Typically, a drainfield fails because too much wastewater has been flushed into it, keeping it constantly saturated. A septic system is designed to handle a certain amount of wastewater. This amount is determined by the number of people in your household. If you overload your system by using too much water every day, the drain lines never have a chance to dry out.
Problematic symptoms are gurgling drains, slow-flowing drains, wet spots in the yard, and water seeping up through lower-level floor drains. These issues are usually most noticeable when a lot of water is being used – for example, on laundry day. For this reason, it’s vital that you conserve water. Take shorter showers, do full wash loads, and never do back-to-back laundry loads.
In a septic tank, about 50% of solids are broken down by bacteria. The rest of the solids build up in the bottom of the tank until a septic contractor pumps them out. Having an accumulation of too many solids and too much water entering your tank at once – like doing several loads of laundry in a single day– can result in the solids causing a clog in the drainfield.
Unfortunately, there’s no easy, quick fix for a failed drainfield. If there is simply a clog, it can be routed out by a septic contractor, but short of that, a new system would need to be installed. So, in most cases, the only fix is a new drainfield.
For all your septic issues, contact us at Lee Kirk & Sons Septic. We serve all of Polk County, Florida, specializing in residential septic system installation, pump repair, drainfield repair, and more.