Septic tank at ground level

[Hobby_Man22]

My tank lid is like a 4ft diameter concrete lid, but does have a small hatch in the middle to inspect the contents. Reading up I notice these tanks are supposed to be like 2ft in the ground. Since my lid is at ground level it tends to flood out whenever we have a heavy rain because the toilet quits flushing. Why would someone put the tank at ground level? I'm looking to have someone put a riser lid on it to stop this.

 

[Dumber than lumber]

That is weird. If you have an above ground septic tank you might not want an in-ground swimming pool.

 

[Treeman]

Tank depth is typically about 4 inches up to 2 feet, with an average being about 1 to 1.5 feet deep.

Impossible to speculate without having all of the needed information. Best idea might be to bring a knowledgable local septic service guy to your place for an evaluation. If ground water is pooling near your tank, filling it, and causing problems, maybe you simply have a grading/drainage problem in the suspect area. Maybe the building contractor never finished the final soil fill and grading to move water away from your house, leaving the tank higher than planned. Maybe you have a high water table, so they are going to start with the tank as high as feasible. We can only guess.

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

The tank should always be (almost full) of liquid.
How old is it and when is the last time it was pumped? Has the field been inspected?

 

[Hobby_Man22]

The person i bought the place from said the city had no info on it. It's an old style tank though. None of the new bs they have now.

 

[Showkey]

That new BS is to stop issues like your having……….flooded tank and the toilet not flushing when it rains means raw sewage is flowing every where. Got a well for drinking water ???? Next time it rains have a sample checked for e-coli.

A sealed riser would be a good start.

Might want to hide that from the inspector you mentioned in another thread.……..flooded septic might actually draw way more attention then that AC unit.

 

[BillK]

The person i bought the place from said the city had no info on it.

In this area the Health Department has all of the records on wells and septic. Might want to call them and see what they have on record. That way you will know exactly what you have and what you can do. I dont know if I would be making any changes without making sure you are allowed to. Including the riser lid.

 

[Finally]

It is ok if the tank is above the ground as long as your sewer main is above that. It sounds like it may be too high compared to the house main line. The tank will always have water and once it reaches the secondary drain, the fluids travel into your pump station (or the leach fields) depending on what type of system you have. The solids stay in the tank. It will take 5-10 years for the solids to build up to when you need to get it pumped.

Bottom line, if your toilet is not flushing either your leach fields are bad, your pump is not working (if applicable) or your tank is too high and it is clogging the main line

 

[Hobby_Man22]

It flushes fine unless the lid has 2in of water over it from rain.

 

[PassnThru]

How much space is there between the '4 foot concrete lid' and the small hatch. I think the small hatch is actually the depth of your tank - not the cover above it which was put there so you wouldn't have to dig the hatch when you have it pumped. Or do you mean that the hatch is in the cover itself?
Either way - I don't have good news for you. If your septic backs up when the ground gets wet then your leach field has failed. You have been living on the bleeding edge of outflow versus the leach field capacity to soak it up. If the ground gets wet then it can't soak up as much so it backs up into your tank.

 

[PassnThru]

It flushes fine unless the lid has 2in of water over it from rain.

Your tank should never have two inches of water over it during a rain. That water is/has been going into your leach field for however long that has been happening. You can regrade so that doesn't happen - but I think the damage has been done.

 

[Hobby_Man22]

The water level is about a foot below the lid. The little hatch is just to inspect it without removing a 200lb concrete lid

 

[Hobby_Man22]

Always stays below the inlet pipe unless I'm assuming the it has 2in of water over the lid.

 

[Hobby_Man22]

Can my I just throw a pile of dirt over the lid?

 

[Hobby_Man22]

Can't I just throw a pile of dirt over the lid?

 

[jhelrey]

Pictures?

 

[jhelrey]

Lids in MN do not need to be visible. Risers are designed so you don't have to dig 3 feet of dirt out to get to the lid.

 

[Hobby_Man22]

Pictures?

I don't have any right now but just imagine flat land with a concrete lid flush with the ground covered with a minimal amount of yellow bank sand.

