Q&A about what causes a septic system failure?

This septic system diagnosis article explains the causes of septic system failure in the drain field, leach field, seepage bed, or similar component.

We list the causes of each type of septic component failure, and list the septic component failure criteria or in other words what conditions are defined as "failure"?

We also discuss what can be planted over and near a septic drainfield and what should be avoided.

How can you distinguish between a blocked pipe, a septic tank that needs pumping, and a clogged drainfield that needs replacement? T

his is an important question as it distinguishes between relatively low cost maintenance or repair task and a costly septic leach field replacement.

Page top photos: if those tire tracks, more-visible in light snow, are over the septic drainfield, we will be worried that vehicle traffic may have compressed the soil or even broken a septic drainfield line, causing a septic drainfield or soakaway bed failure.

Septic Absorption Field Failure Cause FAQs

These questions and answers about the causes of sewage wastewater disposal field failures were posted originally

at SEPTIC DRAINFIELD FAILURE CAUSES - please review that article too.

 

Digging in yard uncovered infiltrator septic that now floods up to ground level

I was digging in my yard and accidently uncovered the end of an infiltrator leaching chamber and water instantly came seeping up.

The water rose to ground level and I could not stop the leak.

I had the septic tank drained (it was time anyway) and after speaking to the septic service crew they thought that after the tank was drained I should be able to fill in the dirt and the leak should stop.

As far as i could tell the leaching chamber was not damaged.

I filled the hole back in with dirt and thought it was fixed. Unfortunately the ground still has water seeping up from the buried leaching chamber.

For the most part the hole remains wet and occasionally has areas of standing water. Do you have any advice on how to repair this? On 2020-11-12 by Jeremy Jones -

Reply by (mod) - Infiltrator chamber septic system layout & failure

Jeremy

I'm a little concerned that the floor of your infiltrator leaking chamber may be clogging.

Anytime you see effluent leaking into the surface of the yard that usually indication the disposal system is not working.

But before doing anything expensive why not give Infiltrator Water Technologies a call to see what they suggest - and do let me know what you're told as that may help other readers.

Infiltrator Water Technologies
4 Business Park Road
P.O. Box 768
Old Saybrook, CT 06475 USA
(800) 221-4436
Website:
https://www.infiltratorwater.com/

For other readers we attach a photo from Infiltrator showing a typical system installation.

Thinking outside of the box: install vent pipes down to a "too deep" drainfield? Add a lot of soil?

Thanks for the quick response (and apologies for my delayed follow up). [Photo above]

Assuming you could safely cover the leach field with additional soil without driving on it - and assuming the area would never be driven on, would there be any way to improve oxygenation? I have seen "oxygen tablets" that can be flushed into your septic system which claim to do this.

Thinking outside of the box - maybe some sort of vent pipe down to the leach field depth? Maybe loose rock over the leech field with top soil over that?

I'm attaching a photo of the house I current have under construction. In the photo you see the garage and a steep downhill to a grassy area. The driveway to the garage comes from the front of the house and hugs the side all the way down.

The leach field is in the grassy area at the lowest elevation (a corner marker can be seen just left of the center of the photo)... the leach field begins at the bottom of the downhill in front of the garage.

The issue I'm facing is that we have to bring in more fill to bring the driveway up to height so that we can enter the garage.

The higher we make the driveway the steeper the hill down to the edge of the leach field making a literal cliff for us to drive off of. I would very much like to have a soft downhill from the driveway/garage elevation down to the grass level.

It would never be driven on, but would look better and be safer as there would be no "sudden drop". Can this be accomplished without sacrificing the ability of the leach field to do it's job? On 2020-10-17 by Brad - T

Reply by (mod) - deep-buried drainfields don't work well

Brad

I have found no trusted expert source nor research that supports your nevertheless interesting idea of burying a drainfield and then trying to get oxygen to it.

Bottom line is if you bury the drainfield as you describe it may successfully "dispose" of septic effluent but it is not going to successfully treat its pathogens as it will only support anaerobic soil bacteria and not the also-needed aerobic soil bacteria.

