Cut septic leech lines

[Dragos28]

So this summer we decided to put in an above ground pool, but we wanted it semi--buried so we called 811 and i also got a power line locator. all clear in the area we wanted.
The crew came out and aside from all the sand stone they hit two white pvc 3 or 4 inch with holes in it, the lines were covered with rock. Since we couldn't dig at the moment I called out a septic company and went over the setup, where our septic is to where the lines were hit is about 55 feet. They said even if we put the pool here it won't affect the septic system, we put a water hose down the clean out and ran it for 20 min, during that time no water ran out so he said that the ground (we're in Edmond, OK its mostly red dirt) would absorb just fine with 30' less since the pool is about 30'

anyhow, lately especially on rainy days the shower drain backs up, i check the clean out but by that time the water goes down.

Thoughts... dig up and redirect new leech lines elsewhere (we're on 2.5 acres) or possibly add a submersible pump and put that water on a sprinkler line to my fruit trees....

Any suggestions or thoughts on this issue....

Thanks!

can't see it in the pic, but in the center of the hole is where we hit the lines they went across towards the pool pump.

 

[Twowaxhack]

When the shower actively backing up, will the toilet flush normal ? If so it’s just your shower drain that needs cleaning.

If you installed a swimming pool in the middle of your drain field then you’ve created a huge problem. Better hope you didn’t do that.

 

[Dragos28]

When the shower actively backing up, will the toilet flush normal ? If so it’s just your shower drain that needs cleaning.

If you installed a swimming pool in the middle of your drain field then you’ve created a huge problem. Better hope you didn’t do that.

I will have to check to be 100% sure but I am fairly certain that they are on the same drain line, when the toilet backs up it always is when there's water backing up in the shower. But the last two times the shower backed up I didn't check the toilet.

 

[Dragos28]

So just an update. The situation did not get any better and the fact stands that I put a pool in my leech field, eliminating 30 odd feet of leech line.
So for the past few weeks after the kids take a shower the water would not drain from the showers nor the toilets. at the clean out you can see the water up to the top of the pipe which is about a foot above grade,

Usually it would slowly drain over night and would not be a problem during the day, however last night it was not draining and I finally got fed up. I dug up the septic and opened the lid.
I saw that the water line was normal, I was expecting the tanks to be full if the leech lines were truly the problem, so that led me to believe that the drain (we have two drains one for the east side of the house with the two bathrooms and another drain for the kitchen on the west side of the house)
I snaked it with my little 25' dewalt handheld snake but that was a waste. I called up a plumber at 830pm who i've worked with before and sure enough at 930pm he called and said his van broke down lol

this morning i went and purchased a snake from northern tools, 1/2" line 60' long for $499, I'm sure the service call would have been the same.
I snaked it once with the spring attachment and after about 50' it got hung up, i pulled it back out and found hair clumps ( i have 2 daughters and a wife) and I also found baby wipe.. i'm going to blame my two daughters for that one.
I put on a spade bit and snaked it again, this time it was successful and all the liquid in the line drained down, i put my waterhose in at full volume while i retracted the snake, and the water drained as fast as it flowed out the hose.

I think i resolved it.

 

[Twowaxhack]

I think you’re going to have more trouble sooner rather than later. But that’s just my opinion. For your sake I hope I’m wrong. Good luck

 

[Dragos28]

I think you’re going to have more trouble sooner rather than later. But that’s just my opinion. For your sake I hope I’m wrong. Good luck

I'm aware and prepared for the suck. I'll have to trench new leech lines if that's the case. Ugh

 

[cgilley]

"Prepared for the suck." You're the homeowner, so you own it.

Years ago, was almost done with a serious addition to the house: 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, etc. Got the seriously expanded septic tank in with ridiculously long leach lines, all was well. Then it all backed up. Turns out, my children are evil little critters. Septic company comes out. Nothing wrong with the tank, must be a plug, extra $250 to jet the line... sigh... okay.

They started jetting and at the top of the fountain of water above the cleanout was a yellow toothbrush rotating in the sun... face palm. So, you're not alone.

 

[Dragos28]

"Prepared for the suck." You're the homeowner, so you own it.

Years ago, was almost done with a serious addition to the house: 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, etc. Got the seriously expanded septic tank in with ridiculously long leach lines, all was well. Then it all backed up. Turns out, my children are evil little critters. Septic company comes out. Nothing wrong with the tank, must be a plug, extra $250 to jet the line... sigh... okay.

They started jetting and at the top of the fountain of water above the cleanout was a yellow toothbrush rotating in the sun... face palm. So, you're not alone.

lol i was bracing for thousands of dollars so the few hundred i spend on the snake wasnt bad. but yeah, thats the joys of parenthood, surprises in the drains! lol

 

[Twowaxhack]

You don’t want fieldline trouble. If I stay in my house long enough I may have to relocate the drain field. That would involve a new drain field and installing a pump to pump it to the new field location because it’s uphill.

I removed my washing machine from the system and now it’s used as irrigation and doesn’t go through the tank. I also installed an outlet filter.

Some have had success with reconditioning the drain field by introducing beneficial bacteria by installing an aerator pump. Personally if I installed an aerator pump, I would use a 24” x 60” basin between the septic tank and the drain field. This would eliminate any possibility of suspending solids and conveying them to the field.


Poo poo chat is open…..

