After having a septic tank pumped (maintenance type issue) the homeowner is now having the toilet at times start to vibrate. She called to tell me that it starts with a high pitch moaning sound and the toilet starts to vibrate. The really scary part is this house is on slab and the toilet in question is on the ground floor. Never a peep until she pumped the septic.
Any thoughts?
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Must be some major vacuum in that septic tank. It'll make that low flush toilet work great!
I trust that her vibration and sound effects are just after flushing? As in, when the toilet tank's refilling?
OR... the pumping disturbed the beast that lives in the septic tank and it's displaying displeasure.
PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
This is kinda off the wall, but, did they refill the tank when they were done? should be at least 1/2 full of water.
Check the vents for clogs?
Collapsed pipe?
SamT
It is NOT necessary to fill at all tank all after pumping it.
In fact, doing this would be harmful for many reasons.
One reason is a tank works on "bacterial function" and by adding all this water, it will delay this action.
Another reason not to fill the tank half full after a pumpout is when any solids going into the tank will not have sufficient time to 'break down', and thus 'float', and could eventually clog up the tank's exit opening.
Edited 11/17/2004 9:01 am ET by Hube
LOL
Yeah, right.
SamT
Ignorance is funny, lol
I knew.
SamT
Did you actually see the septic guy drive away??, or... is he still in the.....
Does the sound happen when the thing is flushed?
Hammer,
Just a thought, but could the [heavy] septic pumping truck have run over the house supply line and collapsed it?
WSJ
Exactly when does it make this noise?
Sounds like it might be the fill valve to me.
I'm wtih Bill. The same thing happened to me, and it was a clogged valve.
I'd also check the vent line
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Turn the fill valve off at the toilet, flush the toilet, if it makes the noise the problem is in the waste line, if it doen't make the noise it's probably in the supply system as others have said.
Mike
It's O.k. to think out of the box, Just don't walk off of the plank!
Edited 11/18/2004 9:28 am ET by Mike S
OK, I'm on the edge of my seat... the suspense is killing me.. What turned out to be the problem?
You know, I read this educational comic book when I was about 14, that showed this guy killing another guy. Then chopping him up and flushing the pieces.
Seems the second guy reformed into a *crap*monster, in the septic tank, and came back up through the toilet and killed the first guy. Apparently smothering him.
It's probably just one of the former owners of the place, trying to get his "parts" back...
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow
We need more info and clarification
1) How much is the toilet vibrating? just a little? or is more like riding a Saturn 5 launch to the moon?
2) "the homeowner is now having the toilet at times start to vibrate"
This could be read as the homeowner is doing this on purpose.
Maybe this is a feature of a high-end toilet to get the bowels moving in the morning?
I've heard of a toilet with a heated seat and one washes your tush with a stream of water then dries it off with warm air, but not vibrate.
3) " it starts with a high pitch moaning sound and the toilet starts to vibrate".
or was it "the toilet starts to vibrate then there's a high pitch moaning sound"?
Maybe it's not the pipes making the noise.
Mike
It's O.k. to think out of the box, Just don't walk off of the plank!
Edited 11/18/2004 4:46 pm ET by Mike S
One of those Japanese toilets with heated seat and built in vibrator, customer just found the switch.
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...the homeowner is now having the toilet at times start to vibrate..
A lot of women would gladly pay dearly for a toilet like that.
You know one of them too???
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