littlemother
New Member
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.
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.