Whole-house backups (where none of the plumbing fixtures drain) indicate either a problem in the building drain, the sewer, or the septic system. There is no way to know where the problem is until some investigative work is done. It’s possible that the problem is associated with the septic tank, but you will have to pinpoint the location where trouble is occurring.
For all the plumbing in a house to back up, there must be some obstruction at a point in the drainage or septic system beyond where the last plumbing drain enters the system. Plumbing codes require clean-out plugs along drainage pipes. There should be a clean-out either just inside the foundation wall of a home or just outside the wall. This clean-out location and the access panel of a septic tank are the two places to begin a search for the problem.
If the access cover of the septic system is not buried too deeply, I would start there. But, if extensive digging would be required to expose the cover, I would start with the clean-out at the foundation, hopefully on the outside of the house. Remove the clean-out plug and snake the drain. This will normally clear the stoppage, but you may not know what caused the problem. Habitual stoppages point to a problem in the drainage piping or septic tank.
Removing the inspection cover from the inlet area of a septic tank can show you a lot. For example, you may see that the inlet pipe doesn’t have a tee fitting on it and has been jammed into a tank baffle. This could obviously account for some stoppages. Cutting the pipe off and installing the diversion fitting will solve this problem.
Sometimes pipes sink in the ground after they are buried. Pipes sometimes become damaged when a trench is backfilled. If a pipe is broken or depressed during backfilling, there can be drainage problems. When a pipe sinks in uncompacted earth, the grade of the pipe is altered, and stoppages become more likely. You might be able to see some of these problems from the access hole over the inlet opening of a septic tank.
Once you remove the inspection cover of a septic tank, look at the inlet pipe. It should be coming into the tank with a slight downward pitch. If the pipe is pointing upward, it indicates improper grading and a probable cause for stoppages. If the inlet pipe either doesn’t exist or is partially pulled out of the tank, there’s a very good chance that you have found the cause of your backup.
In the case of a new septic system, a total backup is most likely to be the result of some failure in the piping system between the house and the septic tank. If your problem is occurring during very cold weather, it is possible that the drain pipe has retained water in a low spot and that the water has since frozen. I’ve seen it happen several times in Maine with older homes.
Running a snake from the house to the septic tank will tell you if the problem is in the piping. This is assuming that the snake used is a pretty big one. Little snakes might slip past a blockage that is capable of causing a backup. An electric drain-cleaner with a full-size head is the best tool to use.
