We've had so much rain letely that the leach field in my cabin's septic system is backfilling the tank and flooding the sewage lines in the cabin. I think this comes from the fact that in order to gravity drain, my leach field is sitting in a trench cut into the clay that's about 5-6 feet below the sand around the cabin. The rainwater flooded the trench and (I guess) there's enough hydrostatic pressure from the water in the sand above the field that it flows the wrong way...back into the tank. On the good side, there isn't any sewage in it yet because we haven't completed the plumbing.

Obviously, I need to fix this. Unfortunately the gentleman that installed the system last summer had a stroke last spring and shut down his operation. Menawhile, you could say that I'm up ***** creek.

I wonder if I could add a sump with a couple of lift pumps and convert this jewel into a low pressure dose system?

Comments?

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

I think truckinik should be able to answer this one easily.

What would dozer do?

Damit man it's time to re-grade berry hill!

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-Marty

1986 300E 220,000 miles+ transmission impossible
(Now waiting under a bridge in order to become one)

Reading your M103 duty cycle:
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/831799-post13.html
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/831807-post14.html

When I discovered this, I was so fed-up with the whole build-it-yer-self house thing, the idea of using the dozer to level the 'entire' site crossed my mind.

I've since recovered my senses.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

In my experience you have problems, hopefully sand is not filling your tank.

Probably so. I'm resigned to having it pumped after we rectify the underlying design issue and need to start using the system.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

Outhouse.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Now might be a good time to re-consider that vineyard....soil should be fertile enough. Do you need a paddle? Sorry your having to put up with all this shi*.

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"It's normal for these things to empty your wallet and break your heart in the process."
2012 SLK 350
1987 420 SEL

Pfffffff! Guffaw!

B

...hovercraft.

__________________
Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

Hopefully its a simple blockage if its enough pressure to force the sewage back you are up to your knees in lambo's.

I am, I am.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

I have only a vague understanding of septics, but we did build a mound system once with a dosing pump and tank following the main septic tank. That was over 20 years ago and it is still functioning correctly.

First, it probably is a bad idea to cut your leach fields into clay. The reason that we had to build a mound system was the close proximity of a very dense layer of clay called "glacial till". This clay prevented any water form percolating down from a potential leach field. So we built a mound with proper earth to allow the effluant to percolate and filter before reaching the soil that overlies the clay. Most of the water in the effluant actually evaporates, IIRC.

So I suspect one way would be to do a dosing system as you note, but it will not be safe with the groundwater present, I doubt. If you have someplace to drain it to, you might be able to drain the surface water from the leach area with a "French drain", which is a trench filled with washed river gravel or pea fill with a perforated pipe at the bottom. The pipe would have to be lower than your leach to keep it from flooding.

These are just some ideas. You need a soil engineer to evaluate your soil and design a system for your conditions.

Don't bulldoze it yet!

Good luck.

Tom W

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

The installer came out last weekend and we have a plan for getting my system on line. It meets code to set a lift pump in the second chamber of the septic tank so, I'll run some electricity to the tank and Doug is going to install a pump in there and another field further up the hill. I bored several holes and found an area with about 4' of sand before I hit the clay. We'll put the new field there...about 150' from the house.

I also put an inflatable test plug in the outfall to the old drain field to temporarily stop the reverse flow of water and dewatered the two chambers of the tank. Once I got the flow under control, under the house the ground started drying out almost immediately. Yay!

We considered this but, given the ground contour in that particular area of the leach field there was no way to insure drainage of the French drain.


Thanks everyone for your comments and advice!

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

It sounds as though you've got a good plan of action, from my limited experience with septic tanks and pumping $h!t.

Our little local marina, where I keep my boat, talked about replacing our septic system for over a decade. New septic system vs. sewer hookup was dividing line and sticking point, so it remained a point of contention and never proceeded. Fear of liability for water pollution was our biggest fear should the system fail (even though the MDC routinely dumped excess waste water into the cove during periods of heavy rain and flooding until recently-it took a lawsuit to get them to take the cove out of the loop) and secondarily our showers were decommissioned because we didn't want to overwork the system. Four years ago as Commodore, I made it my duty (or dooodie!) to get it rectified one way or the other.

Long story short, we decided to hook up to the sewer system and did. The septic tank was at the bottom of a hill, about 350 ft. from the street and about 125 ft. below the street elevation-wise. We were able to use the existing septic tank as a holding tank and installed a macerator/lift pump in it to pump the brown water up the hill and into the sewer. So far so good. I wouldn't think you'd have any problem pumping that distance to another leach field.

Everytime someone flushes the toilet or uses the shower at the club, they think of me. I'm not sure how to take that

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)