Making a "oddball" septic set up function longest?

[littlemother]

We are new to having a septic system and the learning curve is steep. We bought a fixer-upper old farmhouse in the country and 3 months later got laid off. Limited funds are making it a struggle to keep up and improve like we planned. We find ourselves in the position now of needing to do something to make it last longer as we do not have the resources to redo our system anytime soon. I am looking for advice on what would be best for us to do to make our system function as best as it can for as long as it can.

The septic that the previous owners put in has been referred to as an "oddball" system. There are two 500 gallon cement septic tanks in the ground. One is over 60 years old and the other is between 35 and 50 yrs old. One of them, we were told, had tree roots infiltrate the pipes so rather than repair the problem a pump was put into that tank and it is directed into the other tank. Shortly after we moved in we had problems and the guy that cleans out the tank said it sounded like tree roots to him. We dug up the leach line, a single 75' leach line of pipe and gravel, though there was hardly any gravel to be found and was only a couple of inches deep. Since we were newly unemployed we did what we could and cleaned out the tree roots, scavenged gravel from our long driveway and extended the line another 125 ft. though still with very little gravel.

Now we are facing it all again, though we still hardly have our feet underneath us. We've managed to hold onto our farm but still do not have resources to do it right. We have 11 children still at home, so 13 people needing to use water. From what I understand our system is entirely inadequate to support such water usage. For now, we have rerouted our shower and kitchen sink so that it goes out into the yard. The laundry was already rerouted out into the yard. We live in an area with lots of rock and clay and the kids successfully dug up (over the course of a month) the 200' of leach line, cleaned out all the thick gunk that was plugging it all up, dug it down deeper (it was only about 2 feet deep) so that it is 3 ft. at the outlet and slopes down 1/8" per foot to 5' deep at the end and has about 11" of gravel beneath the pipe all along the line and ends with a 4' x 4' pit of gravel 3 ft. deep. It was only after we completed this we learned that you should never have a leach line longer than 50'.

As we are facing winter soon, we are not sure what to do, since money is very limited and it seems our options are few and our experience and understanding limited. Should we dig up the old leach line on the second tank and get it up and running again so that it isn't being pumped into the first tank? The pumping is forceful and we think it probably is forcing solids down the leach line. We are pretty sure there is no filter on the tank and don't know how to install a filter.

Dh is thinking we would just hook it all back up like it was and hope for the best and maybe it will last us another couple of years or more. I can't see us saving up for a new septic system in that time frame still and think we should find a way to reroute our grey water, even if only during not freezing temps, to minimize how much we are asking our system to manage. Dh wonders if we have toilet waste from 13 people but only one shower and sink going to the tank that it won't work properly, as in it may need more water to help the solids to settle rather than being a more sludgy type of fluid without more water.

I don't know anyone we could talk to that we could trust. Obviously we need to put a lot of money into getting our septic adequate but I don't want scared into what someone else wants to sell me rather than what would be best for us. We have $800 that we could put towards fixing things. Or should we just hook it all back up and get through the winter and then use our tax refund with the $800 and hopefully more by then and dig a new leach field and do it correctly for each septic tank? We live in a county that has very lenient codes. Our neighbors told us we can do what we want on our own land, though if we were to ever sell (which is not in our plans ever) we would be required to make sure it met certain guidelines.

I would appreciate hearing some advice and thoughts. Thank you for your time.

 

[haloflood]

I'm sorry to hear about the situation you're in. Unfortunately, it's not the first story like that I've come across. Part of my job is inspecting septic systems in a more rural area of Texas. A lot of people don't think about their septic systems since they're out of sight, out of mind. Until it stops working. It seems many systems out in the country are often not up to par since they were installed many decades ago before there were any regulations or standards, and people just did whatever they wanted. Which is why we now require septic systems to be inspected upon sale of the property, otherwise someone like you ends up with a system that is failing and you're the one left to deal with it. I'm not sure how much I can help, but maybe you can find some of my input beneficial.

I don't have any specifics of these programs on-hand right now, but I know there are some government grants and aid programs setup to help people repair and replace septic systems who could not otherwise afford it. It's usually partial cost offset, not full cost, and the system would probably have to be brought up to current standards, but maybe that's something you could check into.

So from my understanding there are two 500 gallon tanks each with their own set of lateral lines. The first tank is being pumped into the second tank because the first tank's lateral lines are clogged. Does the second tank have a sewer line running into it from the house, or is there just a line to the first tank, and then the contents are pumped over to the second tank?

I can tell you that 1000 gallons of capacity is not sufficient for 13 people. I once saw a 1000 gallon system that had been used by a family of 7 for less than a year and when we had it pumped both chambers of the tank were full to the top, which means the system was being overloaded, and you have about twice that many people. If the tank capacity isn't enough for the amount of waste entering it, then it forces solids out into the lateral lines as the solid particles don't get enough time to settle. The inside of a septic tank should be still and calm, not turbulent. This can be helped by having an elbow or tee on the outlet pipe inside the tank to help prevent suspended solids from going out. An effluent filter is a tee that has a screen or filter device inside that provides extra filtration. But ultimately, the best remedy is more storage volume. And domestic wastewater is mostly just water. About 98% is usually the quoted amount.

I don't know what the reasoning is for not having a single lateral line longer than 50 ft. In Texas, the maximum is 150 ft for a gravity-drained system, and 70 ft for a pumped effluent system. That's just the length for a single line. Most systems have multiple lines linked together. I do know that we require lateral lines to be level, not sloped. The 1/8 inch of fall per foot is our minimum slope for the sewer line to the tank, but the lateral lines should be level within 3 inches across the entire line.

I couldn't tell you how long the lines will last with your current configuration, but it's good you got them cleaned out. Tree roots love lateral lines; solids being forced into the lines will clog up the drain holes; and bacteria will grow large masses inside and outside the lines. Difficult to determine how long any of that will reach a critical point again.

 

[littlemother]

Thank you for your reply!

We have already buried the line to be at an 1/8 inch slope from the beginning at the septic tank to the end of the 200' of leach line. I guess we just have to see how long it will last us.

The second tank has a line running from the house to it *and* has the line from the other tank that the pump forces it into it and then down the leach line. This tank is the original tank and is connected to one toilet, shower and sink in a bathroom. The newer part of the house has the other tank that takes in the kitchen, and a toilet, shower and sink. I hope this makes sense.

The first tank (taking the kitchen and a bathroom) is the one that we currently have not working, having diverted the grey water to the yard and not using the toilet. It seemed like a bad idea to forcefully shoot the contents of this tank into the other and the pump is at the bottom of it so pretty much any water use activates the pump. We don't use the other bathroom so much, except the toilet. Almost all of us prefer to use the other shower so between that shower and the kitchen the vast majority of our water usage is going out onto the lawn, for now.

We are wondering if we should dig up the line for the second tank (to the kitchen and bathroom) and make it unperferated until it gets past the big, old tree in the yard and then put in a perforated pipe leach field. But I don't think we can get that done before winter.

We are also wondering if we should just put in a lagoon and not try to keep a septic system underground working for us.

THank you again for all of the information and for your reply!