SEWAGE PROBLEM Help !!!!!!!!!!!!

SEWAGE PROBLEM Help !!!!!!!!!!!!

Member since 2018 · 5 posts · 0 votes

I bought this rehabbed home about a year ago. I live in a single frame home that has an overhead sewer (sump pump, ejector pump). The toilet on the first floor would overflow with sewage and it would come out fast. Nothing on the second floor was ever affected. I had a plumber who said not to flush baby wipes(lesson learned). But a month later it happened again with nothing clogging it. Same thing, the sewage water would shoot out of the first floor. Had a different plumber come out(since the first one clearly did not resolve the actual problem). He thought I had a clog but I never did when he checked it. He ran some kind of snake through the toilet that was leaking water after he shut off the water from the toilet. He said problem was fixed. He did mention if it happened again that he would have to put a camera to make sure there were not any breaks in the pipes outside of my home under the concrete. Sure enough it happened again. 

Note:

It happened at random times, once I was using the shower on the 2nd floor, came back down and it was the sewage from the toilet on the second floor only. 

The other two times it was random. 

It was so much water it dripped down through my floors and through vents and it was about 2 inches of water in the basement. 

I had a guy come out again and he ran a camera and said there was a "break" 5 feet from the home and he would have to rip the concrete to get to it.

Does anyone have any idea what may be going on?

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  • Real Estate Investor · Des Moines, IA · Member since 2016 · 922 posts · 533 votes
    7y

    @Addy Anders

    I know sewage problems can be no fun, and stressful.  Sorry about that.

    I've never dealt with what you're describing - but perhaps can try to ask some questions that may help better understand the situation.

    First, you have an overhead sewer?  As in septic style system?  That just seems like a bad idea to me - sewer systems work off gravity, in every case I've ever seen - and my understanding is that even when there's septic tanks at work.  

    If you don't have something preventing backflow and an overhead sewer, then of course gravity will cause what went up to go back down.  If somehow something was designed with a pump, well, the pump presumably provides pressure to force something UP, but it will not operate all the time, so the delay in the flushing mechanism which is essentially just opening the flap/valve in the toilet, and then not having that pump going - will cause exactly what you're describing.  Gross.

    Sounds like very poor conceived plan for how your system was designed...............  So on to thoughts/remedies....

    1. Why not do what works and what everyone does.... use gravity?
    2. If that doesn't work the only other solution I can think of would be to disconnect the two systems from each other and set up something more like a porta potty where waste would go into a repository below and then be pumped periodically where it needs to go
    3. The one other thing to look at would be something called a backflow or check valve.  It basically just lets things flow in one direction, which is what you want....
  • Kenneth GarrettPro Member
    Investor · Florida Panhandle/Illinois · Member since 2016 · 4k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    7y

    @Addy Anders

    If your sewer line is collapsed it will clog the drain and will back up in the house.  The camera confirmed the problem.  The contractor is corrected, it must be dug out and repaired.  There is no simple solution.  This is a costly repair.  

    In my area depending on how extensive the repair, probably starts at $5000 and can go up.  You can always get a 2nd opinion to confirm, but I think it’s pretty clear based on the number of people who have been out.

    Good Luck.

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