Hi everyone, first post on this forum... been lurking and reading for sometime. I'm hoping someone may have some advice on a nasty little issue i've got!
We have built our own house, in the lovely dartmoor countryside, complete with septic tank and soakaway. The site was occupied before, and previously had a septic system, with no apparent problems.
3 years have passed since we installed the new tank and soakaway, and 2 weeks ago, our drains backed up to the first inspection chamber, who's lid happens to be the lowest access point that isnt sealed shut. We rodded the drains between the first inspection chamber and the tank, as the line had blocked, this being what we thought had caused the back-up. we also had the tank pumped, seeing as its been a couple years since it was done.
Two weeks later and our tank is full to working level again, however its full to higher than the outlet, and a small amount of water is standing in the pipe to the tank, you can just see it at the mouth of the first inspection chamber.
we ran drainage rods down the exit pipe from the septic tank, and it runs all the way to the end of the soak away run with no obstructions, and comes back with no dirt on it. We then decided after much research, one of two things is going on - the water isnt percolating from the drain field, or the pipe is lined with dirt and essentially sealed itself, so we dug a hole above the drain field, hoping to find the tank, however when we had gone down to about the level of the water in the tank, as i stuck the shovel in water began to enter the hole i had dug. the water is most definately effluent, it has that murky blackish colour and smells, well, like effluent!
now, im sure to this point, your thinking you've seen this a thousand times before... ive certainly read many other threads with similar failures, even in such a small time scale. see, the issue would appear to be the clay-like soil beneith our land, which acts more like a tank than a sieve. I have researched into alternatives, because i fear building another expensive soak away is only going to fail me again in a few years, and i dont have all that much land left to dig up, that meets the regs. I've looked at biodigesters, and an interesting product called the BioRock, wich claims to have such clean effluent, it doesnt need a soak away, however we dont have a watercourse nearby either, the closest to such a thing is the council ditch down the side of the lane which we live on (which our rainwater from the roof and driveway gullys already enters, along with the contents of land drains under the lawn, because without them the lawn would be sodden, and the soak away is right beneith that - not a good start!) the ditch is dry most of the year, when its not raining though, which i assume would make it a bad place for any effluent, treated or not, as it will most probably pool when released in small amounts.
so my issue now is... what am i supposed to do with my waste water?!?! if it cant be soaked away, and theres no watercourse for an airated system, and we most certainly cant afford the sucker wagon to come by every 2 weeks, at £55 a pop (nearly £3000 a year!) and the mains drains are miles away, up hill.
any thoughts appreciated, im going to have to get it pumped next week for now, just to give me some more time to make plans!
We have built our own house, in the lovely dartmoor countryside, complete with septic tank and soakaway. The site was occupied before, and previously had a septic system, with no apparent problems.
3 years have passed since we installed the new tank and soakaway, and 2 weeks ago, our drains backed up to the first inspection chamber, who's lid happens to be the lowest access point that isnt sealed shut. We rodded the drains between the first inspection chamber and the tank, as the line had blocked, this being what we thought had caused the back-up. we also had the tank pumped, seeing as its been a couple years since it was done.
Two weeks later and our tank is full to working level again, however its full to higher than the outlet, and a small amount of water is standing in the pipe to the tank, you can just see it at the mouth of the first inspection chamber.
we ran drainage rods down the exit pipe from the septic tank, and it runs all the way to the end of the soak away run with no obstructions, and comes back with no dirt on it. We then decided after much research, one of two things is going on - the water isnt percolating from the drain field, or the pipe is lined with dirt and essentially sealed itself, so we dug a hole above the drain field, hoping to find the tank, however when we had gone down to about the level of the water in the tank, as i stuck the shovel in water began to enter the hole i had dug. the water is most definately effluent, it has that murky blackish colour and smells, well, like effluent!
now, im sure to this point, your thinking you've seen this a thousand times before... ive certainly read many other threads with similar failures, even in such a small time scale. see, the issue would appear to be the clay-like soil beneith our land, which acts more like a tank than a sieve. I have researched into alternatives, because i fear building another expensive soak away is only going to fail me again in a few years, and i dont have all that much land left to dig up, that meets the regs. I've looked at biodigesters, and an interesting product called the BioRock, wich claims to have such clean effluent, it doesnt need a soak away, however we dont have a watercourse nearby either, the closest to such a thing is the council ditch down the side of the lane which we live on (which our rainwater from the roof and driveway gullys already enters, along with the contents of land drains under the lawn, because without them the lawn would be sodden, and the soak away is right beneith that - not a good start!) the ditch is dry most of the year, when its not raining though, which i assume would make it a bad place for any effluent, treated or not, as it will most probably pool when released in small amounts.
so my issue now is... what am i supposed to do with my waste water?!?! if it cant be soaked away, and theres no watercourse for an airated system, and we most certainly cant afford the sucker wagon to come by every 2 weeks, at £55 a pop (nearly £3000 a year!) and the mains drains are miles away, up hill.
any thoughts appreciated, im going to have to get it pumped next week for now, just to give me some more time to make plans!