Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Septic system freeze issues

Eat more hot food.

Texas A&M Extension Service is aces. They've been educating Texas water/waste water operators for decades.

Roots do bad things

This.

Likely time for a new field.

Make sure there are no dripping/leaking faucets or a leaking/running toilet.
That slow freshwater run can and does freeze up the drainline in a bad way.

Septic tank systems should never freeze, you have something else going on most likely.

Yeah I had an issue with roots that I took care of with copper sulfate crystals. It'll kill whatever is attached to the roots, but that's to be expected.

Build a bonfire over it. Grass is easy to fix in the warm months.

OP, when you say= "walked down the hillside see moisture seeping" Your field should be level, should not have the seeping problem down the hillside.

I used to see this problem a lot when I lived in Montana. People install septic systems running down the hillside.

Again, your field needs to be level. If you have a difference in elevation more than the depth of your line's, you are going to have a seeping issue. The hydrostatic pressure of the moisture and the difference in elevation you will see these types of problems.

Not sure how long you have lived in this residence, or how often you have problems with your system.
I have never seen a field freeze; I don't think it's possible. From the makeup of what goes into the tank from our body.

If you can make it till Springtime comes around, you might have someone look at your system.

Wish you all the best.

After 40 yrs, our metal tank and drain field were toast. Put in a new system.

I was wondering the same thing... Around here, nearly all sewer systems are of the 'mound' style...

I wouldn't build a fire over it. You might have an issue with Methane Gas.

Our system at our former house was on a fairly decent grade/slope and the system we're about to have installed for a lot in Tenn will be on a much steeper grade.

You can install field lines on a grade . You run the lines parallel to contours and dig level . If your sewage is coming out of the ground, it’s failing .

This about sums it up.

I read through to quickly.......

I went right by "People install septic systems running down the hillside." this!

My apologies!

If you determine that your field has problems, try some of this Leach field conditioner before you spend a wad of money. 6 or 7 years ago, I was seeing a little water on top of our field. I flushed down a quart of this, then repeated it a couple months later. It took care of the problem. I haven't seen any wet dirt on top of the field in years. It's a little different from septic tank cleaner. We were having problems with a wife and MIL flushing a half roll of paper at a time. The seemed to break it down faster.

Not good

Had a guy come out and sucked out the cleanup, was clogged at the baffling going into the tank, 1st lid is under 4 ft of dirt, no idea why they would have buried it and not put a riser there, we dug up the second lid where it was pumped out last fall, pumped the water out and the septic guy jumped down in the tank, knocked the baffle off and cleaned out the clog, couldn't pay me enough to get down in that crap, he didn't seem fazed by it. Bought this place a little over a year ago so I don't know the history of it, no codes to follow in rural KY, called the original owner last fall when backed up and he told me he never had it pumped in the 18 years since it was installed, mind boggling that he would not have had it pumped every few years as maintenance. Out of sight out of mind seems to be the norm for some people. Foot note....guy had to cut off the PVC piping that held to filter going into the leach field just to get back out of the tank. I was hoping that the sewage gases wouldn't overwhelm him. They were bad

Glad ya got it worked out👍👍