We’ve been at our current house for almost 18 years. Our septic system is grandfathered in-- if we ever needed to replace it, we were told early on that we would have to switch to city sewer service, which we were quoted 20K to have the pipes run (and that was years ago- lord knows how much it would be now). Plus our yard would be dug up and ripped to shreds.
We have our septic system pumped out on a regular basis (every 1 1/2 - 2 years). In the early days we unknowingly hired not-so reputable septic pumpers who would tell us that our septic was failing years ago, and they would replace the septic system for us at night, without pulling permits, so we could avoid the cost of switching to sewer. We ignored them, and the septic system kept working well enough until now.
We now have a reputable septic pumping service. The last scheduled pump was only about 6 months ago. We recently noticed a loud gurgling sound and odor from the pipes whenever one of our sons took a long shower. Lifting the septic pump cover, we see that our system was full to the brim. Called back our septic pump guys for an emergency drain and eval this morning; they said they pumped 1225 gallons out of a 1000 gal capacity system-- it was almost 25% over capacity! And they said our drain field is definitely failing. They don’t do camera work, but said our baffle looks intact, it’s an issue with the drain field.
So they say the next step is to do a ‘perk test’ which involves digging up parts of the drain field to determine what’s going on. But they’d have to pull a city permit to do even that, and I’m reluctant to alert the city until we have to.
So, what are our options? We tried pouring in some “leach field cleaner” but I suspect that works as well (meaning not at all) as Draino does on severely clogged pipes. I think years ago when we were concerned our system was failing because the pump guys told us it was, I found a company online who claimed they can revive drain fields with minimal cost and little or no invasive digging. But didn’t follow up at the time.
Have you experienced a lot of rain lately? Groundwater can be a problem but if it’s temporarily high or your leach field just got thoroughly soaked things may get better.
How far is your house from the sewer line? $20K is a lot for just the drain pipe. There will be an additional cost to install the lateral pipe on the main sewer line, and probably additional permit fees. You will not regret connecting to the sewer system but it can be costly. I got lucky that they build a house across the street from me and the town made them install the lateral for me at that time. Installing over 100 feet of drain pipe only cost me $2000 at the time but I would expect that to come in around $5000 today.
I’d opt for the city sewer if at all possible. We don’t have that option and had to completely install a new septic system two years ago, complete with a pump to get to our new (uphill) drain field. It was around $50,000 for everything.
Septic systems are a pain, require inspections and maintenance, and are more fussy than being on the sewer system.
I have used Pequa cess flow to good effect in an old and overworked cesspool. It’s basically hydrogen peroxide which gives up oxygen and for a bit turns a septic system into an aerobic digester which speeds breakdown of waste quite a bit. Shortly after pouring it in, like the next day, the water level was significantly reduced in the cesspool and it would stay down for perhaps a month or so. then come back up to ‘normal’, but eventually would become high again. Rinse and repeat. FYI a cesspool is an all in one septic system which is used when available land area is small. It’s really just an enclosed pit where waste breaks down and percolates into the soil, so no leach field.
I have seen that some homeowners (or septic system owners) have aerated their tank, which again would seem to turn it into a more efficient digester. They used a small pump, tube and disfuser at the end to make bubbles that would run 24/7. From what I saw for a while it had a horrendous smell but over time that went away and the breakdown was much better and helped the water level go lower, or at least reported as such. With my experience with pequa I could see it working and was thinking of doing something like that back then, but I moved and left that behind.
A lot of places it is also required to dig up and remove the old tanks which adds to the cost.
Interesting thought. We did get a ton of rain a week or two ago but it’s been dry since then. We’ve been having issues for a month or more though.
Thanks for all the replies so far. It seems that the question is whether we’re within 200’ from a sewer hookup or not. If we are, we don’t have much choice but to go with the sewer hookup, according to Township law.
Either way, if we need major repair work it’s going to cost us, and apparently a new septic system could cost as much or more than a sewer hookup-- we were ballpark quoted $8000-$50,000 depending on the type of septic we’d need.
I have the number of the Township Dept. to call to find out how close we are to the sewer line, if we fall within 200’ or not, which would let us know how to proceed. But Mrs. solost is afraid that even calling them might put the Township on our radar, and trigger an inspection and a demand to either replace or connect to the sewer. She wants to try some leach field cleaner solution she found online, charmingly called ‘Doctor Pooper’.
I also found a company that supposedly specializes in fixing drain fields rather than entire septic system replacement, but again I think it would depend on whether we are 200’ from the sewer line or not for them to even be able to do the work, legally at least:
We’ve had a lot of expensive home repairs lately, so basically I’m just hoping to get a few more years out of our septic tank if at all possible.
