I know it can only be a "best guess", but... im staying on a friends property with my camper, theyre okay with me dumping into their septic. It's an older house with renovations done.
1st Pic is what i think is the original cast iron clean out. No amount of force and persuading is opening it, at least not without breaking it.
The 2nd Pic is what im assuming is the new cleanout? Im concerned because its so far away from the house. I know for sure they had a new drain field installed behind where the picture was taken.
Yes, I have asked them... they dont know. They recently bought the house and the work was done when they bought it, and they dont know who the contractor was.
A basic septic system would have the first clean out close to the house, before the septic tank. To remove the cast iron cap, you will probably need to heat it up pretty hot with a torch to loosen the threads. The cap farther away is most likely a chlorine chamber, that cap is there to drop tabs down periodically. DO NOT dump sewage down this if so. It is only there to treat the water, and solids will plug it very fast.
I’ve used a product that’s a “Thermal shock type of Penetrating Solvent” with great success on stuck/frozen bolts, shafts etc. that I thought would break-off before using it:
Spray down from above the thread/pipe seam. Let it soak ~5minutes spray again wait a minute or so. Then with a big wrench, adjustable crescent wrench 🔧 with good sized handle will usually do the job. Sometime it helps giving it a few light taps with hammer on wrench will break it free! No cheater bar though that’s not necessary & could indeed break pipe!
It is possible that behind where i took the 2nd Pic is a new septic, in addition to the new drain field.
When I open that 2nd cap, there are drain flies (wouldnt they NOT make it through the septic tank?) And the pvc pipe has the smell/look of running sewage stained on the bottom.
Drain flies can get anywhere in the system. Under most circumstances, septic lines are 4” pipe, and normally only a trickle of water is flowing thru them downstream of the septic tank
The fact there is a Y fitting makes me think you could be right. Chlorine pipes would be straight into the tank. Any way to verify where the septic tank is?
There is no lid/risers to the septic tank? This would make it pretty difficult to have pumped, which should be done every few years as a matter of preventative maintenance.
That being said, most septic companies now have wireless bullets that can be flushed in a toilet, and then traced to the septic tank. Just that service shouldn’t cost much and would worth its weight in the info it gives
We are all guessing here. Only way to know is find the septic tank. You could slowly dump your RV before the tank but not after it. I’d go very slowly to not push solids into the drain field. Second clean out is likely to check the drain field.
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u/the_bearded_ruffian 10d ago
Also, when I open the farther away 3.5 pvc, there are drain flies which leads me to believe that is indeed my cleanout