 

[danfromsyr]

water is flooding your drain field and not allowing the sewer water in your tank from having anyplace to go

really it's all water levels.. the tank needs to be in the middle of the toilet and the leechfield in height. water flows down..
unless the water level is too high (ie flooding) then no water flows out of the tank.. so it can't accept any new flushing..

you have ground water issues you need to attend to.. must move the ground water away or **** in a bucket when it rain heavy.

 

[PassnThru]

I see that you are in Texas - I'm assuming that you don't have a clay heavy soil.
Considering your situation - there is one other possibility. You have a distribution tank likely after your septic tank that feeds your leach field. If the distribution tank has moved and is no longer connected to the septic tank then you effectively have a leach field that only extends a few feet from the outlet of your tank.
Either way - you need someone that knows what they are doing and has a backhoe.

 

[brownbagg]

Wisconsin mound

 

[Hobby_Man22]

Wisconsin mound

Will this solve the problem?

 

[Hobby_Man22]

Some of you guys are overthinking this. Other than groundwater running into the first tank and filling up the second tank there isn't any issues with the system. I had it inspected we put a garden hose in the cleanout and rain water into the tank for like 2hrs without the level rising. Obviously the inspector didn't mention anything about the tank, but oh well.

 

[PassnThru]

Other than groundwater running into the first tank and filling up the second tank there isn't any issues with the system.

Seriously?

 

[Hobby_Man22]

Seriously?

You haven't seen it in person. How can you assume anything else?

 

[danfromsyr]

if the ground water table is above the tank.
water will NOT flow out of the tank.
move your ground water elsewhere.. or move your tank higher
which would require a pump & mound system
which you and the previous owner are likely not too keen on the $$$$$ it'll take..

a bucket is like $5 for a fancy orange homer bucket.

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

This thread was kind of timely as I just added an additional 18” collar and new lid for our tank. The old lid was poorly cast and no small port. We installed a new tank about 3 years ago and the lid was a POS then already.

I have a 1400 Imperial gallon 2 compartment septic tank at the lake. Probably 8’ of collar so 1500 gallon in total. The tank after landscaping will be 7-8’ in the ground. One reason for the depth is the top few feet will freeze in the winter. The other reason is to get the correct drop angle so the waste water has a chance to flush the solids.

We do not have a septic system to take the the overflow liquids to a lagoon. Probably in the future we will have it piped to a lagoon. So we have a septic service pump us out as needed. Two good reqsons for the port on the cover is to check levels, the other is for when they do a pump out the vacuum doesn’t **** the water out of the P traps. Not a great thing to happen if your pump out is completed and you aren’t around for a few days.

I’ll probably either run power or use solar with a float system that will notify us (light??) that we need a pump out. If any one has a viable system let me know.

 

[Hobby_Man22]

if the ground water table is above the tank.
water will NOT flow out of the tank.
move your ground water elsewhere.. or move your tank higher
which would require a pump & mound system
which you and the previous owner are likely not too keen on the $$$$$ it'll take..

a bucket is like $5 for a fancy orange homer bucket.

Water table isn't above the tank.

 

[Bretny]

It flushes fine unless the lid has 2in of water over it from rain.

You need to do some site drainage/grading and or raise the dirt ontop of the tank to promote the tank not filling with surface water.

 

[jmdirk]

If your tank is over flowing when it rains you have to consider how the water is getting in there. Liquid should not be able to enter or exit the tank other than by the 'normal' means. So if water is getting into the tank it's getting in one of two ways that I can think of.

The first is that the lid or inspection hatch is leaking. Raising the grade there and sloping it away from the tank may solve the issue. The second way is that your septic field floods during the rain and water backflows from the field back into the tank. Rain falls on your septic field, seeps into the soil from above and enters the weeping tile there. But it's entering the tile faster than it can drain and the water has nowhere to go but back into your septic tank which then fills up and then overflows.

