Drain Cleaning in Eckert, CO

Eckert homes and their sewer lines

Eckert homes are farmhouses and ranch houses on orchard and hay ground, older frame homes near the crossroads, manufactured homes, and newer houses on acreage with views of the Grand Mesa.

Orchard City supplies domestic water to much of the area, and irrigation comes from Grand Mesa snowmelt through the Orchard City Irrigation District and Grand Mesa reservoirs. There is no town sewer plant in Eckert; homes generally treat wastewater with private septic systems.

Older Eckert farmhouses often have cast iron inside and clay or early plastic out to the tank; newer homes have PVC.

Eckert drain problems

Eckert drain calls are septic calls with an orchard twist. Fruit trees, cottonwoods along the ditches and irrigated lawns put roots and water near tank lines, and long summer irrigation keeps some leach fields wetter than they should be.

What drain work usually costs in Eckert

Three villages and a water pipeline

Eckert's post office opened on October 27, 1891, named for Dora Eckert States, the wife of the first postmaster, Charles Adelbert States. The settlements along Surface Creek grew up around fruit, and for years families drank water straight from the irrigation ditches and got sick from it. In 1912, Eckert, Cory and Austin joined as Orchard City, a town spread across farmland, mainly so they could pay for a domestic water pipeline together. People still call the communities by their old names, and Eckert keeps its own post office and ZIP code.

Fruitgrowers Reservoir, two miles east, stores irrigation water and draws birders in spring and fall. The Grand Mesa rises to the north, and its snowpack feeds almost all the water in the valley.

Domestic water in, septic out

Orchard City provides domestic water to much of the area, while irrigation water comes from Grand Mesa reservoirs through the Grand Mesa Water Users Association and the Orchard City Irrigation District. Wastewater is a different story. Eckert has no town sewer plant, and homes treat their wastewater with private septic systems on their own land. That makes most Eckert drain calls septic calls: a clog between the house and the tank, a full tank or a struggling leach field.

Delta County handles onsite wastewater permits. Replacing a tank or field, or adding bedrooms, generally needs one; pumping and line cleaning usually don't.

Orchards, ditches and roots

Eckert is orchard country, with peaches, apples and cherries on irrigated ground, and the ditches that carry Grand Mesa water are lined with cottonwoods and willows. Fruit trees and ditch trees both send roots into septic lines and toward leach fields, where the soil is always moist. A line that slows over several months and then backs up into a basement or the lowest toilet often has roots in it. Root cutting clears the line; a camera shows whether the pipe is cracked or a joint has separated.

Irrigation season and soggy fields

From spring through fall, irrigation water runs through ditches, laterals and lawns across the Surface Creek Valley. A leach field that gets flooded by a lawn sprinkler, a leaking ditch or runoff can't absorb wastewater, and every drain in the house slows. Keep irrigation off the field, keep ditch water from pooling nearby and point downspouts away from it. If drains slow every summer and recover in the fall, the field may be getting too much water from outside.

Farmhouses and older plumbing

Many Eckert farmhouses were built decades ago and added onto over the years, with cast iron inside and clay or early plastic out to the tank. Joints in those old lines crack and settle, especially where the ground is wet. Mudrooms and utility sinks take water full of orchard dirt and grit, which settles in low spots. A trap on the work sink, regular tank pumping and a camera inspection when a line keeps clogging keep an older Eckert farmhouse draining.

If an Eckert drain backs up

1. 01

   Stop using water

   In an Eckert house on septic, every gallon adds to the backup.

2. 02

   Check the tank

   If the tank hasn't been pumped in years, it may simply be full.

3. 03

   Look at the field

   Wet ground or odor over the field points to a field problem.

4. 04

   Find the cleanout and tank lid

   Mark both so a plumber or pumper can reach them fast.

Eckert warning signs

• Slow drains throughout an Eckert house in irrigation season
• Gurgling toilets
• Roots on the cable
• Lush, wet grass over the leach field
• Sewage odor near the tank

What changes the price in Eckert

Eckert sits between Delta and Cedaredge on State Highway 65, so most plumbers are 15 to 30 minutes away and travel adds only a little. What moves the price is what the plumber finds. A kitchen clog in the house is quick. A septic line packed with orchard-tree roots, a tank lid buried under a lawn that has to be located and dug out, or a field so soggy from irrigation water that the line won't drain at all takes longer, and may end with a recommendation to pump the tank before anything else. Ask on the phone what the first hour and the trip will cost.

Pumping, inspections and selling an Eckert property

Orchard and acreage properties around Eckert change hands often, and a septic system that has worked quietly for years can turn out to be overdue for pumping, undersized for a house that grew or never permitted at all. Before buying, ask for pumping receipts and the county permit for the system, and consider having the tank pumped and inspected and the line from the house to the tank scoped. A camera run shows roots, cracks and sags; a pumper can tell you whether the tank baffles are intact and whether the field is taking water.

If you already own the place, write down where the tank lid and cleanout are, and keep a log of pumping dates. Most households need pumping every three to five years; a big family or a house with a garbage disposal needs it sooner.