Household Septic System

[jlgurr]

And in all seriousness, do not discount the attempt to "divine" it, water witch, divining rods, whatever you want to call it. I personally think its complete bunk, but then again I've put my hand on many machines and they start working for no reason at all. I still think that's why my employer keeps me around in a closet, just in case they need me to come out and stand next to something to make it work! :laughing:

Give it a try. Just make sure the neighbors don't see you! :cool2:

Also, got any pictures of the area? We can take guesses!

Pictures are a good idea. I'm home next week while a contractor guts the old HVAC and replaces with a new zoned unit from American Standard. While they are busy I'll snap some photos then as the weather is expected to be sunny again.

Was hoping to hear back on my questions on the divining rod. We have a man in the community who can use a forked branch from a certain tree and point where to drill a water well. He's been right 100% of the time, no one questions him. Problem is he is now getting old and there are no "young pups" who have been able to duplicate his skill. I hate to see people get old.

 

[teg]

Was hoping to hear back on my questions on the divining rod...

I believe it's based on water, not what the pipe is made of... so don't forget to flush a toilet or two while searching... and one in each hand.:magician::wizard::fortuneteller::detective:

Edit: don't know how those icons got there... :jester:

 

[Wagtail]

And in all seriousness, do not discount the attempt to "divine" it, water witch, divining rods, whatever you want to call it. I personally think its complete bunk, but then again I've put my hand on many machines and they start working for no reason at all. I still think that's why my employer keeps me around in a closet, just in case they need me to come out and stand next to something to make it work! :laughing:

Give it a try. Just make sure the neighbors don't see you! :cool2:

Also, got any pictures of the area? We can take guesses!

I may show up via a Google Earth/Maps satellite picture of your property, depending on what the conditions were when they took it... aerial photos have been used to locate ancient ruins by observing discolouration on the ground.

As to devining? Well, I can put 'hand on heart' and say that I've got the ability. There's nothing mystical, at least for me,... it just happens. I walk the area with two bent copper rods and "THUNK" they hit me in the chest. I come at that spot from different angles & the same thing happens at approximately the same spot.

Heck, it's worth a try. :hypnodisk:

 

[MossRoad]

I may show up via a Google Earth/Maps satellite picture of your property, depending on what the conditions were when they took it....

I hope you don't show up on a google earth/maps satellite picture of my property! :laughing:

 

[cat fever]

THIS. What Mike said. But also check and make sure you do not have TWO openings. Our tank has two compartments, one for the liquids and one for the solids. The LIQUID compartment has the riser which is required by code. The solid compartment does NOT have to have a riser by our code.:confused3::shocked: I had one installed the first time we pumped the tank so that it would be easier to pump in the future.


The problem with the code, is that a homeowner might no know there are two tanks, and the tank you really want to pump is the solid. The code wants the riser on the liquid compartment to make it easy to clean the filter.

I try to pump our tank every Presidential election. Easy to remember that way.

Later,
Dan

Not all tanks have two compartments. Some are just one big compartment.

 

[cat fever]

Oops... even schedule 40?
View attachment 417242

You will be fine; PVC becomes a little more brittle over time.(you'll be dead) But no worries. I personally would have used ABS. Kind of weird but different parts of the country use one or the other. (PVC/ABS)
Being a plumber and using ABS for many years, it really bugs me to see PVC as a drain line. I'll get over it.

 

[RBLapham]

A house I moved into had no record of where the tank was. We had 3 plumbers come out and even with the electronic tracer unit they missed the tank by over 10 ft. Finally found the company that had pumped it out years ago. They sent out the old timmer and in about 5 minutes he found it. It was in the front yard of all places. The town where it is located was supposed to have the record of where the tank was but only had a statement of "just below the surface about 6 inches. Well after I found it I provided the following picture to the Health Dept. I also put a scrap 5ft length of chain around the cap handle. They never did find the leech bed.

 

[Wagtail]

I hope you don't show up on a google earth/maps satellite picture of my property! :laughing:

Whoops! I meant to write It. My fat fingers missed the 't'. :ashamed:

 

[buickanddeere]

If you have the opportunity to install a grey water drain do it. Sink, bath, laundry and water softener water have no place in a septic system.

