septic help!

im no plumber have little to no understanding how a septic works, but i have what i think is a clean out pipe that has been broken in my lawn, can i put a cap on this 4'' pvc pipe or is this a breather? if it is a breather is there a one way valve that is supposed to go on it. kinda stinky now. i was told before that the septic should only breathe thru the leach field, all other pipes should be capped off i just wanted to make sure that that info was correct. thanks. Paul

Is this pipe part of the leech field or is it a breather pipe on a secondary pump tank?

On my particular setup I've got 6 4" pipes on one end of my leech field with caps on them. They are inspection covers and when my son ran one over with the lawnmower I just went out and put a new cap on. If its a breather coming off of a holding tank that has a pump then it should just have an elbow pointed to the ground on it. No check valve or anything.

Pics of your setup would be helpful as well.

Cap it, hell all it can do is blow up. PS, your buddy is correct.

lol!!! im gonna try and cap it. pictures maybe right now theres a foot or more of snow in my front lawn. like i said i know nothing about septic systems. dont claim to kno anything about em. im gonna go with the inspection pipe guess and cap it. thats prob why the stink is comin from there lol thanks guys

Flush a toilet or run water into the septic and listen if you hear water flowing ,if so then cap it

331camaro wrote:... i have what i think is a clean out pipe that has been broken in my lawn, can i put a cap on this 4'' pvc pipe or is this a breather?

Is the pipe sticking up vertically out of the ground? Or horizontal at ground level? I believe the pipes in a leach field sometimes are vented by a vertical pipe that looks like a candy cane or upside-down letter J, open at the end. I have occasionally seen pipes like that coming out of the ground at houses. I would not cap something like that without being very sure it is OK. Are septic designs filed with your town government when a permit is issued? Maybe you can check the design documents. Or contact a septic tank service company, or system designer, and ask.

Dennis wrote:Flush a toilet or run water into the septic and listen if you hear water flowing ,if so then cap it

Right, sounds like a clean out, I have never heard of a vented system, I just had a new tank and field installed, no vents here.

My system has a vent but like I said I've got a secondary tank with a pump that pumps the liquid up a hill to my leech field.

I'm On Fire wrote:My system has a vent but like I said I've got a secondary tank with a pump that pumps the liquid up a hill to my leech field.

Thats interesting.. how much is it elevated?

Depends on design...
Pumped systems need the vent...
Gravity not 'needed' but sometimes installed...
If you had a candy cane you need a vent...
if it is close to the house and in the ground most likely a cleanout...
Pumped systems are common where a good field is located above the grade of the tank...
The field can be any wher with a pumped system...
Just get the proper pump...

grumpy wrote:

I'm On Fire wrote:My system has a vent but like I said I've got a secondary tank with a pump that pumps the liquid up a hill to my leech field.

Thats interesting.. how much is it elevated?

I'm not really sure. I'd have to dig out the asbuilt drawings and look.