blocked drains going to septic tank

jennyrusks

Hello

We moved into an old bungalow a few months ago. It has a septic tank but the drains seem to be fairly blocked at the moment.

The water leaving the washing machine is coming up above the drain hole and this drain joins another drain coming from our bathroom and kitchen. The water from the kitchen and bathroom seem to leave the house ok and get some of the way down the drain. So I was wondering ;

1. Is there any DIY we can try ourselves to help with this or should we just send for the pros immediately ?

2. Can anyone recommend a trusted drain professional in the Meath/Westmeath area (we're near Athboy).

3. Any idea how much something like this costs ?

thanks very much for your help

Jennifer

woolymammoth

drains to the septic tank usually get blocked with a large amount of **** and/or
toilet paper that gets left behind the water on its journey down the pipe. one thing
my dad used to always do was to have 3 or 4 large buckets of water outside beside
the drain, flush all the toilets in the house, and empty the buckets down the drain..
usually forces anything in there on down the pipe.. but ofcourse, you do run the risk
of the water backflushing on you, and you wouldn't want that.

giving someone a buzz to find out certainly wont hurt..

linky

Gurgle

The septic tanks / drainage in those old cottages is legendary.

If its rented, call the landlord / estate agent.
Its their problem.

If you bought then you've 2 options:

1. Spend some good money now to get the whole thing sorted out. You're talking several k.

2. There's probably a length of black pipe lying around somewhere outside. This is what the last residents used to unblock the sewers whenever they got blocked up.

Oh I remember the days of my youth....
Up to my knees in **** at least twice a year....

You're not by any chance in a place called Clonfèin ?

Occidental

Get yourself a set of sewer/chimney rods and work from the septic tank towards the house. If it's a good distance you'll probably have a few access points to work through. If you've got contact details for the previous owners, give them a ring, as these things normally block in the same spot and they could save you hours of searching(especially if any of the access points are under grass).

Borzoi

Not to mention the obvious. Check if the tank is full. No amount of rodding will help, if the effluent has nowhere to go!

SAXA

This is a problem that many people face if they run water to a seperate percolation area. Water run off from the washing machine dishwasher showers and sink should not enter the septic tank as they kill the bacteria that make it function. Washing powder be it for Washing machine or Dishwasher along with grease from the sinks build up in the percolation area and back up into the pipes which eventually get clogged and leaves the owner with large problem. The solution is to install a grease trap which cost about 130 euro which gathers excess powder grease etc and solves the problem. I know of a person who had to dig up the pipes after 4 years because of this problem