caylor
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RonR,
So where did this greywater go?
So where did this greywater go?
Diving into the unknown (septic tank)
- Thread starter Mrwurm
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OP
Mrwurm
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Not sure about an outlet screen, and the way to find out does'nt appeal to me. You're hitting on my worst fear, a clogged leaching field /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
Since it's bubbling up at the toilet, it's going to the same tank. In otherwords, it's not connected to a grey water tank.
Is it every toilet that gets the bubbles?
Do you have a long sake? If not, I've used garden hoses with the water turned on and pushed them into the vents on the roof.
It might take three hoses, but sooner or later you will get all the way through the house. Start at the furthest point from the septic tank and start feeding in the snake or garden hose.
If you make it all the way through, your drain lines are fine. Now do the same with each vent line. Furthest away first and work your way closer to the tank.
If everyone of them check out fine, test to see if you still have bubbles in the toilet. If so, than you know the problem is with your tank or drain lines.
There's no real advantage to call in a plumber for this until you know it's something beyond your abilities. They will come out and do the same thing, but charge you allot of money for it while you stand around and watch. Might as well save the cash and do it yourself.
Eddie
Is it every toilet that gets the bubbles?
Do you have a long sake? If not, I've used garden hoses with the water turned on and pushed them into the vents on the roof.
It might take three hoses, but sooner or later you will get all the way through the house. Start at the furthest point from the septic tank and start feeding in the snake or garden hose.
If you make it all the way through, your drain lines are fine. Now do the same with each vent line. Furthest away first and work your way closer to the tank.
If everyone of them check out fine, test to see if you still have bubbles in the toilet. If so, than you know the problem is with your tank or drain lines.
There's no real advantage to call in a plumber for this until you know it's something beyond your abilities. They will come out and do the same thing, but charge you allot of money for it while you stand around and watch. Might as well save the cash and do it yourself.
Eddie
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Mrwurm
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It started out just affecting the toilet that is three feet from the laundry drain. Now it affects another toilet that is 30 ft from the laundry drain. Toilet #2 is on the other side of the main stack. The main stack has two (3 or 4 inch) lines that run to it. All the fixtures all plumbed to one or the other. So, now I have bubbling and foam in toilets on both runs.
Now that I think about it, it sure sounds like a problem in the tank or field.
Now that I think about it, it sure sounds like a problem in the tank or field.
If you go with the running water hose route, be sure to position a person at each toilet!
You could end up running a LOT of water out through a toilet onto the floor, thinking it's going to the tank.............
Don't ask me how I know this!
ron
You could end up running a LOT of water out through a toilet onto the floor, thinking it's going to the tank.............
Don't ask me how I know this!
ron
Caylor, our gray water ran out a 1 and 1/2 pipe about 10 ft from the house and dumped into a flowerbed!
As a youngster, I recall, not fondly, the freezing January mornings when the pipe would freeze. Dad would fire up one of those kerosene blow torches (I still have it!) and go heat the pipe. What a pain in the kazoo!
Many years later, I replumbed this drain to go through the septic.
You gotta understand, this house was built in the early 1900's, then moved onto a new foundation, which then had a basement dug under it. Dad and his brother's added an inside bathroom years later.
This was in the poor country, way before code.....................
ron
As a youngster, I recall, not fondly, the freezing January mornings when the pipe would freeze. Dad would fire up one of those kerosene blow torches (I still have it!) and go heat the pipe. What a pain in the kazoo!
Many years later, I replumbed this drain to go through the septic.
You gotta understand, this house was built in the early 1900's, then moved onto a new foundation, which then had a basement dug under it. Dad and his brother's added an inside bathroom years later.
This was in the poor country, way before code.....................
ron
ByronBob
Veteran Member
If you dig the tank up to see do yourself a favor and dig up the distribution box at the same time. If the tank comes back ok the next place he'll look is the d-box.
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
Ron,
I've been told, but don't know it for a fact, but Texas is one of the worst states for sewage regulations and inforcement. We have very little in the way of public sewer systems compared to other states, and anybody with ten acres or more doesn't even need a permit for a septic system.
