Re: Septic Frozen?

On Sun, 18 Dec 2005 10:01:31 -0700, "James \"Cubby\" Culbertson"
<Nospam@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>
>"Grandpa Dan" <danparrell@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>news:%hfpf.141874$Ph4.4328829@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Cubby,
>> I don't know where you are living but frost doesn't go any lower than
>> approx 20 inches in the ground. In cases where there is no snow, frost may
>> go as much as 36''. I live in eastern Canada and the first thing I done
>> when I purchased my home was to dig up the tank to see the condition and
>> put an extension on the clean out. The piece that I have is approx 36''
>> deep. To date(knocks on wood) I've never had any problems.
>> Here are some questions, things to look for and a few suggestions.
>> How much soil(deep) is covering your tank?
>> The tank should be covered ground level with at least 2-1/2 to 3 ft of
>> dirt
>> Is the vent in the roof of the home un-obstructed?
>> If the vent is bent,plugged or capped off, the system could get air
>> locked.
>> Is your sewage system up to code have a distribution box and septic field
>> with 4 lines running away.
>> This is the first question you should be asking and is there a sufficient
>> grade running away from the home.
>> Is there ground water from a spring anywhere near by?
>> If the ground is saturated wet from other sources such as changes made by
>> road work crews in the area to change ground water direction then you
>> could contact the municipal government in the area to correct it. If the
>> water table is high or the distribution lines are not grade properly than
>> you would see problems.
>> Do you flush tissue paper down the toilet?
>> I have no idea how many people are using the toilet(s) in your home but to
>> get an idea, ask wife or yourself, how often do you buy bum wad? Once you
>> get an idea, multiply that and you can draw from that how much paper you
>> flushed in 6 months. It takes years for paper to break down in a tank. You
>> should instead put a small container in the bathroom lined with a bag and
>> discreetly dispose of the tissue tied up and tossed into a regular garbage
>> bag with the rest of the household trash. You could flush several packs of
>> bakers yeast in the toilet monthly, this promotes a healthy culture of
>> Bacteria in your tank.
>> In the basement of the home, do you have a clean out access where the
>> sewage goes out?
>> If your plumbing is done right then it must have one of these per code, so
>> it would be wise to open it up and look for the obvious and run a snake
>> thru it.
>> Do you have a back water valve? This prevents sewage from backing up in
>> your home so you should find out if you have one and see why it is or
>> isn't working and if indeed the baffle in the tank is not clogged up.
>> What do you do with the grease from cooking? If you answer that you pour
>> it down the sink or toilet than you have created your problem as the PVC
>> pipe acts just like an artery and a cholesterol build up and everything is
>> choked off. The only difference is, grease sticks better to the inside of
>> a cold piece of pipe. thank god for that or we'd be all dead.
>> How do you know the septic or chemicals is the problem?
>> The tank under normal conditions when you open the lid should always be
>> full of water but low in waste, that's common sense as the run out to the
>> distribution box is located at the top at the back of the tank.
>> If you are flushing chemicals(bad boy) than you must be flushing
>> everything and anything. Cut back on the tissue paper, give up flushing
>> everything besides what it is intended for and it will serve you well.
>> Give the pipes a good cleaning with a snake and hot water, remove and
>> replace them if you have to and make any necessary changes so it doesn't
>> escalate into another costly venture.
>> Mine has been working effortlessly for the past 10 years and I have yet to
>> open it for any reason.
>>
>Holy Cow Dan! Thank you for such a lengthy, in depth look at Septics! I
>really appreciate it.
>You asked a number of questions, some I have asked myself and other's which
>have me thinking. That's great!
>I went out this morning and checked my vent pipe (which showed water in it
>last night). It was dry as a bone this morning.
>I'm going to monitor it through the day to see what happens. I'm
>suspecting (and hoping!) that I had a small blockage between the
>vent pipe and the septic tank itself which has since cleared itself. That
>would be best case. Worst case is the field lines are frozen/plugged in
>which case I'm in for a bit of work. We've been very careful about what we
>put down the septic since the pumpout 6 months ago....no grease (ever for
>that matter) or chems. We do put toilet paper down but no "female hygeine"
>items. All in all, you've prompted me with enough questions to get this
>thing figured out. I really appreciate that.
>Thanks very much!
>cc
>

You should be able to run some water in the house and look in your
pumping hole on the tank to see if water is coming into the tank. You
could have a clog or freezeup in the pipe between house and tank. I
used to live in a house where the pipe froze between house and tank.
I added about a foot of soil over the pipe and just tapered it into
the lawn so it was not very noticable. It never froze again.

If the water is going into the tank but not exiting the tank, your
drain field is either clogged or frozen. That is much harder to
check, although you could try to snake it out, but that may be
difficult this time of year with frozen ground around the top of your
tank.

It never hurts to add some of those bacterial "chemicals" they sell.
I cant think of the name of that stuff at the moment.

Depending where you live, you might consider draining wash machine and
bathtub water directly on to the lawn. I do that here, but it is
allowed here, plus my lawn is a steep hill that goes down to a creek.
I am not allowed to drain directly into the creek, but I just run it
down the hill. It tends to form an ice slick in winter, but I never
walk down there in winter anyhow.

My septic only gets toilet and sinks, so there is much less water
going into it.

Mark
.

Relevant Pages

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  • Re: Septic Frozen?
    ... > How much soilis covering your tank? ... > road work crews in the area to change ground water direction then you ... > Do you flush tissue paper down the toilet? ... > a cold piece of pipe. ...
    (alt.home.repair)
  • Re: Septic Frozen?
    ... I live in eastern Canada and the first thing I done when I purchased my home was to dig up the tank to see the condition and put an extension on the clean out. ... If the ground is saturated wet from other sources such as changes made by road work crews in the area to change ground water direction then you could contact the municipal government in the area to correct it. ... If you answer that you pour it down the sink or toilet than you have created your problem as the PVC pipe acts just like an artery and a cholesterol build up and everything is choked off. ... If you are flushing chemicalsthan you must be flushing everything and anything. ...
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