Biocycle Treatment System - Percolation Area Goosed!

Really hoping for some advice here please.

House built in 2010. Had the unit emptied twice and serviced regularly, last time was Nov 21.

Alarm was going off recently and my usual service person felt it was nothing major as it is a gravity based systme and not much could go wrong. I'm not technically savvy when it comes to these things so apologies if none of this makes sense.

Lifted the lid of the unit when he arrived and mostly ok, then lifted the cover below and the sewage was up to the top. He believes the percolation area is goosed and will have to dig the whole thing up and re-do it. I'm shocked we have this level of repair only 12 years after building and wondered is this common? The man who looks after it for me was surprised also and felt we should have got 20/30 yrs out of it. He also reckoned contacting the builder was a waste of time as they won't even entertain it.

My question is this:

Does anyone have a ballpark on costs for the above?
Do we have any recourse with the builder/engineer who signed off on it?
Are there any grants available to cover the costs?
Would house insurance cover it?

Any thoughts or advice on the above would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.

There may be one less invasive/expensive option open to you. We had to do this once in the past.

If the percolation area consists of those corrugated pipes with loads of holes, then the septic tank people have a means of cleaning them out. This consists of a high pressure hose with jets at the end, facing backwards. The hose is introduced into the pipe and it drives it's way along the pipe, cleaning/washing them out as it goes.

I'd suggest giving the likes of Dynorod a call, explain the issue and see what they say.

I'm based in Carrigaline and can give you the name of my guy if it's any use to you.

When you say the percolation area is goosed, what do you mean?

Is your garden very soggy, for example?

ArthurMcB: "Percolation Area is goosed" is how it was described to me. Think he was saying the stone that's in there is not doing its job and will need to be removed and replaced with new stone and the piping replaced. We are not seeing any sogginess in the garden and there is no spill or odour. Again apologies if this is all very lay person described. I know how these things are supposed to work but wouldn't have a clue as to what the problem is.

Buddyboy: Yes, it's a system of 4 lengths of 12 meter pipe with holes running downhill from the unit in a fork like shape with the outer prongs jutting out and then running in the same direction as the middle two. Interestingly when I rang the builder he suggested similar to what you have said above.

@wab0607 - might just a blocked pipe / dropped pipe on the way into the percolation area - build up of sludge can solidify and cause this ( had something like this in past, but in addition to this, my percolotion area was "goosed" - very soggy under foot). What was described above by @Buddyboy with the back-wash might resolve the issue and worth an initial try.

Just went through my records and we had the tank emptied in 2020. I'll take that number if you have it @Buddyboy . TIA

Hi Wab0607, assuming you're within his catchment area, Finbarr in Carrigaline Septic Tank Services 0872532467. Genuinely nice and obliging guy. No connection, other than being a happy customer.

I'd also ask him his views on how come they blocked in the first place. Only dirty liquid should go to the percolation area, unless the solids overflowed, but as you had it emptied in 2020, that seems unusual (unless you've a large household) but a lot of variables involved.

I would say it is very unusual for the stone to be the problem, unless the ground is fully saturated, then you would notice it being soggy.

(A few years ago I had a ton of issues with septic tank/percolation, so learned far more than I ever wanted to know about the disposal of human excrement. )

Buddyboy said:

Hi Wab0607, assuming you're within his catchment area, Finbarr in Carrigaline Septic Tank Services 0872532467. Genuinely nice and obliging guy. No connection, other than being a happy customer.

I'd also ask him his views on how come they blocked in the first place. Only dirty liquid should go to the percolation area, unless the solids overflowed, but as you had it emptied in 2020, that seems unusual (unless you've a large household) but a lot of variables involved.

I would say it is very unusual for the stone to be the problem, unless the ground is fully saturated, then you would notice it being soggy.

(A few years ago I had a ton of issues with septic tank/percolation, so learned far more than I ever wanted to know about the disposal of human excrement. )

Click to expand...

Thanks for that @Buddyboy. We're not far from Carrigaline so imagine we're in his area.

Only work we've had done in recent years was tarmac on the drive but they created a soakway for the run off from there. Household size is average so can't imagine that's the problem either. Have walked the length and width of the garden and not seeing any sogginess. I'm at a loss.

Everyone I've spoken to, ie. my builder, engineer, are all finding it odd that it could go so wrong in such a short time - emptied in 2020, inspected in 2021 - goosed in 2022!

Have someone I know through work coming out to have a look and might have to do a bit of tracing of pipes just to make sure everything is going where it is supposed to go.