need some advice

[Lin W]

Was taking a shower yesterday and the shower pan filled up, water not draining. Got out and flushed the toilet to see if it was working and it wasn’t draining either. Went into the other bathroom and found that bathtub full of crud, toilet also, and water on the floor so apparently water had backed up and one or both had run over in the night? I did wake up about 2 a.m., realized I hadn’t started the dishwasher so got up and started it then but it doesn’t use that much water, at least it’s not supposed to. Anyway, plunged shower, toilet, no headway so called Roto-Rooter since they were here less than a year ago when I had roots in the main drain. RR came and snaked out to 70 feet with no clog, said he thought he was all the way into the cesspool and only explanation was it must be full. Then he quoted me $150 per hour to dig for the lid and $500 per load to pump it or I could try waiting three or four days to see if the cesspool would “catch up” and drain out. I have never been able to locate the cesspool on any plans (house started in 1968, finished in 1970) but the main pipe goes out the back and there is a sort of depression/sunken spot in the middle of the back yard that I figure is a good bet. During this last spate of rain, apparently the gutter directly over that main drain pipe blocked and the water poured in sheets off the roof in that spot. Could that water have gone into the cesspool and filled it? I use comparatively little water and I haven’t changed my habits lately. Anyway, no way can I afford RR’s price to find/pump the cesspool so, anybody have any suggestions? A good plumber, cesspool maintenance company, gutter cleaning service — not sure what exactly I need, but reasonably priced, who/whatever it may be. Right now I can’t let any water down any drain in the house so am using a camp toilet and running out to the hose for everything else — not fun! I was so distraught last night that I actually reached for the phone to call my mom and ask her what to do (and she’s been dead 10 years). Sorry if this is rambling, feeling a little desperate this morning, thanks for listening. Aloha.

too soon old, too late smart

[Kahunascott]

The building department has the location (Map) of where the cesspool is located.
My house was built in 73 and they were able to give us a copy of our records.

[Carey]

Lin, The Building Dept didn't have our cesspool location (house built in 1973 - Keaau) but the Health dept did (on HWY 19 west - Hilo side- of Ken's Pancake), so if the Building Dept doesn't have, maybe the health dept does. The water will probably go down, but definately make sure your downspouts don't drain toward your cesspool, once you find it (normally you can use a thin stout wire to find the cover in soil yards, but with the lava, it is a lot harder (literally) to find without a plan. The RR guys might have an idea (at least approximate distance they snaked & general direction...) If you want to gently dig around the depression (good potential), or if you have soil there use a wire probe, you may be able to locate the cesspool concrete top, usually 10-20" under and ~ six feet around.
There are a few things that really clog up cesspools & septics, they include fiberous things (wash machine lints - get a lint filter), oily things (fats & oils from cooking are best scraped out of pans & placed in the garbage or a suet type feeder for birds....but rats might like that), and antibacterial soaps & disinfectants like bleach. It is also good to make sure you feed & replenish your cesspools anaerobic bacteria by flushing either yeast, active yogurt, or any of the treatments sold in hardware stores, down your toilet regularly (every month or few)
During heavy rain times, until you have found out the cause & remedied it, be very, very conservative with water disposal, even to the point of taking your wash to a laundery.
Good luck,
Aloha, Carey



Edited by - carey on 03/02/2007 09:45:33

[ericlp]

Hmmm, I'd talk to a cesspool person... But, one thing one could do is not drain your washer in the cesspool. A lot of Green homes drain their washers to a catchment and use it to water plants (grey water)... I wouldn't think plants like washing machine water but, well, apparently they do.

Could do 2 things ... get a composting toilet and buy a front loader washer. Uses less water ... Tho, that is a bit extreme to start replacing appliances and not fixing the underlying problem. Good luck!

[oink]

If you have a post and pier home it would be fairly easy to divert all grey water. A bannana patch in a depression is a good spot.

Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.

[Kapohocat]

Make sure you get those gutters draining well away from your cesspool... if you can run gutter pipe to below the cesspool elevation. As for gray lines, I wont tell you to do it (DOH hates that stuff but... we do have a gray line from our washer that waters a jasmine plant that absolutely loves it!!!!)

Also add some yeast specifically for the cesspool (ACE has it) in case something went in that stopped the breakdown like tidy bowl or something like that.

One question no one asked is how close to sea level are you? In Puako, our cesspool backed up into our shower with regularly when we would have a higher than average high tide.

[Lin W]

Thanks for the suggestions everybody — I’m feeling a lot less desperate today ;-) Still have a full cesspool and can’t use any drains in the house but it’s amazing how fast you can adapt to what you need to do to survive. I was already considering a gray-water system so will keep working on that. The house is post and pier. I always try not to use too many super-strong chemicals — I do use laundry soap, dishwasher soap, shampoo but rarely bleach and never Liquid Plumr or Drano. I will get the gutter that is spilling over in back cleaned so it drains properly downhill away from where I think the cesspool is and next time I get to Hilo, I’ll see if I can find plans showing the actual location. We’ve had one dry day and night and it looks like it’s dawning clear today so hopefully that will help as well. . I was on septic for years on the mainland and always used Rid-X but when I came here, someone told me that you don’t use it in cesspools so I never did — big mistake. I did find a product on the ‘net called Bio-Safe One that promises get clogged cesspools functioning again without digging or pumping and I’m waiting for a call back from a rep there. Sounds too good to be true but I’ve googled every way I can think of looking for anything negative about the company or product with zero result so…gonna at least listen to what he has to say. If I decide to try it, I’ll let you know how it works. Aloha.

too soon old, too late smart