I'm a freakin' idiot.

[NoHall]

The bad news: I have very old plumbing and field lines that go into the woods. This means that my pipes clog up with stuff a lot and when my washing machine dumps out I end up with nasty water gurgling up in my bathtub.

Every once in a while I put sulphuric acid down the drain to break it up. I'm supposed to put 32 oz. in and leave it for 15 minutes. It makes a nasty smell, but it helps a little.

The good news: Tonight it helped a lot. There is no more water gurgling up the tub right now.

The really bad news: I put the acid in and forgot about it for 45 minutes. For all I know, the water is gurgling around under the house instead.

The scary news: I have to check under the house in the morning. Remember this thread? My new little friend lives under the house now...

 

[InletBchDweller]

at least you have clean pipes... maybe you dont need my organ after all...

 

[greenroomsurfer]

Call me my wife does septic stuiff and I kill snakes see the thread. Im me and I'll give ya the phone # and the wife can straiten ya out .

 

[Miss Kitty]

...every village needs one!

 

[greenroomsurfer]

Stop it she will take my job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Miss Kitty]

Stop it she will take my job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

..no worries. Are you ready to celebrate?

 

[greenroomsurfer]

Not yet?

 

[NoHall]

Wonderful news. My pipes are so freakin' petrified and held together with tree roots that they survived. I just did another load of laundry, and it came up the tub again. There's that good news/bad news thing again.

So now I've done phase 2 of the treatment--foaming pipe snake. (Don't worry, Steele Mama--I don't have pics of this particular snake. ) Followed the directions; I'm not supposed to run water in there for more than 6 hours.

Time for bed. Sweet dreams

p.s. GRS, I'm not after your job. You're rully good at it.

 

[jodiFL]

The other good news is that washing machine water is considered "grey water" and can actually be let to bypass a septic system and be let out on the ground. And the phosphates make for a pretty good fertilizer without harming anything. From what I have heard the washing machine dumps so many gallons of water into the system at once that it is the way to determine if there are more serious problems with a septic system right around the corner. You might want to call in the professionals since the remedy that has been working for you failed this time. Good luck with it.

 

[NoHall]

The other good news is that washing machine water is considered "grey water" and can actually be let to bypass a septic system and be let out on the ground. And the phosphates make for a pretty good fertilizer without harming anything. From what I have heard the washing machine dumps so many gallons of water into the system at once that it is the way to determine if there are more serious problems with a septic system right around the corner. You might want to call in the professionals since the remedy that has been working for you failed this time. Good luck with it.

Like the idiot that I am, we had it rerouted into the septic system a few years ago. Last year when all the watering bans hit and my trees looked so bad, I rigged it to run to a rain barrel. It was a beautiful system, but fairly unsightly.

I think my mistake last night actually fixed the problem this time. (It wasn't that the remedy "failed this time," it was that I left the stuff too long and thought I'd ruined the pipes.)