Extremely Slow Drain Field

[Horshak]

Need help. This Spring my drain field on my conventional septic system was discovered draining very slow. It did not back up into the house, however, it was almost there. Ended up having the WK-40 aerobolic system put in that uses the IOS 500 man made bacteria which is suppose to eat away biofouling or biomat (black goo in the drain field). Well after a few grand and a bacteria bag change, the drain is not doing so well. At first, when we changed the bacteria packet the water in the drain went down to almost nothing. However, that was also about the time the frost went out of the ground. I believe this may have opened up some fissures in the ground and let it drain. Now I am back to about 6 inches of water in the drain field measured in the vent pipe at the end of the field. The IOS 500 packet is suppose to turn a chocolate brown color but mine are turning black. I am at my wits end and my septic guy says he will stop by and see what we can do. I am having him contact the manufacturer for some answers but this system has been installed since late Otober and we both expected it to work faster than it has. Anyone with experience on these systems or drain field problems that my have some advice, please let me know. I have searched the internet and cannot find too many answers regarding this. Thanks in advance for your replies.

[DXO]

Do you have a solids retaining tank ahead of the drain field?

How long has the system been in place?

How many household members?

[Horshak]

Yes I have a solids tank. the system has been in use since 1996. 4 family members. Also have an effluent filter after the tank and before the drain field which was installed with the aerobic system.

[DXO]

What has been the scheduled pumping of the solids holding tank, and what has been findings - full, low, moderate?

[Horshak]

Pumped every 3 years as mandated by county with low solids each time.

[DXO]

" this system has been installed since late Otober"

What system? The treatment?

[warzeta]

Horshak, reading what you are saying there can be a couple of things that can be happening here. The first thing is that you are hydraulic over loading your system. Your system is design to only take so many gallons a day. Each soil type allows water to be absorbed at a certain rate exceed that limit and the water will back up. You may want to buy a water meter and install it to see how much water you are using. Also this time of year most soil profiles are at seasonal high water table which may be above your drainfield, filling it up and causing it to back up into the tank. I often have folks that this happens to, they get worked up about it this time of year and summer comes it dries up and they forget about it unti next spring. If this is true, the aerobic treatment system that you bought will do little to help you. These units are typically sold to treat high organic strenght wastewater, greater than 200mg/l Biochemical oxygen demand, and typically you do not find this normal household wastewater. Unless you are butchering pigs in your house. LOL You are doing things right with pumping your tank schedule and using the effluent filter. I'm going to assume that you know to pull the filter out and clean it. I am a License Advanced Design and Inspector for septic sysems inthe state of Mn. Send me a personal message and I'll give you some more avenues to pursue

[Horshak]

Warzeta, you have a PM. I will be gone for a few hours but will check back this afternoon. Thanks, Bob

[Bill Krejca]

A number of years ago, when I had a similar problem, I had to install a new drain system. Best of luck.

Bill

[T Mac]

I had a similar issue a few years ago.
I got VERY lucky!

All that had happened on mine was ..we found a pinch (squash) on the the pipe between tank and drainfield. Naturally we replaced that section of pipe with stronger pipe. Easy and cheap... Whewww!!

I hope you get as lucky as me, Horshak.