Discuss with your excavator how to grade the site and stabililze the fill along the drive, perhaps with a retaining wall, so that you can have a comfortable access to the garage without having to build the septic drainfield all over again.

Watch out: take care that no one drives equipment over the existing drainfield during construction and sitework.

Can excessive rain cause a drainage field failure

Can excessive rain cause a drainage field failure? On 2019-01-30 by Steve

Reply by (mod) - Rain itself doesn't cause a drainfield to fail. But there may also be an original installation error or a drainfield that has already failed

Steve

Thanks for asking an important question - can heavy rain cause a septic drainfield to fail? - that needs clarification.

Heavy rainfall that causes soil erosion that damages a raised bed septic or septic mound system could in that situation cause a "failure" but such failures would not normally occur once a raised be or mound construction is complete and is secured by grass growth that holds soil against erosion.

Only when the field is brand new and exists as raw exposed dirt might I expect such a problem.

For an existing, in-use septic drainfield, once it has been covered by protective grass or similar growth on its surface, I would say rather that heavy rain can cause a failed, or improperly-designed and installed drainfield failure to show up.

Rain doesn't cause a drainfield to fail.

A septic leachfield, drainfield, or soakaway - depending on what one calls it - to work properly must be designed and built so as to be above the seasonal high water table and to be protected from surface runoff.

Can dogs digging up the septic mound cause trouble?

My husband was told that the dogs digging on top of the raised septic mound will destroy the fingers, clogging them up. Is this true? On 2017-12-16 by Angie B.

Reply by (mod) - Yes, Digging up the septic mound might damage it

Angie,

Digging up the septic mound might damage it by damaging pipes, damaging a geotextile cover over pipes to avoid soil clogging of the pipes, or by removing required soil cover.

Then there's the health hazard of dogs tracking sewage effluent into your home.

Bad dogs!

Gurgling noise in the sewer line and septic tank flooded: we brought in more dirt. Have we fixed the problem?

We have lived in our home for over 15 year. Our septic system has never given us any trouble.

Open yard with nothing to impede it's efficiency. Pumped regularly & well built. Never any seapage in the yard. Never any smell.

We had 2 very hard rains - unusual for us. Both times, we could hear the gurgling in the pipe that leads out of the house into the system. We could tell the tank was full - and the water unable to go anywhere. We had it pumped both times.

Advised to bring in some dirt to level our laterals - and since then- all has been ok -but no hard hard rain like before. Is it likely we have solved our problem? On 2017-09-19 by K Hen

Reply by (mod) - No, adding dirt atop a failed drainfield won't fix it and will make it worse!

K

Because your septic system is buried - and thus can't be seen - the fact that it never gave you any trouble, unfortunately, doesn't mean that the system has an infinite life

If the system is flooding in wet weather that's just when an old, near-end-of-life septic may show its condition by becoming saturated and back-flowing into the septic tank.

A septic tank is normally always full, except for a few days after pumping.

Adding dirt on top of the existing fields might hide the problem for a time, but at potentially great costs including

- backup of sewage into your home

- discharge of untreated sewage into nearby wells, lakes sterams

Adding dirt won't fix a flooding nor blocked drainfield.

Adding dirt reduces the ability of the drainfield to dispose of a portion of the effluent by transpiration (evaporation up through the soil into air) so you're reducing its capacity and shortening its life.

I would budget for a field replacement in any case. But before launching on such a project I'd investigate further - with actual objective data (I know that's unusual in our current government but that's still a better approach). That means

- open the D-box to see if it's flooding there; sometimes you'll find that just one line is giving trouble and you can stop using it; but if you see that all of the lines have standing water out of the D-box the field is flooded.

- check the piping beween septic tank and D-box and D-box and leach lines for collapse or blockage; sometimes we get lucky and there's simply a broken line to repair, giving some more life to the fields.

Brand new septic system failed and puddled with sewage: Installer fixed a loose pipe and said I need to plant grass - is he right?

Our system is 6 wks old, within the fourth week I noticed a small puddle grow into a 6 inch diameter one over night.

My installer says he sent a couple guys out & repaired it (he said a line came loose).

