It hasn't happened yet, but I'm sure it will sometime. I live in a single
level 1 bathroom house with a septic tank. My suspicion is that someday
either the toilet will clog or the kitchen drain will. In the chance that
it will, what would be the FIRST thing to expect? My instinct tells me that
if my toilet ever clogs it more than likely is a problem with the septic
system - it's not like there's much to my sewer system - 3 inch pipe drops
down off the toilet and then a big cast iron one straight into the box.

So assuming my drain does back up, should I call the septic guy first or
crack out the plunger, then the plumber if that doesn't work?

"Eigenvector" wrote in message
. ..
It hasn't happened yet, but I'm sure it will sometime. I live in a single
level 1 bathroom house with a septic tank. My suspicion is that someday
either the toilet will clog or the kitchen drain will. In the chance that
it will, what would be the FIRST thing to expect? My instinct tells me
that if my toilet ever clogs it more than likely is a problem with the
septic system - it's not like there's much to my sewer system - 3 inch
pipe drops down off the toilet and then a big cast iron one straight into
the box.

So assuming my drain does back up, should I call the septic guy first or
crack out the plunger, then the plumber if that doesn't work?


I just had this happen a couple of months ago. If it's just the toilet
backing up, then it's most likely a plug in the line. Call your plumber.
If all the drains are backing up (shower/tub, washer, etc...) then you need
to check your septic. Oftentimes its just a clog at the inlet to the tank
which you can break loose yourself. If that isn't it, you might try
running a snake from your cleanouts towards your septic and then back
towards the house to see if there's a clog there. If that doesn't fix it,
then there are probably two other possibilities. One, your outlet of your
septic is clogged or your drainfield is saturated. Best to call the septic
guys for either one of those. Unfortunately my drain field was saturated
so I had to build a new one. Not cheap.
Cheers,
cc

"James "Cubby" Culbertson" wrote in message
...

"Eigenvector" wrote in message
. ..
It hasn't happened yet, but I'm sure it will sometime. I live in a
single level 1 bathroom house with a septic tank. My suspicion is that
someday either the toilet will clog or the kitchen drain will. In the
chance that it will, what would be the FIRST thing to expect? My
instinct tells me that if my toilet ever clogs it more than likely is a
problem with the septic system - it's not like there's much to my sewer
system - 3 inch pipe drops down off the toilet and then a big cast iron
one straight into the box.

So assuming my drain does back up, should I call the septic guy first or
crack out the plunger, then the plumber if that doesn't work?


I just had this happen a couple of months ago. If it's just the toilet
backing up, then it's most likely a plug in the line. Call your plumber.
If all the drains are backing up (shower/tub, washer, etc...) then you
need to check your septic. Oftentimes its just a clog at the inlet to
the tank which you can break loose yourself. If that isn't it, you might
try running a snake from your cleanouts towards your septic and then back
towards the house to see if there's a clog there. If that doesn't fix
it, then there are probably two other possibilities. One, your outlet of
your septic is clogged or your drainfield is saturated. Best to call the
septic guys for either one of those. Unfortunately my drain field was
saturated so I had to build a new one. Not cheap.
Cheers,
cc

Good god, I hope I don't ever have to deal with a saturated drain field, I
don't have near that much money.

thanks for the reply.