Plumber recommendation...

[DaveO]

Originally Posted by lottathought

Dave,
It may be a partial clog..
The first thing to figure out is this...
What drainage lines have the problem? I think the problem is isolated to the "addition" to the house. It is effected by other plumbing actions in the rest of the house to some exent, but the majortiy of the "action" happens in the addition's bathroom.
Is it all?
Some?
If some, which ones?

It could be a feeder pipe or it could be the main drain pipe.
And yes..4" can be hard to clogg but not if some tree roots already started to partially clog it off for you.

Next...is it backing up, slow draining or just gurgling? Slow draining and major gurgling

Hey, I have a snake and although I know just enough about plumbing to be dangerous, happy to stop by after work tommorow and take a look.

I might have to take you up on that offer, although tomorrow wouldn't be good for us. Maybe this weekend???
Dave

[Alan in Little Washington]

It may be affecting the new addition the most because the way the drain lines were run or connected to the rest of the house, what size and pitch, and how vented. Is it a non-permit, homeowner, addition??? Is it on a slab or do you have a crawl space where you can go see for yourself?

[scsmith42]

Dave, many septic systems have a cleanout or access port somewhere between the house and the tank. If you can locate yours, take the cap off and see if you have water/solids standing in the pipe when the noises occur. Also see if you can hear the gurgles coming from down line (towards the tank).

If so, you'll probably need to pump your tank as Scott recommended.

[skysharks]

Yo DaveO, had the same problem not to long ago. New plumbing addidtion, gurguling , and LOUD when we did the wash.
I had a combination problem.
1. Drain field/leach line plugged up. and
2. a vent stack improperly placed.

Remedy was I replaced and installed a new 100 ft leach line and moved the placement of the vent to the correct postion which is after the p-trap . that was my fault.
The leach line got messed up by solids passing thru the tank system and getting into the leach lines. This is an old house and I have no idea how long it had been since it had been serviced. Also the house set up empty for 5 years before we moved in.
In theory septic tanks should function with out servicing. However with todays cleaning products, etc. The bacteria can get killed off in the tank thus the tank doesn't breakdown the stuff like it's designed to do.
So if the solids ever get into the second chamber, then into the leach lines they can go.
So every 2-3 years have the system serviced.
I now use a packet of ridex every few months just to help it out.

Placement of vents I learned the hard way. I won't make that mistake again. Heck even learned that they can go up into the wall cavities, and not have to pass thru the roof, at times.

Hope this info helps.

MAC

[Ray Martin]

DaveO,

I mentioned having a leach field repair in an earlier post, as well as the outfit that did the work. Mine turned out to be a stoppage because a large rock (now in the rose garden and named "the kidney stone") was pressing down on the drain pipe. After a bunch of years, it finally settled in enough to make for a blockage. The indication was a wet spot in the yard. When the repair was done, the service folks filled the trench back in and even scattered a bunch of grass seed and straw.

Hope yours is a simple problem

Ray

[Ray Martin]

Forgot to add this to my last post. This is what the honey wagon looks like...

Ray

[Alan in Little Washington]

Check out the note on the tank and the license plate!!!

I've seen some really creative things on these pumpers. There is one out my way painted up like a Dr. Pepper can, except it says Dr. Pumper.

[Tarhead]

Dave,
We had a "Poo Pumper" come visit us when we lived in Buncombe Co. They used a small radio transmitter which looked like a large capsule, flushed it down the toilet and went outside with a receiver and located the tank. They triangulated the location of the access with long steel rods and dug one ~20X20" hole. The transmitter was floating right on top of the poo along with other "Lost" items. I was making beer regularly at the time and declined their special yeast. Everything was ok in the tank as a result of regular infusions of dregs from my fermenter.

Moral: Make more beer! A batch a week keeps the Poo Pumper away.

[MikeL]

This comment is no help to Dave, but Alan I remember "Dr. Pumper" back when we lived in Greenville, NC.

His slogan: "Number One in the #2 Business"

[NZAPP1]

Just watch walking around the yard may turn them PEACH shoes brown

[NZAPP1]

Dave
It does sound like the tank is starting to get full. It may not show up as a over flow yet it is just starting to get to the level of the main pipe.

[Robert Arrowood]

So Dave you live in the country, you can build stuff.How about an out house.

[DaveO]

Originally Posted by Alan in Little Washington

It may be affecting the new addition the most because the way the drain lines were run or connected to the rest of the house, what size and pitch, and how vented. Is it a non-permit, homeowner, addition??? Is it on a slab or do you have a crawl space where you can go see for yourself?

Alan I suspect that is part of the problem. This addition wasn't done very well. I have no idea if it was permitted or not, but I would suspect not It's on a slab, and I don't think that there was any additional venting added.

Originally Posted by Tarhead

Dave,
We had a "Poo Pumper" come visit us when we lived in Buncombe Co. They used a small radio transmitter which looked like a large capsule, flushed it down the toilet and went outside with a receiver and located the tank. They triangulated the location of the access with long steel rods and dug one ~20X20" hole. The transmitter was floating right on top of the poo along with other "Lost" items. I was making beer regularly at the time and declined their special yeast. Everything was ok in the tank as a result of regular infusions of dregs from my fermenter.

Moral: Make more beer! A batch a week keeps the Poo Pumper away.

Mark that's interesting. I might have to have someone do that just to find my tank. There is absolutely no evidence of it's location or any clean-outs leading to it.
Making beer might help with the digestion in the tank, but drinking beer leads to filling it up again

Dave

[FredP]

I'm following this thread cause I got the same problem. Is the whole house on a slab? If not get in the crawl space and see where the big pipes go.should run down hill and out through the foundation. that will tell you what direction to start lookin in. your septic system should be on the low part of the property [ crap runs down hill! ] and probly isnt too far from the house. 10 - 20 ft would be my guess. buy, make or borrow a probe. pointy metal rod with a "t" handle on it. try pushing it into the ground. the tank will probly be not more than a foot or so deep. if this fails you can dig around the foundation till you find the line and follow it. keep diggin till you find the tank. where is the grass the greenest? that should be the drain field. the tank will be between that and the house. you may be able to get down low and look across the yard and see a indentation in the lawn. a 4 or 5 foot circle that is slightly low might indicate where it is. good luck!

fred

[scsmith42]

At first I was surprised to see how many folks offered substantive responses to Dave's request in such as short amount of time.

Then I realized that my observation only serves to confirm what I already knew...

NCWoodworker.net members really know their Sh*t!