Within 24hrs the same thing occured, only now the hole is a bit bigger in diameter as they didn't cover it back up all the way (I have a mound of dirt about 40 ft away from my entire septic system they could've used) my installer now says i need to put out grass seed to correct the problem,

My home is new but I had grass growing already when system was installed, I would say 75% of my drain field has grass on it now after they dug up yd to install system.

Is my installer correct with this diagnosis, he himself hasn't been out, he sent two guys out that supposedly repair my issue, occording to my neighbor they showed up in a sports car got out with 1 shovel. They were suppose to call me so i could meet them, only to called me when they were done & gone. On 2016-06-18 by Sammy-

Reply by (mod) - I think your septic contractor is full of baloney.

Sammy

OPINION: From your description I think your septic contractor is full of baloney.

Planting grass is certainly not a proper nor effective repair for a break or leak in sewer piping that's causing sewage wastewater to form puddles in the yard.

Adding more dirt and seed might be a very temporary band-aid but the required fix is to find and fix the problem with the piping: improper connections, improper slope, improper backfill, damaged piping, collapsing piping, or improperly constructed drainfield that is backing up into the piping system.

Check the conditions in the distribution box: if that's flooded the problem may be more than a broken pipe between tank and fields.

Septic tank has to be pumped out every 3 days; Landlord "repaired" the system withoug health department supervision

Hello, my girlfriend and I rent a place and the septic tank needs to be pumped out every 3 days. Immediately after the system is pumped we can see and hear water running into the tank. The person who does the pumping was asked to install a field bed by the landlord.

His reply was that he will need the health department present during the installation. The landlord promptly disagreed to having him install the field bed. Should this house have been rented in the first place? On 2016-03-26 by Mark

Reply by (mod) -

Mark:

Pumping a septic tank will never, ever fix a failed drainfield, nor will it fix a problem of groundwater running into the septic tank. All it will do is waste your money, exhaust the septic pumping company (and make them rich), and risk sewage backups into the home (unsafe and un-sanitary).

It is not required to have health department officials present all during the installation of a drainfield or soakbed, but in most jurisdictions it *is* indeed necessary to file a plan, obtain health department approval, and to install the system as designed and approved.

And in some jurisdictions the health department inspector will make one or more septic inspections during the system installation.

That may not be the case during a septic "repair" but in my OPINON putting in a new drainfield is "new work" and should be approved.

The question of rent-ability of your home is a legal one (I attended but didn't finish law school and can't answer in depth) but my lay person (I'm not an attorney) is that most rental contracts require that the property be "habitable". If you can't flush a toilet, I would not consider that habitable.

Search InspectApedia for HELP FOR RENTERS - that article series discusses mold contamination but the suggestions (put concerns in writing, involve the health department if necessary) pertain.

Our newly built house septic system floods regularly - who can help us?

We bought our house in the fall of 2008, but it was built in the summer of 2006 as a spec. So it sat, unoccupied for just over one year. From the day we moved in and started using the water, the system flooded regularly, especially during the wet season.

The builder came back and installed drainage tiles on the wet side of the system and we are still having the problem. We pump the system regularly and don't use excessive amounts of water. What are the possible problems and who should we contact for help? On 2016-02-24 by S

Reply by (mod) -

Best to get help from a septic design engineer. She will look at the approved plan, site and soil conditions, and may also want to use a camera to inspect the lines.

We don't know yet if the problem is damage to the piping or fields, a blockage, ir bad design such as placing the fields in wet soils or too close to the high groundwater level.

Don't try costly repairs before we think we know the problem.

Keep me posted - Daniel

My septic drainfield is wet and my water bills are way up. What's wrong?

The ground above my septic Drain Field is "soft". I don't have any in-house plumbing problems, but have seen a large increase in my water bills.

Could a leak in my main water line affect the drain field? ....the main is not located near the drain field. Or, is soft ground cover over the field another cause On 2018-02-25 by kenny

by (mod) - A leak in your water supply line could send surface or subsurface water into the drainfield area

A leak in your water supply line could send surface or subsurface water into the drainfield area, though it's more likely you'd see a wet spot along the route of the water line first.

