Archive for April, 2009

Leach Field Problems

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

Here’s a good question today from Dan Goddard:
Questions:
1. I don’t think that all my leech lines are working. The first leg that comes out of the tank has a couple of areas where water has surfaced and my yard is getting soggy. Can you help?
2. When washer drains we have pooling at or near the septic and bubbling in the toilet. No pooling when flushing toilet and no water backing up from other drains. Had tank pumped 1 year ago. Occasional odor near septic tank. What are your thoughts?

Answer:

Your septic system is indeed demonstating several common symptoms of leach field problems.  Your leach lines are clogged with biomat.  They are not allowing all of the liquid effluent leaving your septic tank to pass through to the unsaturated soil.  What you see on the surface of the ground around your septic tank and leach lines is the amount of liquid the leach lines cannot absorb.

The soggy areas are merely liquid effluent that is now looking for a way out. The liquid cannot leave the trenches by the bottom and sides and must now leave the trench by absorption through the soil on top of the trenches.  This absorption process breaks down the soil structure and by being constantly wet and therefore makes the soil soggy.

The pooling you have from the washer is typical of a fast and heavy slug of liquid being forced into a septic tank that has leach field problems.

It takes time for the liquid to leave the tank because the leach lines can’t take the liquid load quickly.  The liquid tries to get out wherever it can in the quickest time. If the liquid cannot drain down through your leach lines it tries to come out on the surface; if there is resistance on the surface due to pooling from a previous breakout, the liquid will try and escape from the tank.
As the slug load is slowly absorbed by the leach line, the liquid disappears.  The bubbling in the toilet is the displaced air caught in the inlet sewer line to the septic tank from your house that has to get out some way.  As the liquid from the tank is backing up to some level into the inlet sewer line, it rises up to the easiest place to get out and that is normally the shower/tub drains or a toilet (these being the lowest drain points).

The pumping merely removed solids (assuming the pumper properly pumped your tank) and keeps the retention time for the solids separation at a correct duration. Pumping will not cure leach field problems.
The smell near the septic tank is most likely from effluent in the soil that is surfacing during the wash event.  This effluent carries some organic material solubolized in the liquid and many intestinal bacteria.

The soil becomes saturated over time, has no oxygen in the soil pores and makes a usable home for the intestinal bacteria entrained in the effluent.  There over time, these intestinal bacteria will create odors that we commonly refer to as septic odors.  There could also be enough soil disturbance over the time the liquid has surfaced over the septic tank to make small passage ways in the soil when not filled with effluent during washing events to allow septic gases to escape to the surface.

The Septic Genie is the answer if you don’t want to tear up your yard and pocket book.  This technology has cured many hundreds of septic failures just like this.

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Can Septic Genie Rid Biomat Clogged Drain Lines?

Friday, April 24th, 2009

Mr Koch wrote into us with the following question:

“My septic system has been flooded for about the last 2 months. I was wondering if septic genie can get rid of the biomat which has been rapidly growing since the flooding and clogging our drain lines.”

The Genie technology and method of use was focused on the drain field problem you’re having.  Since biomat is the single or major contributing factor in 95 plus percent of septic system failures, it seemed like the logical issue to be concerned with.  It took ten years and contributions from a number of people to find the solution.

The creation of biomat is by intestinal bacteria forming a huge colony that spreads into soil pores over time.  When depth penetration into the soil is deep enough, the biomat disallows the passage of liquid out into the soil as fast as you put liquid into the system.  The surplus that can’t get out of the system each day begins to add up to a volume that eventually creates enough hydraulic pressure that can cause surfacing of effluent as your septic system is doing.  This problem is a biological problem.

The solution is also a biological; find some organism that can either kill the intestinal bacteria or consume their by product (biomat) that is the problem. That is just what the Genie does.

It is a small incubator that grows facultative bacteria at the exclusion of nearly all other aerobic bacteria that might try and colonize the incubator.  They use your waste as food and multiply rapidly.  A percentage of these bacteria become entrained in the liquid effluent in the septic tank and then leave the septic tank and travel to the drain field.  There they do the most important of jobs; they breakdown and eventually consume biomat.

