During the winter my septic system backed up into my basement laundry tubs
so I had the tank pumped, (it had not been done in quite a few years). Now
that the snow has melted I notice that whenever I do a load of laundry,
water puddles over top of the septic tank. After a while it drains away.
What would be causing this to happen?

Thanks

"weeG" wrote in message
ogers.com...
During the winter my septic system backed up into my basement laundry tubs
so I had the tank pumped, (it had not been done in quite a few years). Now
that the snow has melted I notice that whenever I do a load of laundry,
water puddles over top of the septic tank. After a while it drains away.
What would be causing this to happen?


Sounds like your drainfield has failed......

--

SVL

What is involved in repairing it? Is it something I can do myself?

"PrecisionMachinisT" wrote in message
...

"weeG" wrote in message
ogers.com...
During the winter my septic system backed up into my basement laundry
tubs
so I had the tank pumped, (it had not been done in quite a few years).
Now
that the snow has melted I notice that whenever I do a load of laundry,
water puddles over top of the septic tank. After a while it drains away.
What would be causing this to happen?


Sounds like your drainfield has failed......

--

SVL

Leech field may need to be reworked or, as was in my case, one of my pipes
was blocked going into the tank. After snaking them all out, and power
washing with a power nozzle on the hose, the problem went away.


"PrecisionMachinisT" wrote in message
...

"weeG" wrote in message
ogers.com...
During the winter my septic system backed up into my basement laundry
tubs
so I had the tank pumped, (it had not been done in quite a few years).
Now
that the snow has melted I notice that whenever I do a load of laundry,
water puddles over top of the septic tank. After a while it drains away.
What would be causing this to happen?


Sounds like your drainfield has failed......

--

SVL

So I should get a shovel and start digging on the output side of the septic
tank. I'm assuming the pipes are fairly easy to find and follow. Any tips
or tricks or just start digging?

"Lost-In-Translation" wrote in
message hlink.net...
Leech field may need to be reworked or, as was in my case, one of my pipes
was blocked going into the tank. After snaking them all out, and power
washing with a power nozzle on the hose, the problem went away.


"PrecisionMachinisT" wrote in message
...

"weeG" wrote in message
ogers.com...
During the winter my septic system backed up into my basement laundry
tubs
so I had the tank pumped, (it had not been done in quite a few years).
Now
that the snow has melted I notice that whenever I do a load of
laundry,
water puddles over top of the septic tank. After a while it drains
away.
What would be causing this to happen?


Sounds like your drainfield has failed......

--

SVL

Find your tank top, once dug out and open, you'll be able to look down and
see your pipe coming in. You'll have at least one, of course, or more.
Mine had two going in. I ran the hose from the septic tank side up as far
as I could go to flush them out. I also have a stand pipe in my yard, I
open the cap and it is an access pipe between the house and the tank, I was
able to flush from there also.

Just like snowflakes, no to septic setups are alike.

I wish you luck.



"weeG" wrote in message
news
So I should get a shovel and start digging on the output side of the
septic
tank. I'm assuming the pipes are fairly easy to find and follow. Any tips
or tricks or just start digging?

"Lost-In-Translation" wrote in
message hlink.net...
Leech field may need to be reworked or, as was in my case, one of my
pipes
was blocked going into the tank. After snaking them all out, and power
washing with a power nozzle on the hose, the problem went away.


"PrecisionMachinisT" wrote in message
...

"weeG" wrote in message
ogers.com...
During the winter my septic system backed up into my basement
laundry
tubs
so I had the tank pumped, (it had not been done in quite a few
years).
Now
that the snow has melted I notice that whenever I do a load of
laundry,
water puddles over top of the septic tank. After a while it drains
away.
What would be causing this to happen?


Sounds like your drainfield has failed......

--

SVL

In my case the tank was just pumped a couple of months back so I'm thinking
my problem is output from the tank not input. The same process for either
direction into or out of the tank?

Thanks

"Lost-In-Translation" wrote in
message link.net...
Find your tank top, once dug out and open, you'll be able to look down and
see your pipe coming in. You'll have at least one, of course, or more.
Mine had two going in. I ran the hose from the septic tank side up as far
as I could go to flush them out. I also have a stand pipe in my yard, I
open the cap and it is an access pipe between the house and the tank, I
was
able to flush from there also.

Just like snowflakes, no to septic setups are alike.

I wish you luck.



"weeG" wrote in message
news
So I should get a shovel and start digging on the output side of the
septic
tank. I'm assuming the pipes are fairly easy to find and follow. Any
tips
or tricks or just start digging?

"Lost-In-Translation" wrote in
message hlink.net...
Leech field may need to be reworked or, as was in my case, one of my
pipes
was blocked going into the tank. After snaking them all out, and
power
washing with a power nozzle on the hose, the problem went away.


"PrecisionMachinisT" wrote in message
...

"weeG" wrote in message
ogers.com...
During the winter my septic system backed up into my basement
laundry
tubs
so I had the tank pumped, (it had not been done in quite a few
years).
Now
that the snow has melted I notice that whenever I do a load of
laundry,
water puddles over top of the septic tank. After a while it drains
away.
What would be causing this to happen?


Sounds like your drainfield has failed......

--

SVL

"weeG" wrote in message
. rogers.com...

"PrecisionMachinisT" wrote in message
...

"weeG" wrote in message
ogers.com...
During the winter my septic system backed up into my basement laundry
tubs
so I had the tank pumped, (it had not been done in quite a few years).
Now
that the snow has melted I notice that whenever I do a load of
laundry,
water puddles over top of the septic tank. After a while it drains
away.
What would be causing this to happen?


Sounds like your drainfield has failed......