If you're seeing a large water bill ascribed to a water leak, then the leak is downstream from your water meter.

Water comes out of the edges of our septic field when it rains and I hear the septic pump running - what's wrong?

After to prolong periods of hard rain water is coming out several places at the edge of the field I hear pump come on and water starts coming out - On 2015-12-11 by dan

Reply by (mod) - drainfield has flooded from rainwater;

Dan:

It sounds as if your drainfield has flooded from rainwater; I don't know what pump you are discussing.

But it sounds like an effluent pump sending septic effluent from the septic tank to a raised bed or mound septic system (drainfield).

So if that pump runs when it rains, rainwater is entering the septic tank as well as flooding your drainfield

The system is not working and might need replacement. It certainly at least needs repair.

Ultimately a better fix will be to direct surface runoff away from the fields.

State road work caused flooding problems for drainfield?

Many years ago our parents sold approximately 40 feet of the west end of our home's property so that the state could put in a frontage road.

The soil that was brought in to raise the frontage road about 6 feet above the land's original elevation and a culvert that was installed under that frontage road appears to have blocked the drainage of our property. Is that possible?

Our septic drain field, located within the area that is now flooding frequently, is therefore not working correctly. The state has been contacted about whether the culvert is set too high to allow our property to drain, but they say that is no problem.

Any advice on how to get the state's attention?

It seems to me that by blocking our property with a six foot berm topped by a frontage road and installing a culvert that doesn't drain the property would cause the septic drain field to become saturated by rainwater and is causing our problem of a wet drainage field, but I'm no engineer. (Aug 29, 2014) Dawn

Reply:

Dawn you may be correct IF the blockage leaves an accumulation of surface runoff atop your drainfield, or mistaken if the drainfield is saturated because of other failure causes.

You may want to hire a local septic engineer or civil engineer to inspect the site, diagnose the drainage issue, prepare appropriate drawings and a report on proper remedy.

I want to fix the drainfield with chemicals

Can't I just pour a drainfield restorer chemical into the toilet to fix the seeping drainfield?

Reply:

Vicki:

While there are treatments sold that purport to cure or restore a failed drainfield, after years of work in this area I've yet to find an independent research study that confirmed that they actually work reliably; worse, some treatments are toxic or caustic and harmful to the environment - and thus are illegal to use in most jurisdictions.

See details at SEPTIC TREATMENTS & CHEMICALS

Our septic system backed up, pumping didn't fix it, we need a new drainfield; can we just add a filter?

Our septic system is backed up, we had the septic tank pumped and within a month it was full again we've had 3 different companies to come and inspect each has said or implied drainage field replacement but after researching i've come to the knowlege that if it were the drain field that i woud see evidence such as standing water, sluge etc. but we have none of these.

are there filter in a septic system and what other alternative is there than a drain field replacement? On 2012-01-15 by Troy -

Reply by DF:

Filters add drain field life to a working septic system, but adding filters (or chemicals) won't fix a failed field.

We don't always see standing water on the ground when a septic drainfield has failed - depending on its depth, site slope, and other terrain features.

But if we see flooding in the D-box and or septic tank that indicates either a blocked line or a failing field. Better diagnostics: look into the D-box.

See

• SEPTIC DRAINFIELD INSPECTION & TEST - home
• SEPTIC DISPOSAL FIELD CLOGGING INSPECTION
  
• SEPTIC DRAINFIELD FAILURE CAUSES

Drainage from the road and a neighbor come onto our drainfield: what do we do - a swale?

The county where I live constructed a new road way system in front of the house. In doing so they removed a shell road that ran in front of 10 houses and replaced with a separate driveway from each house to the new road. All of the houses are on septic. The house has an original drive slopping down from the house.

The county's new drive to the house slopes down so that a "v" is created where the two drives meet and the county created a swale at the "v" to drain rain water coming down from the road and down from the house to the water runoff sewer.

The problem is that the grass in front of the house remains consistently wet (where the septic tank is) and the water is not draining at the "V". Before the construction this never happened. I hired a septic company, they drained the septic tank and told me that the county cut into 2 feet of the drainfield and placed the concrete drive on top of it.