Trailers and moble homes are all over the place in varying degrees of collapse with people living in them. Sometimes multiple families. It's very common to see a large hose running from the trailer out into the woods where the sewage is just dumped on the ground.
I've been called to repair the floors in moble homes that have rotted out so bad the toilets have droped down through them. In one case, they still used the toilte, but on the edge of the hole in their floor. What a disgusting mess. No way was I gonna mess with that job, they were too poor to pay what I'd charge to do it anyway. Sometimes the money just isn't worth it.
If it's going into a tank, it's usually a 40 gallon barrel with a ditch filled with straw to act as a leach field. These are very common too.
Having just the gray water run off to the bushes is a free way to water the plants!!! People do it on purpose if they can and are proud of it!!!
Eddie
I've been told, but don't know it for a fact, but Texas is one of the worst states for sewage regulations and inforcement. We have very little in the way of public sewer systems compared to other states, and anybody with ten acres or more doesn't even need a permit for a septic system.
Trailers and moble homes are all over the place in varying degrees of collapse with people living in them. Sometimes multiple families. It's very common to see a large hose running from the trailer out into the woods where the sewage is just dumped on the ground.
I've been called to repair the floors in moble homes that have rotted out so bad the toilets have droped down through them. In one case, they still used the toilte, but on the edge of the hole in their floor. What a disgusting mess. No way was I gonna mess with that job, they were too poor to pay what I'd charge to do it anyway. Sometimes the money just isn't worth it.
If it's going into a tank, it's usually a 40 gallon barrel with a ditch filled with straw to act as a leach field. These are very common too.
Having just the gray water run off to the bushes is a free way to water the plants!!! People do it on purpose if they can and are proud of it!!!
Eddie
hockeyhead
Gold Member
9 year old raised (eng) system, sounds like mine. Mine has two tanks in series. all the drains are gravity fed to the first tank, solids sink to bottem, then liquids are gravity fed to the second tank. In the second tank there in a sump pump that pumps liquids into the field.
the first tank is the one that gets pumped out, Is there a pump in your tank? or is it completly gravity fed,
my pump went out once so the second tank completely filled , and then gravity fed into the field. The system still worked but it was so so slow
there is only about 12" of waste liquids in the second tank when system is working correctly and hardly no solids.
I owned the house for few years before I knew there was two tanks.
the first tank is the one that gets pumped out, Is there a pump in your tank? or is it completly gravity fed,
my pump went out once so the second tank completely filled , and then gravity fed into the field. The system still worked but it was so so slow
there is only about 12" of waste liquids in the second tank when system is working correctly and hardly no solids.
I owned the house for few years before I knew there was two tanks.
Highbeam
Super Member
Good description hockeyhead of the typical mound/raised bed system. If that is the setup then a slow drain can only be caused by a plug in the home plumbing or as previously mentioned...
"Does your septic tank have an outlet screen that will filter out any undigestibles like artificial fibers from the washing machine?"
This filter is a screen that is usually situated in the outlet from the first tank (the actual septic tank) before the liquid runs by gravity into the second take which is simply a pump tank. The filter needs to be cleaned as part of routine maintenance every year or less. I simply pull mine out using the little handle and hose it off and then replace. The material that it collects looks like lint from the washing machine. Most people don't even know it's there until they have a backup but the filter prevents the solids from fouling the expensive and sensitive downstream systems.
"Does your septic tank have an outlet screen that will filter out any undigestibles like artificial fibers from the washing machine?"
This filter is a screen that is usually situated in the outlet from the first tank (the actual septic tank) before the liquid runs by gravity into the second take which is simply a pump tank. The filter needs to be cleaned as part of routine maintenance every year or less. I simply pull mine out using the little handle and hose it off and then replace. The material that it collects looks like lint from the washing machine. Most people don't even know it's there until they have a backup but the filter prevents the solids from fouling the expensive and sensitive downstream systems.
