Septic Lesson#2 Simple Septic Problems

So if you've got a septic system that seems to be backing up into your house

and everything looks really bad there is one thing that you'll want to check

first because you might not have a plugged leaching bed which is the

ultimate bad thing that can happen. There could actually be a plug in the inlet of

the tank or the outlet of the tank. It's not unusual and I want to take you

inside the tank right now and show you what I mean and what to look for. So step number one involves just prying off the lid. This is a lid

arrangement that I've made. I'm going to be showing you more about how to make an

easy access rot proof lid like this on your own and these crowbars are great

for opening up the actual pouch. Now that's not pretty but this is a properly functioning

septic tank and but what can sometimes happen is that this kind of crust you

see here can actually build up inside this T fitting. The reason for the T

fitting is so that when water comes into the tank it's not just blasting into the

tank and causing all kinds of turbulence. The blast is deflected by

this T so the sewage water goes down. It's not unusual especially if the T has

been installed fairly far in on the tank for sludge or grease or other things to

build up in there and it can't get away from the outlet because of the T so it

causes a plug up. So if you've got sewage backing up in your house and it doesn't

seem to be to do with the pipes themselves check this first. If it's

plugged up just get a stick poke it down in there. If you see a gush of sewage

coming out you know you've had a very simple problem that's easily fixed

Something like this can happen on the inlet of the tank and there's the same

arrangement on the outlet as well so that's another place to check on the

other half of the tank