Septic Tank Probs - Pat?

Sent you an email with a qualified contact. Good luck

might need to dig a ditch and bury a 6 inch perforated line from the BACK YARD to a LOW SPOT at the end of property to get the rain water soaked ground to BLEED OUT.

your laterals are probably 24- 30 inches deep... would be NICE to get the water table down to that area so the leach field was working.. I assume if you dig a hole 18 inches deep it will have water in it the next day ?.......... all depends on the surrounding ground and slope of the areas.. If you can dig 30 inches down and then have a SLOPE in the drain pipe to a ditch to gulley or LOW SPOT, that might help.... you got to get rid of the WATER TABLE if you want the septic field to work.

Edited by steve(ill) - 02 Aug 2021 at 7:59pm

Maguire out Virden Illinois. Sangamon or Christian county? If it is Sangamon 1000 dollars before you put a shovel in the ground. 480 bucks for a permit, 500 for soil analysis.

Had a soil analysis done for our drain field, a neighbor not two miles away used same company, no longer do a sry ground 5 gallon Percolation test, they actually analyze what soils you have and properties of that.

Ours has a sock wrapped perforated drain pipe where the pipe is surrounded by styrofoam almost packing peanuts where the evaporation value is good.

Neighbor had to have a evaporation lagoon as his soils do not allow evaporation at a high enough calie.

Dave, if you let your tank get to full and it discharges solids into the fields it'll plug them up and willn't work right when the ground gets saturated, don't ask how I know. 

Around here the dang Permitting now say you need a mound just about on every job . 
 So from the $4,000 jobs I use to install then are now $15,000 cost . 
Gave up my MN credentials as Designer, Soil Tester, Installer, Inspector a few years back as work was so slow and prices became out of reach on Insurance and Licenses in MN.
  I installed a lot of 12" grave-less leach bed for years , then went to chamber systems along with pressure bed at-grade system . 
  Seems the 1 1/2" rock in 36"W x 24"D  trench and 4" perforated pipe I first used is seldom used now as rock is to expensive.

1951WDNWWI wrote: We have a pressure fed mound system about 120 feet by 30 feet. Works very well. It is supposed to keep the perforated pipe from plugging. System was built 22 years ago. We had the force pump replaced 2 years ago due to failure of the motor. When the pump was lifted out it was twice the size of original. Bacteria loves to grow on warm places.

Edited by Trawler II - 05 Aug 2021 at 7:09am

Have installed pressure bed with chambers where hole was 30' x 60' x 2'deep and placed chambers in hole with about 1' between base - then backfilled over with material from dig .
  Ran a 1 1/2 " PVC through full area with it suspended from top of chambers with tie wraps - that pipe had 1/8" hole drilled every 18" - pump sized to give pressure to distribute flow to every hole under a pressure - 
 Pipe and chambers also pitched so they drain out after pump cycle so no fluid left in the pipes to freeze - pump riser also drilled with a small weep hole to prevent full system creating syphon or drain back  
  At grade can be rock or the gravel less tubes - similar to mound but where soil under the area will pass, yet restricting layer is 3' or less - again pressure distribution used so ponding in one area doesn't happen and full area is treated evenly . 

Another friend got called back to a job he had completed on a new house as the drain field was failing with water surfacing . He added another 100 lineal feet to system to solve the problem . 
 A month later he was called back out as surfacing water again appeared in yard . On checking around he heard the well cycling so looked around and noticed through window, kitchen faucet was running full on . 
  Seems the homeowner had a dispute with the builder and to get back at him he was purposely running water to make the septic fail .
  Matter ended up in court - friend got paid for the extra work and materials he spent in oversizing system .  

Dave H, your area may be near higher clay soils? Those soils can be hard & tightest so water doesn’t perk well? The 20 years - any tree roots possibly growing into septic drain pipe??
Ocassionally dump cooking yeast into toilets to help feed microbes & promote microbe repopulation in septic tank. DONT use any store box septic solutions, as they may kill microbes. Try to buy only septic safe detergents(Laundry, dishwasher, sink, showers, etc).

Edited by AC7060IL - 04 Oct 2021 at 11:58am

A few years back, the septic field at the place I worked had failed due to compaction of the ground, so the tank was being pumped 2 or 3x a week.  We found a company who came in and blew compressed air into the ground around the septic system that loosened/opened up the ground and the system was working again.  I do not remember that this process was called or who would do it, but might be worth investigating.