basement flood - septic system back up?

22 years ago

We had a new septic system installed last October and have had no problems with it until last night. There were a couple of inches of water backed up into the basement. Although it had rained, this was not water leaking in from outside the walls. The drains were completely backed up. I had washed two loads of laundry and run the dishwasher during the afternoon. I have used this amount of water before with no problems.

We have a Multi-Flo aerator which is supposed to sound an alarm when there is a problem. No alarm sounded but the red light was on, which says to call for service if it is on for 24 hours. I don't know when the light went on, but it was back off this morning.

I have a call into the aerator serviceman, and another into the septic system installer. Before I talk to them, does anyone know what might have happened?

I have posted this on the plumbing forum as well. If there is another forum better suited for this question, please let me know. Thanks.

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Comments (7)

pompeii
Original Author
22 years ago
In case anyone wants a follow up, the plumbers just left. They snaked the storm sewer lines and found a blockage under an old stump left from a tree cut down just behind the house. Both they and the septic installers are giving us an estimate on digging it up and replacing the line.

So it turns out it wasn't a problem with the septic, but rather the storm drains. We needed to get that stump removed anyway....
klimkm
22 years ago
Thank goodness it wasn't a septic problem Those can be expensive! Good luck!

KMK
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brickeyee
22 years ago
And it means the water in the basement was clean(er) as opposed to black water (or gray that mixed with black).
kathyg_in_mi
22 years ago
We have had a septic system for years and I didn't think it could "back" up. Ours did get saturated and would not soak up any more liquid. What happened was that we had standing "water" laying over the septic field. With my boys doing soccer slides thru it!
Kathy G in MI
septic-skeptic_cardillo-online_com
18 years ago
Actually, my neighbors had exactly the problem you were worried you had. They have a drainage problem on their property to begin with, but when their drain field failed, the effluent water leeched into their basement because that was the path of least resistance. Nasty!

Anyway, I'm in the middle of a septic restoration project of my own and came across this posting. If anyone else out there wants to see more about my project, I've established a blog so that others might learn from what I'm going through.

http://cardillo-online.com/septic-skeptic

Here is a link that might be useful: Septic Skeptic Blog
millerplanteinc
16 years ago
Since the EPA puts the liability of septic system failures on the homeowner and since most homeowners still use anti-bacterial soaps, cleaners and detergents which kill all the natural bacteria that is to liquefy the waste. Thus, to prevent backups and protect local water supplies homeowners need to maintain their system by using the best septic system bacteria treatment possible, such as the Septic-Helper 2000 from Miller Plante Inc. and the Enza Washer Balls, a chemical free laundry detergent replacement.

Here is a link that might be useful: Miller Plante Inc
nycefarm_gw
16 years ago
The bacteria that grows in your colon and ends up in the septic, is pretty much all the system needs to function properly. The above posters are obviously spammers.