New to septic system with some questions

[m4tom]

I have been living in my current home with a septic tank for five years. I know nothing of septic tanks and want to ask if there is anything should or need to do?

Let me provide some information on the system I have. The home was built in 1959 and has two full baths. When I moved in I found a rock in the yard covering a hole in which I could see water pouring from a pipe into what looked like a drain at the time when the shower or toilet was run.

I asked a plumber working on the house next door about it and he said to cover it up right away to prevent grass clippings from getting into the septic tank. That was when I found out I had a septic tank (so much for the house inspection). The opening was about six inches in diameter and about six inches below grade. I plugged it with a small bucket and cast a concrete collar around it to grade, then placed a concrete patio stone on it wit a gasket.

I haven’t had any problems with the system and I have added that ZEP bacteria product every six months. I did look into the opening and see that the pipe just pours water into the top of the water level. From reading the posts I note most if not all have a t-fitting where the water comes into the tank.

One last thing, the grade around the tank is slopping away from the tank, and there is like a gopher hole for no reason I can see in the area where I believe is the field.

Has the soil around the tank settled from the years? I would like to build that area up so I can have a better even looking lawn.

Thanks for you answers,

Tom in Miami.

[suemarkp]

You need to look inside the tank. There are things that never decompose and sink to the bottom, and there is a scum layer that floats on top. The output pipe must have a Tee and that tee is designed to take water from about the middle depth of the tank. If the solids on the bottom or scum on the top get too thick, this this material will go out the tee and clog your drainfield. You need to pump your tank whenever the scum layer or solids layer is too think. You also need to inspect to make sure your output baffle (tee) is in good shape.

A septic tank normally has three holes. A small on above the water entry and exit where you can see the baffle, and a large one in the center that is used to pump things out. This is also usually where you jam a stick to see how think the layers of scum or solids are. The only two septic tanks I've ever seen had about 8" small access holes and an 18" large access hole.

It is also important not to put certain things down the drain. Things like grease and paint are very bad. A bunch of chlorox will kill off all the bacteria, but it will eventually come back as long as someone keeps pooping into the tank. A garbage disposal puts a tremendous load on the bacteria in the tank, so it is best not to have one of those unless your tank is very large.

Covering the drain field or septic tank area with dirt should be fine. What you don't want to do is plant trees or bushes on top of the drain field as the roots will clog the drain pipes. Having grass growing on the drainfield is best, as the shallow roots help absorb the liquid from the soil and evaporate it.

Around here, you can't buy/sell a house without getting a septic tank inspection (which requires a pump out that is tyipcally about $200). The buyer gets a notice that must be initialed in about 6 places and signed telling you about the requirements to inspect and pump the tank, what not to put down it, and a bunch of other things.

[mdshunk]

I might add that if you've been there for 5 years, and it's unknown when the tank was pumped out before that, go ahead and have it pumped out. That way, at least you'll know where you stand and you can get on some sort of schedule. In Mark's area it might be 200 bucks to get a tank pumped out, but in mine it's only 80 bucks. Depends on where you live. Most of the time they're around 1000 gallons. Normally, the septic pump guy will shine a light around down in there and give a cursory opinion on the condition of the thing too.

[joed]

Normally a septic tank has two compartments. There should be second lid for the other chamber. You should get both chambers pumped out.