Leach Field Cleaning Restoration

[Dennis]

Pumpers,
I'm interrested in cleaning leach, Drain fields and flow testing with water or air. The new forum we have is world-wide. I'm hoping the new forum tells me things I never thought of.
Thanks, Dennis... www.dennishoover.com

[arcan]

Septic-Scrub(TM) is a leach field treatment. The link to the web site is www.arcan.com (http://www.arcan.com). You can also find us advertising in Pumper and at the Pumper Show. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call me at (888) 352-7226.

David Keeton
Arcan Enterprises

[hockeyologist]

I've tried them all , not what was represented*****

[wmcisewer]

Hello,
I have been cleaning drainfields since around 1990. I first tried using a jetter at 30gpm @ 2000 psi (not a good idea). I found out that 6-10 gpm @ 3500-4000 psi works the best. With this you can blast into a biomat, cut out roots, and flush back solids into the tank.
If the field is traped by a biomat or sludge, once you establish a flow, treat the field with bacteria. If it is roots, buy a good jetter head (one that cuts with water, not blades) from a company like Stoneage, Enz, etc..
Roots usually cause a problem at the start of the drain field or branch of fields blocking flow to the rest of the field or branches.
I have had great success and the last few years almost a perfect track record.
If you start cleaning drain fields you need to use your head and check the field first. Saturated ground will not take water period. Bad installs will fail. Some systems cant be cleaned (open dome, dog house type) I have not had good luck with ground tire systems or foam peanut systems. The good old fashion rock and pipe systems that worked for years and just stopped working can be fixed 99% of the time.

[wmcisewer]

Another point about drain fields
Back in the 1980s plumbers in my area, me included, had seperate drain fields installed for washing machines.
If you try to clean one of these and there was not a lint trap tank installed, you are wasting your time and customers money!
Between all the lint, soap, sand, and oil; the field can not be cleaned (by me). The rock bed will be packed and clogged so tight that I will only make a big mess in the yard.
Sink drain fields with grease traps can be cleaned, I have cleaned 40 to 50 year old fields full of grease with good results, but not overnight.

[Trent]

Phosphates also will plug the wash only lines. I even tried to Terralift a couple of them with no luck.

I have had good luck with jetting sludge filled drainfields however. I pull everything back to the d box and pump it out with the truck.

[Sweet Pea]

We have had excellent success with Septic Scrub over the years. The customers are always told that this is not a permanent fix, but many have gotten years of additional life out of their drain fields.

[little can]

One of the most amazing pieces of equipment we own! out of about 200 jobs, only 3-4 did'nt work. After digging down to one of the lines,we found no rock fill. I think this speaks for equipment, especially used on mostly on hard pan clay!:)

[Dennis]

One of the most amazing pieces of equipment we own! out of about 200 jobs, only 3-4 did'nt work. After digging down to one of the lines,we found no rock fill. I think this speaks for equipment, especially used on mostly on hard pan clay!:)
I'm not a terralift fan because you're going deeper and closer to the water table.

[vinny]

does jetting the leach fields really work all that great? how do you normally charge for that?

[RaiderRooter]

Like someone said earlier it depends if the ground is saturated or not. If not, you have a great chance at extending the life of the field. Check with the health department though, they require us to get a permit here. High amount of bacteria is also important. We usually provide some sort of guarantee (i.e. certain amount off the cost) towards a new drainfield to ease their mind.

As far as pricing goes, you need to figure the use of a pump truck, a jetter, digging up the d-box, permit (if required), bacteria, and to cover at least some of the guarantee if you plan on providing that.

[Dennis]

It's been 3 years since my original post. I still haven't cleaned a drain field with my current Tanker But I'll tell you what I have used and maybe we can figure out why it worked.
The tanker was a 1500 gallon boiler tank. 3/8" walls & 1/2" dome ends. The vacuum attended was 29 inches (4 cylinder piston pump).
The tanker had to be empty. Tanker was parked close enough to the D-Box you only needed a 15ft 3" hose. The steel elbow on the end had a tapered foam gasket. When you put the elbow in the branch pipe. One man uses a spud bar and blocks to get a air tight seal. When tanker has the high vacuum, snap the valve open. If you're sealed up tight, you'll hear when it breaks loose.
I say we just collapsed the bio-mat onto the gravel bed or at least extremely perforated it. When it breaks loose the air flow is sudden & extremely high. YOU ONLY GET ONE CHANCE.. If you're not sealed tight and get a partial opening it's too late to build a high vacuum on that branch again.
If it flows that much air it will flow water. Put the garden hose in it and it will still be flowing water a week later.
Now the field is getting some oxygen and bacteria can thrive again.

