Puzzling "white stuff" is costing lots of green

Q: The city sewer is up the hill from our house. We have a tank with a sump that "flushes" all our wastewater up to that line. In the kitchen, I throw excess cooking oils and fat into the garbage and do not use the disposal.

Still, within two to three years, great clumps of "white stuff" clog the pump, bottom and sides of the tank, and we must call in a professional tank truck to pump out the mess and scrape the tank clean again, costing more than $300 each time.

We have tried adding Rid-ex before going away for the weekend or longer, to give the stuff time to work. It doesn't help. The septic-tank people feel it is useless but could give me no positive direction.

What can we do on a routine basis to keep the soaps from forming those clumps?

I have started pouring baking soda and then white vinegar into the sink and bath drains every week. Could that help alleviate our "clumping" problem?

A: What a great question. Next time, determine what the clogging material is, exactly. I am wondering whether you have teenagers subversively adding something to the drain.

But other than that off-the-wall contribution, I need to go for a lifeline. Readers, can you help?

Q: I had a broken "D" (distribution) box in my drain field from dropping a tree on it a few years ago without knowing it was there. As a result of my rogue tree felling, roots from another nearby tree entered the cracked lid and went out in two directions down the pipes.

I have about 300 feet of drain field, so I knew the whole thing wasn't going to be full of roots. In trying to assess the extent of the damage, I dug down 16 inches to the pipe and 20 feet or so in both directions from the D box and found clean gravel and clean pipes.

Then I commenced to cut into the pipe and either trace to the end of the root blockage and repair it, or replace the pipe altogether where it was plugged.

On one side, I reached in and slowly pulled out 17 feet of roots. On the other side, I had to dig up the other pipe and replace it because it was so tightly packed.

Then I installed a new D box and was good to go.

So my question relates to replacing the perforated pipe sections. The pipes had male/female fittings but no glue. None of the joints had come apart, amazingly.

So I just pulled the pipes apart and slipped them back together, with the holes facing downward (4 and 8 o'clock), just like the original pipe, and covered them with new gravel.

Did the lack of glue contribute to the root growth?

A: For those who do not know, a distribution box is usually concrete, about 1 foot square, and has a removable lid and up to four pipe inlets and outlets. It is generally located at the top of a gravity drain field, the lid a few inches below the level of the top of the soil. Effluent is either pumped or drains into the "D" box and then flows into the gravel-lined trenches from that point.

You have holes in the pipe every few inches. The system is designed to leak. A lot. No glue necessary. Roots get into the pipe's own drain holes more readily than into the pipe fittings. Lack of glue only made your repair easier.

Darrell Hay is a local home inspector and manages several rental properties. Send questions to dhay@seattletimes.com. Sorry, no personal replies.