Leech Field Collapse-Repair Help

[ben2go]

My system doesn't use a diverter box.We have a tee into each leach field line.It's been dug and checked before.

The guy I am wanting to come clean the leach field lines has one of these,a sewer jetter.

If the fields have to be replace,he will work with me.We will put the drain lines on top of the gravel and use perforated pipe,not corrugated.Then we will put down geotech fabric over the pipe before back filling.It will look something like this.A new perk test will determine the size of the leach fields.

I'm getting a handle on this.

 

[ben2go]

I forgot to add.The doors of my septic tank don't seal.I will dig it and put down an EPDM liner over the top.That entire area of ground is flat and has no run off.

 

[ben2go]

Adding a correction here.This is for the main house on my property.It was poured in '54.This isn't the one I am having problems with.Sorry for the mix up.

Last years big dig.There was less than six inches of sludge in the bottom after 20 years.The guys cleaned the tank well and checked for cracks.You can tell the tank was poured in place.The guys estimate the tank to be 1000 to 1200 gallons.They could stand in it and walk around.

 

[mjaybee]

Poured in place? I don't think so. 1000 to 1200 gal. is pretty standard for septic tanks. Mine is 1500 Gal. and it was delivered and placed. Poured in place would be VERY expensive. Leach fields are easy. I've built them with a back hoe or mini excavator (a friend with one of these comes in handy), bought some leach rock and put them together like the pic you posted. Pushed and dumped the rock and then backfilled with my Kubota. Tons of info online.

 

[ben2go]

Poured in place? I don't think so. 1000 to 1200 gal. is pretty standard for septic tanks. Mine is 1500 Gal. and it was delivered and placed. Poured in place would be VERY expensive. Leach fields are easy. I've built them with a back hoe or mini excavator (a friend with one of these comes in handy), bought some leach rock and put them together like the pic you posted. Pushed and dumped the rock and then backfilled with my Kubota. Tons of info online.

The one above is for my other house.It was poured in place in '54.I should have noted that in my post.Sorry bout that.The guys were guessing at the capacity.I haven't been in it.It was poured using pea gravel as a filler.

 

[wstr75]

Have been in the on-site wastewater field for 28 years manufacturing specialty grease separators for commercial kitchens and have been to many on-site wastewater conferences where state/local folks discuss why septic fields fail. Jetting out the leach field lines will not likely do much good as it is usually the soil/gravel zone surrounding the leach field piping is wrapped in a biomass that no longer allows fluids to percolate into the soil. This article does an excellent job explaining septic field failure and remedies:

http://www.nesc.wvu.edu/pdf/WW/publications/pipline/PL_WI05.pdf

Good luck, I have spent most of my 60 years living in homes with septic tanks and feel your pain.
Bill in NC

 

[BeezFun]

This article does an excellent job explaining septic field failure and remedies:
http://www.nesc.wvu.edu/pdf/WW/publications/pipline/PL_WI05.pdf

Thanks for link, I've got a 40 year old septic that's working great, knock on wood. Article doesn't mention water softener discharge. I made a dry well for my softener discharge, but it's starting to not drain very well, so I've considered putting it into the septic. Do you have any information on that?

 

[jerry shannon]

I feel your pain. This Summer after a renunion, I had my toilet in the main floor bathroom overflow and covered our kitchen, and two other rooms with not just Grey Water but Brown Water and solid waste. Seems one of the guests flushed papertowel down and that caused a blockage from the house to the septic tank. Not knowing what the problem was I had a company out to drain the tank. I unvovered it to save money and when they pumped the tank they, the release of water cased the hourse lines to push out the blockage and empty all the lines in the house. The person on the pump truck thought I should not have had this problem as my tank was full and should have drained off some. He thought I had either a collapsed line in my field or my drain field was saturated and would need to be removed. I dug down on the exit side of my tank and found the line coming out of the tank to go to the drain field had collapsed and crushed. My drain field was fine it just was not getting the waste to it to drain. $40.00 of Schedule 40 and some clamps, I replaced the line, backfilled with pea stone and it is working great.

 

[Inspector507]

If you have a leach field that has out lived its usefulness, click on the link below. I have used this service once. We bought our house in '99 during a drought, the leach field seemed to work great, the tank was just emptied as well. Then the next summer we had a very wet rainy season. I had black gooey bio-mat all over the yard. Called to have the tank pumped and they said the leach field was saturated and couldn't hold any more liquid. They pumped my tank twice, it refilled with all of the rain water saturating the yard. Then they suggested the TerraLift treatment. Basically they bring the machine in, locate the leach lines and mark them. Then they went 6' on either side of the lines and injected compressed air and polystyrene beads at 6' intervals on each side of the pipes. That fractures the soil at 300 PSI and the beads keep the fractures open. It was a sight to see. At each injection you would get a 10' geyser of black liquid shoot up from the previous hole. They were wearing rain coats it was spraying up so bad.

This won't help if you have collapsed pipe but if the field has gone south this might work. They said it would work for about 5 years, that was 12 years ago and still doing good.


TerraLift

 

[ben2go]

Thanks for the ideas.

