" Pooh Sticks"

[niall Y]

This morning I have been playing "Pooh Sticks". However, not the whimsical game of A A Milne's imagining, but a much more earthy version, called - "Unblocking the run to the septic tank".

The blockages seem to coincide with heavy , or protracted rainfall. And are invariably at the end of the run , where it enters the tank. There is a "T" section of pipe here where the flow has to change direction abruptly to enter the tank. The upper portion of the "T" allows air to vent above the crust, while the fresh contents go below ( apologies if this is TMI )

Can't see a way of avoiding this, unless I start again with a new system -" which just ain't going to happen". So I'll just have to accept that on a few occasions every year, I'm just, going to, have to play "Pooh Sticks".

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

That is just crappie.

But not as bad as the young engineer on a call out to a village in Somerset.
The site has a large septic tank.
No unusable. But this one is designed badly. If it blocks or over fills is has been know to "flow" matter in one or two ways.
One.
Into an over flow into a tank they can pump out.
Two.
Into the service duct, then into the tank.
The call out was the submersible pump had failed.

He had to go home to freshen up.

 

[Spectric]

And are invariably at the end of the run , where it enters the tank. There is a "T" section of pipe here where the flow has to change direction abruptly to enter the tank.

This should be a swept bend and not abrupt as big tuuurds are like big tankers in that they cannot just change direction that quick and need to be guided. Also do you have enough fibre in your diet.

 

[clogs]

rain water should not be admitted to the septic tank.....
most s/tanks can't handle the extra flow......
if there is room have a seperate soak away for the rain water......
plenty of designs out there.....
I had one of these in France....Bio Fosse.....supplied from the UK....only time it needed emptying was when the property was sold and only then because of the law.....that was a 16person sized unit....

 

[Cozzer]

A chance to repeat one of my favourite put-downs...
"Oh him?! That bloke's as thick as a Boxing Day tuuurd....."

 

[flying haggis]

perchance are the blockages caused by rain washed debris getting stuck in the tee


and i did so want to reply to the title with "yes it does"..

 

[niall Y]

This should be a swept bend and not abrupt as big tuuurds are like big tankers in that they cannot just change direction that quick and need to be guided. Also do you have enough fibre in your diet.

Plenty of fibre in my diet - thanks for asking We even use the cheaper loo roll to ensure that it falls to bits easily This is the system we inherited with the house which functions well except during the " rainy season", which for these past few years has been the autumn period.

 

[niall Y]

rain water should not be admitted to the septic tank.....
most s/tanks can't handle the extra flow......
if there is room have a seperate soak away for the rain water......
plenty of designs out there.....
.

The back of the house and the conservatory, both are connected, and need to be separated from the system. Also, if there is flooding to the lower reaches of the garden it helps to have the drains unblocked, as this then helps the water clear, a lot sooner

 

[MikeJhn]

Sorry to say this, but your system is illegal (EU directive) if it takes your surface water into the Septic Tank, should be kept totally separate.

How is your Septic tank filtered, drainage field or soakaway? do you have a pre-filter or grease trap?

 

[Chris Harris]

Disconnect all surface water and send it to a soakaway and your problem will be solved.

 

[Spectric]

if it takes your surface water into the Septic Tank, should be kept totally separate.

That is no different to a system connected to the main drain, grey and rain water should be kept seperate so no grey ends up in a river and no rain fills the main sewer.

 

[Sachakins]

That is no different to a system connected to the main drain, grey and rain water should be kept seperate so no grey ends up in a river and no rain fills the main sewer.

That's relative to age of property, current house, 35 years old is seperate, previous old house was not.

 

[MikeJhn]

Combined surface and soil water drains, where only when underground drains (Victorian) where first introduced the sewage was not treated and all discharged into the nearest water course, since then we have become more educated on the harmful effects of untreated sewage and now have treatment plants to minimise the detrimental effect on the environment.

Unfortunately we have the continuing problem of the Victorian drainage system which has not had the updates/investment needed to keep up with the burgeoning growth of our population and massive housing development, we seem to be more interested in making sure we can charge our EV.

 

[bansobaby]

That is no different to a system connected to the main drain, grey and rain water should be kept seperate so no grey ends up in a river and no rain fills the main sewer.

Unless its a combined sewer, which the vast majority are....

 

[HappyHacker]

We have a main drain combined system that was installed by the local utility company to the whole village and surrounding area in the 60's. Prior to that there were septic tanks for each property. They had to do combined as the village is built on sandstone and I assume the septic tanks were having to take rainwater although a lot of properties just sent rainwater onto the ground (sandstone). Even new houses in the village often have to have a combined system as there is no place to dig a soak-away.

 

[MikeJhn]

Unless its a combined sewer, which the vast majority are....

And that is why Water companies are allowed, legally, to discharge human waste into our seas and rivers when heavy rainfall overwhelms the sewage plants, in reality not a good thing to allow.

 

[MikeJhn]

We have a main drain combined system that was installed by the local utility company to the whole village and surrounding area in the 60's. Prior to that there were septic tanks for each property. They had to do combined as the village is built on sandstone and I assume the septic tanks were having to take rainwater although a lot of properties just sent rainwater onto the ground (sandstone). Even new houses in the village often have to have a combined system as there is no place to dig a soak-away.

Or to put it another way, the reason for a combined system is it's far easier to combine the two than spend on controlling the surface water to a water course or even build a water course, all of which contributes to our polluted seas and rivers, all this assumes the new village is above sea level, if it is then a gravity surface water control system could be devised, if we are serious about preventing pollution then cost should not be a deciding factor when the planning authorities allow the development, they all pay lip service to the impact they are having, you can be assured they all have a mission statement somewhere saying how committed they are to reducing the impact they have on the environment.

 

[MikeJhn]

This should be a swept bend and not abrupt as big tuuurds are like big tankers in that they cannot just change direction that quick and need to be guided. Also do you have enough fibre in your diet.

Unfortunately we are mostly dictated too what bend goes into our septic tanks by the manufacturer of the tank, the bend on our Klargester has only a passing resemblance to a swept bend, not a full swept bend, I have however installed an access trap above the bend to allow my Poo Sticks to work only needed once in over twenty years.

 

[TomGW]

It is very possible that your septic tank outlets to a sub surface drainage system, basically perforated pipes laid in gravel filled trenches in a herringbone pattern that normally allows the waste water to percolate into the ground. However, particularly if your site is fairly level, in periods of heavy rainfall this can easily act in reverse and drain ground water back into the septic tank, causing it to fill and back up, slowing or stopping the flow at the inlet. A non-return valve at the outlet end may be a solution, although once the ground becomes saturated with heavy rainfall the whole system will not operate normally.
I totally agree that rainwater shouldn’t be discharging into the foul system but more water flowing would reduce rather than increase the likelihood of a blockage. Your problem is more likely to be caused by the reverse flow as I’ve described.

 

[Jones]

Gutters should not enter the septic tank piping. the problem will be the septic tank overfilling with rainwater causing it to back up into the pipe which then stops flowing and deposits the waste in the pipe . This will cause a multitude of expensive problems unless sorted quickly.