Both my toilets bubble when someone is taking a shower more than 5 minutes and if you flush while someone is in the shower the toilet will back up. Also once the bubbles start a few seconds later you will start noticing that the water in the shower starts to fill up and drain slowly. The toilets have been snaked and that helped for a couple of days and then it started up again. The vent on the roof has been snaked and we also put a screen so that no branches or leaves would go in (have a big oak tree in the yard). One time the toilet overflowed and we had 2 inches of water. The problem still occurred so we called in to have our septic tank emptied that seemed to help for a few weeks and no we are starting the problem all over again. What else can we do?

What did the pumper have to say about the condition of your tank and leech field? If both are in good shape then you still have a clog after your toilet and shower come together. The bubbling still also makes me think your vent stack is clogged, who did your rodding?

Either the pipe from your house to your septic is clogged. Or you have problems with your drainfield. I would start by having your septic pumped again. If the problem goes away for a couple more weeks and then comes back, you definatley have a drainfield problem. Please let me know what you find.

Let's find out for sure just exactly where the problem is. Locate and open the house cleanout. Mow flush until it starts to back up. Did the cleanout fill up? If so then your septic tank is full. Pumping it will do no good until you replace the drain field.
Now, if the water backed up n your shower the septic system's OK but the person who snaked the lavatory roof vent didn't put out enough cable to get the clog. Put out enough cable to reach the base and 20 feet more to get out in the main. Let me know how you make out. Good luck, tom

Great advice from speedball. However if your cleanout happens to be higher than the shower drain, this may be a misleading test. How many levels is your house? Do you have a basement? Do you have a floordrain?

The cleanout better not be higher then the shower drain. This is called "backfall" in the trade and is something we avoid in drainage systems at all cost. The house cleanout should always be lower then the lowest fixture in the house. Either that of a ejector system should be installed. Regards, Tom

I agree tom, but I have seen cleanouts in the vertical, above the lowest fixture. Yes it is incorrect but is still possible that leela may have this setup. Just going from what I have seen. I actually do a lot of plugged sewers. There is nothing that surprises me anymore. A lot of places don't even have cleanouts, and if they do, they have been cover by sheetrock or flooring.

Het Dad,
What you've seen is a stack clean out inside the house. Code mandates that a cleanout be installed in the sewer line to the street. This cleanout shall be no more then 18 inches out from the house foundation and brought up to grade. This is called "The House Cleanout". Over time dirt may build up over the clean out but it's there believe me. Regards, tom

A lot of older houses don't have outside cleanouts.

OK Leela, how old's your house? Tom

I believe my house is 40 something yrs old. I live in Florida so I do not have a basement. I have a one level house. Where would I find the cleanout pipe? The plumber that snaked the roof drain hit dirt at least that is what it looked like and it didn't smell. There is no way my septic could be full it was emptied out less than 2 months ago. It is when you take a shower more than 5 min. is when the toilet bubbles sound happens and then the shower starts to fill with bathwater. It doesn't overflow the water just sits at the bottom of shower and slowly goes down the drain. There is no problem with the toilets until someone takes a shower as long as no one flushes the other toilet while someone is in the shower because then it will fill up.


I checked my receit on the septic tank and it says my inlet piping is OK but they did not observe the outlet piping because it is under my cement patio.

You need to have a septic guy, prefereably a different one, reinspect your tank to see if its full. If the tank is full to the very brim its likely your field have failed and is water logged. You should have a clean out 18" outide your foundation wall or inside right next to the wall. Open it and then turn on the shower full stream. If the pipe fills and ver flows you have a septic issue, if the pipe stays relatively empty you have a clog upstream in the house.

Mud on the end of a snake is not a good sign. May very well be your problem.
And yes your septic tank could be full (of water) in less than two months. Water level in a septic tank is always at the bottom of your discharge pipe. When they say your septic is full, they mean that it is full of solids. Need to make sure waste is entering the tank. If your water level in the tank rises above the outlet, then you have a bad drainfield.

OK we opened the septic tank and it was filled with water. We dug to find the drainfield that was full. Once we sucked up the water in the drainfield the septic water went down. That was last night. Took shower no more bubbling and no back up in shower. Today we are digging to find the pipes leading from the drainfield to see where the clog is the septic tank is refilling with water. Are we going in the right direction? What else should be done?

Seems that septic tank was filled with water that was the cause of the bubbling in toilet and water back up. We dug around to find the drainfield it was full of water. We pumped out the water and there is no more bubbling or back up in bathroom. Now today we continue to work on the problem and we found out that the septic is filling up again. We dug some more today to find the pipes leading from the drainfield and stuck in an arm (hand to elbow) and pulled out roots. What can we do to fix this problem?

Also we found that there is no leaks. We shut water off and tested water to see if there was any leaks. No leaks.

Hi Leela,
Where in Flprida do you live? I live in the Tampa Bay Area and had a septic tank and drainfield until the county put in sewer lines.
And so we locate the source of all your troubles. You have a drainfield that is unable to percolate away all the liquid the septic tank was sending it. Sorry! But there's just no easy fix here. You're going to hafta put in a new drainfield. Just in case you're dumping kitchen garbage from a disposal and grease and fibers from your washer without first sending them through a grease trap, let me give you some advice. Have a grease trap installed. This will save you from having to put in another drainfield when this o0ne goes bad and it will unless a grease trap is added and the discharge from both the kitchen and the washer diverte4d to it before going into the septic tank.

