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attached is a pic of my drain-vent setup. about a year ago my kitchen and washing machine started gurgling. they use the left drain. my bathroom uses the right drain. the only vent is next to the right drain. lately every time someone takes a bath or drains multiple things there are splashes coming back through the left drain.

well tonight i came home and the wife had given the dog a bath and there was water on the basement floor.

is it possible or does it sound as if the vent is blocked and everything is slowly coming back into the house through the left drain.

Hi ExtremeZ,
Are you sure that your drain isn't clogged? When my drain in the tub does this it is telling me it's time to clean the buildup in the drain pipe. I then put Professional ROOTO drain opener down it. Then no more problem.

i've put draino and some other stuff down it before. and put a snake through, but it didn't do anything.

the bath tub and bathroom sink drain slow also, but when they drain,especially the tub, you can hear it and now see water splashing out of the opposite drain and back into the basement.

the water in the basement, means that your main line, is sluggish,and is causing the waste to back up, from that point ,up the line ,to the tub. have your main line cleaned out.chemical cleaners only work in the p-traps,they will not clean out the main line.
your house has a main line run thru it,
with, branch's coming off of it
if one of the branch's backs up. that is a indication of where the plug is.
futhermore, if the top., of the main, backs up
and a branch. the plug is in the main
between the branch, and the next branch, that is draining good.
your floor drain is a indicatator,
that the plug is in the main
clear as mud...huh?

I agree with frodo. The basement drain backup indicates a mostly clogged main line. This will be too far down the line for your snake to find it. Time to call in a rotorooter type.

frodo,
not sure exactly what you mean by all that. if i drain the tub, the flow of water goes through the main line out into the septic and that pushes water back up a totally different line back into the house where the washer drain line is.

if the block was in the bath's main line wouldn't that back up just the bath and not effect the other drain?

ok, well i called roto rooter to come out today at some point. i explained everything and he doesn't think it's a vent problem, but the tank is full, which i can't believe since we just had it pumped out back towards January. and in the 4 previous years didn't need a pumpout. they also thought that the 2 drains were seperated due to the age of the house and the thought that 50 years ago it was bad to mix soapy water with regular drain water in the systems. but i can't understand that since one drain effects the other.

if your system was pumped out less than a year ago. and they say it needs to be pumped out.
somebody is not telling the truth.
either you got ripped off last year, or...
have them show you the full tank, demand to be shown, they will have to take the top off to pump it out.
a black water/gray water system is one that is seperated. the toilets and kitchen sink are drained into the tank. because they have to be broken down.this is black water
the gray water is the tub,lavs,washer machine, they bypass the tank. are tied into the outlet side or are daylighted in the yard
the gray water should not be affected by the full tank.
the kitche is black because of the disposal, food...
a septic system is healther, if you can keep soap out of it. the "critters" don't like soap and will die
and you constantly have to replenish them with yeast or a septic booster enzyme product

well the tank was full of water. they think it could be either the drywell/leechfield or the drain line connecting to the tank. they also said it was homemade setup.

when he pumped the tank water started flowing back from the drywell direction so he believes the drywell is the problem. he basically recommended just getting a new system designed and installed.

he also said they should have mentioned this last time, which i remember him saying it was an old system and should be replaced with a newer setup.

so this is why they created credit cards?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ExtremeZ,

NO! This is why you are suppose to create an emergency savings account!

Credit cards are evil!

Took me a while to get out of debt. I just emerged from it less than 1 year ago!

Dogmata, i hear you actually it's going to be a personal loan from a relative. I have about 2 years left of paying on 2 different evil cards before i can be "debt free". 2.5 yrs on a truck payment, but i broke down and bought a boat for the family so i will be giving money to them for a few yrs. i won't know what to do with the money when everything is paid off.

dogmata...good for you bro!!
i to was up to 15 k in sears,penneys,mc,visa
amer. express, etc
paid it all off, cut the cards up
i don't own a single card ,and am proud of it
built my own, house, no bank loan
and i own the land. 2 trucks pd for
just 1 car left to go

any way onthe dry well is there a pump in there?
ck the ck valve. if the ck valve goes out
the pump will jack off. and burn up
by jack off i mean that the pump will come on then off, on then off
because the water that is pumped out of the pit
runs back in , when the pump goes off
due to a bad check valve
why do you need a whole new system?
are the tanks leaking?
if not,why do you need a new one?
replace the pump an the ck valve and you have a new system. savy my friend?
of course he says you need a complete whole system, money in the pocket
this is just my opinion

frodo, there is no pump out in my backyard. i suppose it could be just a crushed pipe from the tank back further into the dry well/leechfield. he did say that the tank seemes small for the house though.

Had alot of rain lately? My best quess the drain/leach is saturated amd will no longer accept any more water and therefore is backing up from the drainfield to your tank and then from the tank your main line and spilling over into your house. Another problem could be that the line from tank to the field is crushed or clogged. Still yet another problem could that the distribution box that connects the line from the tank to the field could be clogged. I would check all of these before spending the money on a whole new system.

i agree... what gallon size is the tank you have?
what i am trying to say is that. you may not need a "whole" new system
if your tank is adiquite size 1000 gallon is a normal size
and it is not leaking. it does not need to be replaced
you may need a new fill line.
but there are points to ponder
has there been a lot of rain lately?
if the ground is saturated, then the fiel won't perculate well .i am just trying to save you money

i understand. there hasn't been a huge amount of rain lately compared to the last few years. August was really rainy but it's been pretty dry since then with sporadic showers.

who should i contact to have look at the system beyond the tank?

all 3 parties said that local codes require an engineers design to do extensive work/replacement.

they said the tank is fine albeit small for the house. he called it a homemade cesspool.

around here, it is the health department.
contact your water department and ask who needs to look at or determine the location of a septic system. they will ask you a few questions,such as how many people in the house and how many bathrooms. then tell you what size tank. they might want to do a perc test.
this would involve digging a hole ,filling with water, and timing how long it takes to disapate

You might try a few plumbers around town that have the ability to run a camera down the line between your tank and field. May be worth a couple of hundred dollars just to see. Good Luck