What A Crock Of Sh!t !!

David held his annual "Cabin Weekend" at our place in the woods.  The septic system decided to add to the fun.  I can't imagine why a weekend with 30 or so people would tax the system...

I went up the following weekend to check it out.  Yes, there was a problem, but nothing a superhero can't handle.  A little rhythmic plunging technique and all seemed to be well.  PLUNGERMAN saves the day!  

PLUNGERMAN to the rescue!

A day and a half later, the bathtub filled with unsavory fluid bubbling up from the drain.  

Water and more...surf's up!

Try as he might, PLUNGERMAN could not send the demon fluids back to their dark domain.  Knowing he would soon be over his head, he called for help.  In the blink of an eye, SNAKEMAN appeared to probe the forces of darkness.

"Oh SNAKEMAN, we're so glad you're here."

Crawling into the icky places beneath the camp, it soon became apparent that getting to a accessible sewer cleanout would be an issue, so SNAKEMAN came up with the idea of gaining access to the problem via the sewer vent on the roof.  Pretty clever.

Nightmares live in here.

Perched above the vent, he metered out his snake into the vent all the way to its full length.  Having particularly quick reflexes, he almost caught the detached end with his opposite hand just before it disappeared down the vent.  "Damn, didn't expect that!  Thought it was attached."

Back on ground level, SNAKEMAN scratched his head and thought about the next step.  Off to Zipps hardware, of course.  One of the few real hardware stores left in the US of A.  An hour later, he returned with some root killer and a new pet...a brand new sewer snake...this time a 50-footer!

Still pondering a method for extracting the previous pet, he proceeded to excavate the distribution box at the output end of the system.  Knowing exactly where it was located, it only took him 45 minutes to find it.  

There it is!

Before long, the cover was off and the new snake made the trip all the way back to the septic tank.  A bit of sand and other gudge was extracted from the distribution box.

Lookin' Lovely!

But the flow was not as it should be, so the problem remained, but now it was certain it was on the input side.  Another wiggle under the camp into the disgusting crawl space convinced SNAKEMAN that drastic action was called for.  It appeared that there was a clean out in an almost inaccessible location.  Flush with brilliance, SNAKEMAN determined that there was another way.  He backed out of the crawl space, closed the door and locked the undercamp demons in.

The reciprocating saw soon provided an easy access port to the clean out.  The access port was well worth it, even though it meant cutting through the superb flooring under the dryer.  It's hard to find 3/4" aged plywood flooring these days.

It took a long time to paint that red arrow on the wall and the floor.
At least we'll know where the cleanout is next time.

Now accessible, opening the cleanout promised to be a problem, since the pipe wrench was 200 miles away.  As my Dad once told me, "Now that you have a house and a camp, you'll never have your tools in the right place."   Fortunately, upon attempting to open it with MacGyver methods, SNAKEMAN realized that the cap was only secured finger tight.  Finally open, water, and thankfully only water, gushed out of the cleanout and overfilled the awaiting bucket with ease.  But no matter...the dirt floor of the crawl space accepted the moisture without hesitation.

Once clear, a bonus revealed itself.  The lost pet snake returned to its master, mere inches from the clean out opening.  "I planned that!" SNAKEMAN cried.

Then it was time to test the new snake.  In it went, and all the way down to the tank with minimal resistance until far down the pipe.  A little poking and prodding, and on it went, past the point of resistance and into the tank.   Success for SNAKEMAN !   

Until he tried to remove the snake.  It wouldn't budge.  Even screaming obscenities was no help.  Finally, SNAKEMAN rotated the flat metal snake and soon a "boink" released the little guy.  

The tub was filled and released, the washer was run, and the increased flow was observed at the distribution box.  O frabjous day!  Callooh!  Callay!  

So the septic system was fixed, and they all lived happily ever after.  Until the next weekend, when the next gathering had the same old problem.  Not right away, but over two days, the septic function detector, also known as the bathtub, showed that the problem persisted.

Enter TANKMAN!  And his sidekick DIGGER.  Or maybe the other way around.  

            

DIGGER dug so that TANKMAN could do his thing.  The rest, of course, is his story.

!!! WARNING !!!

THE FOLLOWING IMAGES ARE NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART.  

TURN BACK NOW

OR RISK BEING PSYCHOLOGICALLY SCARRED 

FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!

ARE YOU SERIOUS?

TURN BACK!

This is the lovely septic tank.
The boards are spanning the top 
so that TANKMAN can get to the input baffle on the right.
It is important to have good balance.

The input baffle...not looking so great.

The output baffle...a thing of beauty.

So, from the "full tank" shot above, it is clear that the output on the left, wants stuff to flow freely, while the input on the right, does not want anything to flow.  The left wants stuff to trickle down, and the right is supposed to allow trickle down, but really wants stuff to stay right where it is.  Why does this all sound so familiar? Are there other systems that function this way?

Uggh.  Lots of stuff stuck in the pipe.  

The bucket half full of what came out of the pipe.
Be thankful the macro lens was not used.

Input baffle beauty.  
Note the silvery head of SNAKEMAN's sewer snake emerging.
Note also the roots in the general area.

So the roots were dispatched, 

and all was well in the universe.