Help me with this example:
A home has septic that has always worked fine. A new "state of the art" field was installed 5 years ago by a professional known as the best in the business. The owners have the tank emptied and everything inspected. It appears perfect. A few weeks later, the owners go away for a very long vacation. During that time, a neighbor comes in and flushes a few toilets on occasion. It doesn't rain hardly at all during that time and conditions are generally dry. The homeowners return. The owner decides to look into the washout that's about 15 feet before the tank. It's empty as it should be.
Just then a typhoon hits, flooding their backyard. They don't use any of the home plumbing, and none of the fixtures are leaking.
8 hours later the owner opens the washout again to find it totally full, and finds he cannot flush his basement toilet.
With no use of indoor water and nothing leaking in the house, this backup was 100% caused by rain.
But how? And where would rainwater be leaking into the system?
I know septic tanks are only supposed to be full to the level of the inlet/outlet valves. Yet to backup into the main drain line and stop a basement toilet from working, that tank would seem to be 100% full, then the drain to the house starts to fill as well.
Is rainwater getting in through the lids of the tank? Enough to cause this so quickly?
Is rainwater simply and easily getting into the fields, going the wrong direction, and backfilling the tank, etc?
Is it a combo of both, or is one more likely the cause?
A home has septic that has always worked fine. A new "state of the art" field was installed 5 years ago by a professional known as the best in the business. The owners have the tank emptied and everything inspected. It appears perfect. A few weeks later, the owners go away for a very long vacation. During that time, a neighbor comes in and flushes a few toilets on occasion. It doesn't rain hardly at all during that time and conditions are generally dry. The homeowners return. The owner decides to look into the washout that's about 15 feet before the tank. It's empty as it should be.
Just then a typhoon hits, flooding their backyard. They don't use any of the home plumbing, and none of the fixtures are leaking.
8 hours later the owner opens the washout again to find it totally full, and finds he cannot flush his basement toilet.
With no use of indoor water and nothing leaking in the house, this backup was 100% caused by rain.
But how? And where would rainwater be leaking into the system?
I know septic tanks are only supposed to be full to the level of the inlet/outlet valves. Yet to backup into the main drain line and stop a basement toilet from working, that tank would seem to be 100% full, then the drain to the house starts to fill as well.
Is rainwater getting in through the lids of the tank? Enough to cause this so quickly?
Is rainwater simply and easily getting into the fields, going the wrong direction, and backfilling the tank, etc?
Is it a combo of both, or is one more likely the cause?