[Septic system] Sand mound question

[Don Rickles]

Originally Posted by Bruze

Are you talking about the leech field?

Sand mound = leech mound.

It has 1 1/2” PVC piping horizontally with 1/4” holes every 6’, coming from the second storage tank. Now some 30+ years later these drain holes have clogged but can be cleaned and opened. They locate each lateral cut off the end caps and replace them with clean outs, then cut them off 2” below ground and surround them with a larger 4” cap that is set just under the grass.

He said I really should have had them installed after 7 years… Any future cleanings will only cost 300.00

[Don Rickles]

Originally Posted by Red Baron

Fist Packed For Freshness

So what kept you occupied while you were away from here for so long? Did you stumble across a cool site to hang out?

GTO needs you terribly! Yaddy like me splits occasionally…

[DJ_Critterus]

Originally Posted by Red Baron

Ha!
Did ya ever make pickled cabbage and/or pickled onions? Now that's some good eatin'.

Pickled cabbage.... Otherwise known as Kimchi. Taht stuff will cause you to burn a hole in your skivvies

[Don Rickles]

Originally Posted by DJ_Critterus

Pickled cabbage.... Otherwise known as Kimchi. Taht stuff will cause you to burn a hole in your skivvies

Can you imagine that it’s actually very good for you!

Man it’s tough!

[DJ_Critterus]

Originally Posted by Don Rickles

Can you imagine that it’s actually very good for you!

Man it’s tough!

Cabbage is a filler and really doesn't have any nutritional value beyond taking up space and making you feel full.

It's only other value is to guarantee a win in the office farting contest or cashing in your courtesy smell in the car

[Bill]

I was going to suggest simply applying some herbicide to the areas where the grass is growing higher than the rest. If you do it right, a little bermuda release treatment with Oust, or maybe us a growth regulating herbicide to keep the wet areas from growing up.

But there have been some other really good suggestions here, too. Nice to see OT coming together for good. We should do that more often.

[JRD77VET]

Originally Posted by Don Rickles

Our house has on an onsite septic system with storage tanks and an elevated sand mound. The system was put in completely new in '92. Over the last 30+ years we have had the tanks emptied regularly, the company actually asked us to wait longer between cleanings.

Starting last season I noticed a few spot that were wet with the grass 10x taller in these areas. The horizontal piping must have clogged holes and I'm asking if anyone has a recommendation to clean out the piping without replacing the entire top of the sand mound.....(which would likely require permits and inspections and mo money.....

We had two wet spots and our problem was the "orangeburg" pipe collapsed. ( that WAS the latest and greatest back in the day )

We had Clemens Septic Service out of Telford come out and fix it. We also had them use a power washer with a "reverse power jet" to clean out the pipes.

Great work, very good people and very affordable.

Top pic- New feed lines to the existing drainage field

middle- orangeburg coupler came apart and the fix ( this was found with the pressure washer and the "backwards" waterjet attachment)

bottom-- collapsed orangeburg pipe which "back in the day" was the good stuff

[The_Dude]

Call the guy

[JRD77VET]

Originally Posted by The_Dude

Call the guy

"My Guy" ( listed above ) is highly recommended

[Newby]

Best thing to do is to install at least 1 Effluent Filter at your tank outlet before the drain field. If were mine, I would put one at the outlet of the 1st tank as well as the 2nd tank. Several diameters and types available. Research which is best for you.

Pressure cleaner jetting should be more than adequate to clean your leech piping a lot cheaper.

Bruze is pretty much correct.
Adding too much bacteria like Ridex, yeast, milk etc can do more harm than good. It could possibly not create clean effluent and breaks the solids down small enough to leave the tanks and plug up the drain field (mounds) over time. You want the solids to make your sludge layer in the tanks to be pumped later.



https://www.zabelenvironmental.com/4...UaAsXXEALw_wcB

I'm so happy I got a house with city sewer that I bought a 1hp disposal and smile whever I use it.

