septic field frozen

[v8only]

Hey all,

I need some additional advice, I live in Canada where it gets to -30 Celsius during the winter months, I grew up in the country with septic fields and have always covered them with hay bales to trap snow and keep the field from freezing. I now have my own house and have followed the same principle cover your field with bales. Last year it was a very cold winter and we saw frost go down 6' I spotted the bales on hoping to catch snow and my field ended up freezing. THIS year i bought an additional 60 bales which including my old bales gives me a total of 90 bales and this year is not as cold as last year and it froze again.

I have talked with my field builder and he feels there is nothing that can be done other than to keep it more covered, i have talked to my local RM and they feel that the contractor who built my field is the best around these parts so there is no worry about a failing system as this contractor does top notch work.

So what other options can I do to stop this from happening?

I have thought of:

-shrubs to surround the field to act as a natural wind break
-heat trace in the lines to cycle on a timer to turn on a few hours once and a while
-excavate and install rigid insulation above the lines to help insulate


Thanks.

 

[oosik]

OK - lets start with some info.

How do you know that the drain field has frozen.

A properly constructed drain field WILL NOT freeze. One or many things are happening -

the DF lines are buried to shallow - the lines, because of shallow burial, do not have adequate ground cover

the effluent from the lines is not draining away sufficiently - the wet soil freezes easily

there may be some form of obstruction in the DF lines causing effluent to pond up and freeze

the DF lines do not have the correct slope and do not drain the effluent properly

The fact is - - you have freezing problems in the DF because the effluent either remains in the lines or soil long enough to freeze

 

[Hilbilly]

I doubt your field is freezing with all that insulation over it. Are you sure that is the problem? I've had -40C at our place and the field did not freeze.

Only problem I've had with my system is the contractor installed a section of pipe that was not properly bedded and after 2 years it settled enough to cause a dip in the line that was more than the pipe diameter and the pipe ended up plugging. It was only an issue in the winter when it was cold. I ended up digging up the pipe and reinstalling it with proper grade and bedding.

Is it a pumped system or gravity?

Maybe the effluent isn't getting to the field. It could be freezing in the pipe between the field and the septic tank or pump station or it's plugged.

Maybe the distribution box is plugged or freezing. Can you open the DB to see if there is evidence of any freezing?

 

[HEC]

A 6 ft. deep frost level is way down there for sure . I live in northern Me. and see temps. down to 30 or 40 below on rare occasions and have never had a freeze up and I have never had to cover my leach field. Could the problem be in the tank itself , or what is going in the tank that maybe shouldn't be . To many household chemicals etc. etc. can really do a number on killing the bacteria needed to keep it active . A plumber friend of mine gave me a hint they used at the border crossing when they were having problems with their septic . He used a gal. or two of very spoiled milk . It helps to reactivate the bacteria needed .

 

[Avondale]

Odd, not quite as cold here but well below freezing and the snow is clearly less deep over my tank suggesting plenty of "heat" coming from the tank. Of course, with two daughters, the washing machine is on the Endless Cycle......

 

[Industrial Toys]

I put my washing machine discharge out my floor drain, to go out the side of a hill. Made a french drain for my water softener last summer. Also, try and keep from flushing the toilet for every little urination (doesn't always go over well with the city slickers!) Basically try and keep the nastier stuff in the septic perculating and making heat and keep the huge volumes of water down.

 

[kevin37b]

What kind of pipe is in the field ? If it is sock pipe , you may have an issue . That was the rave 20 years ago . It plugs with grease and will not drain . Terrible product . You need the open bottom chambers .

 

[HEC]

What kind of pipe is in the field ? If it is sock pipe , you may have an issue . That was the rave 20 years ago . It plugs with grease and will not drain . Terrible product . You need the open bottom chambers .

I remember many many years ago I would help my dad on construction projects and they would use 2x10 hemlock planks with cut outs , put in a triangle pattern ,and put the creosote right to them planks before assembly . I wonder if those old fields are still in operation .

 

[v8only]

OK - lets start with some info.

How do you know that the drain field has frozen.

A properly constructed drain field WILL NOT freeze. One or many things are happening -

the DF lines are buried to shallow - the lines, because of shallow burial, do not have adequate ground cover

the effluent from the lines is not draining away sufficiently - the wet soil freezes easily

there may be some form of obstruction in the DF lines causing effluent to pond up and freeze

the DF lines do not have the correct slope and do not drain the effluent properly

The fact is - - you have freezing problems in the DF because the effluent either remains in the lines or soil long enough to freeze

I will try to give more information:

-my system in a new type sand mound it is positioned 4' ABOVE the surrounding ground, apparently this is the new way of doing things around here. The construction of my system is as follows: small amount of excavation on the ground level, crushed stone, 1-1/4" rigid line with 1/8" holes perforated, mound chambers, and backfilled with sand and a layer of top soil to grow grass. My DF lines are basically sitting level with my existing landscaping (maybe 6-8" above max) at the end of my DF there are access caps (threaded caps on the pipes) these access caps are to allow the DF holes to be cleaned out or frost removed. Therefore the new systems do no have the same amount of ground coverage that the older systems do.

After my high level alarm in my septic tank went off sunday I checked the operation of the pump to ensure it was not jammed or the float was not working, after i verified all was working I went to the field removed bales to access the access caps, i unscrewed the caps and they are solid full of ice.

I feel that my DF is freezing because of exactly what you said: you have freezing problems in the DF because the effluent either remains in the lines or soil long enough to freeze.

I know the lines have a good slope because in the summer I have the lines "flushed and cleaned" with all access caps removed you can clearly see the effluent flow to the end of the field out of the access caps, with the access caps on it "pressurizes the pipe and allows it to bleed from the 1/8" lines"

I feel the ground around the field might be saturated and i dont have enough of the surrounding area covered to prevent the run off from freezing and eventually working its way up and it finally has no where to go....

I doubt your field is freezing with all that insulation over it. Are you sure that is the problem? I've had -40C at our place and the field did not freeze.

Only problem I've had with my system is the contractor installed a section of pipe that was not properly bedded and after 2 years it settled enough to cause a dip in the line that was more than the pipe diameter and the pipe ended up plugging. It was only an issue in the winter when it was cold. I ended up digging up the pipe and reinstalling it with proper grade and bedding.

Is it a pumped system or gravity?

Maybe the effluent isn't getting to the field. It could be freezing in the pipe between the field and the septic tank or pump station or it's plugged.

Maybe the distribution box is plugged or freezing. Can you open the DB to see if there is evidence of any freezing?

The system is pumped, I have a 2 chamber holding tank (solid side and liquid side) the liquid chamber tank holds the pump and pushes out to the field, there is NO evidence of ice build up inside the tank.

What kind of pipe is in the field ? If it is sock pipe , you may have an issue . That was the rave 20 years ago . It plugs with grease and will not drain . Terrible product . You need the open bottom chambers .

the pipe is 1-1/4" solid pipe with 1/8" drainholes and covered with mound chambers.

I have some photos of how this system looks during construction:

 

[Industrial Toys]

I don't profess to know anything about septic systems, but that seems like a really stange approach to building one. Everything is above grade!