Re: Solution for Septic Field clogging Long Term

Hello Grizz,
First, I would like to thank you for creating this site, and also thank all who have shared their experience here.
I am at the beginning of my efforts to repair my system, which I was actually involved in installing in 2007, and now is showing signs of failure.
We will be pumping, inspecting the tank and testing the lines this week. The tank has not been pumped since it was installed.
I have maps and pictures of what we did back then, and, of course, if I knew then, what I think I know now, the installation would have been done with much more care and forethought, and would have seen at least some regular maintenance. Hind sight is always 20/20 right?
1200 gallon two compartment tank, with about 200 feet of leach trench total in the two lines. Trenches are ”double rocked”(about twice the rock required). Rocky clay and loam soil mix. No outlet filter was installed (I would have if anyone would have told me about them), and will be retrofitting one on the outlet pipe this week.
I built my home on very steep land, which we had to terrace to have a flat spot for the relatively narrow house approach and parking area. This area was also the only nearby area with the soil depth and quality for the field. Hence with county approval, I installed my field under my gravel parking area.
While I was told by my contractor that this was ok to do, I now know this is a poor choice for a field location. We had little choice, and what’s done is done.
I am actually hoping for a crushed pipe, or something easy like that, but my life experience tells me it will not be that easy. Even if it is just a smashed pipe, I want to change my ways, and take care of whatever is left of my system.
My wife and I have also made some of the classic mistakes. Surface water drainage, while not horrible, could be much better,(and that’s all me), and my dear wife likes to do 6 loads of laundry in one day.

Like many others who see the ads and videos for an add-in aeration system, I got really excited, and was pretty sure I was going to try one. Then, something told me to look a little deeper into it, and that’s when I found your writing on the subject. Very helpful, and THANK YOU for saving me from making that mistake! I’m sure I can come up with some really original mistakes of my own as I move forward on this. I saw one video where the aerator salesman was showing how clear the primary chamber was after only 24 hours! It was really clean, but where did all those solids go? Only one place to go, right out to the drain field!
At this point, I’m pretty sure I have both bio mat and hard pan troubles, but not sure how much of each.
I am planning on jetting the lines, before I dose the lines with 30% hydrogen peroxide.
Jetting will be messy, as I did not originally vent the ends of each line, however I am going to add risers to each line end to vent them after jetting is complete. I also plan add a small drywell (or two) to the end of each line at that time to both extend the field a bit, and accommodate 20-30 gallon surges. This should take some pressure off my already stressed system, and allow the old lines to air out a bit between effluent doses.
The laundry waters will be heading to their own new system as well.
I am still hesitant to try to treat the hardpan with the lime sulfur mix, because I want to make sure that this mix does not contain salts in great amounts. One link you added to your page took me to a description of lime-sulfur(Miller Chemicals MSDS), saying lime-sulfur falls in the “inorganic salt solution” chemical family. I have read your warnings, links, and reasoning about adding more salt to the system, and if the lime sulfur is high in salts, I am hoping there is another answer to the hard pan problem out there.
After reading your “Septic Leach Field Rejuvenation” article over several times, I gather that you have found hydrogen peroxide treatments helpful to both breaking up biomat and helping with hardpan. Is this correct?

At any rate, I promise to report back on what I find, what works, and what does not, in my case.

Thanks again for all the great information!

dmz1

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