Dear wise men or women,
Every time my two daughters take a shower in their bathroom up the line from my bathroom,mine is last on the line next to septic line, the toilet in my bathroom starts to bubble up,quickly rise, sometimes overflowing. With all this action comes a strong sewer gas smell. We live in a low area( we have to have flood insurance) and are use to the front bathroom not flushing for days in the rainy season,but this is the dry season when everything normally works well and it is still filling up with water. My husband thinks we need a new septic tank because whenever we have it drained they tell us it just fills up with water. But I say something else is wrong because never did it fill up so fast and stink this bad. It definitely gets large gaseous bubles as it rises and takes awhile to drain back to its regular level. I always start the dishwasher after my shower for fear it is the culprit, putting too much water suddenly in the system. I use to be able to use two showers at the same time, but now I tell everyone one thing at a time or go to the garage and use that bathroom further up the line from both. I don't want people fixing the wrong part of the system. If it is a house problem should they still check the outside tank? Could the problem be in both areas?

The first thing I would check is the septic tank and after that a perc test on the drain field. You have a blockage that is sending bubbles of sewer gas back into you home every time a discharge hits it. Until you get your septic system checked you will never know if the problem's in your house or out in the septic system. Good luck, Tom

Dear wise men or women,
Everytime my two daughters take a shower in their bathroom up the line from my bathroom,mine is last on the line next to septic line, the toilet in my bathroom starts to bubble up,quickly rise, sometimes overflowing. With all this action comes a strong sewer gas smell. We live in a low area( we have to have flood insurance) and are use to the front bathroom not flushing for days in the rainy season,but this is the dry season when everything normally works well and it is still filling up with water. My husband thinks we need a new septic tank because whenever we have it drained they tell us it just fills up with water. But I say something else is wrong because never did it fill up so fast and stink this bad. It definetly gets large gaseous bubles as it rises and takes awhile to drain back to its regular level. I always start the dishwasher after my shower for fear it is the culprit, putting too much water suddenly in the system. I use to be able to use two showers at the same time, but now I tell everyone one thing at a time or go to the garage and use that bathroom further up the line from both. I don't want people fixing the wrong part of the system. If it is a house problem should they still check the outside tank? Could the problem be in both areas?

Do you have a backwater valve inline to prevent the sewage from backing up into the house?

And if your husband is thinking about replacing the tank anyway, what about the idea of pumping the waste to an above ground storage tank? I've seen a few systems on flood plains plumbed this way -- The system has an above ground tank, pump and alarm system to let you know when the tank has almost reached its capacity.

This may not be allowed by code in your area, by the way, but it sounds like it may be worth checking into.