Septic tank problem

[Bayliss]

Our tank is of the concrete type and seemed to work well enough with an annual empty. Being money concious I decided that perhaps we could delay the empty this time around, four years flew past!! The system HAD to be emptied and this was duly carried out by the local contractor. He mentioned to me that he thought our out flow was blocked, I have had a read up on tank workings to understand (I think) the workings of these matters. I have decided that I would first try out a product called BIOCAT which it is claimed to 'kickstart' a sluggish or blocked system. So I have ordered a bottle of it, but has anyone else on here had experience of the product or similar problems that I am now experiencing and would share any helpful info or tips. I dread the thought that I may end up having to employ a contractor to resolve the problem, guessing enormous bill to replace it all.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Do a quick search... we've had a few previous threads on septic tanks.

 

[Andrew Bodenham]

Bayliss,

First thing is to fully understand the design of your system. Does it have on or two chambers? How are these connected? How do the inflow and outflow pipes connect to the tank/s? Where does the outflow pipe go?

What symptoms / problems have you experienced? You say the tank HAD to be emptied - why was this? Septic tanks are designed to run full, but if overflowing was an issue then your soakaway / drainfield may have a problem, especially if accumulated fats / solids have got that far and compromised its performance.

The local geology is also important. The workings of a soakaway in sandy soil are going to be very different to one in clay.

No easy answers - more information needed please!

 

[Lime]

Septic tanks are designed to run full....................

I think a lot of people do not know that.
Hence many get cleaned out on the basis that they are full.

For a septic tank to work correctly there are two tanks, one tank aerobic, the other anaerobic.

 

[Bayliss]

Bayliss,

First thing is to fully understand the design of your system. Does it have on or two chambers? How are these connected? How do the inflow and outflow pipes connect to the tank/s? Where does the outflow pipe go?

What symptoms / problems have you experienced? You say the tank HAD to be emptied - why was this? Septic tanks are designed to run full, but if overflowing was an issue then your soakaway / drainfield may have a problem, especially if accumulated fats / solids have got that far and compromised its performance.

The local geology is also important. The workings of a soakaway in sandy soil are going to be very different to one in clay.

No easy answers - more information needed please!

Thank you to all posters for replies.

The system is a drain pipe from the kitchen and bathroom which leads into a small pit/chamber covered with a manhole cover. This chamber accommodating an fixed above ground ventilation stack. The 'vent' chamber has an continuation of the drain pipe leading into a main chamber, I have tried to rod the pipe leading from the vent chamber but my rod seems to hit a solid wall.
The main chamber is about one yard or so away from the vent chamber and is approx' a 6 foot cube, it has a upstand pipe in it which is open at the top and the water level is approx' 2 inches below this outlet stand pipe.
Approx' 30 feet further on is a third chamber about half the size of main chamber, I cannot locate an outlet but I do recall when we bought our cottage nine years ago the owner showing me an outlet pipe into the ditch.

We had the septic tank emptied because it was backing up through the system to the extent rendering use of the house facilities almost impossible, if we had not had the system emptied within a day or two delay would have backed through the WC.

The vent chamber now has a few inches of waste in the base and I felt sure this couldn't be right. On this basis I fear the system is very sluggish or failing perhaps?

 

[Lime]

The last septic tank I owned fed into a ditch too.
The third chamber (in my case) was filled with porous broken brick but well drained so there was no standing liquid in it and air circulated around the bricks.
The digested efluent flowed slowly from above over the bricks.
Moderate-sized invertebrates scurried about in large numbers.
The most notable thing to me was that the brick pieces were clean to look at and what deposit existed in between them had the appearance of soil.
There was no unpleasant smell whatsoever.

I think that the large chamber you describe with the upstanding pipe should be fitted with a one-way valve or cap to prevent air entering the chamber.
That may be your problem.
the chamber has not been acting as an anaerobic digester and, as a consequence, the semi-treated contents have blocked the outflow.
The pipe you are trying to unblock almost certainly has an elbow/bend on it that directs the flow directly under the surface crust of the liquid in the chamber.
(the submerged pipe acts as a valve to prevent air getting into the large chamber)
The outflow pipe from this chamber should have a similar elbow fitted to it.

It is quite normal for the first chamber to have some deposit in it.

 

[Bayliss]

Thanks Lime for the info'. I have had another look into the main chamber, the upstand pipe in there is also full of water. I shall have a go with the BIOCAT when I receive it. Its a liquid of bacteria/enzymes. If that fails it looks like calling in the specialists.

 

[Lime]

The bacteria needed for a septic tank to operate correctly are in the effluent already.
Also the bacteria that operate in either tank are very different from each other.
The whole process is natural.
I wouldn't put enzymes in my septic tank if it were me.
If you have given up on the system then anything may be worth a try.
However I suspect the outflow from the main chamber is blocked because the anaerobic digestion has not operated correctly and needs physically cleaning out which may be a very big job to do properly.

The upstanding pipe should be designed to let methane etc escape but prevent oxygen from entering the tank.

 

[Bayliss]

Yes I guess I am at a stage of 'what the heck, nothing to lose' so I will let lose the product, it is 100% organic, and see what happens next This year is starting off badly, a few months back I had to replace the oil storage tank, now this :roll:

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Yes I guess I am at a stage of 'what the heck, nothing to lose' so I will let lose the product, it is 100% organic, and see what happens next This year is starting off badly, a few months back I had to replace the oil storage tank, now this :roll:

A ripe leg of lamb is probably as effective a thing to chuck in as your bacterial starter. :wink:

 

[biffvernon]

Approx' 30 feet further on is a third chamber about half the size of main chamber, I cannot locate an outlet but I do recall when we bought our cottage nine years ago the owner showing me an outlet pipe into the ditch.

