So I am a relatively new homeowner and I don't know a lot about septic systems - here is a short description of the issue I may or may not be having.
When I bought the house last June I had the tank pumped out just to be safe - the house hadn't been lived in for almost a year. All through the summer and fall I didn't notice anything to make me think there was a problem.
A few weeks ago the shower started to drain really slowly and running a snake into the line didn't help so I called a plumber. The plumber shows up, walks over to my septic riser and tells me my septic tank is full, which it was, there was septic waste in the riser. He tells me the shower is slow because of the septic - mind you, NO OTHER DRAIN IN THE HOUSE WAS SLOW.
So I had the tank totally pumped out again, and the guy said it was indeed to full but only with water and that there wasn't too much solid material and that I should keep an eye on it and that the waste shouldn't get higher than 6 to 8 inches from the bottom of the riser.
Long story short - the pump out didn't help the slow drain, I did have a sever clog in the 45 that connected that drain to the main line out to the tank. I fixed that, everything is great as far as plumbing, but today I checked the septic tank to be safe and the fluid is up to a few inches from the riser again.
We only have one bathroom, kitchen sink, dishwasher, and washing machine.
So what is going on? Is it draining slow because the ground is frozen?