Toilet Flushing or Septic Backup Problem

[mandlcomm]

The toilet in our basement doesn't flush sometimes. TP in or not in the bowl doesn't seem to change the problem. We had a drain cleaning person come and snake the lines from the toilet to the septic system. He also said the septic tank was full and we had it pumped as well. We have snaked the toilet w/ a toilet snake to no avail also.

We think we have noticed a relationship between very heavy and long rains/multiple showers and this problem, but are not positive about this.

The tub which is beside the toilet has never been a problem.

We have had the plumber out again and he says the septic system is probably going bad. The septic guy says it is something in the plumbing.

What do you suggest?

[DIY Guy]

This is one of those kind of things that is most easily diagnosed in person. However, I can give you some things to consider.

First, the problem is with the basement toilet only, right? You probably have a sewage ejection pump. Is it functioning properly?

If you are right about the problems occuring after heavy rains, then you may have a leak into your septic system from rain run off. You didn't have downspouts or other yard drainage tied into your septic drain did you?

There may be damage in the drain line to the septic system and that is resulting in poor flow, that the upper toilets can over come with gravity but the basement toilet cannot. It could be tree roots, cracks in the sewer line or similar problem.

The shower may be on a separate grey water system that is working properly while the black water system is the one with a problem.

There may be other possibilities to consider as well.

One option is to get a plumber out there with a sewer line camera to inspect the drains to determine where and wat the problem is. That can be expensive. If you have easy to unbury sewer lines, you might just go straight to replacing them if you decide that is necessary.

[mandlcomm]

Problem is only in basement and manifests itself at toilet mostly. The tub in that same BR is sometimes slow to drain, but has never backed up. Not sure what a sewage ejection pump is, but I have only a standard plumbing system in the house, including basement.

Regarding your Q about down spouts being connected to sewer, I don't know. The downspouts do go into the ground, but I assumed they went into their own drywells. Is there any way to find out?

We had a sewage company out and they said there were two tanks, one immediately out from the house and that it would most always stay full and another somewhere else, (they didn't know where) that was the liquid overflow and it was the one that actually dispensed the liquid into the ground.

We have a plumber coming back tomorrow to try to locate all the lines and see if he can figure anything else out. In the meantime, he gave us some bio-treatment to put into the one sewer tank every night for 4 nights.

Additionally, the house was built in the 1930's and everything about the house proper was way over-built. For example, the walls are three bricks thick. We assume the sewage system was equally over-built.

Any other thoughts for me?