Anyone else having issues with the cold weather we are having? Septic started backing up last night, just had the tank pumped in Oct, all I can think is the Leach lines might be frozen, walked down the hillside where I always see moisture seeping out of the ground where I am assuming the lines end and don't see any moisture. What doesn't make sense to me is last year it was 10 to 15 degrees colder and had no problems. Guessing iam going to have to have the tank pumped again to buy time till the thaw next week. Any experts here with ideas?

No possibility of a blockage[other than ice]?

Might be air locked open the lid to the tank

A big wad of toilet paper can plug the baffle on the inlet line to the tank. One fix is just poking it with a stick once you get the lid off. You might be able to get a snake through the line if you have a cleanout close enough.

Got any small kids? It's amazing what they can flush down a toilet.

Have you had a change of laundry detergent or toilet paper?
Had grandkids staying with you or something?
Wipies getting flushed unbeknownst to you?
Don’t laugh, with a problematic septic that stuff matters.
I hope you get it straightened out. I’ve been in your shoes.

Nothing frozen but we’ve had so much rain the tank wouldn’t drain and had to have it pumped. Had the septic guys seal off the tank better with tar rope and cover it with a tarp.

I personally have never heard of a septic system freezing, could have a collapsed line, or a blockage.

if you have moisture (septage) at the end of the lines you have additional problems. likely with no place for black water to go all the lines are frozen.

Yeah, if you had visible moisture seepage before, your leach field was probably already failing.
How old is system? Built to code?

Had a shallow drain field I had to keep protected or it'd freeze every winter.

A few bales of straw busted up and covered with a cheap tarp cured the problem.

You can get electric concrete curing blankets and thaw the area quickly if ya gotta.

Better if ya can rent them, they're a little spendy

The t at the top of the tank could be froze

Flushable wipes aint.

Just having it pumped could be your problem! The bacteria and waste decomposition creates heat ….as least that’s what I understand! After pumping, you don’t have as much bacteria at work. Just a thought! memtb

It shouldn’t be seeping OUT of the ground . That’s the problem

Id bet something is blocked. How cold does it get have to get for the ground to freeze down there?

How deep is the leech? I have a septic and leech, as do my neighbors. We get 20 to 40 below each winter. Nobody's leech freezes. Maybe a pipe in the house is plugged. Could the pipe between house and septic freeze? I'm in Fairbanks, Ak.
Do you have a clean out pipe sticking out of the ground, near the house.

Here are some things I did after reading a study by Texas A&M.

Never let laundry water into septic system because there are so many synthetic fibers these days it binds with bio mat and forms a plastic that clogs and will be there forever. Look at the stuff in the dryer lint filter.

To prevent a backup on the days Murphy’s law dictates is the worst day, put a y pipe with a cleanout plug inline before the tank somewheres where you can afford to let your chit drain whilst you enjoy your holiday. I did two mainpipe cleanouts and one y pipe between the house and first tank.

Use two tanks before the drainfield. My front tank is a dual compartment, only the front compartment would ever need to be pumped if ever needed at all.

Always mark where the tanks are and install risers.

I did a 2,500 square foot drain-field that was extremely deep with mountains of river rock gravel.

This my friends is called a “sewer system” so do it right, Chit or get off the pot !

I have one particular grandson that seem to clog the drain every visit. That dude evidently liked to use about a 1/4 of a roll of paper every time he went to the can. He is grown now and I do not have that problem.

Our tank started giving us trouble a couple of year's back. It turned out to be the filter. The service guy took the filter out, hosed it off, and everything has been good since. I'll probably give it a cleaning my self this Spring.

Tree roots. For some reason those little bastards like to wait until ball freezing cold weather to poop on your parade.

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👍👍

Glad to here that things are looking up for you……and the sewer level is going down. There’s no good time for sewer problems……but, winter would be the worst! memtb

I'm glad you got it repaired.

Good for you.

If women would shave their woha, they wouldn't need so much paper.

that's a bad way to die....

Dig down and see if the ground is frozen to the depth of the leach field or inflow pipe....

Should only be clear clean water making it to the leach field. If you're having to use a product like this, then you need to have your tank pumped more frequently.
If a guy doesn't kill the bacteria in the tank with Clorox and other bacteria killers, a tank can go many years without being pumped.

Lagoon.
NO leach field problems!
EVER!
....and, they don't take up any more space than a leach field, maybe less.
Upkeep and maintenance are non-existent.

I can't get over the fact that with a septic system anyone flushes anything at all. We never have and never will.

We have an aerobic septic system and have had zero issues with anything flushed including flushable wipes. The state does require quarterly inspections and maintenance (little need in 15 years). Two sprinklers water an area in front of the house.

Ton of sloping drain fields here without a seeping issue.

Not cold weather related, but I have a wet spot in the yard.

Bought a home last year. Had the septic inspected and pumped. Said it was GTG.

Two months later I’ve got a 8’x8’ wet spot that looks to be at the end of the leach field. Doesn’t stink. Haven’t done anything with it yet. Thinking I may just rent a small machine and dig some relief trenches out from that spot. Line with drain cloth, fill with rock, then top soil back over?
Hoping I don’t need to redo a whole drain field……

🤷‍♂️

Glad you got yours fixed up!

Your system is over a football field in size? Must be a commune of fat people living there. My math could be wrong, but explain yourself.

Worked on lift stations for almost 10 years. It's amazing what people flush. Kids are probably the largest culprit but I have even seen stuff in houses with adults only that make you realize how dumb and lazy people are.

Flushable wipes don't break down and if/when they stack up like lasagna and pull over against an intake they can play hell on pumps.

Anything is flushable as long as it fits through the trap in a toilet but doesn't mean it's a wise idea.

Around here you must maintain, I believe 50' clear all the way around a lagoon, could be 30', cannot recall exactly.

So a 50' wide lagoon must have a clear opening of 150'x150', larger than my leach field by a good bit.

Also want to keep trees from around it and keep critters out. Needs sunlight for it to work properly.

Oh, but they are plenty flushable. It’s just that once they’re flushed, they sit there and create Mayham.

A story told by one of the guys at work.

His sister and brother in law were having fits with the septic system at their farm house. He borrowed the company's gas powered trash pump and went out to help BIL pump the septic. As the crap flowed out across the pasture, they observed dozens and dozens of condoms in an assortment of colors spreading over the field.

There was a bit of explaining to do, as the BIL had a vasectomy about thirty years previously. He had never used a condom in the house.

Tile fields can freeze. Very cold weather, low wastewater volume/generation, no snow cover, and sandy soil. If tile field dries out then hydraulic connection to deeper and warmer soil is broken and thermal conductivity from below the frost line is lost. Tile line temperature drops below freezing and discharge from the septic tank freezes after it runs into the tiles. Personal experience at UP cabin several winters ago. Toilet flushed and sinks drained for a couple of days. Company arrived and the next morning wastewater was backing up in the shower.

Freezing can occur even with normal wastewater volume. Regardless, I'm told the fix is steam blasting the tank and lines.....or wait til spring thaw.