Blockage between house and septic tank

Our kitchen sink will not drain away and pipes under sink and down to ground level are definitely clear.

Upstairs shower water, bathroom sink are draining (probably just because of the gravity) and upstairs loo flushing okay.

However, on examination in the septic tank, when we flush the loo nothing happens in the tank - no water, nothing comes out. This leads us to believe there is a blockage between house and septic tank.

We put drain rods down the tank today and although there has been a couple of slight gushes, the sink is still not draining. We have seen some largish lumps of white stuff floating, which we have removed and assume is fat (looks like polystyrene and breaks up fairly easily) and is shaped as though some of it has been stuck to the pipe (ie. curved). Is it fat?

The house was built in the 70s if that is of any help. There is no other manhole between house and septic tank. Obviously we are concerned we will be backed up before too long, or maybe the drain is broken (how would we know this?).

We're less than 6 months from going onto mains sewage so are hoping to try and fix this ourselves. Is there any product you could recommend to put down to clear, bearing in mind is to septic tank? Any other ideas would be very much welcomed.

probably soap. have you tried



other brands of cleaning products ara available

Have you tried getting into the septic tank and rodding in reverse?

mum - have you lived there since it was built; had any landscaping done that might have covered inspection chamber (manhole cover)? Also look for a 'rodding eye' to get your drain rods down; this eye could be near the house wall and may look like a circular disk. Lay your rods out on the ground first to ensure you have the full length from eye to tank then rod towards the tank (if you haven't got enough rods get some more, they're cheap enough). No eye then, with the correct length as above, rod backwards from tank as per Joe's advice.

If it was built in the 70's it should have at least one manhole where the WC, shower etc and kitchen waste join up, and one before the septic tank.
As Symptoms says they could easily be buried.

you don't live halfway down the A140 by any chance
used to do 1 there that always blocked up about once a year we used to
attend the same time as the sludge tanker and give it a good rodding.
this sorted it out for a while until the tank got a bit full up.

is the tank draining correctly? there should be run offs on all sides these
can get blocked up and the tank fills up with water very quickly when this happens,