Happy new year- backed up septic.....

[shoot-straight]

The wife was doing laundry, heard the drains gurgling. Went out pulled the cover and yep. Stopped up. My septic has a filter before it hits the drain field, I live on a gravelly hill, I get It pumped every 3 years (1.5years ago)- I find It hard to believe it's the lines. Letting it slowly go down so I can Inspect and clean the filter. That should at least get me running again. The whole system is 15 years old and it's just two of us.

Anything I am forgetting/missing?

 

[Highbeam]

Those filters can easily plug in 1.5 years. I just hosed mine out today. Way better than plugging up the drain field!

It is a regular maintenance item. Every couple of months for me but I enjoy this stuff.

 

[shoot-straight]

No I do Not enjoy working or playing in fecal matter. Never mind if it's mine or someone elses

But yes the filter is doing its job. Greywater level has gone down some, but not enough. I hope It goes down enough by tomorrow am so I can Clean the filter without letting a bunch of crap into the drainfield. Might just have a guy come and pump it tomorrow. Will just wait and see.

 

[AlbergSteve]

Oh man, that's not fun. A couple of years ago at my last place, the soil under the main line from the house settled, and with it the pipe, about four feet from the tank. The pipe had settled about seven inches below the invert of the tank, so when you flushed the toilet, the solids would hit the standing water in the pipe and stall and settle there. After a couple of years it plugged solid and backed up in the basement shower - not pretty! And of course we had guests from out of town staying with us and using that shower. Before I sold the house I had a friend with a mini-ex come in and dig it up. I was the one in the hole that had to cut and remove 15 feet of loaded pipe - I'm still scarred, never want to do it again!

 

[Highbeam]

The well designed effluent filters have a built in valve, usually a ball, that plugs the tank outlet when you remove the filter for just this reason.

Oh and there’s no greywater here. It’s all sewage. Glorious sewage!

 

[shoot-straight]

Yep it was the filter- all is good for now. Gonna get pumped just to be safe and really clean the filter structure. Hard to do when the "water level" is up.

Happy new year!

 

[zrock]

Thats usually my thing.. I work in a modular and rv park all on septic we have our tanks pumped every few years. Have only had our outlet filter on one system plug once due to some idiot flushing condoms down the drain. I have spare filters so if a filter plugs i can pull and replace and wash the other out later.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

You can always change to a larger filter. That'll give you more surface area to drain through.

 

[shoot-straight]

Didn't know that was an option, but it makes sense.

Seems to be working ok now. I guess I need To pull it and clean it 1x a year.

 

[Highbeam]

You can always change to a larger filter. That'll give you more surface area to drain through.

Have you ever done this? Would be a total pita. We’re not talking about a spin on filter here.

 

[zrock]

Lol I was thinking the same thing. You can only fit one size in the diameter and length of pipe where the filter sits

Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I have to deal with a campground septic system every year that has a mad dash of 10 weeks, then basicly nothing the rest of the year. We generally have to pump each of 7 tanks every year. Not a small feat on only 2.5 acres (with another holding tank across the road!) We had a year or 2 where our campers were, well, full of chit. We were told we should consider swapping to larger filters or periodically washing them. The idea of opening the tanks up during the year isn't really possible sans emergency. We still haven't swapped filters.

 

[Highbeam]

I have to deal with a campground septic system every year that has a mad dash of 10 weeks, then basicly nothing the rest of the year. We generally have to pump each of 7 tanks every year. Not a small feat on only 2.5 acres (with another holding tank across the road!) We had a year or 2 where our campers were, well, full of chit. We were told we should consider swapping to larger filters or periodically washing them. The idea of opening the tanks up during the year isn't really possible sans emergency. We still haven't swapped filters.

There are some "new mousetrap" type of options.

One that I like is actually a separate little filter vault between the septic tank and the drainfield. In that vault you have room to locate and maintain the filter without being in the scum/funk of the main tank.

 

[semipro]

A few years ago I realized how much detritus was exiting our clothes washer so I installed a septic tank filter to extend the drain field life.
We've not clogged it yet. It is the type that automatically closes off flow to the field during servicing and I'd highly recommend that feature.
Recently we installed a utility sink near our clothes washer and I decided to redirect our washer outlet to the sink rather than to the in-wall utility trap. We installed a drain screen in the sink and it's easy to empty it out periodically. This should increase the interval between septic filter cleanings.
I'm always struck by how much stuff, particularly synthetic fibers, exits the washer.