Posted: 10/23/2005 11:50:05 AM EDT
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Have had our house here in FL for 1 month - it has a septic system. No problems until today. In the course of about 1.5 hours the wife did a big load of dishes (in the sink), while doing 2 loads of laundry, and then took a shower. While showering the drain backed up (couldn't handle draining the water as fast as it was coming out the showerhead.) I had just installed a new showerhead and the flow was much more than the old one. Is it possible that we just overloaded the septic or drain lines more than it was used to handling by putting so much water down the pipes in such a short period? Can a comprehensive septic cleaning and drain field cleaning help with this? |
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Try what Orion_Shall_Rise suggested but I have heard of this problem in FL with septic tanks when Its rained a lot and the field is really saturated. You can take the cap off and look and see the level. Run the shower and look fo rthe water running into the tank. If its not running and the shower is comming up remember what Orion_Shall_Rise suggested. When was the last time the tank was cleaned (did the previouse owner say when.)? I maintain my tank by inducing bacteria ( a Zep product sold at Home Depot for about $3.50) evry 90-120 days. I use about half a can. I had mine cleaned about ten years ago. It works grat and we wash and shower a lot like you discribed with no problem. I only had a small problem like your when we had rain here for like three stright days but it was only miner and the water drained right right away. I too upgraded my shower heads. Bought some in Cancun Mexico last year for five bucks each and they really flow some water. My tank is 45 years old and still working. Maintain it with the bacteria and it will be fine. Good luck and post your findings. |
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Did the snake, but not much came out. Will try some Drano next. Hasn't rained any here lately, so that isn't the issue. Previous owner I don't think had the septic cleaned since they bought it (4.5 years earlier) - they used this as a vacation home, so the septic pretty much sat idle - perhaps that is a problem - no bacteria, etc. I used some ZEP a few weeks ago - perhaps I need to shock it again and get the bacteria working again. What is odd is that I went into the other bathroom while my wife was showering and it looked like some water came up from under the other toilet. Perhaps I just have a really bad clog somewhere far down the line from the shower in question. Luckily, I think my homeowner's warranty covers this sort of thing - perhaps I need to have a plumber under the warranty company come out and really give the pipes a good cleaning. |
Had a similar problem in my rental home and found out it was a broken pipe between the house and the tank. Extreme amounts of water going down the drain would back up, but trickle away overnight. Turns out the pipe had collapsed and the water was percollating into the soil at the break, while solids were simply backing up. Luckily, my landlord got it fixed before the solidsa backed up too far. - Nw - |
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If your homeowners warranty covers it, by ALL MEANS have a plumber come out and snake the branches and the main! If you are really concerned, have it video snaked. Septic tank fields can last quite a while... or NOT. Have someone come out and suck the tank out. Your field may also be bad due to soaps and grease build ups in the drain tile out in the field. Lot of maybe involved here: Snake first video snake if there is a question suck out tank for sure field may need to be replaced Dram out 
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Update - wife did another load of laundry, and when it started to drain she went and checked the shower stall that had backed up earlier when we showered. Sure enough, some backup occurred (smelled like laundry!). Not a lot, but some. So, sounds to me like it might be an issue outside of the house between it and the septic/drain fields. Is it possible to "clean" out the drain fields? I always thought that sucking out a septic tank simply got rid of a lot of the "sludge" and crap (literally) but didn't have much effect on the drain fields if the they were messed up. |
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Well, had the septic people out today. The problem appears to be the drain field - considering that the system is 30 years old and probably never been cleaned, as well as having the shock of 4 teenagers using the showers and toilets, then the fields are probably pretty clogged. When they pumped the tank, a bunch of water backflowed from the drainfields back into the tank - THAT isn't good. We're going to limit how much water at a time we use, spread out our laundry loads, and actually are considering using a blueline hose from the drain of the washing machine and have the water just flow out into the yard - the septic guy suggested this. Perhaps after we sell our other house if the problem continues we'll pay the $1500+ to get new drainfields laid. |
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$1500! Do it yourself. It can't be that hard. I sorta helped do one once a very long time ago. Hire someone with a 24" (or whatever the code is now) wide backhoe to dig the trench. Order a truckload or two of the proper gravel. Buy perforated pipe. Get some shovels and wheelbarrows for those 4 teenagers... |
Tannerite should fix that tank right up. 
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Got a cleanout T outside the house? Put a little extension on it so it sticks up about 6 inches then top it with an inverted coffee can so that next time it backs up you don't end up with sewage in the house. And next time you buy a house you will know to have the septic inspected before the sale. Call your real estate agent and ask, sometimes this sort of problem is on the seller when within so many days of the contract closing. |