[Karly&Gerry]

Hey,
We had our septic tank pumped yesterday, and although it is draining slowly, we are not sure if the leech field is plugged or not. I would like to know how much water is suppose to remain in the distribution box? At what rate is the water supposed to drain out of the box?

 

[Grampa Bud]

Is your leech field wet? Can you determine the pitch of the field from the tank to each of the drop boxes? Is this a new field or is it 20 - 30 years old? Years ago when I put in my system I had a water table roughly 5 feet below grade. I put in a 1500 gallon tank, 4 drop boxes and 200 feet of perf pipe on a nearly level grade and still maintained at least a 1/8 bubble pitch. The system worked perfectly for about 25 years until the village went to forced sewer and made me change over. Answer the questions, fix the problems, and you should be cherry. If aline is plugged the drop box will be full to the top with solids. You should have nothing in your lines or drop boxes but water. If a line is becoming saturated there may be a half full box of water that is standing or slow moving.

 

[Maintenance 6]

Only liquids should ever reach the distribution box. Can you see the outlet to the leach field or is it covered with water? Depending on your system there may be more than one outlet. One pipe should come from the septic tank, and one or more out to the leach field. The leach field should normally take water away fast enough that the outlet pipes are visible. Only if you had a large volume of water entering the box in a short time, should it back up. The disribution box will then serve as a holding tank until the water leaches away. If you are experiencing slow drainage, you should have pumped the distribution box out to be sure there are no solids lurking in it.