Options/Cost to fix percolation area?

[NickyK]

Hi,

My waste treatment system keeps filling with water. I've checked and it's not rainwater from drains. Yesterday the highwater alarm went off and it appears that water is flowing back into the outlet pipe. The 3 pipes to the percolation area are 3/4 full so I'm presuming the percolation area cant hold anymore liquid. This has been happening for a while now usually when we've had wet weather for a day or two.

What options do I have to remedy this and how much would it cost? The percolation area is on a raised bed.

Thanks in advance,

Nicky

 

[thelimit]

kinda hard to answer this with seeing it or photos

i have a septic tank but i've upgraded during the years

what i have done is install a pumping chamber directly from the outlet of the septic tank, this pumps to another septic tank which is at ground lever eg it sits on the ground, i've filled it with soakage stone and a layer of wicken peat,
then a outlet to a manhole which then is percolated

sounds to me your problem may be 2 things, your ground is prob clay which holds moisture also your water level may be high thus it wont percolate during heavy rains/wet periods etc

2nd
which is related to the above , ground water is finding its way back into your percolation ducting then into your tank, you need to check the heights of the area near your tank/percolation duct's , also sounds like your ground is saturated

re what i've done it didnt cost a lot as i engineered it myself and carried out the works app figure was about 800e but i've never had a issue since with it

as i said really hard to tell without seeing

 

[NickyK]

Thanks for the reply. I believe the water level is high in the area so when it rains the percolation area can't take a day or two of heavy rain. I was hoping I'd be able to extend the percolation area and also add a few more pipes so the waste water would have a bigger area seep through. Effectively I wondered if doubling the size of the percolation area would make any difference and how much this might cost?

Nicky

 

[DACMAN]

I had similar issues to you, last year I dug a hole at the end of each of the 4 percolation pipes found a lot of wet solid crap (literally) blocking the pipes - think part of the problem was having the washing machine run into it for a few years. anyway the liquid in the tank forced the solids out of the pipes and I've had no problems since, tank level never rises above outlet.