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Vent: My “quick” septic fix turned into a 3 day nightmare
Everyone said just pour some enzyme treatment down the drain and the smell would go away. Tried it for two days, nothing changed. Ended up digging up the leach field myself in 15 degree weather, took me almost 8 hours just to find the clogged pipe. Replaced a 4 foot section of perforated pipe and had to rent a backhoe for $350. Has anyone else had a simple fix spiral out of control like this in the cold months?
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the_eva29d ago
That line about "just pour some enzyme treatment down the drain" always gets me. People think a bottle of liquid is gonna fix years of buildup and frozen ground issues. I've seen too many folks spend money on those treatments and end up right where you were, digging in the cold. The real kicker is that enzymes only work if the system is flowing right and not already backed up. Once the pipes are clogged solid, that stuff just sits there doing nothing but making the problem smell different. You get the same kind of advice for grease traps and septic lines, and it never works when you really need it to.
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the_mary29d ago
My buddy Tom had the same thing happen last January, spent $60 on enzyme packs from Home Depot and waited a week. Nothing got better, so he crawled under his house and found a tree root had punched right through his main line. He ended up cutting out a 3 foot section and patching it with a rubber coupling, all while his wife was yelling from the door that dinner was ready.
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