surface water going through septic tank

[Barryscotland]

 

A friend is putting small extension onto his old farmhouse and I went out to help him connect up his down pipes. dug down at the nearest existing down pipe to find which way it headed and discovered that its trap was full of bog paper n poop so that old down pipe is connected into the sewer line not the line that goes straight to the soakaway. 

 

Now he has had issues with the waste pipe backing up regularly and has to rod multiple areas to get it all moving again an this has been ongoing since he moved in 7 years ago also has to empty the tank once a year, my question is could the downpipe of been put into the sewer to flush the pipe and try to stop the blockage or is it going to be adding to the problem?

 

I dont want to reroute it straight to the soakaway if its going to cause the waste to back up more often.

 

The house is 1800s but the waste an surface water was all modernised about 15 years ago with a new twin chamber tank and massive soakaway, with an overflow to a field drain.

[nod]

I would separate the top water from the waste 

If hes emptying one per year there’s no filtration going on The tank is simply collecting the waste 

[crooksey]

Twin chamber tank, then soakaway then drainfield?

 

Should be twin chamber tank and then drain-field for a traditional tank (not sure if the rules in Scotland are different).

 

Surface water should not really be going into the tank, if it is, it means silt and leaves can also get in, it also means the smell coming from downpipes could be horrendous. Also means in an extreme downpour, there can be too much water in the tanks and cause untreated effluent to enter the drain-field causing it to block. With all the rain we had last year, this has probably happened. 

[Barryscotland]

1 hour ago, crooksey said:

Twin chamber tank, then soakaway then drainfield?

 

 

not drainfield, a field drain. maybe what im calling a soakaway is what you call a drainfield