Septic System Failed And Passed Inspection?

[James DuBois]

Hey, we are in the process of trying to buy a home. It is using a septic system and there is no option to connect to a sewer at least not anytime soon. First Inspection company comes out and tests the system and says this " Recent attempts of repairs have been made, effluent levels in the distribution box are high, unable to dye test for this reason. Contact a licensed septic repair person and or the county health department for necessary repairs to this system. " They then fail the system on the inspection and say it is in an unacceptable operating condition.

I then call the company who did the most recent work on it and this what they did in November of 2020: Rehab of the septic system. Including Excavation, labor, materials. Jetted all leach lines. Pumped tank and leach field. Installed vents and clean-outs. Replaced baffle in outflow line of the tank. Installed two new riser assemblies. Replaced distribution box. Rough backfill to allow for proper ground settling.

Now what seems odd to me, is if you do this much work on a system and it still fails? I got in contact with the company that did this work and we met out at the property. He then said everything is fine and in working order and not to worry about the distribution box being high as the Water table is pretty high right now(Been high since 1/25 and still high today as of 1/26. (We have had some snow melting and light rain here and there. He did not dye test and says those can actually do more harm than good, he then said "All a dye test does is tell you where it's going not if the system is good or not. Now I've been doing some research and it seems no matter what, if the distribution box is high, that would mean the system has failed and is unable to properly drain into the field. The guy who originally did the work seemed honest and put his best foot forward, but still, the system fails on paper. Are we going to have to do this when we sell the house, I feel like that a failure would turn most buyers away. Can anyone shine some light on this, really not sure what to believe.

Thanks