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achichirau · Apr 9, 2009, 08:41 AM

Hi there,
I had an inspecton done on my septic today. The inspector told me that there are no cracks in the tank, that the pipe lines are clean and not clogged but because the field was built using a clay soil, the tank is full and need pressure (when you flush etc) to push the water to drain into the soil. He digged into the septic bed and the holes filled with liquid showing him that indeed the drainage is very slow due to soil. There were like 6 inches of scum floating. I had never had problems with slow or gurgling toilets or sinks. The inspection was done on a rainy day and after the snow melt and few rainy days! The system is around 22 years old but as I said was used very little (basically 1 person lived in the house for the last 3 years).

Do I really need to install a new septic? Was he too dramatic/exagerating in his conclusions?

Thanks a lot!
Alex

speedball1 · Apr 9, 2009, 09:07 AM

Do I really need to install a new septic? Was he too dramatic/exagerating in his conclusions?

Tell me a little more about this "inspecter". Was he fr5om the county or was he fr5om a septic company? I'm a great believer in, If it ain't brokedon't fix it If the drain field can disperse what you send into the septic tank I see no reason for the hassle and expense of mov ing your drain field. Food luck, Tom

achichirau · Apr 9, 2009, 09:24 AM

He was from a company hired by the Buyers of our house. The Inspector said that the field won't be able to deal with a bigger family in the house.

ballengerb1 · Apr 9, 2009, 09:36 AM

This fella is a home inspector and, although he may know a little about a lot of things, he is not septic expert. His job is to find dents in your armour so the buyer can negotiate a lower price. How many gallons is your tank and how often have you had it pumped?

achichirau · Apr 9, 2009, 10:01 AM

He is a septic inspector NOT a house inspector. The house inspection got cancelled after they decided the septic failed! I am not sure about the volume of the tank! I got the takn pumped in June 2006 and since then only one persone lived in the house (me).

So you think that his conclusion might be wrong, given the wet weather and that everything was always good for me, never had ANY problems with it?

ballengerb1 · Apr 9, 2009, 10:36 AM

The tank on a septic is always full so I am not sure why he brought this to your attention. When the tank is full it can then overflow through the baffle and out to the leach field. Your system has failed when you see and smell seweage out in the leach field or your house system is backled up from the tank. A totally new system can easily run $20K and if you just replaced the field it would still be over $10K. I'd get a second opinion or wait for the next buyer to come along.

21boat · Apr 9, 2009, 10:51 AM

I'm with speedball and Bal on this. It takes a perk test done properly to check a drain field properly. Just looking at it doesn't calculate the drain field SIZE for peculation.

I have seen many system that are consistently slow in the drainfeild but since its so Big it works fine. "Home inspectors" as far as I'm concerned are not qualified to gage the field itself for percolation

Drain fields are not forever but have seen Very old ones work fine. Here is some very good info for you to read on systems. Real installers

http://www.eco-nomic.com/indexsdd.htm