Posted: Apr 07, 2021 11:05 pm
Shitter was full.
Well, we didn't know it, but it was. We had a double set of failures caught during routine septic service.
Here's where they did the digging:
Here's what's under ground:
The poo flow is from the house (black dashed arrow), into the septic tank, a two chambered digester that anaerobically eats our shit (yellow square). The three red shapes show the service access plugs for each chamber and the outlet. Most of the undigestible solids settle to the bottom of the first chamber. Mostly liquid pours into the second chamber, where moe digesting happens. Mmmm. There was originally a concrete baffle around the outlet, which had broken away. Its purpose was to prevent anything afloat in the second chamber from floating down the outlet pipe into the drain field, which it had, eventually clogging it, which it did.
The clog was at the place where the roots of some well established shrubberies the original owners had planted right atop the god damned drain field pipes. These owners knew where those pipes were.
It didn't occur to me to get a photo of the shrubberies before I cut them to stumps. They green leafed one was twice as tall as me. Now, I have to dig down 30 centimeters or so (less than half the depth to the drain pipes) and cut those roots off well below grade, where they can rot in place. Pulling the root balls out now would damage the drain field.
We had no problems, it was just time for a routine septic service. That sludge in the first chamber fills up over time, and needs to be removed. We've been here four years, and the suggested time to have it pumped is three to five years. Glad we found it and got it solved before we had shit floating into the bath or shower drains. Without sewer of some sort, a house can become very difficult to live in, maybe even impossible for some.
On the up-side, this is that economic stimulus socialized gub'mint handout of free money in action. I hired five people for the day with some of mine.
Well, we didn't know it, but it was. We had a double set of failures caught during routine septic service.
Here's where they did the digging:
[Reveal] Spoiler: Two small (1 square meter) excavations.
- Two excavations
- 64EFD563-7767-46DE-A72F-4290050EEE3C.jpeg (182.12 KiB) Viewed 1302 times
Here's what's under ground:
[Reveal] Spoiler: Septic system schematic
- Septic system rough schematic
- 1FBD0CC2-CD9B-45C2-AB2E-6A2B5FAC1369.jpeg (187.84 KiB) Viewed 1302 times
The poo flow is from the house (black dashed arrow), into the septic tank, a two chambered digester that anaerobically eats our shit (yellow square). The three red shapes show the service access plugs for each chamber and the outlet. Most of the undigestible solids settle to the bottom of the first chamber. Mostly liquid pours into the second chamber, where moe digesting happens. Mmmm. There was originally a concrete baffle around the outlet, which had broken away. Its purpose was to prevent anything afloat in the second chamber from floating down the outlet pipe into the drain field, which it had, eventually clogging it, which it did.
The clog was at the place where the roots of some well established shrubberies the original owners had planted right atop the god damned drain field pipes. These owners knew where those pipes were.
[Reveal] Spoiler: Situation stabilized
- The action taken to prevent recurrence
- F2619501-5F79-486A-B6D0-1D7780CA134E.jpeg (109.44 KiB) Viewed 1302 times
It didn't occur to me to get a photo of the shrubberies before I cut them to stumps. They green leafed one was twice as tall as me. Now, I have to dig down 30 centimeters or so (less than half the depth to the drain pipes) and cut those roots off well below grade, where they can rot in place. Pulling the root balls out now would damage the drain field.
We had no problems, it was just time for a routine septic service. That sludge in the first chamber fills up over time, and needs to be removed. We've been here four years, and the suggested time to have it pumped is three to five years. Glad we found it and got it solved before we had shit floating into the bath or shower drains. Without sewer of some sort, a house can become very difficult to live in, maybe even impossible for some.
On the up-side, this is that economic stimulus socialized gub'mint handout of free money in action. I hired five people for the day with some of mine.