Dang....Stupid.....House! (Septic Problems)

[edlin]

Okay, that's a bit frightening...

Are we really missing any data? Everything looks pretty normal to me.

edit: I see a lot of newer stuff is missing. I hope it gets restored...

[tractakid]

Mahnarch said a rude word!

It was the worst day of my life yesterday .

Edit: Old name and avatar

[Mist.]

Oh haha, I never really read that thing xD

EDIT: Of course I read it after posting this... heh

[Mahnarch]

Well, it's been 11 years since I moved in, so I guess something big had to happen (besides the 'fire of '02' in the garage - that was my fault but, no big deal).

It started with my south bathroom.
The toilet started getting slow to drain, then the tub (no shower)).
Then, when you flushed the toilet the sink drain would bubble.

I put Drain-O and the like down that potty, sink and tub and stopped using that bathroom to let the chemicals and Rid-X bacterias (bacterii?) work.

It didn't help.

Now, my other bathroom, which was working fine until a few days ago (and has NO connection to the other bathroom [as they each have separate lines to the tank in the back yard] is now plugged up.

I took a shower the day before last and at the end I was standing in a half a foot of water.
Of course, after I got out and got dressed, the shower water back fed into the toilet and overflowed it.

Now I've got a backed up system AND a wet floor!

I went to Meijers (a local 'Walmart') and bought an auger and stuff for stuffing down the drains and such but, it didn't do any good.

So, since last friday night I've been under my house, tearing into the piping and I've been digging up my back yard with a single spade shovel.
I found my "main" septic tank, since I'd dug it up 3 years ago, and started to trace the lines back to the house....

...It turns out, however, that I have a "Primary" septic tank that isn't 'openable'.
[read: someone put a 55 gallon (or something - I'm still digging) drum inline with the sewer line BEFORE it got to my 500 gallon, regular septic tank.

Now, without examination and purely on hypothesis, I'm assuming that that first tank is a solid piece of crap - literally.

11 years is a long time.
Who knows when/if the last owners did/knew about it.

Here's my deal:



Dang it! I'm too old for this. And, I'm too cheap to get backhoes in here (plus, digging it up with a backhoe is a bad idea, anyway).



Well, break time is over.
Back to it!

[dannyboy]

You would make a hilarious cartoonist Mahnach.

You could claim the dinosaur on your insurance as a reason for the septic failure, if they don't believe you just keep digging until you strike the oil. Then the septic expense will mean nothing at all.

[Jersey]

Damn man, that really sucks. I remember a few years ago when we had a similar problem. Our septic system started backing up in a similar way yours is now, with the shower and toilet problems. My father had been digging up some of the grass a while before and had "discovered" our main tank. So we dug up the lid and had it pumped. Well, a few years later we started having the same problem. We discovered (I forget how) that we had a second tank that nobody knew about. We've had one replaced, I know that much.

Now we're all just waiting for my father to get up off his butt and make the phone call to get us hooked up to the sewer line the township put in five years ago.

[Mahnarch]

Ha! Hey, thanks, danny.
I'm not very good at drawing with a mouse (right handed mouse - left handed me) but, I get my points across very well.

Hmm, you may have something there with the oil.
I could put one of those oil rigs in my back yard and laugh all the way to the bank!

***

Jersey, I see my 'secondary' set up isn't unique, then.
At least the septic guy won't be baffled when he comes.

The closest sewer line to me is about 2-3 miles, so that's not an option I'm willing to flip the bill for.

I did, however, spike the line while doing my discovery digging - dang it!
It's a small slice, so maybe I can just patch it when I can get it to stop draining and dried up (it's only water from the south bathroom - we were still just using the sink, but not the toilet, for months.)

and, OOOHHH MYYYY GAWWWWWWD!!!!

I found out that it is, indeed a cement tank, it just looked like steel when the hole was a lot smaller.
Luckily, I also happened to be digging within an inch of the lid, so I did find one but.....then I opened it.........and I was never the same, again.