I have a feeling it's the second option. Your field isn't draining well and it's backing up into the tank. If it's just a leaking lid, the water entering entering the tank should just wash out into the field no problem. You may have had it tested with a water hose, but the volume of water entering the field from a hose is nothing compared to how much water even a mild rain shower can drop. Sounds like it works just fine under normal circumstances, but gets overloaded when it rains.

You can try regrading over the tank or putting a riser on it. But if the field isn't draining properly, neither will help. And as I'm sure you're aware, redoing your septic field isn't going to be cheap. Well...around here it wouldn't be.

 

[Showkey]

There’s no over thinking………rain water or run off should never ever flood either tank at any time.
There should never be ground water over the tank where the ground water can enter the tank. The fact the toilet won’t flush means the tank is flooded.
If your willing to live with problem or consequences that’s OK…………but its not right.

I have a wisconsin mound that is an elevated Leach field mound. These are done for soil/rock conditions that drains too fast or too slow. Mounds are designed to have a % for the water to evaporation. There’s a two tank system with a lift pump in the second tank to lift the water to the mound.

SEPTIC Mounds do come at cost $$$$$. Typical mound renewal is $6-10k. Total mound systems with tanks, pumps, filters, mound etc are $15-30k. Often in my area during the permitting the type for system is determined and there is no choices Or negotiations.

 

[bigdav160]

Texas is a big state with varying soil types. East and South Texas, conventional septics are hardly allowed anymore because the soil clay and doesn't perc. Aerobic systems are pretty standard fare.

Could the leach field not be working properly?

 

[brownbagg]

purpose of tank is to give the bacteria me to eat the solids,the water from toilet will raise the water so it go into leech field if the water not moving, its your leech field

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

Can't I just throw a pile of dirt over the lid?

Yes, you can (and probably should). The ground around the tank should be sloped so that water doesn't collect at the tank.
If the water is collecting at the tank a "mound" of dirt on ythe lid won't stop that.

 

[FMB4]

All of the above advice is very good imo. Wife and I owned property with a septic for about 10 years, and, that said, I would start by securely placing heavy duty plastic sheeting over the tank lid/cover/access so as to prevent rain water from entering the system. If the problem persists, than you have, as others above mentioned, a leach field issue and/or ground water is entering tank system during rainy conditions (my guess is the latter).

Meanwhile, did your property or septic tank remain unused for more than a few years or so? If so, it could be that the empty sep tank system raised itself, over time, towards the ground level surface which may have damaged the entire sep system (this is a very common issue with unfilled in ground swimming pools).

Hope this helps...

 

[dave_dj1]

My tank lid is like a 4ft diameter concrete lid, but does have a small hatch in the middle to inspect the contents. Reading up I notice these tanks are supposed to be like 2ft in the ground. Since my lid is at ground level it tends to flood out whenever we have a heavy rain because the toilet quits flushing. Why would someone put the tank at ground level? I'm looking to have someone put a riser lid on it to stop this.

You are having a leach field issue not a tank issue, by nature tanks are meant to be mostly full at all times. I live in the northeast and my tank is only about 5" below grade, never had a problem.
I take it you don't know what type of drain field you have? If you don't and it has failed you are in for a large expense unless it turns out to be something simple. First thing I would do is contact the septic company, have them pump the tank, inspect what they can , maybe they can pressure clean the outgoing lines.
Good luck

 

[Hobby_Man22]

I read that eve. If it goes unused for years the water inside the tank stays there. Yeah the inspector guessed the system is from the mid 90s and there wasn't anything on the property for a long time as far as I know until a couple years ago.

 

[Hobby_Man22]

So I can't take some sort and throw it over the leach field to make a mound? I dont see how this cost 10k

 

[dave_dj1]

So I can't take some sort and throw it over the leach field to make a mound? I dont see how this cost 10k

Then you need a pump, pump chamber and specialized sand (at least here) it adds up fast.
What is the soil like around you?

 

[FMB4]

Twenty years of being 'out of service' is not good news. Meanwhile, I'd follow the sound advice of Dave by hiring the services of a good septic company.