On Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:43:43 GMT,
(jamma-plusser) wrote:

On Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:32:19 GMT,
(jamma-plusser) wrote:

Incidentally, normally this inlet pipe isn't vivisble as it's under
water:

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g3...9/P4230011.jpg

The water and some floating solids usually finds a 'natural level'
just below the layer of bricks that you can see.

The usual problem that I get with increasing regularity WHEN the tank
needs emptying is that more and more solids get stuck between the
inlet pipe and the U-shaped arrangement that you can see around it.
This causes the toilet not to flush properly until I de-bung it by
using a long 'stick' to prod down into the area that you see between
the inlet pipe and the U-shaped arrangement around it. This frees up
the solids (fecal matter and toilet paper) and lets the water flow
back in that has backed up in the pipework leading from the toilet,
etc.

It's been like this from time to time ever since I moved here a few
years ago and is rather annoying. It can go for months without a
hitch, then when it's getting to the point where it needs emptying it
starts to need the above mentioned manual 'prodding' once a week or
so, perhaps more often.

It looks as if it might be made from sections of concrete pipe, which
is a perfectly good method of making a septic tank, however it doesn't
look to be very well designed.

The water level in the tank should be just below the bottom of the
inlet pipe, not above it. Normally the inlet and output pipes
terminate in a T so that solids enter the tank well below the surface
and won't block the inlet. It would seem that solids are getting stuck
because the water level is too high and the design of the inlet baffle
is poor. A quick bodeg might be to cut a couple of inches off the end
of the inlet pipe to give more room for the solids to disperse. You
should check the level of the outlet from the second tank. If this is
too high it will make the level in the first tank too high as well.

Normally a septic tank only needs to be emptied when the sludge at the
bottom of the tank is getting close to the crust at the top, so I
suspect that you are getting the tank emptied more often than
necessary because of this poor design.

Bill