Septic Smells

[bigtiller]

My septic sucking service guy said an unused tank (think snowbirds) could freeze in the winter. Any chance of that?

 

[ponytug]

My septic sucking service guy said an unused tank (think snowbirds) could freeze in the winter. Any chance of that?

Depends on where the frost line is in any given year, but it is certainly possible, especially if it was installed without any foam insulation on top of the tank and excavation, which is uncommon in the US, though more common elsewhere.

I've seen a nominal 4 foot frost line become 10 feet down in a really dry, cold winter, and boy did that freeze a lot of pipes.

All the best,

Peter

 

[shock]

My septic sucking service guy said an unused tank (think snowbirds) could freeze in the winter. Any chance of that?

That's possible I guess, we've had a few winters of -15 for multiple days in a row since installed

 

[grsthegreat]

Is this a concrete 2 piece tank or a plastic tank.

My concrete tank leaked at the seal. Took many years, by finally could smell it. Years ago we ripped it out of the ground and replaced it with a plastic tank. The plastic tank has about 70-80 locking tabs on it. It will NEVER leak.

 

[paulsharvey]

So, I would NOT jump to having tank replaced on a camp.

I thought our OP had a poly tank? If he had a concrete; I would carefully dig around tank, and if the lid-tank is leaking, I would mix up some mortar, and mud up the outside lid-tank.

 

[shock]

Correct, poly tank.

 

[RSKY]

We had a similar problem except inside the house and only in the utility room where the washer is located. We had the washer put on a separate line to a gravel field when we had two teenaged daughters living at home. So I thought the smell was coming from one of the two drain pipes behind the washer. Swapped lines back and forth ever time we washed a load. Checked this and that and finally called a plumber. He crawled around under the house for an hour or so and found nothing. Then he followed the line back into the house and finally decide it was some kind of valve that vented the line going to the gravel bed. Said he had never had one go bad before but he would go and get one on bring it back. Now this problem had been going on for a couple months or so and shortly after the plumber left my wife opened the chest freezer that was next to the washing machine and the smell hit her. She got to looking around and behind the freezer, in front of the only heating/air conditioning vent in the room, was a bag of onions that had been hanging on the wall. They had fell down behind the freezer, in front of the vent, and were very rotten. The smell only spread into the room when the hear or air came on.

I called the plumber and explained that we had found the problem and to send me a bill for his time. Last I heard was him laughing and he never sent a bill.

Whole point of this sad story is that you need to look around and make sure it is the septic system causing the smells and not something else. We only smelled the rotten produce when the air or heat kicked on. All other times we smelled nothing. Notice what else is going on around the cabin when you detect the unpleasant aroma.


RSKY

 

[dougtrr2]

That reminds me of tracking down a smell in my garage. I was sure there was a dead squirrel somewhere. Only got whiffs of smell every now and then.

Smell turned out to be from my wife's minivan. We had picked up our share of a butchered cow. One small steak had fallen out and was underneath the rear seat. My wife does't have the best sense of smell, and once the van started moving the smell was sucked out the back so you didn't smell it while driving.

Doug in SW IA

 

[paulsharvey]

So, to our OPs issue specifically, given his details;

if we can say the tank access lid is the source, I'd run a bead of polybutylen (probably spelled wrong) or a roofing tar at the lid to seal it; yes, both can be removed for future maintenance work, but both bond well on the PVC of the tank

if we can eliminate the lid/tank junction; I'd throw some lime around the effluent lines. Still not 100% sure what the grey water treatment method is, but lime will largely kill the smell, whether lagoon, spray field, soggy drain field. It's a temp solution, and doesn't treat the cause.

If this is a convention (in my part of the world) gravity to tank, gravity to junction box, gravity to a E shaped drain field systwm; I would search for soggy areas, that would lead me to a crushed, separated, or damaged line. I would then dig that area up with a shovel, confirm and repair with a 4" fernco.

If we can't track it down to the lid or effluent areas; I would go back towards the home. I assumed slab on grade, but if stem wall, or pier foundation, I would (as much as I hate it) crawl under there, and inspection the DWV pipes for seperation/cracks/leaks/rodent damage.

Edit: also, noone had mentioned, there should be (not always) a 4" screw in PVC clean out somewhere outside the home, but very close, maybe within a couple feet. It could be a missing cap, a leaking cap, loose cap, or cracked. It could be Under the porch, if the porch was installed after the DWV lines.

 

[gstrom99]

That reminds me of tracking down a smell in my garage.

When I worked at a large Buick dealership (late 70's), someone traded in a car and left a full milk carton (the waxy paper kind) in the trunk. It was in there for quite a while (hot summer months) and leaked all over. BOY DID THAT STINK. We never got the smell out of it and had to wholesale the car.