This painful experience is finally far enough in the past that I can type about it without muscle and joint pain. Warning some graphic images of the dark side of residential plumbing
Late May, I noticed my drainfield was running very slowly. I usually have my tank pumped, and the field "jetted" every couple years. So, I had the septic pumpers come in. They pumped the tank, but could not force their jet more than about 12' down the drainfield pipe . Probably not technically even to the distribution box in that distance.
So I started Digging just 12' from the vent pipe for the drainfield:
This septic system is now about 45 years old, plenty of time to resolve any infant mortality. I could tell by probing from the vent pipe that the top of the lateral was about 40" down.
I actually found it at 42", and dug down 48" to clear below the pipe. I found no visible evidence of any problems from examination of the exterior of this 45 year old iron drain pipe.
I decided that before I open the pipe, I'd have on hand what I needed to close it up again. So, I stopped at Lowe's and picked up a 12' section of sewer pipe, and a pair of these generic flexible couplers to mate between the heavier wall of the iron pipe and the thiner wall of PVC. Also picked up a new diamond edge sawzall blade for the iron pipe.
I sawed it open with a sawzall (what did people do before all these handy tools). And found I had not problem snaking from this point out into the d-box and beyond, but I couldn't force the snake back toward the tank.
Had to extend my trench a little further back toward the tank, and found the culprit. Evidently the drain pipe was broken, probably on installation, and just stuck back together and held in place with a large mortar bandage.
I guess over time there was some settling, mortar cracked, pipe opened a little, and some of the mortar got into the pipe. Backed off a little farther, and made another cut, as square as I could hold it.
Squared up both ends, prepare the flexible collars, set in place,
Tighten down the clamps, ran a hose down the vent pipe and run water for half an hour. No leaks, looks good.
Eight foot patch in place, tested, verified, ready for back fill. I got a little back fill done, and ran out of motivation. The weather was a sweltering 90
I lost a couple pounds of water weight. So I tamped the fill good under the pipe, filled over top and tamped carefully to stablize the pipe, then pulled a tarp over it to get a fresh, hopefully cooler start next morning.
And, of course, after a completely dry May, with no measureable rainfall, at about midnight, o-dark-thirty June 1, it stormed and dumped a major make-up rainfall. Lucky for me, my tarp sagged into the hole, but did not leak. Unlucky for me, it was too heavy for me to lift. I started a siphon to drain enough out so I could lift it, and Scout and I took a morning hike.
I decided to not put any of the rocks that took two hands to lift back into the hole, so they went in the 15S, and I finished up the back fill that next morning.
With a full load of rocks removed from my back fill, I needed a supply of soil. And, based on my symbiotic relationship with nature, I backed the 15S into a wooded area where a groundhog had excavated plenty. I screened a load of fresh soil for dressing the top.
Spread it under the watchful eye of my crack security director:
Seeded, then sprinkled a thin coating of the oak noodles as mulch, and turned on the sprinkler.
Before you know it, it was peeking green again:
It is now blended so well, you wouldn't like know there had been any disturbance. A couple times during the hot days in the hole, I was prepared to give up. I even called a couple excavating contractors that advertise septic system install/repair. I guess fortunately for me, not one of them ever even called back. I assume they are all too busy, or too rich already, or maybe they just aren't interested in a single residential septic repair job. Either way. I spent $12 on the pipe, and $6.59 each for the two generic brand couplings (I always called these Fernco's but Lowe's only had generics), and about $12,750 in sweat equity to complete this repair. I already had a couple pounds of grass seed left over from an earlier overseeding exercise.
I now see the wisdom of owning, or at least being very friendly with a neighbor who owns a back-hoe.