Upon lifting the lid, I hear this 'kkwwwwssshhhhh' and move the lid to the side to look in.
The entire contents of the tank were coming up at me like a blob monster. One huge glob of many different looking things, mostly food stuffs and poo - and, somehow, bits of styrofoam got in there. Large peices that don't fit down drains.

The gelatinous monster over flowed into the rest of the hole I had dug before I could get the heavy lid back on.

So, I think I found my problem - for sure.

Now, where's the hose?.....

[Jersey]

Mahnarch, those bits of styrofoam you saw weren't styrofoam. If they were yellow colored, it was soap. Soap re-clumps together in the tanks. I remember because I asked about the clumps when we had ours pumped.

The whole thing was just gross. I hope I never have to deal with it.

[Blastgirl]

If you live close to railroad tracks, Phil has some experience with cleaning such spills. ;D just kidding Phil. Don't hate me.

[Mahnarch]

No, Jersey, they're not yellow. They're white - and I'd swear that it was 'foam'. Although, I could be wrong.
It could also be puke.....since I've done that at time or two in the last eleven years.

Since I've dug up the tank, my house is now starting to stink of effluence.
The "Surprise!!!" tank is only about 5ft from the house....
And, now flies are starting to show up for the party.
[well, not really 'flies' but, those small moth things that land on everything you don't want them to land on].

***

I could use Phils' help on this one!!!

....really.

That's what V.P.s are for!

[fartinggurl]

I'm really sorry that happened to you, Mahnarch. I've had no experiece dealing with septic problems, and hope that I never will *knocks on wood desk*. Anyway, that is a funny cartoon.

[Phil]

Good cartoon work. The life of a vice president is a harsh 1 indeed. That septic system once replaced should last at least 30 years from there.

[Mahnarch]

I'm really starting to think I have something here with the cartoonage.........maybe.

I could be one of those political artists that mock politics.
Of course, when.....err, I mean "if" (little 'i') I get into the White House, I'll have to draw pictures of myself.

Of course, I'll have huge, sparkling muscles and a gleaming white smile - cuz that's an unbiased portrait of myself.....

Or, is that 'gleaming muscles' and 'sparking smile'?
Meh. Tomato/Carrot.

*Insert awesome toon, here. (I'm too tired to make one up, save it, upload it and tag it){I have to wake up early to meet the Busscher's septic guy})*

***

Phil,

V.P.'s are expected to come to the aid of any adversary their Commander in Chief faces! - whether it's shooting hunting friends or misspelling common vegetables in front of school children....

You got an extra hose?

[Phil]

I'm sure theres 1 around somewhere.

[Mahnarch]

[Update on the tank]

Well, the tanks are emptied and I've still got problems.

Apparently, the clog made it's way up the pipe to one bathroom and hasn't dissolved and fell into the tank.

I flushed the toilet and it spewed black water right up into the tub - with 'cheetah-like' speed, I pulled the drain stopper and waited about an hour for the toilet to drain down and released the tub.

It slowly went down.

I'm hoping that, without anything behind the clog to keep it there, the erosion from a few sink usages and flushes that it'll clear the pipe on it's own.
Getting under the house to that area of piping sucks and my knees still hurt from doing it last time - standing in a squat for hours.

On the up-side, both of my tanks are so clean that you can eat out of them.....well, ma....maybe we don't want to do that... but, I got a discount for doing a '2 for 1'!

[Phil]

How can there still be trouble if the tanks are cleaned? Yeah, I wouldn't suggest eating out of them.

[Mahnarch]

[Update Nummba Deuce!!]

I did the unthinkable....

After a day and a half the potties and sinks still didn't work so I pulled the top back off the 'First' tank (the unknown about until recently one) and saw very little water leaking out of it [and I had just ran the toilet and such as a test].

I thought to myself, "Phil!", cuz, that's what I call myself in my head, cuz he's my hero, "What if I ran my newly purchased auger up that pipe, there?"

