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I recently had my 1500 gallon septic tank fill up/back up.

When the contractor removed the lid, it was obvious that the tank was completely full and needed to be pumped. The contractor then said that the distribution box was also full and that I should add "Oxidizer Plus" in order to clean out my distribution box and drain field.

He stated that without this chemical, the drain field would be in jeopardy.

We caught the problem before it backed up into the house and caused damage, so it was truly just a tank pumping..etc.

Is the contractor's advice consistent with current practices re: septic systems?

I was in a bind, and feel that the entire service was rather expensive.

isherwood
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C Collins
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4 Answers4

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If your tank and box are completely filled, your drain field is plugged up and no longer draining properly. It is not in jeopardy, it is done. While it could have been worse, it is still bad. Unless this was caused by a temporary overloading condition, or the main line was simply blocked at one point, you probably will need to build a replacement field soon, if not now. It's conceivable, that giving the field a good long rest with little or no waste load, that some sort of product that accelerates waste breakdown could help temporarily get the field partly working.

But if the field isn't draining, the product will not get to where it's needed. Some of these products are snake oil and do nothing. Others will help accelerate breakdown, but given enough time, breakdown will occur naturally, special products are not needed, but may be helpful. Every guy with a pumper truck sells something like this because it's easy money.

If your field is partly draining, and this Oxidizer Plus (many similar products around, btw, shop around) stuff really is actually beneficial, it may be worth a try, as the real solution is very expensive. It will be important to drastically reduce waste loading once a product is distributed to let it breakdown the obstructions with out adding on more work.

The same results can be achieved with no product at all, but it may take longer. If you do get the field draining, it will still be in a very fragile state. It could be easily overloaded again with even modest inflows. You should also determine why the field became obstructed in the first place. A properly sized, constructed, and maintained system should last indefinitely.

bcworkz
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Septic tanks are there to catch and digest solids through bacterial action and should never be allowed to fill with solids until they get pushed out into the drain field. The drain field is there to absorb the black-water outflow from the septic tank.

  • Tank full of fluid up to outlet - ok.
  • Tank full of muck and flowing through outlet into drainfield, you've waited too long to pump.
  • Fluid backed up into inlet, you're looking at a clogged drain field and no amount of pumping will cure what ails ya. (unless it's the rainy season, the ground's saturated and it's only fluid filling the tank, not the other stuff, Yay Oregon and a badly situated drain field!)

The soil aready contains the bacteria necessary to decompose drainfield effluent, the problem is that septic tank solids remains essentially silt in the pores in the soil and bacterial biofilm seal off what remains left for fluid flow. In a clogged drainfield, more bacteria probably aren't going to help and there's little or no flow to carry what you're flushing down there, so the problem isn't going to resolve itself soon.

Pumping of septic tanks to remove the muck is not a last resort, but a periodic maintenance to keep the septic system healthy.

Fiasco Labs
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Last year my daughter had septic problems this home has a huge tank and drain field on the side of a hill no way it will ever back up because of hydraulic pressure alone, but the septic guy was trying to sell her something expensive. She called me and I told her to look for wet spots below the tank. What had happened the pipe broke a few feet down the hill & filled with dirt so don't believe everything you are told. If you use large amounts of bleach, or heavy phosphate types of laundry soap you may not have enough good bacteria to break down the solids and solids are what kills the drain field or in this case a solid chunk of dirt.

Ed Beal
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No do not use the chemicals. They cause the sludge in your septic tank to break down and flow out into your leach field which will decrease the life of the leach field. Get it pumped out and if that doesnt work go to a professional designer for repair.

user92679
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