Ground? Water dripping into the septic

[pablo2007]

There is a constant water (like a faucet turned on, with moderate water coming in) into the spetic chamber with nothing going in from the house. It is not the effluent coming back. The water comes from the uper left side of the tank (used a flashlight) and it is a continuous drip. A friend of mine says that it is because we just had some heavy rain, and it should stop after a few days. Is it ground water finding its way into the tank? Is this common?

[AllanJ]

I would say that a small leak at the top of the septic tank allowing ground water to seep in (less than a gallon a minute) should not be of concern. There will simply be an equivalent constant flow out into the leaching field.

A larger flow should be investigated and corrected. An intermittent large demand from the house plus the aforementioned constant flow if large might exceed the capacity of the system as a whole.

You might try digging near the corner of the tank where the flow seems to be coming from, to see if the tank is cracked there and/or if ground water has gotten there.

Note: When nothing is coming in, the septic tank rests at about 80 percent full not counting foam on top of the liquid.

[wootoot]

should be ok, i am thinking the heavy rains are the cause. double check every pipe in the home just to make sure that you do not have a leak somewhere. look at your water meter when all running water is off and see if you can notice dial movement.