Leaching Pits

Recently, I went to someone’s property for the first time to pump out their septic system, and as always with first-timers, I had them give me their plans so I’d know what I was talking about. Turns out they had a leaching pit.  Some properties have these pits instead of the more common leaching fields, usually because they have a smaller area in which to house their system.  A leaching pit is made up of a concrete top and concrete, ventilated sides, with crushed stone making up the floor.  Unlike a leaching field, which is designed to drain through pipes, leaching pits drain from the bottom and sides.  

When I pumped the system’s tank, which is only about 15 years old, it showed signs of a greasy, pinkish top layer, which is no good for anyone’s system.   Greasy top scum layers come from animal fat from washing pans with leftover soups, sauces, and gravies still in the pan, but it also comes from hair conditioners.  Sure enough, this house had three girls and a wife who loved to cook.  All these animal fats were going right down the sink and shower drains into their septic tank.  Fats and oils stay to the top of the tank, killing normal bacteria needed to break down waste, and clogging up the outlet line, which is the pipe leading from your septic tank to your leach pit or to a distribution box leading to multiple pits.  It ends up clogging the leaching pit (or field) so it can’t drain properly.   

I went back to the house later in the week and opened up the leaching pit for further investigation.  Good thing, too, because the water level was high above the inlet line coming in from the septic tank, indicating that the pit wasn’t leaching properly, and that, unbeknownst to the homeowner, the system was in failure.    Again, this is not an old system!   I pumped down the leaching pit, washed down the stone, and added bacteria to help eat the grease lodged behind the stone.   I put a riser and new cover to ground level on the pit so that when I pump out the septic tank again, I can easily access and pump the leaching pit at the same time.  All this is a long (and I hope interesting!) way to say that if you have a leaching pit, you should pump it, along with your tank, annually, because the leaching pit is the heart of your system. Give it bacteria. Take care of it.  It could make the difference between passing or failing a Title V inspection when the time comes to sell.  Believe it or not, all this is detected just by the presence of a top scum layer of grease.  

If you have any questions about your septic system, please email me at johnsepticsolutions@hotmail.com or call me at 978-587-1192. I look forward to hearing from you.