This is the critical part. If it's anything like mine, and it sounds exactly like mine, then what has happened is that the outlet pipe in the ditch is blocked and this has led to further blockage upstream with the whole system kind of working for a good while by virtue of the whole thing being a bit leaky.

First get digging about in the ditch and find the outlet pipe. Dig out the ditch so that water could, if it weren't blocked, flow out of the end of the pipe and drop a few inches into the clear ditch.

Then work your way upstream with drain rods to clear the pipe up to the the 'third chamber'. You can do this rodding from both directions, from the third chamber downstream as well as from the ditch end up.

One of life's most gratifying sounds is the gurgle of a drain when it finally becomes unblocked.

 

[Bayliss]

Thanks Biff sounds like good advise. the third chamber is half full of water, got my rods out and had another poke about with them in the chamber. Actually managed to find an outlet with the rods So with a double worm attachment started the roding process, two hours later and managed to get about twenty feet along nearer to the ditch outlet, which I am still unable to find. Even the double worm can't break through, but at least some progress as I know roughly where the pipe should be. Tomorrow being Good Friday I will dig a trench across the area and should be able to find the blocked pipe, which incidentally is of a very small diameter judging from what I can gauge from rods.
Thank you again to all the guidance and encouragement.

 

[biffvernon]

Excellent. My outlet actually goes into a ditch but the water soon soaks away leaving most of the next 100 yards damp but without any water. I have dug out a shallow pond at the pipe outlet in which a further aerobic treatment of the waste water takes place. Then there is a blockage of reeds and other vegetation, then a second pond, another blockage with more reeds, flags, rosebay and nettles for the rest of the ditch till it reaches a larger drain that the Drainage Board maintains and has a pretty constant level of clean water.

I've just dug a 'well' in the ditch so that I have a constant supply of water into which I can dip my watering can - it's conveniently alongside the veg plot. The water here is as clean as one could wish for. Who cares about the hose pipe ban?

 

[Lime]

One of life's most gratifying sounds is the gurgle of a drain ......

Not everyone would agree with that.

When I was young, drains and how they worked fascinated me.
I recall an afternoon after school when I was in a friend's garden with one of their manhole covers off.
Both of us were looking down the hole when a fine display of what goes down the toilet slowly drifted past.
About 30 seconds later his very posh and rather snooty mother (and the only person in the house at the time who could have used the toilet) came out to see what we were doing.
It took nearly a minute for the awful truth to dawn on her as her face slowly contorted from a welcoming smile to a grimace of disgust and crimson embarrassment.
I can still see her now poor woman.

 

[Bayliss]

Anyone that is following my trial on the septic tank, here is a little update. Spent most of the day roding and prodding with a bit of head scratching for good measure. The ditch that accepts our water runs along the back of our garden, although the ditch is not on our property or our ditch. It has to go under the road and the council fitted the drainpipes decades back I would imagine. Now the ditch water level showed below the exit drain pipe that goes under this road so indicated the ditch was nowhere near to capacity. Never the less I decided to clean out the ditch run, lovely job! In doing this I noticed what water was in the ditch started to run, excellent, and the water ran under the road pipe, not through it!!. Having cleaned through the ditch the water levels have dropped by about six inches or so, and is still running. The vent chamber is now dry and the last chamber in the system water dropped six inches making the system return to working order, yipppeee!! I will add the organic bacteria potion when it arrives and when I am satisfied the system is normal I am think of adding an organic dye to the system in a bid to trace the still missing outlet pipe. So happy ending. Thanks again all for your tips and advise, much appreciated.

 

[Schoolmarm]

We used food colouring to check what was what a few years ago.

 

[Bayliss]

We used food colouring to check what was what a few years ago.

Now my nearest and dearest mentioned food colouring earlier today as a dye for the job. I dismissed it in a rather 'you must be kidding' tone Thanks for the tip, now I'm off to eat humble pie with my better half.

 

[biffvernon]

Well done.

(Though I do think the organic bacteria potion is snake oil - you add a dose of the same every time you, er, pull the chain.)

 

[Keith Bowman]

We have septic tanks in both the UK and France. The UK tank is in permanent use, is a simple construction of brick (two chambers) covered with concrete slabs. It is by no means airtight and not designed to be. The outlet is to a soakaway originally made of land drainage tiles laid in clinker, running about 20 feet along the contour line (to achieve a slow soaking away with continued bacterial action, not a rush to the nearest ditch!). I re-laid the soakaway about ten years ago when it was getting clogged up but apart from that it works perfectly well. The tank gets emptied from time to time - probably about every 5 years - to remove the inevitable build up of solids at the bottom.

The French device is about ten years old and a purpose made concrete tank. It only gets used on an occasional basis when we or other members of the family go for a holiday - say two or three months in the summer. We always give it a dose of 'snake oil' - actually a product called Ecogene - when we arrive to give it a kick start, and again before we leave. It too outlets to a soakaway running along the contour line. This tank has never been emptied but has recently had the rigorous French SPANC inspection organised by the Mairie and passed with honours. Whether the Ecogene really helps I have no idea, but it is a small price to pay for the reassurance that we are doing our best to keep the thing working properly.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Spent most of the day roding and prodding with a bit of head scratching for good measure.

Well I hope you wash your hands first! :shock:

Very glad that the septic tank is working again - that must be a load off your mind. :wink:

Whether the Ecogene really helps I have no idea, but it is a small price to pay for the reassurance that we are doing our best to keep the thing working properly.

Keith, I'll undercut the potion by 10% and in return I will burn incense to an effigy of the sky-fairy and send you a "certificate of reassurance" that you can show to the Marie.