septic - could you fill a 1500 gallon tank in 10 months?

jagans · 12-09-2012, 09:35 PM

That toilet is not properly vented. The "washout" is called a cleanout. You need a snake with a good sized head. Rent one and be careful, those things can tear you up if you are not careful.

Kapriel · 12-09-2012, 10:00 PM

Seems like all this is pointing to a venting problem and not a leach field one.
My My....who would of thunk it ?

denemante · 12-10-2012, 11:18 AM

Could some growing clog in the main line begin to cause issues that appear venting related?

Kapriel · 12-10-2012, 04:11 PM

Sure could.
I just crawled out of my 1000 gallon septic tank. Tree roots were growing into the tank just barely, and same roots were starting to grow into the feed line to the tank.

I cut the tree down which was only a few feet away from the tank's cover.
Small tree only about 4" in diameter but if I didn't get to now it would really become a problem in a few years.

Your problem could be that or something like the others here have mentioned.

Kap

jagans · 12-10-2012, 04:50 PM

If your main line is clogged up, your toilet in the basement would overflow in short order. The rule for venting is that you have to have a vent within 48 pipe diameters. Either you have that or you dont. If you flush the toilet downstairs and it looks like the water is being pulled down at the end of the flush then it comes back up, your toilet is not vented. Burping, or gurgling signifies a lack of proper venting. You see this a lot when a dishwasher does not have an air break installed.

denemante · 12-10-2012, 05:16 PM

Hmmmm....when we finished our basement, I was particular about noting the toilet venting to the plumber who was doing some other work not-related to the septic/bathroom. We had been experiencing this burping issue before this - so I noted it to him - he claimed to be all over it - he extended the pvc toilet vent higher in the wall so it was up in a void open to an unfinished storage room and put a new studer vent on top.

If in fact my main drain to the tank doesn't have quite enough slope, I'm not thinking it's totally clogged. Rather, solids are sitting in it, slowly building up. Water is flowing over them, and perhaps at times, enough water flows through to completely seal-off that main momentarily - causing a vaccum of sorts.

Something else worth noting - when I open the washout - I can see water in there mixed with what appears to be TP. And that water level sort of pulses or waves or bounces rythmically - like it comes up 1/16th of an inch and falls like something is on either end pushing a core of water one way or another...