Ground Water Intrusion causes massive damage when septic alarm is ignored

Here is a video of another, “less expensive” riser installation on a septic system.  This homeowner simply took the lowest bid without asking questions.  And honestly, thought, “We are putting a collar on a septic tank.”  How hard can it be.  So he took the lowest bidder not realizing we have to be concerned about high ground water tables.  Now this has created a lot of problems downstream in this septic system.

Now this started taking on ground water back in november of last year.  This is when the homeowner’s septic alarm started to sound off that it was getting too much water.  The homeowner simply “silenced” the alarm.  Thinking it does this whenever it rains.  Stupid septic system.

Now the damage has been done.  You see, he has a sand filter.  Below is a video of the sand filter.  He said it started smelling really bad, but never was out there when the pumps came on to see this happening.

So if you look closely, you can see the color black.  It is stinky and slimy.  This is a bacteria that moves in when septic is surfacing above the ground.  It will always be present in surfacing sewage.  It is one thing a septic inspector is looking for.

Now the bad news.  If he would have called us when the alarm first started to sound, he would have saved a lot of money.

So some sand filter education.  A sand filter is just a huge, in-ground, pool filled with different grades of sand down to the bottom.  At the bottom the water is collected and pumped out to the drainfield.  There is an alarm in this sand filter that warns of a high water even.  This was the alarm that was ignored.  Now the sand filter went completely under water.  Two things happened.  One the sand filter is an aerobic component.  It needs oxygen to breath.  Actually the bacteria in the sand filter need oxygen to breath.  Also remember from the “how it works” page, that the septic tanks are the anaerobic environments.  Now since the sand filter went under water for two long, it went septic, and the bacteria died.  Therefore the sand filter died.  Now we could pump it out and have it dry out, and the bacteria would come back.  But the next problem is impossible to fix.  When the water is pumped out, the sand that was floating in all the water, compacts down as the water recedes.  Making the sand filter surface it’s water, instead of the effluent going down, it goes up, and surfaces.

So please remember.  A Service call is about $125.00 plus whatever parts are broken.  And may some additional labor.

But now this homeowner needs a new sand filter.  Which can run $5,000 to $7,000.  I truly feel bad for my customer’s when this happens.  This is why I have spent so much time on this website trying to educate, and inform homeowners that the power to save money on their septic system, lies with them.  Don’t forget to have their systems inspected and repair/pump what needs done, before this happens.

Thanks for reading,

Ronnie