My current truck is 3,000gal, 66" diameter, 2 baffles, 5/16" wall with Moro M9. I think I can reach 28 inches with the M9 (And hope the vanes stay in it).

Before this forum I posted on the pumper email forum (many years ago). Never got any feedback that somebody tried & liked it?

Thanks, Dennis.......

[vinny]

yea i do that with the inlet to the tank we let the truck build pressure and sometimes we have the customer wet a tshirt or towel and cover the gaps and when you crack the valve most of the time it will pull out the plug in the line i have never tried it with leach fields though

[Dennis]

yea i do that with the inlet to the tank we let the truck build pressure and sometimes we have the customer wet a tshirt or towel and cover the gaps and when you crack the valve most of the time it will pull out the plug in the line i have never tried it with leach fields though

Hi Vinny,
If a jetter gets a field flowing again it was a pipe blockage or the gravel surrounding the pipe. Tank that was never pumped and pushed sludge for years.

Foundation drains could be a niche. Once they hit 15-20 years the fines have washed down on the gravel and start slowing flow. I've heard of jetting them but short lived results. Seems back and forth with fresh water would get the fines washed out. Probably get water in basement, I'd try for a signed waiver?

Have a good day, Dennis...

[txshriner]

ive been cleaning drain fields for several years with extremely good success, actually with too much success! i did this with the knowledge of the local health department and everything was rosy and then one day a few years back the local health department director stopped my employee and had me call him. he had just come from a big pow wow the installers had at the state level. i dont know what the topic of conversation was supposed to be but it turned into a whining session from the installers! apparantly the several hundred systems that i had successfully cleaned and put back to working had these old boys worried about the money they were missing out on. he told me that he was pretty sure i'd be hearing from someone and i did. a little higher up than i expected, the man claimed to be the number 2 man in the state! we argued for over an hour about drain field cleaning. it was of his opinion that this isnt possible but thats like telling the bumble bee that scientist say he cant fly! i have lost count of how many i have made work that even i thought would never work again. you wont make friends with any installers making old systems work but it does pay very well if your successful at it!

[vinny]

txshriner what are your rates for cleaning a leach field with a jetter? and what is your opinion on those aerator units that pump oxygen to the drainfield?

[txshriner]

txshriner what are your rates for cleaning a leach field with a jetter? and what is your opinion on those aerator units that pump oxygen to the drainfield?
I have my own process which has bits & pieces of most of what you read about plus some that I'm sure just aren't shared publicly. The system that pumps air in drainlines would be a good addition to a sysem after cleaning a draindield but IMHO not much for cleaning one that's full of sludge from neglect. Not to mention pricey! In my area if your old system fails your forced to go to the sprinkler system and a quality system in this area runs 65-7500, I charge on average 21-2500 to clean a system. Unlike alot of people that think you have to give false warranty's I explain up front and thoroughly that I'm going to do all I can for the system and it may or may not go back to working. And State in writing on top of explaining that I'm making no promises other than il give it my best shot! I miss very few potential customers and get refferals on a regular basis. I've been very successful and have plumbers & realestate agents that keep me pretty darn busy. Word travels.

[RaiderRooter]

Are you talking about the aquaworx and sludgehammer products? Infiltrator has installed a couple for my customers whos drainfields were failing after only 3-4 years (to no fault of their own. water records were fine, soil conditions were fine, no biomat, no chemo drugs. the rep said he thought it had something to do with the way florida approves the system and it not getting enough oxygen in certain conditions). The units also introduce a large amount of bacteria which needs to be replaced every so often. While I did notice that the tank did not need to be pumped as often (3 months vs 1 month) I was not too impressed with the unit's ability to "restore" the drainfield after almost a year of being in service. Also, since its mixing up the tank so much the filter had to be cleaned at least once a month. Its a great product in theory which obviously does benefit the system but in practice most customers are not going to be thrilled about cleaning a filter > once a month or if they purchased one to restore their drainfield and all it did was reduce how often you had to get it pumped

[Dennis]

I've never worked in Florida. I assume the system is in pure sand and water table is very close to drain field? I don't install systems but to me sand is a tough place to have a system last. The sand wouldn't pass effluent very long before becoming water tight. Seems aeration system would have to be top notch to survive. I'm just guessing & curious. You say no biomat but what's shutting it down if not biomat?

[RaiderRooter]

The rep couldnt really explain it. His theory was that because there was no vent on the end of the chambers that the chambers were just getting airlocked. The second we popped an inspection hole in the top of it the level dropped slightly.

Their solution was to 1) Install the Aquaworx. After 6 months to 1 year they 2) Said to add on to the existing drainfield and add vents which was their final solution