Septic tank maintenance

Leaking septic system distribution box

This article will cover leaking septic system distribution boxes the how they work. Morning came too abruptly that day. Somehow, the hangover was still working its way through. But you knew that you had to start your day early for your girlfriend’s birthday picnic. Coffee was an order for you so you showered, got dressed, and went downstairs only to find your pug sitting beside a poo gift on the floor. The entire house smelled awful. It couldn’t have come from that small poo. You checked the entire lower floor. The sinks, toilets, and drains all backed up. No wonder the shower drained slowly upstairs.

Your septic expert arrived after you cleaned up what your pug left on the floor. Your housebroken dog didn’t poo inside the house since he was a two months old. It was because of the disarming smells inside your home that made your pug think that the entire house suddenly became his huge toilet. The septic expert inspected your whole property and discovered that you had a leaking septic system distribution box.

As you may already know, the septic system is composed of the septic tank and the drain field. The drain field is where the last stage of wastewater treatment takes place. It is where the pre-treated effluent is purified by the aerobic bacteria and then filtered by the bio-mat, ridding it of disease-causing microorganisms and pollutants. The drain field has components that equally distribute the recycled wastewater back to the surrounding environment. These are the lateral lines and the distribution box. The distribution box is aptly named because it really distributed the effluent to the entire drain field and the surrounding systems. It’s also called the d-box as a shorter term.  

The leaking septic system distribution pipe could have been brought about by soil compaction or old age. Soil compaction results from placing structures or vehicles over the drain field. Their heaviness compresses the soil, crushing drain field components such as the d-box. Old age of the d-box can be a cause of the cracks and broken connections as well. If any kind of damage is incurred by the d-box it should be immediately repaired. If there are any parts to be replaced, it should be done immediately. However, if the damage is too extensive, it would save you more if you just have the unit replaced by a new one.

Your septic expert worked on repairing your leaking d-box. You watched his every calculated step:

a)       The soil was dug clear from your distribution box.

Soil should not enter the d-box or it will aggravate the situation. At least 12 inches should be cleared. Since the d-box is leaking, thick boots and gloves were worn as protection. There should be more than enough work space.

b)       Thorough inspection of the d-box was made.

Any damaged PVC pipe should be immediately repaired. If there are PVC portions that need to be cut off and replaced, do so with new ones and fix them with PVC cement. Debris should not enter the pipes or the d-box as it’s being repaired.

c)       The needed amount of cement was mixed thoroughly and was poured slowly into the mold.

The sides of the frame/mold should be tapped to get rid of trapped bubbles.

d)       The wooden mold/frame was removed carefully after 24 hrs of setting the cement.

The adhesives should be checked as this is done to make sure that there would be no future leaks.

e)       The distribution box was well-sealed before it was buried with soil.

Proper sealing should be done to keep the d-box the effluent in.

f)        The d-box was leveled properly.

It needs to be leveled well so that the effluent could be equally distributed throughout the drain field.

It took a while but the septic expert and his team was able to clean up that day. You had to cancel the celebration for a day because of the sudden crisis. But all was well. You asked your septic expert to help your with your septic so that nightmare of a morning won’t happen again. This article covered leaking septic system distribution boxes the how they work. We hope it helped the reader to better to understand how a distribution box works.

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