Hey all,
I have a toilet and shower and sink in my basement bathroom. The drain line is in the basement floor. About 20-25 feet away, the main house drain comes down a wall and into the slab.
Outside on the patio, there is a washout in the main drain that leads to the septic tank about 25 feet out away from the house.
So - somewhere under my basement floor the basement drain line and the main drain line must meet up.
During times when the ground is saturated and during heavier overall home water use, the basement toilet burps, doesn't flush, and backed up once (not overflowed). We do nothing, and in a day, everything works 100% - and will continue to work perfect for pretty much 363 days a year.
Unfortunately, this problem always happens around Chistmas when it rains in Atlanta, when we have tons of family visiting (and flushing, showering) and we ourselves are washing lots of sheets.
The rest of the plumbing in the house always continues to work 100%.
I suspect that the saturated fields cannot purge off any more liquid, the tank fills and things back up. The basement toilet then "slows" or won't flush because the continued water use from the house isn't going into the tank any longer, but instead taking the path of least resistance and going back towards the basement toilet.
Would you all agree that this is the case?
I suspect that if we had no plumbing in the basement, the main drain(s) would fill up in the walls, but they could probably hold a good bit of waste - and the weight might squeeze it into the septic tank/fields. Or, by that time, gallons do in fact purge off from the fields as the overall system rights itself. So all this could happen and we'd never know it.
But we have the basement toilet - so we do notice.
Strangely, when we have issue, I open the washout and can see waste and water in there - but it doesn't overflow. I usually panic and leave the cover off/loose just in case.
Also - if we do nothing, the water level in the basement toilet will actually drop down to almost nothing - like water is being sucked out of it.
So is there really nothing I can do? Is this just a product of my house having the basement drain line meeting up with the main house drain under the slab somewhere?
And - if everything I said above is true/logical - then I simply just need to be extra cautious with water use during times of rain? That's all?
I should note the tank and fields were inspected less than a year ago and tank emptied. 100% good. Outlet filter clean, everything in good shape.
But we've had this same issue for 3 years. Emptying the tank is good I know, but it had a neutral effect.
I have a toilet and shower and sink in my basement bathroom. The drain line is in the basement floor. About 20-25 feet away, the main house drain comes down a wall and into the slab.
Outside on the patio, there is a washout in the main drain that leads to the septic tank about 25 feet out away from the house.
So - somewhere under my basement floor the basement drain line and the main drain line must meet up.
During times when the ground is saturated and during heavier overall home water use, the basement toilet burps, doesn't flush, and backed up once (not overflowed). We do nothing, and in a day, everything works 100% - and will continue to work perfect for pretty much 363 days a year.
Unfortunately, this problem always happens around Chistmas when it rains in Atlanta, when we have tons of family visiting (and flushing, showering) and we ourselves are washing lots of sheets.
The rest of the plumbing in the house always continues to work 100%.
I suspect that the saturated fields cannot purge off any more liquid, the tank fills and things back up. The basement toilet then "slows" or won't flush because the continued water use from the house isn't going into the tank any longer, but instead taking the path of least resistance and going back towards the basement toilet.
Would you all agree that this is the case?
I suspect that if we had no plumbing in the basement, the main drain(s) would fill up in the walls, but they could probably hold a good bit of waste - and the weight might squeeze it into the septic tank/fields. Or, by that time, gallons do in fact purge off from the fields as the overall system rights itself. So all this could happen and we'd never know it.
But we have the basement toilet - so we do notice.
Strangely, when we have issue, I open the washout and can see waste and water in there - but it doesn't overflow. I usually panic and leave the cover off/loose just in case.
Also - if we do nothing, the water level in the basement toilet will actually drop down to almost nothing - like water is being sucked out of it.
So is there really nothing I can do? Is this just a product of my house having the basement drain line meeting up with the main house drain under the slab somewhere?
And - if everything I said above is true/logical - then I simply just need to be extra cautious with water use during times of rain? That's all?
I should note the tank and fields were inspected less than a year ago and tank emptied. 100% good. Outlet filter clean, everything in good shape.
But we've had this same issue for 3 years. Emptying the tank is good I know, but it had a neutral effect.