 

[MacLawn]

I agree about a separate grey water tank if you can do it. I keep mine separate.

With the two wires to find underground pipes, loosely hold the short L in each hand so they can turn when you cross pipes. I've done it for underground water lines (under concrete even. My scientific minded buddy didn't believe it until I showed him at his place where I had no idea where his lines were.), sewer lines, and electric lines. Keep forearms about parallel to ground while loosely holding short end of L wire, just hold wires about 12" or so apart, slowly walk over areas until long end of L wires begin to turn toward each other. Probe. Ye've found ye pipes.

Couple years ago here, I was ridiculed (I NEVER ridicule a person on purpose, forum or in person) by someone who didn't believe this works. I posted a photo of some wires I used. The old boy outright about said I was lieing, or some such. Hey, I ain't selling me services nor copper wire.

 

[ddbackhoe]

we always love to see photos... even if it's about crap!!!

:laughing: The three rules of plumbing; pressure goes wherever you want, **** flows downhill and don't bite your fingernails when working.

 

[The Suburban Farmer]

Not to hijack the thread, but here's a question for the group. Our house is about 30 years old, and we just started noticing that when it rains, you can see the water standing in places where our leach field has settled. Looks like perfectly parallel stripes of water. Is this a sign that our field may be reaching it's "saturation point" and that we may need to dig a new field at some point soon?

I hope not -- we don't have any more flat area back there to dig a new one... Should I be doing something now to help keep this from becoming a problem?

 

[jlgurr]

If you have the opportunity to install a grey water drain do it. Sink, bath, laundry and water softener water have no place in a septic system.

Believe me, if there was an easy or low cost way of doign this on an existing home I would. I could be wrong but assuming all the waste water from the house goes to the septic in one line. If they are already separated outside of the house then I would want to make a separate tank, if nothing else, for recycling.

 

[vtsnowedin]

Not to hijack the thread, but here's a question for the group. Our house is about 30 years old, and we just started noticing that when it rains, you can see the water standing in places where our leach field has settled. Looks like perfectly parallel stripes of water. Is this a sign that our field may be reaching it's "saturation point" and that we may need to dig a new field at some point soon?


I hope not -- we don't have any more flat area back there to dig a new one... Should I be doing something now to help keep this from becoming a problem?

It is probably just differential settlement between whatever is around your pipes and what is between them. Being thirty years old you may have crushed stone around the pipes and sand between the stone trenches. The sand settles more then the stone. If the tank has ever been pumped out and things flush good it is probably not a problem. Just rake in some screened top soil in the low spots and let the grass come up through it. Better to have a smooth surface that drains the rain water away rather then let it soak in to the field and compete with the waste water from the house.

 

[Billrog]

There are many opinions posted here on the subject & rather than offend I suggest looking up on line how to maintain septic systems on line. There has been many yrs. of research on the subject and plenty of good advice.

 

[Billrog]

T S Farmer if your 30 yr. old field is compromised and the lines are 10' apart one option for a new field is running the new field lines in between the old ones. The recommended separation is 6' but in some cases there has to be compromise. Not knowing the type of soil,lay of the land or HLR it's difficult to give sound advice. If everything is working I would certainly fill in the hollows and plant some grass over the surface to ****** infiltration when it rains.

 

[The Suburban Farmer]

Billrog and vtsnowedin -- thanks for the comments. That's what I was planning to do this spring... just fill in the low spots to help with drainage and wait to see how it all works out. NO problems with the plumbing so far -- things are working well, just wondered if this was "settling" or "a clear sign of a problem." Fingers-crossed, it's just settling.

 

[vtsnowedin]

One thing you can do is find the distribution box where the out flow from the tank is split into the field pipes. Opening that cover will let you see if you have effluent from the tank flowing freely into the field pipes or that they are clogged and backed up. If the tank is full of solids and grease it can't do it's job and passes untreated water to the field pipes that can't handle the solids and it gets plugged up and fails. One look should tell the story.

 

[Billrog]

Checking the D box is good advice.

 

[roadhunter]

:laughing: The three rules of plumbing; pressure goes wherever you want, **** flows downhill and don't bite your fingernails when working.

And pay day is on Friday. All you need to know to be a plumber,.