“I see no end in sight,” said Terry Busse of Busse Septic in Palmer.
Busse is referring to the incessant workload he and his son have faced over the last three weeks to a month of homeowners’ septic systems freezing up.
Working 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. almost seven days a week, Busse and his son have been on call basically 24 hours a day to help service their customers throughout Sherburne County.
“I haven’t seen this kind of thing in 12 years,” Terry said. “Back then we were fielding 50 calls a day.”
Lately his company has been averaging 20-25 calls a day — far less than they did in the early 2000’s — but still significant enough to merit working their tails off.
“We’ve been working every day of the week for long hours and on weekends,” he said. “I’d rather be up at the lake fishing than doing this on the weekends but our customers need us.”
Fiedler’s Pumping Co-Owner Cindy Tieman in Royalton said their business has taken more than 260 calls about frozen septic systems in the last month or so, which she believes is the busiest time in at least 10 years. The company has five full-time drivers working long hours to meet all the customer demand.
Temperatures below freezing combined with a lack of snow insulating the soil in drainfields surrounding septic tanks is causing systems to freeze, Busse said. Snow usually serves as a blanket keeping the heat of sewage in the soil.
Busse says the frost line is at about five feet and even though the area has seen daytime temperatures in the 50s and 60s this week, he still figures the frost won’t come out for a while. Soil under the ground takes longer to warm up, and Busse says it could be mid-April before all systems become unfrozen.
“It’ll take at least a couple of weeks to ease away,” Busse said of the depth of frost. “It’s a dire situation for a lot of people right now.”
Busse says if someone were to fear their septic system is frozen or not working, his suggestion is to give them a call immediately and not try and fix the situation on their own.
“The only thing we’d advise homeowners to do is to open the caps on the tank and get rid of any ice on there if they can,” Busse said. “We use a hot water machine in the pipes to thaw it out.”
Minnesota has gone nearly four months without a single-day snowfall of more than two inches this winter, which allows frost to go deeper into the ground. Busse says many people try and fix the problem on their own by possibly dumping antifreeze or other chemicals into their pipes to thaw the system — bad idea, he says.
“That is detrimental to the system and wouldn’t help anyways,” he said.
Fiedler’s generally uses the same processes as Busse’s and Tieman says some people have tried to send Drano down their toilets to clear their system, which is not a good idea either.
“You’ll know if your system is frozen if you see wastewater in your drainfield, your toilets gurgle or you have water in your basement,” Tiemen says. “The first thing you need to do is stop using water. Secondly, it’s best not to try and solve the issue on your own.”
Tieman says the entire state of Minnesota is experiencing the problems of system freeze ups but the five-county area of Central Minnesota is being hit the hardest.
“It’s because we’ve experienced the least amount of snow cover and the coldest temps,” she said.
Busse says though people cannot predict or anticipate a winter season of little or no snow — but he recommends people prepare to protect their systems early in the season next year before the snow flies.
“We recommend people cover their drainfields with leaves or straw or even insulation blankets you can buy,” he said.
Homeowners should stop using water should they fear their system is frozen which will keep water from entering one’s home. Then call a septic system service provider.
“If you know nothing about your system, never fear we will still more than likely be able to help you,” said Tieman. “After discussing your system with you, we will tell you what we believe is wrong with your system and we may recommend pumping, cleaning, pipe jetting or both.”
Generally, there are four common locations where systems can freeze. The pipe from the house to the tank; at the septic tank and/or pump tank; at the pipe to soil treatment area or the soil treatment area itself.
“It all starts at the drainfield,” Busse said. “If it freezes, then the tank will freeze and pretty soon your basement backs up. We recommend people call us immediately should they suspect any problems.”
“We all gotta get through this together,” he said.
Busse Septic Pumping is located at 10600 26th St SE and their phone number is 320-743-2482.
Fiedler’s Pumping is owned by Cindy Tieman, her husband Jeff and Ted Popp and is located in Royalton. Their phone number is 320-743-3832.
