A critical part of your septic system is the drain field, but can you tell when to repair or replace it? Our experts know when it’s time for a Sorrento drain field replacement.
If you have a septic tank, you know you have to have it pumped and cleaned regularly. But what about your drain field? A healthy drain field is also important if you want to avoid a septic emergency. Septic issues bubble up from time to time, so you need to know when to repair and when it’s time for a complete Sorrento drain field replacement. Our experts at Acme have the answers.
What Is A Drain Field?
If you have a septic system, but you haven’t become intimately familiar with all the equipment just yet, you may not know what the drain field is and how it works. When your septic tank is installed, a drain field is also buried in shallow, unsaturated soil. As your system functions, wastewater flows through the drain field’s pipes and disperses it into the ground. As the wastewater percolates through the soil, it is treated and then surfaces as groundwater.
Problems arise if the drain field is overloaded with too much water. This can cause flooding and sewage to come to the ground surface, or your toilets and sinks to backup.
Drain Field Maintenance
Maintaining a drain field is easy. Just follow the same rules as you do for your septic tank:
Only flush water and human waste
Never flush wipes or feminine hygiene products
Don’t put food down the drain
Have your system pumped regularly
If you don’t pump out your system often enough, your drain field can fail because layers of sludge and scum can grow so thick that there’s not enough space for wastewater to collect while the solids and liquids separate.
If these solids get into the drain field, it can become clogged, which can result in smelly water coming to the surface. If this happens, you could need a Sorrento drain field replacement. It’s best to contact the septic techs at Acme right away.
Repair or Replace?
Sometimes when you see standing water above your septic system, the problem only needs repair. It could be the result of a broken pipe or another minor part that can be replaced without replacing the whole system.
If you have an aerobic system – one that disperses the treated wastewater over a large area above ground – you could have an imbalance in your system’s microbes. Easing back on water usage for a short period of time will likely allow the bacteria to return to balanced levels.
Time to Replace
Even if you properly maintain your system, it can still fail. Drain fields older than 30 years can fail due to age. When a drain field is this old, beneficial microbes become so abundant in the soil surrounding the drain field that the soil can no longer absorb the water. In this case, you likely have no choice but to abandon your drain field and install a new one.
When it’s time for a Sorrento drain field replacement, have a septic tank company determine if your current septic tank can be used with your new drain field. You will need to consider the age of the tank and how plumbing will connect to the new drain field, but if you don’t need a new tank, it can save you quite a lot of money.
Good News
The good news about having a Sorrento drain field replacement is that it will greatly extend the life of your septic system. Having your septic tank pumped out and cleaned regularly, along with following the simple rules outlined above, will keep your system running smoothly for a long time.
If you see or smell anything unusual around your septic system, you should contact Acme right away. We may be able to perform a repair that will save you from a complete Sorrento drain field replacement. And when it’s time to replace your drain field or any other part of your septic system, we can do that too!
