Septic and Drainfield

[Vanessa Dueñas]

I'm no longer shocked when someone tells me they "didn't know" they had a septic system. Usually people find out the hard way, there's poop everywhere, water isn't going down, can't shower, etc. I've also heard of people say that they pay for sewer, so they didn't know they had septic. Just because you pay sewer doesn't mean that you're connected to the sewer. But this mostly applies to houses built years ago. 

Here's how the septic system works: Water used goes out to the septic tank (Kitchen, laundry, toilets, shower, bath, sink), solids remain at the bottom of the tank and then black water goes out to the Drainfield.

To keep a healthy drainfield, I recommend servicing the septic tank every 3-5 years, if it's a SFH, and, 1 to 2 years if its multi family.

If your Drainfield is no longer working properly it could be a couple of reasons, some are fixable easily (not effortless), and others will cost you a bit more. 

Here are some basic scenarios of when the drainfield goes to **** (pun intended): 

1-  you have a hole after your septic into the Drainfield. This could be a reconnect issue. Easy, but labor intensive. Open the outlet, find where the disconnect is, repair it, done. 

2- The area where the Drainfield is completely saturated. You're screwed, you need to whole new Drainfield. 

3- There's a rug, boat, trailer, anything heavy or creating shade on the drainfield. The sun helps the drainfield dry up and if you're putting things over it, it can cause it to stay wet and not longer absorb water. And/or you put something heavy over it you can cause the drainfield to collapse. 

4- You flush wipes (even the flushable ones) and because those don't sink they float into the drain field, and,  again you're screwed, you'll have to replace the drainfield. 

There's obviously other ridiculous reasons why a drain field will stop working, but if you maintain good septic habits you should be able to preserve the life of your drain field.

Make sure to inform your tenants about what they can flush down the toilet, and that the sink isn't a garbage can. Try to keep a strainer in all water outlets. 

If you have any questions let me know, there isn't a ****** question I haven't  answered yet! 

-V