Going to septic system school

I’ve always lived where there were sewers, so this is the first house I’ve owned that has a septic system. Needless to say, I didn’t know jackshit about septic systems.

Until this week.

I’ve had a nagging feeling lately that I should get up to speed on the maintenance of our septic system. I remembered we had a diagram of the layout that was part of the documentation we received at closing back in October, 2007 so I dove into the filing cabinet and dug it out.

About all I knew was that we had a capped piece of 4” PVC pipe sticking up in the back yard about 20 feet from the back door and a couple of other pieces of 4” PVC pipe – one capped and one open – way out beyond the chain link fence. We also had a funny looking steel tool that looked like some kind of a wrench with a long shaft for a handle.

I found some good information online and, upon close examination of the diagram, determined we have two separate septic fields. I scanned the diagram and color-coded them. The web sites I consulted said you need to alternate the fields every now and then. The valve that shunts the effluent from the septic tank to one field or the other is called a Bull Run Valve and it turns out the strange tool is meant to extend down into a hole in the ground to turn the valve from one field to the other.

All of the observational evidence points to the west (blue) field being the one in use because that’s where the grass grows lush and verdant.

We’ve lived here nearly 30 months and haven’t touched the valve, so I figured – based on what I read online – that we’re overdue for a change. I have no idea if the previous owners, who had the house built for them in 2005, ever had the 1,000-gallon septic tank pumped out. So that meant it had at least 2½ years of sludge accumulating the the bottom and maybe 5 years’ worth of the stuff.

So I called a septic service that just happens to be right across Pine Log Road from our subdivision and within two hours Bo Nuckles (really his name) had dug down to the access panel for the septic tank and was fixing to pump it out. Bo opined that the sludge buildup was substantial and that we were maybe just a few months from a serious problem, so it’s a stroke of luck that I decided to check it out this week. He also said we should switch septic fields every six weeks or so once the tank fills up with wastewater – a process he guessed would take a week or two.

Then he drove away with 2½ years of our sludge and my check for $215.

And now I know how to operate our septic system.

Oh, and he said that Rid-X stuff I’ve been flushing down the toilet in the belief that I was doing good things for the septic tank bacteria, is a waste of money. He cited the state board of health as the authority, so I’ll take his word for it.