislead me into forming this belief.
I'm with you on the butterfly thing. The way I see it though, is that in nature rarely is anything wasted. These butterflies are not attracted by excess sugar, but because there is even just a small amount more than they can find in other critters' fluids.
In Italian, Aqua Dolce is sweet water, is drinkable water.
<font color="blue">After considering the possible reasons for the "inflow" pipe getting clogged - and fairly regularly I might add, I've come to he conclusion that it has either been squashed or there's a dip in it.</font color>
The few days around Christmas were a crash course in septic systems for me. I knew next to nothing beforehand. One thing I learned was about the metal baffles that protect the inflow and outflow pipes. They keep the pipes from clogging with material floating on the surface of the septic tank liquid. The baffle works particularly well for the outflow pipe, but not as well on the inflow side. It actually can trap solids exiting the inflow pipe and eventually block the system. In fact, the septic tank pump guy said most clogs form right where the inflow waste pipe enters the tank. Apparently, septic tanks have two hatches on their tops. One over the inflow pipe and one over the outflow pipe. He said if you dig down and pull the inflow hatch open, you can often use a stick to unclog the system. Just push away material collected between the inflow pipe and baffle.
Unfortunately for me, the inflow side of my septic tank is under concrete steps. So, snaking the pipe is my only option. If you can access the inflow side of your tank you may be lucky and fix things yourself.
I know what I am describing is pretty basic, but I knew so little before Christmas that this information was a revelation for me. Good luck.
Let me take you through a little history about my place...
We moved in April '98. That June, we had a very heavy rain and the little, 1' deep river at the back of the property rose 7' and came 600' up my field to about 75' from the house. The septic tank blocked. We called the tank cleaning guy and he emptied our tank. He said we should dig up the lid just to make sure everything was ok in there. Found out that it's a metal tank - a cylinder on end, so to speak. The inlet baffle was long gone which he said wasn't really a big deal. The lid, however, was almost rotten through and so he fabricated us a new one. A 4' wide disk with a 16" hole in the middle to which a 3' long corrugated plastic pipe was attached to provide access for cleaning. We rented a 75' foot long snake (the tank is about 50' from the house) and found the blockage to be about 10 ' from the tank - soap. OK, no more powdered laundry detergent.
The tank has blocked another 3 times since. The 2nd to last time was this summer. I was convinced that the leach field was not doing it's job. Whenever there was a significant amount of ground water, from either flooding or rapid thaws, the level of it would rise above or "fill" my leach field to the point where the level was somewhere above my septic tank. Solids were being trapped in the pipe.
I rented a JD 4400 with a backhoe, bought a load of washed stone and some white plastic drain pipe and set about redoing my leach field. I must say that if you can ever find an excuse to rent a back hoe, do it! What a blast. Anyways, I dug a 100' long trench 90 degrees from the outlet pipe of the tank and made 4, 60' long "fingers" off of this main trench. I filled the bottom with gravel and laid in my pipe, giving about a 1/4" drop per 10 '. More gravel on top of that and then backfilled - all in 24 hours from the time of the rental unit arriving. I was proud, relieved, and very happy that we could now relax and not have to worry about this anymore.
So when it backed up again over the holidays, I was seeing black. "Not again" I thought. What could possibly be going on now?
I went back to the rental place and picked up MY snake (figured I've paid for it now) and proceed to try and unblock it again. What's that? you want the funny part? OK.
The snake has two business ends - one is a sharp, spear head and the other is a large sphere. I need the sphere but it's wrapped up so that the spear end is the one available. I figure I'll give it a try like that. I bring it into the basement and start feeding it down the pipe. I encounter resistance about 15' from the tank. I'm able to push through. I go outside and look down the cleanout hole. There's the snake - but no water coming behind it. I give it about 20 shoves back and forth but the blocakge is holding it's own. I decide to take the snake out, wrap it up, take it outside, unwrap it, and wrap it up again from the other end so I can use the sphere end. As I'm loading the thing back into its metal brace, it slips and wacks me across the bridge of the nose. Not only did that really smart, but where this thing had just been was more my concern at the time. You ever seen someone give themselves a snow-job?
Anyways, I get it back in to the house and give it a go with the new end. Still nothing. I couldn't believe that nothing was coming out - it should have at least damaged the "sludge-dam" enough to cause some water to come out.
This is why I beleive there must be a "flat" spot somewhere down my inlet pipe. I might just say to heck with it and install a brand new cement tank while I'm at it. I don't feel like waiting for another failure to force me into another situtation like this.
I tell ya, there's never a dull moment out here. People at work ask me "Paul, so what did you do this weekend? Anything special?"
"Nope" I say.
"Don't you get bored, living out in the country?"
"Yeah, I guess I do, but you get used to it."
The sludge may be viscious enough that nothing will flow past the snake
If you can get a snake through it it has to be open far enough for the snake to get thru. Can you attach a line to the snake and pull that thru. Then put something a little bigger on the line and try and pull that thru and onward and onward.
Or try and push a water hoze up the line from the speptic tank to flush out the line.
Replacing the problem parts is the best idea. Ain't no fun with a backed up system.
<font color="blue">My solution was a last ditch effort. I wired the end of our garden hose to the end of the snake and pushed down until I felt resistance. I turned on the water and blew everything out. </font color>
Here is a link for Chester County Pa's publication on septic maintenance. Go to the link and click on "On lot sewage system owners manual" It is an Adobe PDF file. I found it very helpful
Speaking of septic tank health, what are your opinions on washing latex paint into the tank? Not dumping a whole gallon or leftover paint right in, but washing brushes, rollers, pans, etc?
I never gave it a second thought. But last night, after reading this thread, it dawned on me that it might not be the best idea. Thoughts? Thanks.
Reply With Quote