The removal of biomat opens the soil to percolation (the movement of water through the soil by gravity) and your septic system can function properly again.  The continued operation of the Genie in your septic tank will continue the process of remediation with every flush of the toilet or bath/shower you take.  As time passes, the entire biomat that formed over the years your anaerobic system operated will be digested and the soils surrounding your drain field will be capable of percolating liquid.

The Septic Genie technology has been restoring failed septic systems since 2000.  There are thousands of septic systems just like yours that have been restored to proper function.  The Septic Genie will restore your septic drain field.

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What Is The Life Span Of A Concrete Tank And What Means Are Required To Maintain It?

Thursday, April 23rd, 2009

A properly designed and manufactured precast concrete septic tank can last a hundred years.

The major problem for durability is the use of the concrete tank for anaerobic effluent storage (household waste!).  Anaerobic intestinal bacteria surviving in the liquid and waste, produce a by gas product named Hydrogen Sulfide gas.  This gas is well known for its rotten egg smell.  It is one of the constituent gases that is readily recognized as “septic smell”.

This gas collects between the top of the liquid and tank lid and is the energy source for sulfide metabolizing bacteria named Thiabacillus.

This bacteria leaves a by product of their sulfide metabolism and that is Sulphuric Acid.  These bacteria coat all the concrete surfaces above the liquid level and leave countless microscopic drops of this acid on the concrete every day.  Over time, the acid breaks down the “basic” concrete thus destroying the septic tank.

The only way to protect against this process is to coat the inside surfaces of the septic tank with a non reactive material.  This is required on new tanks in many states.

In an existing tank, this isn’t practical.  Installing a Genie will kill the intestinal bacteria that create the Hydrogen Sulfide gas.  No more gas, no more energy for sulfide seeking bacteria, thus no more acid to destroy the tank.  Now the tank can last indefinitely.  This is another advantage to installing a Genie.

Other than this issue, there is nothing you need to be concerned about for your concrete septic tank.

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Septic Genie and Vacation Homes

Friday, April 17th, 2009

Many vacation homes are in remote areas and are not hooked up to mains sewer. In these situations the homes are on a septic system.

Here’s a question we recently received:
I have a seasonal cottage in mid-New Hampshire, the season being June-October. If I run the Genie only during these months each year, will I need to replace the bacteria each year? Will the Genie be as effective if not operated continuously?
Answer:

The Genie will certainly remediate and keep the septic system operating at any normal usage.  As long as the Genie is operating during the periods when the residence is in use, the bacteria will be generated within the system and they will leave the septic tank and travel to the disposal field where they will consume biological slimes and organic matter.

When you stop using the septic system there is no further potential for degradation.
You would close the residence down, unplug the Genie and leave for the winter.  When you return the next spring/summer, replace the bacteria bag and plug in the Genie.  The system will stabilize with 24 hours and you’re back to keeping your septic system remediated.

You can purchase the new bacteria bag (BacPac) through the web site and it will be dropped shipped to your address.

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Tree Roots and Septic Drain Fields

Monday, April 6th, 2009

Many homeowners are concerned that tree roots can cause their septic system to fail. Here’s a typical question we get:
Question:

I have 5 large oak trees within ten feet of my septic and drain field. Will the Septic Genie work here?

Answer:

Tree roots when they invade a drain field or enter a septic tank become a structural matrix for intestinal bacteria to colonize.  Over time the intestinal bacteria fill the spaces between the hair roots as they do in soil pores.  The process takes longer because the tree roots have larger spaces between the hairs.  This biomat clog will be removed just like the biomat in the soil.  The roots merely want water and nutrients.  They don’t want to be a barrier to the passage of nutrient laden water.

Take a steel wool pad and put it under your kitchen faucet.  Water passes right through.  Now put mayonnaise on it.  No water passes through.  The steel wool is more dense than tree roots.  Mayonnaise is like biomat.  Get rid of the biomat and the tree roots actually help in reducing the amount of liquid that the soil needs to process.  The roots also uptake many of the contaminants that the soil microbes would have to deal with to purify the septic effluent.  But keeping the biomat out of the root mass is necessary.  This the Genie does just like it does in the soil.

We have restored many drain fields with root intrusion using the Genie technology and do more every year.

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