Re: Drainfields freezing Help!
[Re: 330-Trapper]
#6108631
01/01/18 10:17 AM
01/01/18 10:17 AM
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Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 3,477 MN
walleye101
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 3,477
MN
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Below The Tank our drainfield is Freezing why and how can I fix it?? The pipe. Above and below. Including the tank are standing water but thawed. If you have standing water in your drainfield you probably had drainfield issues before the freezing started. A properly working drainfield will generate it's own heat with bacterial decomposition. If you have thawed standing water in the drainfield your filter bed has probably been plugged for some time but you are only noticing it now. Same thing happened to my mound system a few years back. Only 7 years old but filter bed plugged, quit taking grey water and started seeping out the top. Septic man said they would need to strip off and rebuild the mound ($15,000). Long story short, I tried a septic tank aerator first and it fixed the problem.
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Re: Drainfields freezing Help!
[Re: Trapper Dahlgren]
#6108698
01/01/18 10:51 AM
01/01/18 10:51 AM
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Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 3,477 MN
walleye101
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 3,477
MN
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don't pump tank in winter !!!! tank should be putting off a lot of heat sure wife didn't kill tank with cleaner bleach ? Yep, standing water in the tank and drainfield says tank is putting off plenty of heat. May not be a freezing problem.....yet.
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Re: Drainfields freezing Help!
[Re: 330-Trapper]
#6108847
01/01/18 12:24 PM
01/01/18 12:24 PM
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Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 3,245 Co.-Wy. part time AK.
wy.wolfer
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trapper
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 3,245
Co.-Wy. part time AK.
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It's below the Tank... drainfield ...and yes little snow Snow is a good insulator, When I can I use a snowblower to blow as much snow over the septic field as possible to keep the system from freezing.
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Re: Drainfields freezing Help!
[Re: 330-Trapper]
#6108866
01/01/18 12:37 PM
01/01/18 12:37 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 1,580 Duluth, MN
Clark
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 1,580
Duluth, MN
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One Question...the septic guy told me boiling heavy Salt water to melt the ice...after pouring down gallons of rock salt water now I see when I Googled it on a Minnesota State website that it says one of the four Biggie's is not to use salt but they don't tell me why??? I would think the change to salty water would likely kill off plenty of bacteria that are doing the dirty work of breaking down the sewage. People do things like that all the time to take care of the immediate problem not realizing that they are letting raw sewage seep back into the ground water where it can be pumped back as tap water. Clark
Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen. -Albert Einstein
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Re: Drainfields freezing Help!
[Re: 330-Trapper]
#6108939
01/01/18 01:48 PM
01/01/18 01:48 PM
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Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 3,477 MN
walleye101
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 3,477
MN
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One Question...the septic guy told me boiling heavy Salt water to melt the ice...after pouring down gallons of rock salt water now I see when I Googled it on a Minnesota State website that it says one of the four Biggie's is not to use salt but they don't tell me why??? You may be trying to melt something that is not frozen. You said earlier that you have liquid water standing in the tank and drainfield pipe. That sure sounds like your filter bed is clogged. If the filter bed was frozen the water in the drainfield pipe above the filter bed would be frozen as well. Frost starts at the surface and goes down.
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Re: Drainfields freezing Help!
[Re: 330-Trapper]
#6109786
01/01/18 11:34 PM
01/01/18 11:34 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 8,202 Piney va. soon be 19
cotton
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 8,202
Piney va. soon be 19
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still trying to warp my mind around vents on a septic system
John 3/16
ifin your gonna be dumb ya gotta be tough VTA life member
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Re: Drainfields freezing Help!
[Re: 330-Trapper]
#6109886
01/02/18 05:01 AM
01/02/18 05:01 AM
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Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 1,500 Kenai AK
KenaiKid
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trapper
Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 1,500
Kenai AK
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There are several routes you could take depending on funds, availability and conditions. Insulating the ground with hay, straw, snow etc will hold in the existing heat in the ground, but not add heat, making for a slow thaw. A faster solution is to either heat the ground or heat the lines from the inside. Heating the ground can be accomplished with a bonfire like Boco said, or by renting ground heater blankets. They are used for thawing ground for winter dirt & concrete work, and should be rentable from a construction equipment outfit. Or you can make your own with a bunch of electric heat trace zip tied to a grid (like a pallet or old bed spring), laid on the ground and covered with insulation.
Heating the inside of the lines can be accomplished with a steam jet (either hired or homemade); a hot water jet (messier but effective), or a solid electric heat probe, also available from some rental outfits. Although the solid probe depends on being able to get it to the frozen section. I believe most RotoRooter contractors now offer steam jetting. A quote might be worth it.
Regardless of how you get it thawed, like others have said this is just a symptom of a larger problem, as a properly working drain field should never have standing water that can freeze. I’d recommend you remedy that ASAP this summer.
@ cotton, most drain field “vents” are more commonly called “clean-outs” or “access holes,” for pumping and testing the system, not actually venting. For example... for seeing if you have standing water in your system! And most septic systems have them, though they may be capped below the sod.
Boco couldn't catch a cold. But if he did, it would be Top Lot.
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Re: Drainfields freezing Help!
[Re: 330-Trapper]
#6109935
01/02/18 07:50 AM
01/02/18 07:50 AM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 4,338 Fairbanks, Alaska
Pete in Frbks
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 4,338
Fairbanks, Alaska
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My outhouse is working just fine! The only cold weather modification I made was to carve a Styrofoam seat to avoid instant hypothermia upon sitting down.
Pete
Last edited by Pete in Frbks; 01/02/18 07:51 AM.
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Re: Drainfields freezing Help!
[Re: Pete in Frbks]
#6109954
01/02/18 08:31 AM
01/02/18 08:31 AM
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 17,900 MN
160user
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trapper
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 17,900
MN
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My outhouse is working just fine! The only cold weather modification I made was to carve a Styrofoam seat to avoid instant hypothermia upon sitting down.
Pete Beware of the cobra head as winter wears on! It is sometimes necessary to take a 2x4 and knock the head off the cobra so it doesn't get you when you sit down.
I have nothing clever to put here.
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Re: Drainfields freezing Help!
[Re: 330-Trapper]
#6110176
01/02/18 12:20 PM
01/02/18 12:20 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 8,202 Piney va. soon be 19
cotton
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 8,202
Piney va. soon be 19
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hate to hijack this post @ cotton, most drain field “vents” are more commonly called “clean-outs” or “access holes,” for pumping and testing the system, not actually venting. For example... for seeing if you have standing water in your system! And most septic systems have them, though they may be capped below the sod. here the only way to pump or even check a tank system is to dig and open the tank lid. a pump system will have a way to check with out diging atleast in the first tank.
John 3/16
ifin your gonna be dumb ya gotta be tough VTA life member
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