Additionally by code they said the county is not allowed to place a swale within 15 feet of a drainfield. I am not sure what to do since the county is not responding. They came out once to change the pitch of the drainage at the "v" but that didn't work.

Additionally drainage is coming across the drive from the neighbor to the north. Are you familiar with code requirements of whether you can place a swale created for rain water runoff next to a septic drainfield and what the distance requirement might be? Also couldn't the back up of rain water cause the septic system to backup because the drainfield remains soaked? On 2011-09-27 by Frustration with Drainage

Reply by (mod) -

Frustration,

Local codes on distance from swale and street drainage to septic may vary, though at this site we do provide a table of typicalmseptic clearances.

But you need to get a responsible county authority out to see your site so that you can point out the problem they have caused and ask that it be corrected. A flooded drainfield is a health concern.

Buying a house we see a sinkhole - could that be a bad septic?

We are in the process of buying our first house. The house we just recently looked at, the grass above the septic is really long and really dark green and the grass around the rest of the area is shorter and yellowish color.

Also, the septic kind of sits on top of a hill and has a mound, then about 10 feet from the mound is a sink hole. Could that be a sign of a bad septic?

The septic was approved for operation on 06/04/2003, so it's not that old. On 2011-08-04 by Anonymous

Reply by (mod) -

Watch out: That SINK HOLE is an IMMEDIATE SAFETY CONCERN in that you could have a dangerous condition. If someone falls into a subsiding hole in the ground it could certainly be fatal. Rope off the area and have an expert investigate the problem. For more information see our article titled

SINKHOLES, WARNING SIGNS - found by using the on-page search box to search InspectApedia.com for that phrase

Greener grass over the septic tank is not necessarily a failure clue but it could be if the tank is backing up and leaking out into its surrounding soils. A septic contractor/inspector can open the tank and check for normal fluid levels, evidence of flooding or backup, etc.

That's what I'd recommend. Don't buy a house with a septic system before first doing your due diligence or without at least allowing for a possibly costly septic system repair or replacement.

A 2003 septic - sounds pretty new but I've seen brand new systems fail - a lot depends on the quality of workmanship and details of installation.

A broken or clogged pipe, failure to install as designed, installation subject to groundwater flooding, omission of gravel in gravel-trenches, improper line pitch, etc. are all snafus that can happen with a new system.

How do I test a one year old septic tank-

How do I test a one year old septic tank--construction of a home the owner complains that "

There must be a leak (in the Septic tank)because when it rains the pump is going off every 2-3 minutes (even during the night when no water is being used)"

This is a high water table site and the home has a basement that is 7' deep. The tank was checked by the installer twice after installation. - On 2011-06-24 by Davian Construction Winnipeg Can

Reply by (mod) -

Testing a septic tank for leaks out of the tank:

Since a septic tank is not easily hermetically sealed, pressure testing is not feasible. You'd need to inspect the wastewater level inside the tank, then require that the tank not be used for 24 hours or longer, and measure again to see if the wastewater level has dropped.

Testing a septic tank for leaks INTO the tank:

But from your description it sounds to me as if water is leaking into the septic tank when it rains. The fact that the tank was checked after installation by no means precludes this condition. Inspect the tank before and during heavy rain; you will probably see that it is being flooded - a condition that risks flooding the drainfields too.

The "fix" depends on the nature of the outside water source. I've fixed a single leak into a septic tank at the inlet pipe by sealing there. But if the ground is flooding all around the tank during rain it may be necessary to divert that ground and surface water runoff by an intercept drain.

You will need to decide if sealing the tank cover and entry and exit piping is sufficient or if more costly site drainage improvements are needed. At least make sure the obvious sources of external water are corrected, such as a roof drainage downspout that empties close to the tank.

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Continue reading  at SEPTIC DRAINFIELD FAILURE CAUSES - topic home, or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

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• AEROBIC ATU SEPTIC FAILURE RATES, COSTS
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• SEPTIC DRAINFIELD LIFE
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• SOAKBED SOIL CONDITIONS

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