Warning Signs Your Septic System Needs Service

The Signs Worth Acting On

• Drains and toilets running slow throughout the house, not just one fixture
• Gurgling in the pipes when a bath or washing machine empties
• Sewage smell in the yard, or around the tank lid
• Wet ground or unusually green grass over the tank or leach bed
• Sewage backing up into the lowest drain in the house

What Each One Usually Means

Slow drains everywhere

One slow fixture is that fixture. Everything slow at once points further out, at the main line or at a tank that is due. That is the most common first sign and the easiest one to talk yourself out of.

Gurgling when the washer empties

Air is not moving through the system the way it should, which usually means a partial blockage downstream. Jetting puts the line back to full diameter rather than boring a channel through whatever is in it.

Smell in the yard

Often a tank at capacity, sometimes a lid or a joint that is not sealing. Worth looking at before it becomes the next sign on the list.

Wet ground or bright green grass over the bed

The drain field is taking on more than it can pass. Pumping the tank at that point buys a few weeks at best, because the problem is the field rather than the tank. Repairing or replacing a field is work for a septic system installer, and an honest answer about that is worth more than a hopeful one. A camera inspection and a locate confirm which it is and give whoever does the work an accurate picture of what is in the ground.

Sewage backing up indoors

That is the point at which this stops being a maintenance question. Stop running water and call.

What to Do While You Are Waiting

If a line is backing up and a truck is on its way, a few things help and cost you nothing.

• Stop putting water into the system. No laundry, no dishwasher, no long showers.
• Keep people and pets away from anything that has come up. Standing sewage is a health matter, not just a mess.
• Do not open the tank yourself. The gases in a septic tank are dangerous and the lids are heavier than they look.
• Clear the route for a truck. Cars off the drive, gates unlocked, and tell us if the access is tight or soft underfoot.

When It Is an Emergency

Sewage backing up into the house is an emergency, and so is anything surfacing in the yard where children or animals can reach it. Those are the calls we move a truck for at any hour, and they are the reason the phone is answered at two in the morning.

Everything above that line is better handled on a weekday, by somebody who can look at the whole system rather than just stop the immediate problem.

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