[Yadkin]

Originally Posted by Don Rickles

Our house has on an onsite septic system with storage tanks and an elevated sand mound. The system was put in completely new in '92. Over the last 30+ years we have had the tanks emptied regularly, the company actually asked us to wait longer between cleanings.

Starting last season I noticed a few spot that were wet with the grass 10x taller in these areas. The horizontal piping must have clogged holes and I'm asking if anyone has a recommendation to clean out the piping without replacing the entire top of the sand mound.....(which would likely require permits and inspections and mo money.....

You system should have multiple lines to the nitrification (absorption, or leech) field. At the upstream end there should be a distribution box, and the box should have an adjustable outlet for each line. Raise the outlet for the line that is saturated, and let it "rest" for a few months while the other lines take up the water.

It's standard practice in commercial systems to divide the nitrification field in half, restrict flow to one half and dose the other. Then switch every year. Nitrification fields work best when they have an annual rest period.

[04 commemorative]

I'm glad I have city sewers here....all my crap goes under the bay to the mainland.

[Newby]

Originally Posted by Yadkin

You system should have multiple lines to the nitrification (absorption) field. At the upstream end there should be a distribution box, and the box should have an adjustable outlet for each line. Raise the outlet for the line that is saturated, and let it "rest" for a few months while the other lines take up the water.

It's standard practice in commercial systems to divide the nitrification field in have, restrict flow to one half and dose the other. Then switch every year. Nitrification fields work best when they have an annual rest period.

That's the ideal way, but older systems and many of the new aren't built that way.

2 tanks in series is also best, but seldom done unless required by code.

[Don Rickles]

Septic work was done this morning.

I had visions of tractors destroying the entire mound and lawn but no. Using a mid sized kabota they dug three, perfectly located 16”x16” holes! The ends of the pipes and end caps were exposed cut off and new fittings installed. They inserted a high water powered jet on a rigid hose into each of the three laterals.

I also had all the tanks emptied using clean hose water the pump was run the the fittings wide open flushing any remaining sludge. Then placed a 4” pvc cap over the fittings, covered with dirt. Future herrings can be done in minutes!

They did also find the wire ties holding the wires had snapped…. One more service set for next week.

[Don Rickles]

Originally Posted by Red Baron

Did they find Jimmy Hoffa down there?

I was surprised to see how much sludge had built up! The mound is meant for liquids not solids…… clearly years of pumping dirty dirty water has its residue….

[GrandSportC3]

I'm having similar issue with my drain field at times. (I also have a raised drain field that the sewage is pumped into). I really wonder how those drain field pipe holes get clogged as no solids should be making it into the pipe.
The way my system (and probably all the systems) is set up is that the main tank fills up with liquids and solids. Solids stay on the bottom. On the top, liquids overflow into the smaller tank with the pump. Pump then pumps the liquid into the raised drain field. Unless shit would swim on top, no solids are supposed to get into the 2nd tank. Every time I open up the tank, I can't see any solids coming into the 2nd tank. I have been living in the same house since 2010 and it was built in 1989. I always check with a 6 foot pole to check for solids and I can't even get to the solids 6 feet down, so I don't see a reason to pump it. My septic tank appears to be very deep.. Not sure how deep they normally are.

[Big bob]

I have seen this many times. Particulates will accumulate through the years and plug it up. If you can find the end caps it is a easy and cheap fix. You can buy a pipe jetter off Amazon for under a hundred bucks that hooks to your power washer.

[Don Rickles]

Originally Posted by Big bob

I have seen this many times. Particulates will accumulate through the years and plug it up. If you can find the end caps it is a easy and cheap fix. You can buy a pipe jetter off Amazon for under a hundred bucks that hooks to your power washer.

This is true.

A lesson learned. If only cell phone cameras were so readily available in '92, when the mound was built....

I'll let the pros jet wash in a few years. Dirty work.

[SurfnSun]

Supercharge your bateria population with Dr Pooper!!