No, you misunderstand. Mrs. solost (lower case ‘s’, no ‘i’) does not want the Township to get involved and force our hand with an inspection that will likely fail, and make us either replace the whole septic system or connect to the sewer, whichever option applies. We’re not trying to skirt legalities, just extend the life of the existing system if at all possible.
If it does come to needing to spend big $$$ on a big fix, we will do what is required and legal.
Your drain field is not working and needs to be repaired. So you need to decide if you want to ask the city if you can do that, or plan to hook up to the city sewer system. Be optimistic, since you were grandfathered in, maybe they will let you repair an existing system.
A 1000 gallon septic tank that need to be pumped every year or so, is a septic system that is not working. Many of these old drain fields used clay, or terracotta pipes. They collapse after time. My 1000 gallon needs to be pumped out about every 10 years. Yours does not work.
My Grandfather swore by his system of adding a large chunk (fist sized) of baker’s yeast and a 5lb bag of sugar to the system every six months. He never replaced the system in their home in NH, and lived there at least 40 years.
But I don’t know whether that only works if you do it throughout the life of the system. Still, it’s awfully cheap to try it out.
I got lucky with that. I asked the inspector if I needed to fill in the old tank. As the inspector followed me deep into the tall grass and weeds in the back yard he said “Ok. This is far enough, it’s out of my jurisdiction”. He said it was too far from the street or other properties to ever matter and it was up to me what to do.
You probably would have noticed a pattern if was only a ground water problem. Hope this works out for you somehow. You will be so much better off connected to the sewer but I can feel your pain from the cost.
Yeah, this. Leach field cleaners and other things to encourage biological activity might help situations where pumping needs have increased to every 8-9 years from every 10. They won’t do diddly squat on a tank that is filling up in 6 months.
Yep. Ten years after I moved in with my gf we had septic tank problems. I asked her when it was last pumped out. Turns out, never. So, 28 years. And the problem was that the original (plastic) tank had collapsed.
Does the town have the authority to make you do anything? Meaning, they might not let you put in a new septic system, but upon failing can they force you to tie into the sewer? I see derelict houses all the time, and I don’t see the town making those people replace roofs and porches.
One more thing to consider: When a friend’s neighborhood got sewer lines a few years ago, the homeowners were offered zero interest loans to tie into them. Perhaps your city/state has a similar program?
Good question. I mean, if we do need to do a major repair, we will do what’s necessary. I just know from past experience that it’s never a great idea to get local bureaucracy involved until absolutely necessary.
Interesting thought! Certainly something to look into if and when we get to that point.
One of the nice things about our location is that no, no one notices. When I asked the guy who put in our new tank if we needed a permit, he just laughed.
My last house was built in 1987. We bought it in 2001 and the septic system was working fine. Sold it in 2018 and it again got a clean bill of health at the sale. We were very careful about what we put in there (ie, no garbage disposal, no cleaning paint brushes in the sink) . The point is that they can last a very long time if cared for (and to be fair, I’m sure the sandy soil helped)
Local governments are more concerned about sewage than roofs and porches. Our county is very strict, and, for example, requires annual inspections of our septic system. I have no doubt that if we had sewers nearby, they could indeed force us to hook up.
Years ago, we had a system that needed to pumped out too much.* The service guy sold us something called “Wham”. He was sort of “wink-wink” about it. I (not he) poured it down the pipe and things got a lot better. We even passed the perc test a couple years later when we sold the place.
I have no idea what was in “Wham”. It had a really weird solvent/sweet smell that really persisted on me after I used it.
(Our next house only needed to be drained about every 15 years. We owned it since it was practically brand new and were very careful about what went down the drain.)
* We had some cottonwood trees near the drain field we cut down. Apparently their roots were actually helping to drain the leech field.
That could work to clear come materials clogging leach field pipes. I doubt it would have much effect on the soil.
In my first house we never had any kind of problem and I didn’t want to go poking around trying to find one. When it came time to sell 16 years later the deal specified that the septic tank would be pumped out. Looking at the original specs on the house it stated that the system had a 15,000 gallon tank. Everyone laughed and said that’s a mistake, it must be 1500 gallons. So I called in a guy to pump it out, took us a while to locate it, but we found it, dug open a hole, pulled up the cover, and there it was, a 15,000 gallon tank. Now pretty full of solids but not all the way. I found the guy who used to live next door, he had built the place. When he was doing that he was also managing a commercial building that was being extended and he said that somehow, for some reason he didn’t understand, a company delivered two 15,000 gallon tanks to the building he was managing. He said they didn’t want the second one back so he had them take it to the house he was building. He didn’t mention who if anyone actually paid for it.