tank pumped now water over tank

[fbellflo]

HI,I recently had problems with my septic system.It has been here for 14 years ,never pumped.1000 gallon tank.Everything was draining slow and gurgling in the pipes.
I had it pumped out about a month ago,and thought everything was fine untill I noticed water coming from the hole where the guy dug up the lid to pump it out.I work late a lot and hadn't noticed it till I was doing some yard work on the weekend and noticed the odor and then found the cause of it.
Even when I was having problems, I never noticed any water anywhere in the yard,and I did go out and look several times.
When they first put the tank in we had water coming out at the end of the drain field.I disconnected the washer from the tank ,and that problem disappeared.
I'm just wandering if maybe he didn't get it seated back correctly,or maybe the lid he removed is now damaged,or if this is a normal result for a stopped up drain field.
Thanks for any help, Frankie

[joed]

Tank is normally full however it sounds like your leach field is overloaded and is not dispersing the water properly.

[suemarkp]

The tank should never overflow -- the output pipe is well below the tank lids. If you've never pumped, you've most likely got sludge in your drainfield and now it is clogged. You have to pump the sludge out of the tank or else this can happen (and 3 to 5 years is the recommended interval). There is an output baffle to block the sludge, but if it gets too high in the tank it can fall over the baffle and go out the pipe.

A septic pumper may be able to suck out your leach lines, but it sounds like the lines have always had an issue. There should never be water coming out the ends of the field (and how can that happen -- the ends should be buried about 2' down??). Sounds like the field is too small/marginal, and not it is totaly clogged.

[fbellflo]

Hi ,Thanks a lot for the reply's.It is a small field and it's all down hill.There are 4 lines from a distribution box.When it was coming up in the beginning the guy who put it in told me that I could either run the washer separate or run an extra line.Running an extra line would have meant clearing more land.
At that time there were six people living in the house.One by one,All the kids have gone.For the last 4 or 5 years me and my wife are the only ones here.
From the beginning untill it started draining slow,everything was fine.
I now know I should have already had it pumped several years ago,but it's too late for that.
I called the people who pumped it out.They tell me over the phone that I need to put in new drain lines.They only dug up the inlet cover when they pumped it,so I don't see how they can know that for sure.Actually the person who I talked to didn't even come out here,there telling me that because I told them that the water was coming up.
Before I try to come up with money for replacing a field,I would like to prove to myself that it is necessary or have someone to make an effort to check it for sure.
I've started trying to dig up the outlet cover,but not sure where to dig.
About how far from the inlet cover would the outlet be?

[suemarkp]

The tanks are typically about 6' in diameter. There will be a small lid (about 12") over the intake, a larger lid (about 18") in the middle for pumping, and a small lid again over the output baffle. Each of these lids is 6 to 10 inches from the other (edge to edge) and are usually in a straight line from house pipe to drainfield pipe.

If you dig near where sewage is coming up, you'll probably find the output inspection lid. One other thing to consider -- did anyone drive over the output line with a truck or car? That could break or crush the output pipe and is you best case porblem as that is easy to fix. Next would be having to clean only a few feet of pipe of sludge. But if it is completely packed with sludge, I'd replace it. If the pipes are clear, then your soil may not adequately perk.

If you have to replace your field, consider the gravelless systems like Infiltrator. These are 36" wide 12" high half circles you lay in a trench and backfill over. Much more difficult to clog, no gravel to truck in, and will perk much better compared to an equal length of 4" pipe in a gravel bed.

[AllanJ]

A septic tank rests at about 85 to 90% full. And, as soon as more waste water comes in, some liquid will immediately resume exiting towards the leach field. For a 1000 gallon tank, that means that if/when the amount of new input exceeds the amount of dissipated output by 100 to 150 gallons (plus the volume of the insides of the leach field pipes), an overflow condition will exist.

The exiting liquid will be slow to dissipate for any of the reasons mentioned earlier. If you wait awhile before the next person takes a shower or before the next load of clothes is washed, you will be less likely to notice an overflow.

Septic tank contractors rarely analyze and suck the leach field pipes. When the output is slow, it is normal to jump to conclusions (including over the phone) that there is a problem in the leach field and immediately recommend redoing the leach field. If/when sludge and scum (the latter has a lot of grease in it) gets into the leach field they will "seal" the earth surrounding the perforated leach field pipes and greatly reduce the perk rate.