Frozen Septic Advice

[foggy]

We've been gone from the north country this winter. As such our home at the lake has been vacant much of the time with my kids and their family not there in over a month......and now have my daughter and another family at using our place this weekend.

I'm worried about them running into a frozen septic/drain-feild. The house is pretty new....so I don't have allot of experience on how freeze situations. I just know that lots of low-use cabins / homes have these issues due to low activity.

Question: Would it be wise to have them run allot of hot water in an attempt to get the septic and drain field thawed out? Or, am I just advising them on how to fill what septic tank I may have?

Any way to determine if the lines are frozen? Thanks for any advice!

 

[j-bird]

I don't having anything useful - just sarcastic puns. I have never heard of a septic system freezing, but then again I don't live in the arctic like you guys do!

 

[foggy]

Is it a mound or flat? Two tanks or one? Did you cover with straw before you left town?

Its a flat system. The tank has three compartments IIRC.....then on to the drain field. Last year I put leaves over the lines and we never had an issue....but we also had lots of snow. I killed the grass where I piled the leaves....so this year I decided against it.

Likely I should have had it pumped in the fall.....and I know of some folks that have a house-sitter run a tub of hot water each week. I did neither. I think your advice is good Stu.....and we will just have to play it by ear. I have sent info to my SIL and Daughter.....hope it works out for them.

The big issue is the low activity.....and no way to check it from AZ. Gonna look into some alternatives for next year. I really don't know if we have a problem.....until its too late.

I know some of you guys are thinking this is "justice" for being down south. I assure you....it's worth it (until I get that phone call on Sat). ;)

 

[sandbur]

My relatives had a freeze up at the farmhouse north of you, foggy. They went up for a week and ti worked for 4 days, then froze up. $450 to thaw it and they had some uprights for easy access. This is the worst year in 44 years, per the people in the north country.

My guess would be to use as little water as possible at this point.
At our house where we live full time, we run hot water every day.

 

[foggy]

I'm betting in a house your size you have at least a 1000 gallon first chamber?

Yep.....not sure the size....but it is a big hummer. We got lots of bedrooms for our kids.....so we had to have a big tank. I think that would take care of the toilet issues with low use. Maybe I will caution them to use little water and a GI type shower?

 

[wiscwhip]

If its yellow, let it mellow...if its brown flush it down ;)
No doing laundry, no running the dishwasher, quick showers...bet its okay

As long as the pipe isn't froze between the house and the tank. That is where my parents had the issue at their place. It might be better to run a bit of hot water through the tub or a sink before someone drops a huge deuce and it has nowhere to flush to? Just sayin'!

 

[foggy]

^ Almost bought a few from them last year Stu (It's the General Rental Store near Menards). Last year we put our leaves down and then covered them with plastic tarps......and that worked great. Then it snowed about 3 feet on top....and we were golden. Just that you can count on your grass dieting when doing that. ;) Took a chance with snow this year.....and........:(

 

[BJE80]

That is what you get for wussing out and leaving the great north. Karma is a bitch from all that mud slinging you were doing. ;)

 

[bat man]

When me and Art stayed there and speared walleyes for a couple days we had no issues but Art often goes for weeks without a shower and rarely uses the toilet. We did run out of beer on night number 2 and packed up and headed home the following morning.

We left the heat at 85 but had to open the bedroom windows because it was too hot at night. Art said I was supposed to shut them but I think he said he did it. Maybe?

Hope that helps.

 

[BJE80]

 

[bat man]

That guy and his family were there when Art and I showed up. He kept calling me 'Tom the Bomb' whatever that meant.

 

[Tree Spud]

Start using more Tabasco on your food. You know what they say ... hot going in, hot going out!

 

[Jim Timber]

Dump some salt in with the hot water.

I had our grey water transfer tank freeze up last night and the shower drain backed up (while I was taking a hot shower). A couple cups of cooking salt down the drain, and it had cleared 3 hours later when I came home from dinner in town.

 

[tooln]

That will teach you to tease us about the weather you're enjoying. :p

 

[Ogemaone]

Had my mound freeze up last weekend. The alarm started beeping Friday night. I have the 3 chamber tank that pumps out to the mound. I called the local pumping guy to get it pumped out since I had 20 people at the cabin. He said open the cover on the last tank and you will see two sections of PVC that come to the top of the tank and form a U. He said that is were it typically freezes. He suggested pouring 5 gallon pails of hot water on it to see if it would break free. We hauled 7 pails out in -10 weather and by gosh it worked. Heard the ice break free and it started pumping out to the mound. He said same thing, lack of use in the winter and lack of snow depth to help insulate. He suggested either wrapping heat tape around the U or installing a light bulb under the cover, or throwing hay down around the cover next year to help insulate.

 

[Jim Timber]

Seems like snaking some ice dam heated wire in there would work well too.

 

[Jim Timber]

We only have holding tanks, no actual septic.

 

[leexrayshady]

yep my pipe from the graywater tank to the mound has been frozen for 2 months now, I wont tell you how were dealing with it but I do have a nice skating rink back in the woods now

 

[bueller]

I'm a newbie to septics. We have a conventional, no mound. Headed up this weekend to stay at the cabin for the first time in about month. Does a conventional have the same freezing concerns as a mound type system?

 

[j-bird]

You want to put some heat in a septic tank - stop by whitecastle and get a crave case of sliders - with the peppers! I'll promise you something is going to melt!!!!