I'm going to give you some pointers on how to keepyour septic system happy.

Since the septic tank is such an essential part of a sewage system, here are some points to remember about the "care and feeding" of that part of the onsite sewage treatment system.
A "starter" is not needed for bacterial action to begin in a septic tank. Many bacteria are present in the materials deposited into the tank and will thrive under the growth conditions present.
If you feel that an additive is needed, be aware that some may do great harm. Additives that advertise to "eliminate" tank cleaning may cause the sludge layer to fluff up and be washed out into the drainfield, plugging soil pores. Some additives, particularly degreasers, may contain carcinogens (cancer-causing) or suspected carcinogens that will flow into the ground water along with the water from the soil treatment unit.
Send all sewage into the septic tank. Don't run laundry wastes directly into the drainfield, since soap or detergent scum will plug the soil pores, causing failure.
Normal amounts of household detergents, bleaches, drain cleaners, and other household chemicals can be used and won't stop the bacterial action in the septic tank. But don't use excessive amounts of any household chemicals. Do not dump cleaning water for latex paint brushes and cans into the house sewer.
Don't deposit coffee grounds, cooking fats, wet-strength towels, disposable diapers, facial tissues, cigarette butts, and other non-decomposable materials into the house sewer. These materials won't decompose and will fill the septic tank and plug the system. To use a 5-gallon toilet flush to get rid of a cigarette butt is also very wasteful of water. Keep an ash tray in the bathroom, if necessary.
Avoid dumping grease down the drain. It may plug sewer pipes or build up in the septic tank and plug the inlet. Keep a separate container for waste grease and throw it out with the garbage.
If you must use a garbage disposal, you will likely need to remove septic tank solids every year or more often. Ground garbage will likely find its way out of the septic tank and plug up the drainfield. It is better to compost, incinerate, or deposit the materials in the garbage that will be hauled away. As one ad says, "You can pay me now, or pay me later."
Clean your septic tank every 1 to 3 years. How often depends on the size of the tank and how many solids go into it. A rule of thumb is once every 3 years for a 1,000 gallon tank serving a 3-bedroom home with 4 occupants (and with no garbage disposal).
Using too much soap or detergent can cause problems with the septic system. It is difficult to estimate how dirty a load of laundry is, and most people use far more cleaning power than is needed. If there are lots of suds in your laundry tub when the washer discharges, cut back on the amount of detergent for the next similar load. It's generally best not to use inexpensive detergents which may contain excessive amounts of filler or carrier. Some of these fillers are montmorillonite clay, which- is used to seal soils! The best solution may be to use a liquid laundry detergent, since they are less likely to have carriers or fillers that may harm the septic system.
Each septic system has a certain capacity. When this capacity is reached or exceeded, there will likely be problems because the system won't take as much sewage as you want to discharge into it. When the onsite sewage treatment system reaches its daily capacity, be conservative with your use of water. Each gallon of water that flows into the drain must go through the septic tank and into the soil absorption unit. Following are some ways to conserve water that should cause little hardship in anyone's standard of living:
Be sure that there are no leaking faucets or other plumbing fixtures. Routinely check the float valve on all toilets to be sure it isn't sticking and the water isn't running continuously. It doesn't take long for the water from a leaking toilet or a faucet to add up. A cup of water leaking out of a toilet every minute doesn't seem like much but that's 90 gallons a day! So be sure that there is no water flowing into the sewer when all water-using appliances are supposed to be off.
The most effective way to reduce the sewage flow from a house is to reduce the toilet wastes, which usually account for about 40 percent of the sewage flow. Many toilets use 5 to 6 gallons per flush. Some of the so-called low water use toilets are advertised to use only 3.5 gallons per flush. Usually the design of the bowl hasn't been changed, however, and often two flushes are needed to remove all solids. That's 7 gallons! Toilets are available which have been redesigned and will do a good job with one gallon or less per flush. Using a 1-gallon toilet rather than a 5 gallon toilet will reduce sewage flows from a home by about a third. This reduction may be more than enough to make the sewage system function again. While prices may vary, 1.6 gallon toilets can usually be purchased in the $200 range, far less than the cost of a new sewer system. Baths and showers can use lots of water. "Setting up camp" in the shower with a shower head flow of 5 gallons per minute will require 100 gallons in 20 minutes. Shower heads that limit the flow to 1.5 or 2 gallons per minute are available and should be used. Filling the tub not quite so full and limiting the length of showers will result in appreciable water savings.


-Is the water from the faucet cold enough to drink? How long do you let it run to cool down? Keep a container of drinking water in the refrigerator. Then it won't be necessary to run water from your faucets in order to get a cool drink.
There may be other ways to conserve water that you can think of in your home. The main idea is to consider water as a valuable resource and not to waste it.
Following a few simple rules like not using too much water and not depositing materials in the septic tank that bacteria can't decompose should help to make a septic system trouble-free for m, too! Any years. But don't forget the septic tank does need to be cleaned out when too many solids builtreatment system.
With a water meter you can determine how much water your automatic washer uses per cycle. Many washers now have settings to reduce the amount of water used for small loads. Front loading washers and suds savers use less water than top loading machines. If your sewage treatment system is reaching its maximum capacity, try to spread the washing out during the week to avoid overloading the sewage system on a single day. Septic tanks need tender, loving care too. Good luck, Tom