Ask Me Help Desk - Washer overflow on septic tank, toilet is OK, and kitchen OK.

Hi speedball1/Tom or any people can help, I'm in Charlotte, NC.

I'm having the same problem as what "TheDean" had back in Feb 2005: https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/advice/t-6573.html

I'm not sure how big my septic tank is, I have a 1000 sqft house with 3 bed rooms. I haven't service my septic tank for over 3 years. I'm not sure if that's the reason why it's overflowing.

I'm planning to call septic tank service to pump the tank, but before I do that, should I snake the pipes? The pipe seems to be fine, I just need to stop the washer from draining probably 3 times on large load. It's been raining hard these 3-4 days which may contribute to slower drain?

Thanks,
Benjamin

Ben, I am not Tom or Mark, but I will also be more than glad to offer you an advice:

First, make sure your washer is connected to septic tank. It is a general practice NOT to connect washer to septic and to drain washer discharge somewhere to the yard. This is especially true in rural areas. You mentioned it was raining at the time of the overflow. In this case, soil is saturated with rain water disallowing any other water to be absorbed as it would be on non-rainny days. Water backs up in drains and back into the house.

Second: Septic tank consists of 2 parts: one holds the solids and the other one is basically a well that holds liquids. These liquids slowly percolate to the ground. It is a very slow process. If it was raining soil is saturated with rain water and cannot absorb any more water coming from your house. Overflow follows...

Since all other fixtures in your house drain w/o problem I would suspect your washer drain is not connected to the septic. In this case, pumping the septic would not help. But I could be wrong here. You have to investigate on your own and determine if it is or is not. If your washer is connected to the septic tank than it would be correct approach to have it pumped out.

Hey Ben;,
I can't add much to the excellent answer that Milo gave you but I can "flesh out" the part when he mentions,

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Since all other fixtures in your house drain w/o problem I would suspect your washer drain is not connected to the septic.

Milo's thinking of a grease trap(see images) and if you don't have one installed on your kitchen/laundry drain line then you should have. The grease interceptor acts like a mini septic tank with baffles, (see image) that trap the lint, grease and fiber from the washer as well as the garbage and grease from the kitchen sink before it gets into your drain field and clogs it up. If you had a grease trap and it was full and needed to be cleaned then that would give you the symptoms that you have. Check to see if you have a grease trap. Good luck and thank you for rating my answer. Tom

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Originally Posted by speedball1

Hey Ben;,
I can't add much to the excellant answer that Milo gave you but I can "flesh out" the part when he mentions, Milo's thinking of a grease trap(see images) and if you don't have one installed on your kitchen/laundry drain line then you should have. The grease interceptor acts like a mini septic tank with baffles, (see image) that trap the lint, grease and fiber from the washer as well as the garbage and grease from the kitchen sink before it gets into your drain field and clogs it up. If you had a grease trap and it was full and needed to be cleaned then that would give you the symptoms that you have. Check to see if you have a grease trap. Good luck and thank you for rating my answer. Tom

Thank you Milo and Tom. I had the septic tank pumped out today they said it was full too, I haven't pump it for over 3 years (the length of my house purchase). The house was built around 1963.

Today they dug up the dirts where the washer drains, there's a hole on the pipe, it seems to be on a separate pipe then.

I'm getting another quote tomorrow, today the technician gave me couple suggestions:

Reroute the washer drain pipe to the pipe that goes to the septic tank.
They haven't dug up the whole thing, and not sure if there's another tank or just goes to the back of the yard. It's probably not possible to install new tank due to law changes.
The other option is to use city sewer. I'll make a call tomorrow to see if sewer is available. It seems to be available down the street in new sub-division. I think this is a very expensive router $3-4k to reroute the pipes to city sewer, and the tap would cost about $2-3k.

If the washer drain is routed to septic tank pipe isn't it going to wear down the septic tank faster? What would you recommend at this situation?

Thanks.
Benjamin

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Reroute the washer drain pipe to the pipe that goes to the septic tank.

BAD IDEA!! You would be discharging all the lint, grease and fiber out into your drain field where it would block the drainage tiles.

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They haven't dug up the whole thing, and not sure if there's another tank or just goes to the back of the yard. It's probably not possible to install new tank due to law changes.

Installing a grease trap on your kitchen/laundry drains is good plumbing practice and Building Departments don't outlaw good plumbing practice. If you don't have a grease trap on the kitchen/laundry line I would have one installed.

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The other option is to use city sewer. I'll make a call tomorrow to see if sewer is available. It

And that's the option I would explore. This will save you money in the long haul and add to the value of your home.
Get three estimates and go with the one you're most comfortable with.
Good luck and thank you for rating my answer. Tom

Thank you Tony. The sewer available.
The sewer tap would cost about 3875 dollar, and the pipe installations may cost another 3k or 4k. It'll be expensive.

If I rebuilt the house in the future could the pipes be reused?

I think total would be 7k.

I think for the short term if I can get the washer pipe on the ground fixed that may be the most quick and cheaper solution... I'll need to dig up the dirts to see where it goes.

Hi Ben,

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If I rebuilt the house in the future could the pipes be reused?

If you rebuilt both systems would be reuseable although the city sewer would be a better selling point.

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I think for the short term if I can get the washer pipe on the ground fixed that may be the most quick and cheaper solution...

Yes! That would be the less expensive. Give a grease trap some heavy consideration. Good luck, Tom

Thank you Tom. I'll consider the grease filters.

Is there a greener way to resolve this issue? Such as recycling the gray water from washer, route them to a tank outside or in the ground, when overflow, it'll just go on the yard, or create a small pond to hold the washer water?

Are there drain fields for washer drain?

Thanks.

bchi49: there is one more cost associated with switching from septic to City sewer system. The cost is for the removal of septic tank and proper fill up and compaction of the hole in the ground left by the old septic tank. Many Cities require permit and presence of Deputy Inspector to supervise this work. This may add few more thousands to the overall cost of the project...

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Is there a greener way to resolve this issue? Such as recycling the gray water from washer, route them to a tank outside or in the ground, when overflow, it'll just go on the yard, or create a small pond to hold the washer water?

It's unlawful to discharge gray water any where but into the sewer or septic system.

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Are there drain fields for washer drain?

No! The lint,grease and fiber would clog the drainage openings. This is why grease traps are necessary for a working septic system. Regards, Tom

Oh! I see. The washer still need to be connected to the septic tank! And install the grease trap for the washer and kitchen before flowing to the septic. I was under the impression that washer has a separate tank/drain pit.