 

[cgilley]

"poo poo chat is open"

The good news for the OP is that he has an above ground pool. An inground installation company would have run from that. You can also make the pool go away if it all goes sideways. Funny - this is why I built a deck and sunk a hot tub in it - I'd love a pool, but too close to septic lines.

In my neck of the woods, 60 miles north of Atlanta, I have pretty good drainage on my property. The health department specifies the size of the drain field based on the # of bedrooms. I live on 3/4 acre, so to go to 5 bedrooms, I needed 550' of line (and a 1500 gallon tank). It did not matter if it was the same family in the house (I guess it should not considering future thinking). When I showed the health guy my water usage (at the time, let me count... I had 10 children and one in the oven, no I'm not catholic), he did not believe it. He had seen water usage for a family of 4 5x what I used. I have no idea how they did that... maybe it was me banging on bathroom doors to stop soaking .

Anyway, if the 6th bedroom was official, no way I could expand the system enough... so we left it an office until we received our C of O, then opened up access to the closet.

22 years later, I don't have line issues. But, I am rather anal - and I spread the good word - no grease down the kitchen sink; we don't have a disposal, the girls were told no flushing products, etc. I did have a few toddlers flush toy trains, but they got stuck in the toilet. There was one toy ball that managed to make it to the septic tank. No idea how. If the tooth brush hung up on the corner, no idea how the ball made it to the tank.

So, my advice on septic tanks:

1. Install risers. Just suck it up and do it. You won't have to dig up your yard every few years, and your pump outs will be trivial. More importantly, you can have the system inspected easily.
2. If you are building a house and are going to use septic - see #1. I have no idea why 99% of builders are so retarded. Wait, I actually do, but we're in polite company.
3. See comments above - no disposal, no grease, etc. It will handle poo just fine.
4. NEVER let heavy vehicles near your tank if the soil is wet. Even if the tank can handle the weight, the inlet pipe might shift. $2500 lesson I learned.

Now I do have one question for twowax - our washing machines technically eject gray water. Most of the time you can send that to a dry something or other (dry well?), but irrigation? Is that something you did on your own? I actually have two laundries (see comments about children above). One I could do this, the other is embedded too tightly into the house system.

 

[Twowaxhack]

"poo poo chat is open"

The good news for the OP is that he has an above ground pool. An inground installation company would have run from that. You can also make the pool go away if it all goes sideways. Funny - this is why I built a deck and sunk a hot tub in it - I'd love a pool, but too close to septic lines.

In my neck of the woods, 60 miles north of Atlanta, I have pretty good drainage on my property. The health department specifies the size of the drain field based on the # of bedrooms. I live on 3/4 acre, so to go to 5 bedrooms, I needed 550' of line (and a 1500 gallon tank). It did not matter if it was the same family in the house (I guess it should not considering future thinking). When I showed the health guy my water usage (at the time, let me count... I had 10 children and one in the oven, no I'm not catholic), he did not believe it. He had seen water usage for a family of 4 5x what I used. I have no idea how they did that... maybe it was me banging on bathroom doors to stop soaking .

Anyway, if the 6th bedroom was official, no way I could expand the system enough... so we left it an office until we received our C of O, then opened up access to the closet.

22 years later, I don't have line issues. But, I am rather anal - and I spread the good word - no grease down the kitchen sink; we don't have a disposal, the girls were told no flushing products, etc. I did have a few toddlers flush toy trains, but they got stuck in the toilet. There was one toy ball that managed to make it to the septic tank. No idea how. If the tooth brush hung up on the corner, no idea how the ball made it to the tank.

So, my advice on septic tanks:

1. Install risers. Just suck it up and do it. You won't have to dig up your yard every few years, and your pump outs will be trivial. More importantly, you can have the system inspected easily.
2. If you are building a house and are going to use septic - see #1. I have no idea why 99% of builders are so retarded. Wait, I actually do, but we're in polite company.
3. See comments above - no disposal, no grease, etc. It will handle poo just fine.
4. NEVER let heavy vehicles near your tank if the soil is wet. Even if the tank can handle the weight, the inlet pipe might shift. $2500 lesson I learned.

Now I do have one question for twowax - our washing machines technically eject gray water. Most of the time you can send that to a dry something or other (dry well?), but irrigation? Is that something you did on your own? I actually have two laundries (see comments about children above). One I could do this, the other is embedded too tightly into the house system.

The washing machine drains to a basin which contains a pump. When the pump activated the wash water is pumped via pvc piping to a tree line I have planted. There’s never any standing water and the ground isn’t soggy.

 

[cgilley]

I need to up my macgyver skills. good solution.

 

[Ludington]

Just to chime in about septic and washing machine lines. I originally had a seperate leach field put in for my washing machine ( the old one used a LOT of water) eventually the line plugged with whatever comes out in the wash. I tried snaking and cleaning but could never completely clear it.
So the wash water was rerouted into the septic. Havnt had any troubles since. But the original line would bubble up at the end ( to much wash I guess) so a big pit was dug and filled with gravel for the overflow. But we switched to front loader machines that use like 2 gallons of water, then that trouble went away, but probably caused the subsequent troubles. Still don't know how they wash with so little water. BUt my soil didn't perk well, so my leach lines had to be double width ( 6 x 80 feet, if I remember correctly) but now my wash leach line is used for condensate from my heat pump, that draines fine.