Hello.
I have some questions about our septic system.
Background to the question: The house is about 36 years old. My family has lived here 6 years. When we move in we knew nothing about septic systems. We were told that if everything was working properly that the septic tank would "never" need pumped. We haven't had any problems up until recently when our toilets quit flushing properly. We were concerned so had a plumbing company pump the tank. They said it was bad and had "extra heavy" sludge. We have no idea when it last pumped. Anyhow.. Found out we have 2 - 1000 gallon tanks. After pumping the toilets still were not flushing properly and had someone come out again because we thought the lines might need cleaned out. Well.. one of our three toilets did seem to be working and we could also run the dishwasher and washing machine/other drains were all working properly so the plumber did not think it had anything to do with the lines. He inspected the toilets, snaked, etc and couldn't find a blockage. He ended up just adding water to the tank of the toilets that weren't working and it seemed to fix the problem. He recommended that we replace the toilets or at least the "guts" because of rust issues and the parts were probably worn out.
The toilets seemed to function after the water was added to the toilet, but we noticed after flushing the toilet in one of the bathroom there was really bad 'sewer" odor that lingered in the bathroom. (this primarily was in one of the 3 bathrooms) This smell seems to come and go when flushing the toilet. Now a few weeks later our toilets again don't seem to be flushing correctly.. They do not flush sporadically or sometimes just don't flush completely. Perhaps the toilets all need replaced and that would fix the problem, but do you have any idea of what else might be going on? Thank you so much!
I have some questions about our septic system.
Background to the question: The house is about 36 years old. My family has lived here 6 years. When we move in we knew nothing about septic systems. We were told that if everything was working properly that the septic tank would "never" need pumped. We haven't had any problems up until recently when our toilets quit flushing properly. We were concerned so had a plumbing company pump the tank. They said it was bad and had "extra heavy" sludge. We have no idea when it last pumped. Anyhow.. Found out we have 2 - 1000 gallon tanks. After pumping the toilets still were not flushing properly and had someone come out again because we thought the lines might need cleaned out. Well.. one of our three toilets did seem to be working and we could also run the dishwasher and washing machine/other drains were all working properly so the plumber did not think it had anything to do with the lines. He inspected the toilets, snaked, etc and couldn't find a blockage. He ended up just adding water to the tank of the toilets that weren't working and it seemed to fix the problem. He recommended that we replace the toilets or at least the "guts" because of rust issues and the parts were probably worn out.
The toilets seemed to function after the water was added to the toilet, but we noticed after flushing the toilet in one of the bathroom there was really bad 'sewer" odor that lingered in the bathroom. (this primarily was in one of the 3 bathrooms) This smell seems to come and go when flushing the toilet. Now a few weeks later our toilets again don't seem to be flushing correctly.. They do not flush sporadically or sometimes just don't flush completely. Perhaps the toilets all need replaced and that would fix the problem, but do you have any idea of what else might be going on? Thank you so much!