Septic Repairs

SepticRepairsA week or so after our excavation work was done, we had a break manifest in our septic tite line, near where the new drainage ditch had been dug. They had actually hit the line while they were digging, and repaired it at that point. But, what we didn’t know was that it pulled, like a thread out of a seam, through the soil and broke at a second point up near the tank. 

It wasn’t a drastic emergency, since this septic system has UV-sanitized gray water in the pump-out tank. This is designed for the drainfield being in the floodplain, so that the septic effluent wouldn’t contaminate flood water when the field goes under. But still, we had to get it fixed immediately, as the water was washing down the hillside with a lot of current, and taking dirt with it.

The excavation crew came right out, dug by hand, found the line beak and repaired it. But after that, the tank wasn’t pumping out at all! They had to come back the next day, bring a mini-excavator, dig up a whole section of the line, locate a clog, and repair that. They did it by drilling test holes all along the line, to find out where water was flowing, and wasn’t. Then they had to glue patches on all those test holes.

So, it’s all fixed now! They verified that water was making it all the way out to the drainfield, which is a good 600 feet from the tanks. One unexpected suprise was that when they left all the lids and caps off of the drainfield lines over night, Bronte found, stole and chewed up every one of them! Thankfully they had spares in their truck.

You never appreciate your septic system like when it breaks!

2 thoughts on “Septic Repairs

  1. David says:

    I remember years ago helping instal a ‘Clargesta’ (I think that was the name of the brand) septic tank. It was a plastic or fibreglass all-in-one tank with all all the connections moulded in.

    The soil was fairly heavy clay and we dug a hole big enough to drop the tank straight in.

    Except that as the tank descended it forced the slurry of water and clay at the bottom of the pit up around the tank.

    That formed a neat air-proof seal that left the tank sitting on a bubble of air, and prevented the tank from dropping to the bottom of the hole.

    We spent a merry couple of hours enlarging the hole.

    • workingcollies says:

      Oh my goodness, David, ah, “memories.” Septic tanks are one of those things with which you don’t want to get too intimate; as I’ve told myself several times while troubleshooting ours. More than once, I’ve weighed the merits of an outhouse, and wondered if we truly have progressed as a society, with the move to indoor plumbing and all of its issues!
      Michelle

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