Septic leech field replacement

**AirportFF** · April 21st, 2013, 09:58 PM

Having issues with my leach fields. Anyone know of a reputable septic company that will give me an honest estimate? Had it pumped last summer, prior to that it was 3 years earlier. Noticed some water bubbling up to the surface above the tank last month, so I had it pumped again that day. There were virtually no solids in the tank, almost all water. Today when my son was in the shower I noticed the water coming to the surface again. So I am suspecting that there is an issue in the fields somewhere.

**Exbiker** · April 22nd, 2013, 05:26 AM

Solids should be floating. If you don't see any then perhaps the outlet baffle is broken and allowing solids to flow to the drain fields. Fix ASAP as solids past the tax is serious.

Is this a sand mound, with a pump or a standard system?

Is there an Allstate septic near you?

**AirportFF** · April 22nd, 2013, 09:17 AM

It's a standard septic system. I had it pumped on March 27th. The first thing I did was go in the tank and check the baffle. There were no issues with it that I could find. The outlet pipe was full of water. I was thinking that the fields are saturated since we at the bottom of a hill. But I can't afford to have it pumped out once a month either.

**Exbiker** · April 22nd, 2013, 11:23 AM

Originally Posted by AirportFF

It's a standard septic system. I had it pumped on March 27th. The first thing I did was go in the tank and check the baffle. There were no issues with it that I could find. The outlet pipe was full of water. I was thinking that the fields are saturated since we at the bottom of a hill. But I can't afford to have it pumped out once a month either.

3 years a almost no solids? They gotta be someplace. You could check with your CEO but that could open a can of worms.

There are companies that hydroblast drainfields but I have no experience with that.

**phill** · April 22nd, 2013, 11:48 AM

If you have a comventinal tank it should be baffled on the inlet and outlet. They are normally on opposite sides of the tank, so it usually takes digging out the other access hole to check the outlet.
I have one couple that have a tank designed for 4 bathrooms, with just the 2 of them there is hardly any solids when we perform an inspection.
With all of the rain we have had this year, my guess would be that most fields placed in a low spot will have some leakage. If the leakage is contained and not running on to neighbors it should go back to working when the water table goes down.
I have no idea what the soil is like in your area but around here about the only systems that work are the ones with cloronated surface discharge and a seasonal leech field.
One last thing when your system is working normal it should be fed bakers yeast about once a month.

**staylo** · April 22nd, 2013, 04:11 PM

I am not a septic system expert, but they had a whole thing on septic systems on a recent This Old House episode that talked about septic aerator systems. They went to some government facility in Mass. that tests septic system technologies and the gov guy said that an aerator system can rejuvenate a failed drain field, or keep one from going bad. The systems seemed to go from as simple as an aerator pump that sits in the tank and bubbles oxygen into it, apparently boosting bacteria activity, to the top-of-the-line "membrane bioreactor" that seems to act sort of like a mini water treatment plant. Below a link to the episode on TOH, as well as a quick link I found to a company that sells the aerators. Who knows, maybe something like this will save you some money if the field's going bad. Good luck. It's a crappy situation to be in.(sorry, couldn't resist

)

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/tv/v...677464,00.html

http://www.septicaerator.com/