Does your septic give you problems, such as slow drainage, backing up into your house, or seeping out of the ground above the septic tank, any time it rains heavily? When this happens, it is a major indication that your drain field is failing. When it rains and saturates a drain field that is not working at its top abilities, the drain field can get to a point where it cannot accept anymore water, which creates a situation where a back up can occur. In Georgia, this kind of failing drain field can go unnoticed for months due to how sunny and hot it is. A heavy rain that occurs during the summer in Georgia may saturate the ground but when the sun comes out, the ground quickly dries as well as the drain field. Thus, the drain field issues do not typically appear when it is hot outside. Many times, these problems will show their face starting in late September / early October when the weather cools down and the rain picks up.
If your drain field is failing and you are backing up due to that fact, pumping out your tank will only be a temporary fix. Because the problem is the fact that water cannot exit the tank, pumping it out will only help until you use enough water in the house to fill it back up. So, the best thing to do in this situation is call a drain field specialist to go over your options to repair / extend / replace your drain field. Here at Firehouse Septic, we can certainly help identify a drain field issue and recommend a drain field specialist, but we do not work on drain fields ourselves. In the mean times, when your drain field is failing, you should try to limit the amount of water you use at one time, especially when it is raining. We recommend to not use your clothes washer or your dish washer when it is raining if your drain field is failing. We also recommend spreading your clothes washing out throughout the week instead of doing it all in one day regardless of rain.
So, if you think you have a failing drain field, you can give Firehouse Septic a call and we can help point you in the right direction to get it fixed.