What is involved in repairing it? Is it something I can do myself?


Its a lot of digging--and maybe its just the outlet pipe or a distribution
box has shifted.

If you are in the sticks at all, I would look around and find if a neighbor
has a backhoe, often someone local can come out and inspect /advise and may
well be your most economical contractor for such work, as he wont have to
drive his backhoe too far to your place.

I have replaced a drainfield myself in the past renting a small excavator,
but beware there are most likely permitting issues, depending on where you
are located.

Good luck........

--

SVL

"weeG" wrote in message
news
In my case the tank was just pumped a couple of months back so I'm
thinking
my problem is output from the tank not input. The same process for either
direction into or out of the tank?

No, out of the tank goes into your leech field, you don't want to be
flooding that with water. After a good amount of time, a leech field can
become dirt/clay heavy instead of rock. When that happens your leech field
fails to do it's job properly. That's when you have to bring in the
backhoe, dig it all out and lay fresh rock, then cover it back up with
dirt/topsoil/sod.

Septic tanks work well when they work, but when they go whacko, it's never
an easy job.

It's been real wet here this spring and the lawn over the leech bed is much
wetter than the rest of the lawn. A neighbour who has lived in town
suggested that it might also be that the lines are just full of water. The
weather shows 4 or 5 days of dry weather coming up so I'm going to leave it
be for few days and keep a close eye on it. If it's still puddling over the
tank after a few dry days I'll start digging the leech field from the tank
out and hope I can find and clear/replace any blocked pipes.

Thanks

"Lost-In-Translation" wrote in
message link.net...

"weeG" wrote in message
news
In my case the tank was just pumped a couple of months back so I'm
thinking
my problem is output from the tank not input. The same process for
either
direction into or out of the tank?

No, out of the tank goes into your leech field, you don't want to be
flooding that with water. After a good amount of time, a leech field can
become dirt/clay heavy instead of rock. When that happens your leech
field
fails to do it's job properly. That's when you have to bring in the
backhoe, dig it all out and lay fresh rock, then cover it back up with
dirt/topsoil/sod.

Septic tanks work well when they work, but when they go whacko, it's never
an easy job.

It's been a few dry days and there is no improvement. I'll be buying some
rubber gloves and a shovel tomorrow. Wish me luck. Thanks
"weeG" wrote in message
.cable.rogers.com...
It's been real wet here this spring and the lawn over the leech bed is
much
wetter than the rest of the lawn. A neighbour who has lived in town
suggested that it might also be that the lines are just full of water. The
weather shows 4 or 5 days of dry weather coming up so I'm going to leave
it
be for few days and keep a close eye on it. If it's still puddling over
the
tank after a few dry days I'll start digging the leech field from the tank
out and hope I can find and clear/replace any blocked pipes.

Thanks

"Lost-In-Translation" wrote in
message link.net...

"weeG" wrote in message
news
In my case the tank was just pumped a couple of months back so I'm
thinking
my problem is output from the tank not input. The same process for
either
direction into or out of the tank?

No, out of the tank goes into your leech field, you don't want to be
flooding that with water. After a good amount of time, a leech field
can
become dirt/clay heavy instead of rock. When that happens your leech
field
fails to do it's job properly. That's when you have to bring in the
backhoe, dig it all out and lay fresh rock, then cover it back up with
dirt/topsoil/sod.

Septic tanks work well when they work, but when they go whacko, it's
never
an easy job.

Wrong direction to take.

weeG wrote in message
. cable.rogers.com...
It's been a few dry days and there is no improvement. I'll be buying some
rubber gloves and a shovel tomorrow. Wish me luck. Thanks
"weeG" wrote in message
.cable.rogers.com...
It's been real wet here this spring and the lawn over the leech bed is
much
wetter than the rest of the lawn. A neighbour who has lived in town
suggested that it might also be that the lines are just full of water.
The
weather shows 4 or 5 days of dry weather coming up so I'm going to leave
it
be for few days and keep a close eye on it. If it's still puddling over
the
tank after a few dry days I'll start digging the leech field from the
tank
out and hope I can find and clear/replace any blocked pipes.

Thanks

"Lost-In-Translation" wrote in
message link.net...

"weeG" wrote in message
news In my case the tank was just pumped a couple of months back so I'm
thinking
my problem is output from the tank not input. The same process for
either
direction into or out of the tank?

No, out of the tank goes into your leech field, you don't want to be
flooding that with water. After a good amount of time, a leech field
can
become dirt/clay heavy instead of rock. When that happens your leech
field
fails to do it's job properly. That's when you have to bring in the
backhoe, dig it all out and lay fresh rock, then cover it back up with
dirt/topsoil/sod.

Septic tanks work well when they work, but when they go whacko, it's
never
an easy job.

I had the same problem and installed a clean out at the head of each major
run of the field. It was gross but having the cleanout saved a lot of
digging in the following seasons.





"weeG" wrote in message
news
So I should get a shovel and start digging on the output side of the
septic
tank. I'm assuming the pipes are fairly easy to find and follow. Any tips
or tricks or just start digging?

"Lost-In-Translation" wrote in
message hlink.net...
Leech field may need to be reworked or, as was in my case, one of my
pipes
was blocked going into the tank. After snaking them all out, and power
washing with a power nozzle on the hose, the problem went away.


"PrecisionMachinisT" wrote in message
...

"weeG" wrote in message
ogers.com...
During the winter my septic system backed up into my basement
laundry
tubs
so I had the tank pumped, (it had not been done in quite a few
years).
Now
that the snow has melted I notice that whenever I do a load of
laundry,
water puddles over top of the septic tank. After a while it drains
away.
What would be causing this to happen?


Sounds like your drainfield has failed......

--

SVL