have to blame someone so i pick the socialists

[Lloyd Smale]

Ive got a small apartment out back my learning disabled son lives in. When i build it i did an "ILLEGAL" sepic with 6 infiltrators. Last couple days its been backing up into his shower so i dug it up. Its in a crap location hard to get a truck to so i havent had it pumped in the 10 years its been there. Tank was full of crap and the infiltrators seem to be about plugged solid. More good guns and toy money getting flushed. Good thing is my ex son in law is like a son to me and he has a skidsteer and is willing to do the work. Sitting here pissed off with a glass of whiskey. Then i though it might be a good thing. At least it didnt happen in the winter when its covered with 4 feet of snow. Must be do to global warming!!!

[Graybeard]

Must be Lloyd, I just went thru that with our septic tank on Friday. Cost me $750 to get it cleaned out and working again.

What is an infiltrator? I don't recognize that term.

[oldandslow2]

I am curious also. All I have is lateral line and mine was put in around 10 years ago when the old system finally quit.

[Dee]

I don't know what it is either. Does flushing Ridd once every month or so help?

[DDZ]

I don't know what it is either. Does flushing Ridd once every month or so help?

I've heard pros and cons of flushing stuff like Rid-X.  I asked the guy that pumped my tank about Rid-X. He said it takes awhile for it to start working. I never did use Rid-X, and didn't have my tank pumped for 40 years until this year. I started laying awake at night thinking about my septic plugging up because I had heard of a couple people whos septic backed up. So I had it done. I'm glad I did. After the guy pumped it out he sold me a bottle of bacteria called Bac-To-Nature liquid live micro organisms. Can't find it online anywhere. So don't know where he gets it from. Worst things for septic tanks are commode cleaners, soaps, and bleach.

[DDZ]

Ive got a small apartment out back my learning disabled son lives in. When i build it i did an "ILLEGAL" sepic with 6 infiltrators. Last couple days its been backing up into his shower so i dug it up. Its in a crap location hard to get a truck to so i havent had it pumped in the 10 years its been there. Tank was full of crap and the infiltrators seem to be about plugged solid. More good guns and toy money getting flushed. Good thing is my ex son in law is like a son to me and he has a skidsteer and is willing to do the work. Sitting here pissed off with a glass of whiskey. Then i though it might be a good thing. At least it didnt happen in the winter when its covered with 4 feet of snow. Must be do to global warming!!!

If my septic tank backed up. I'd certainly have a few glasses of whiskey or Bourbon also. Do infiltrators help disperse the waste water more efficiently into the leech bed?  Yes for sure its best that it happened now, instead of when there is a couple feet of snow on the ground. 

[phalanx]

I have riser lids on my tank, so i can keep an eye on it. They say tree roots wont grow into it, but i don't believe that.

[TrumpWon]

Infiltrators are basically upside-down plastic bathtubs that you connect together to create a leach field. Effluent from the septic tank flows to the infiltrators where the last bit of digestion takes place and the effluent is absorbed into the ground. They have a bunch of slits in them so that evaporation can take place. You don't need gravel beds like the typical leach field. They should cost less than a gravel bed leach field. Around here it's all they use for septic systems.

https://www.infiltratorwater.com/products/chambers/
 

[Lloyd Smale]

yup thats how they work. Funny thing is that i had decided to dig up a new area and put twice as many new ones in and found i cant buy them localy anywhere. Seems our country code no longers allows them to be used. My guess is more people them me have had problems with them.

Infiltrators are basically upside-down plastic bathtubs that you connect together to create a leach field. Effluent from the septic tank flows to the infiltrators where the last bit of digestion takes place and the effluent is absorbed into the ground. They have a bunch of slits in them so that evaporation can take place. You don't need gravel beds like the typical leach field. They should cost less than a gravel bed leach field. Around here it's all they use for septic systems.

https://www.infiltratorwater.com/products/chambers/

[Lloyd Smale]

My sewer pumper is a fishing buddy of mine. He told me NEVER use rid x. Its a scam and doesnt work and if anything can kill some of the bacteria you need. He suggested flushing a busted up cake of yeast down your toilet every 6 months if your not using your septic much. Like if your gone away for the summer ect. He said with normal use and at least two people living in the house nothing is really needed or will do much good. He said soap skum is the worse problem and theres nothing that will break it up. He did say if you have a septic its good to look at your hand soap and laundry detergent and make sure its not anti bacterial and to use liquid laundry soap vs powdered. Second big no no is putting grease in it. Throw your old cooking oil and grease in a jar and put it in the trash. Dont rinse it down the drain. I think my problem was a combo of a few things. First it was a small drain field, probably to small. Second is i put a small clothes washer out there for the kid and third was he went to live with his mother for 3 years and it sat idle. Forth is because of its location I havent had it pumped in 10 years. It will now go on a three year rotation when i get my main septic tank pumped.

I don't know what it is either. Does flushing Ridd once every month or so help?

[ironglow]

  I think septic conditions differ greatly, depending upon where one lives.  When I lived in the Texas gulf area, the soul was hard packed sand.  So hard packed, that a grease trap was mandatory, to avoid clogging.
   
   Where I live now, the soil in a gravel/loam.  The gravel of course, is glacial deposit..and the loam is fertility built up over the millennial.

   Septic tanks require little maintenance.   In 1999, when I set up anew the place where I live today, I installed a 1500 gallon tank with 4@, 30' leech lines.  Of course there was just the wife and me, but in 2014 I had it pumped "just in case"...I may have been premature in doing that..

  Years ago, when a new tank was installed, folks would usually break up a cake of yeast and flush it down.  They claimed it did the trick  !  I don't know....

[TrumpWon]

I used to design septic systems. When I saw that there were only six infiltrators my first thought was that there should have been more. Granted the ones I designed had more bedrooms and I don’t know your perc rates etc. but I can’t remember any with less than 16 infiltrators.

[Lloyd Smale]

no it sure wasnt to code. I just had my kid living there and he shower every other day and washes his clothes in my house. I lived 5 years in a trailer when i got out of the service that had a 20 foot run of drain pipe and a 275 gallon fuel oil tank without even a baffle and even did laundry. I figured it would hold up but it obviously didnt. Like i said from what im hearing those infiltrators are junk. There not even code in our county anymore and the septic guy came and pumped the tank today and he said he wouldnt touch them with a 10 foot pole. Were doing 4 runs of drain pipe 40 feet long. Still not to code but it should do much better. Just for grins we dug up the far end infiltrator and the whole run was plugged solid. Septic man said they might work in the AZ desert sand but not up here where we have actuall soil. He said he has seen sytems to code fail in less then 5 years. He said code here was 24 for a 2 bedroom and 40 for a 3. 

I used to design septic systems. When I saw that there were only six infiltrators my first thought was that there should have been more. Granted the ones I designed had more bedrooms and I don’t know your perc rates etc. but I can’t remember any with less than 16 infiltrators.