Gloop!

We are in a small run of dryish weather at the moment. At least until Thursday, but it allowed me to get out and do things like mow the lawns and demolish an old spider-haunted shed. The big uptick in my fortunes have come with a single sound which may mean I won’t be saddled with a five figure sum for replacing my septic system.

Now my problem is that our septic tank has been backing up and needed the grey water pumping out every couple of weeks. This is expensive and smelly to say the least. Chemical interventions haven’t worked and I’ve been trying to locate the pipe leading to the leach field of my septic system for months, but today I located a small steel vent cover and opened it.

All I could see in the bright light of day was a small circle of water four feet down. About four inches in diameter. Which gave me pause for thought.

On a whim, I went over to my tool store and rooted out my sewer cleaning rod, the one with a five inch rubber disk on the end. Then I pushed the rod end down and gave things a damn good plunging. At first the rod went down easily. but about two feet down I felt some real resistance and I heard a loud Gloop! from down below and the resistance lessened suddenly. “Hello”, thought I. “Was that a blockage clearing?” It certainly felt like something had shifted. Had the source of my septic system woes just disappeared?

According to local sources our property had been unoccupied for at least four years before we bought it. Four years for a blockage to develop and clog one vital pipe which meant waste water wasn’t properly draining into the leach field. After one pumping I’d put a camera down into the tank and tried to visually work out if it was a pumped or gravity drained system. Well I wasn’t going to stick my own head down there now, was I? There was some sort of device in there, but it was too covered in all sorts of Sierra Hotel India Tango, and none of the trades were interested in helping me.

However, something has shifted, and I’m not sure what it is, but like in the old poem about horseshoes and nails, small events precede larger ones. Did I just save myself a large wedge? I do sincerely hope so.