So, I adorned my rubber gloves and retrieved my auger and......*shudders just remembering it*...stuck my head down into the emptied tank to shove the auger line into the outlet leading to the house.

I made it about 3 feet, then a blockage.

I augered for a bit and a rush of water....uhm, I mean, ""water"" came rushing out.

YES!!! I thought. I'd gotten the clog!

I went in and flushed.

Backflow.

I shoved more auger line in and hit yet another block.
Augered a bit...and another few gallons came rushing out.

YES!! I got it this time!!!

No....I didn't.

Third time's the charm, though!

I was at the near end of my 15 foot auger when I hit the mother load.
I augered and augered.....and augered some more when the biggest, loudest rush of ""water"" came flowing out and into the tank.


FINALLY!!!!

All is clear and running like a champ!

...and I still smell like poo, after a 'descent' shower (since ALL showers had to be scheduled hours apart and lasted only 2-3 minutes, if that, in the last few days).

I'm glad this chapter is done.
I still have to fix the slice in the line I made whilst digging up the sewer line but, I'm thinking I'll just go down to Carquest and get a tube of two-part epoxy to plug it up.
I'll fix a crack in an engine block, it'll fix a slice in a potty line - and is as hard as steel when cured.

I'm definitely going to make permanent markers for both septic openings before I rebury them, this time.

Or, maybe I'll make above ground access ports that are coverable.
That'll probably be easier in 3-5 years from now - and I don't plan on going anywhere, anytime soon (heck! I've got a mortgage through the USDA* and a 3% fixed interest rate!! They aren't looking to get rich, and I ain't giving that up!!!)


*'United States Department of Agriculture' for those not in the know.

[weasel2htm]

Apr 25, 2008 3:47:01 GMT -5 Mahnarch said:

[Update Nummba Deuce!!]

I did the unthinkable....

After a day and a half the potties and sinks still didn't work so I pulled the top back off the 'First' tank (the unknown about until recently one) and saw very little water leaking out of it [and I had just ran the toilet and such as a test].

I thought to myself, "Phil!", cuz, that's what I call myself in my head, cuz he's my hero, "What if I ran my newly purchased auger up that pipe, there?"

So, I adorned my rubber gloves and retrieved my auger and......*shudders just remembering it*...stuck my head down into the emptied tank to shove the auger line into the outlet leading to the house.

I made it about 3 feet, then a blockage.

I augered for a bit and a rush of water....uhm, I mean, ""water"" came rushing out.

YES!!! I thought. I'd gotten the clog!

I went in and flushed.

Backflow.

I shoved more auger line in and hit yet another block.
Augered a bit...and another few gallons came rushing out.

YES!! I got it this time!!!

No....I didn't.

Third time's the charm, though!

I was at the near end of my 15 foot auger when I hit the mother load.
I augered and augered.....and augered some more when the biggest, loudest rush of ""water"" came flowing out and into the tank.


FINALLY!!!!

All is clear and running like a champ!

...and I still smell like poo, after a 'descent' shower (since ALL showers had to be scheduled hours apart and lasted only 2-3 minutes, if that, in the last few days).

I'm glad this chapter is done.
I still have to fix the slice in the line I made whilst digging up the sewer line but, I'm thinking I'll just go down to Carquest and get a tube of two-part epoxy to plug it up.
I'll fix a crack in an engine block, it'll fix a slice in a potty line - and is as hard as steel when cured.

I'm definitely going to make permanent markers for both septic openings before I rebury them, this time.

Or, maybe I'll make above ground access ports that are coverable.
That'll probably be easier in 3-5 years from now - and I don't plan on going anywhere, anytime soon (heck! I've got a mortgage through the USDA* and a 3% fixed interest rate!! They aren't looking to get rich, and I ain't giving that up!!!)


*'United States Department of Agriculture' for those not in the know.

Congratulations!!! BTW, you have Rural Development Loan don't you.