Hubble Bubble, Toilet Trouble

[rohitsuk]

Sorry to post on such a mundane topic but: Could anyone kindly offer advice about problems with the septic tank and suggest a local expert who can put it right ?

Our three symphonic toilets will not flush properly because the septic tank, instead of emptying out the water into the surrounding ground, is actually filling with water when it rains, apparently because the water table is high in our area.

We had it emptied a week ago and already it is full again with water, which the chap with the emptying truck said will continue to happen in the rainy season, when the water table rises and the water from the tank cannot disperse into the ground.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as a septic tank is something new to us since we moved to this house a year ago.

Thanks in advance.

[Donnyboy]

Sorry to post on such a mundane topic but: Could anyone kindly offer advice about problems with the septic tank and suggest a local expert who can put it right ?

Our three symphonic toilets will not flush properly because the septic tank, instead of emptying out the water into the surrounding ground, is actually filling with water when it rains, apparently because the water table is high in our area.

We had it emptied a week ago and already it is full again with water, which the chap with the emptying truck said will continue to happen in the rainy season, when the water table rises and the water from the tank cannot disperse into the ground.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as a septic tank is something new to us since we moved to this house a year ago.

Thanks in advance.

you may get a better response from the Housing Forum

we dont have much of a problem where we are during the rainy season, we have ours pumped out every couple of years or so

Did you leave a toilet/shower/tap running causing an overflow?

[orang37]

"Our three symphonic toilets will not flush properly"

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun Rohitsuk,

I was going to say that if you PM me, I will send you the phone number of a Thai man who fixed my stuck toilet problem, but I think the problem you describe is so much more complex than mine that it might be a waste of time. While he is not a "professional plumber," as you would find in the US (and pay huge amounts of money to come to your house), he is generally "handy," and has tools, and is honest. He charges by the job, but I think at a minimum he'll want a few hundred baht to come to look at your problem.

In my case I had friends visit in November last year (man, woman, nine year old boy), and after they stayed, the toilet backed up again and again, even after putting various strong solvents down it day after day, and plunging it frequently.

Turns out some root system had broken into the piping. It was a major effort to fix, but all in all I got if fixed for under 1200 baht, which seemed quite reasonable considering the several hours that went into the very dirty work inside and outside the house required.

Hopefully someone will appear here who knows a local person with the more specialized skills you might need.

best, ~o:37;

p.s. "symphonic toilet" : what is that ? is it programmable ? will it play mp3 or ogg or flac files ?

Edited August 24, 2009 by orang37

[cmsally]

In a high water table area (esp rainy season) you will need for the drainage pipe to have ventilation above the water level. Probably rain water in the pipes and the only way to get anything to flush is to have a vent above where the water is laying.

I am sure someone can come up with something much more technical than that though. But basically you need better ventilation for the drainage system than that you have at present.

[brommers]

Sorry to post on such a mundane topic but: Could anyone kindly offer advice about problems with the septic tank and suggest a local expert who can put it right ?

Our three symphonic toilets will not flush properly because the septic tank, instead of emptying out the water into the surrounding ground, is actually filling with water when it rains, apparently because the water table is high in our area.

We had it emptied a week ago and already it is full again with water, which the chap with the emptying truck said will continue to happen in the rainy season, when the water table rises and the water from the tank cannot disperse into the ground.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as a septic tank is something new to us since we moved to this house a year ago.

Thanks in advance.

We have a similar problem with a high water table causing the system to stop working. When we have heavy concerted rain the foundations of the house fill up & a bilge pump kicks in and pumps the water out, which in theory will reduce the water table & get the toilets active again. Unfortunately the groundwater that is pumped out is piped away & deposited straight back into the field where the original rainwater gathers in a depression, so we actually get almost nowhere with this 'solution'. I pointed this out when the contractor was making the installation, but he knew better than a farang like me, of course. So if you have a similar solution offered to you please make sure that the groundwater is well & truly pumped out of harms way.

[Bill97]

You might try connecting a leach line to the septic tank. This would take water out at about a foot below ground level so if the water table is below that, it should drain. I have septic tanks with leach lines in high water table areas, water table about a meter below ground level, and they drain.

Many septic tank problems result from people putting paper into them which results in clogging, putting chemicals into them which stops the bacterial action resulting in clogging and from people failing to put healthy bacteria into them regularly to facilitate the bacterial action needed to keep them flowing and minimize odor.

Another problem occurs when the sinks and showers drain into the septic tank, they should not and need their own drainage system.

[Maejo Man]

You might try connecting a leach line to the septic tank. This would take water out at about a foot below ground level so if the water table is below that, it should drain. I have septic tanks with leach lines in high water table areas, water table about a meter below ground level, and they drain.

Many septic tank problems result from people putting paper into them which results in clogging, putting chemicals into them which stops the bacterial action resulting in clogging and from people failing to put healthy bacteria into them regularly to facilitate the bacterial action needed to keep them flowing and minimize odor.

Another problem occurs when the sinks and showers drain into the septic tank, they should not and need their own drainage system.

Room permitting, dig a trench either side of the septic tank, and lay a couple of metres of agricultural pvc drainage pipe. Plumb these into the septic about a foot below ground level. This will enable the water to leach out into the surrounding soil.

Do you own the house or is it rented? If the latter hit the owner with the problem.

[rohitsuk]

Many thanks to fellow members who responded to my cry for help about septic tank problems.

Great that folks on the CM forum are so helpful to one another.

Best wishes - rohitsuk