 

[Dr Dave]

There are 2 diffferent types of filters, the cheapest is a T inside the tank on the discharge line, requires opening the man hole lid and lifting up the handle to remove the filter basket, then you wash it out with a garden hose. They recomend doing this yearly.
The second type is a chamber that installs outside the tank on the dicharge line, remove cap, pull out and wash. Never use the black flex pipe for a drain feild it will fail, this I learned the hard way.
The arched chambers are said to work great, no gravel needed, Menards sells these. Also these are covered with fabric before backfilling. If you have a backhoe you can do this yourself. As said relocate the drainfeild to virgin soil, do not reuse the old trenches. Good luck!

 

[MotorSeven]

Ben, if you have the space for new leach fields you really need to think about giving up on the old one's. Do it once, do it right and forget about it for another 30 years.

 

[ben2go]

Sorry I haven't updated this thread..I have or had perforated corrugated leach field lines.Not only did they collapse but they also fell apart.The pipe going into the tank is in thousands of tiny little pieces no bigger than a dime.We thought we had the problem fixed but we hired a lazy septic repair company to pump the tank and check the lines.We thought we were clear until we had heavy rains this past week and our toilet flooded the house while we were away.Luckily the bath tub never overflowed.It was a nasty mess.

I hand dug the septic tank and pipes.

 

[MotorSeven]

Corrugated as in metal? Wow those have to be original then from the 50's and I have never even seen that type. The ones I replaced in my '59 house has 4" terracotta pipe 12-16" long for leach fields. There was no joint or connector between each section of pipe so it failed when it all filled up with sand(FL). Like you I had to hand dig up all of it, wheelbarrow in gravel(tiny back yard) and put in new poly perf pipe.

 

[ben2go]

Corrugated as in metal? Wow those have to be original then from the 50's and I have never even seen that type. The ones I replaced in my '59 house has 4" terracotta pipe 12-16" long for leach fields. There was no joint or connector between each section of pipe so it failed when it all filled up with sand(FL). Like you I had to hand dig up all of it, wheelbarrow in gravel(tiny back yard) and put in new poly perf pipe.

Black plastic.

The guy cleaned out the tank and pointed out a few issues.I have leaks around the inflow pipe and the outflow pipe was found about 16 inches down beside the septic tank.He offered to put chemicals in the tank that would unplug the holes in the perforated pipe.He checked the lines and told me that is all that is wrong with my leech fields.At an extra $200 for the chemicals,I said no thanks.I think I can find them cheaper.I just need to know a brand or what chemicals or enzymes are in the stuff he was going to use.Anyone know what I should be looking for to remove solids,grease,and paper from the lines?I tried searching but haven't found a specific brand that will work.

 

[radioman]

first off -- its not required, but everyone should install a septic backflow preventer. It would eliminate the mess in the house.
Second off - I am not sure how a pipe would degrade so fast underground - unless the pipe were exposed to sun in the yard for a long time and it finally broke down. If I were you, I start digging up the pipe from house to tank to inspect it and replace as needed as you are finding pieces in the tank. Do you have a distribution box after the septic tank? If so I would dig that up and inspect it as well. It might be full of plastic stuff you mentioned. If it is, you are looking at a full replacement of all pipes and leech feild.

 

[300UGUY]

The pipe going into the tank should be a solid pipe, not slotted like that pipe. It is usually a solid, non flexible, PVC in most tanks I've seen. The pipe going out of the tank, to the leach field, should also be a solid pipe. Looks like some body did a very poor installation or a cheap repair.

 

[PILOON]

first off -- its not required, but everyone should install a septic backflow preventer. It would eliminate the mess in the house.
Second off - I am not sure how a pipe would degrade so fast underground - unless the pipe were exposed to sun in the yard for a long time and it finally broke down. If I were you, I start digging up the pipe from house to tank to inspect it and replace as needed as you are finding pieces in the tank. Do you have a distribution box after the septic tank? If so I would dig that up and inspect it as well. It might be full of plastic stuff you mentioned. If it is, you are looking at a full replacement of all pipes and leech feild.

I had a client that suffered from a massive backflow in his 2 year old house.
I suggested that he make a claim against the contractor as there was no backflow protection.
The contractor informed us that backflow valve was not in the code foe septic systems (only city connected to mains) hence he denied any claim.
When asked for a quote to install one he wanted $800. plus extras to redo the concrete and tiles.

I installed the backflow for a mere $100 without damaging tiles.(exit point was in laundry room)
As there was a clean out in place I simply removed it and replaced it with the backflow. Was simple since the installer used minimal glue and I was able to couple with rubber adapter devices. (clean out is still possible as valve has large access cover)
The 'plumbers' other no no was that the gutters also drained into the septic system and also not buried below frost line.
I could go on with other unacceptable discoveries but won't.

Must say that seeing many other 'professional workmanship' I prefer do DIY.

 

[PILOON]

WOW, he used black irrigation pipe! Big NO NO! all those ribs will trap suspended particles and clog up real fast. Also proper field piping has perforations on the top segment to induce even distribution. In fact a field must be as perfectly level as possible.

I know of one installation that used that black irrigation piping and it clogged up so badly that the owners could not flush a toilet and had to replace all the in house drain pipes, sinks and all.

 

[kevin37b]

The pipe from house to tank SCH40 4 " PVC , OR CAST . Most of the failures I see are the outlet side of the tank due to rammy backfill or settling .Alot of the outlets have slipped out of the tank , big problem . And no 4" CP , joke , chambers are the only way to go , same money .