leach field extension

I bought a house with a septic system that drains a little close to the house. I want to extend the pipe to keep the effluent away from the yard. The current set up has a separate drain from the kitchen presumably to keep grease out of the septic tank and a separate drain from the A/C unit.

* Can I join all of these or will that create problems?
* Is there a limit on the distance? (I'd like to run it about 150 feet to a low area).
* One of the PVC pipes looks like 1.5 inch thin wall. Does that exist? I can't find any fittings anywhere.
* The land is a bit low and muddy for a little while after rain. Any special techniques to not make it worse?
* Does the end of the pipe need to be open or can it just end underground?

Any type of help or advice would be appreciated.

sciguy2902 said:

I bought a house with a septic system that drains a little close to the house ...

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Are you talking about something actually running out onto the ground?

sciguy2902 said:

I want to extend the pipe to keep the effluent away from the yard.

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A typical septic system's effluent drains well under the yard.

sciguy2902 said:

The current set up has a separate drain from the kitchen presumably to keep grease out of the septic tank and a separate drain from the A/C unit.

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Where do those go?

sciguy2902 said:

* Can I join all of these or will that create problems?

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Unless you have a lot of grease going down the drain, a healthy and well-maintained septic tank and drain field should be able to handle all of them.

sciguy2902 said:

* Is there a limit on the distance? (I'd like to run it about 150 feet to a low area) ...
* The land is a bit low and muddy for a little while after rain. Any special techniques to not make it worse?

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The distance is no great issue, but that might not be the best place to go.

sciguy2902 said:

* Does the end of the pipe need to be open or can it just end underground?

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The drain line from a septic tank runs underground and into an underground drain field.

sciguy2902 said:

* One of the PVC pipes looks like 1.5 inch thin wall. Does that exist? I can't find any fittings anywhere.

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That sounds like possibly schedule 20, and yes, it might be difficult to find since only its larger sizes are usually stocked in the typical DIY store (as far as I know).

leach

You CANNOT just "extend" a leach field line. There is more to it than just a longer pipe, and a septic system installer would have to decide exactly what you would require. Swamps are typically NOT the best place to install a septic discharge line.

Depending on where you live, there will be some specific tests that would need to be made and permits pulled to engineer and build a septic system. One test would be a perc test, where they determine the suitability of the soil to actually absorb the moisture from the septic system, then the size, location, and type of leach fields. You might have to build a raised bed for this to get it above the low areas and import a bunch of sand and gravel if your soil won't leach or absorb water fast enough. There is a lot of engineering in one of these to make it work right for a long time without problems, and each location will have its own unique soil conditions that will govern how it needs to be built to work.