One reason (excuse) to get your septic tank pumped

[JRobyn]

SouNdguy - yup, run over by my B-I-Ls 555 TLB while backfilling around the tank. With ZERO compacting under the pipe.

My pump charge was $225. If one can't fairly accurately identify the location of the tank/cover and the pumper needs to do "exploration" and more digging, it goes to $250. Probably more in some cases. I had photos and knew within a foot of where the cover was.

 

[Billrog]

Looks like clay soil and it is advisable to back fill around the tank & under the pipe with sand to get compaction under the pipe to avoid these sags.

 

[GLyford]

Last time I had mine pumped, the guy found my junction box was falling apart, and one of my field lines ran slightly uphill. Replaced the box and ran an additional field line, fee was reasonable especially for as hot a day as it was. If I had waited until it had completely failed, he said I would have had to engineer a new system to newer standards. He recommended every 3 years, at the most.

 

[Bird]

In Navarro County, TX, we had an aerobic system and on Oct. 16, 2001 (before we had to move back to town), I paid $360 have all 3 tanks pumped out and washed out.

 

[JRobyn]

Went out at dusk with the laser to verify that at least each END of the pipe was at the proper elevation. They are; right at 2 inches of fall in the 10 ft run. But got right around 1" of rain overnight. The sides of my trench have started to collapse in a few places and there is now a small sinkhole forming right under where the pipe enters the tank! I may leave it for a few weeks to try to wash as much soil down in where it is obviously still "hollow". I intended to get 4-5 bags of coarse sand for bedding the pipe when I re-run it. May need to up that or get a whole trailer full! My back will NOT enjoy the "exercise" with a tamping steel all around that last 3-4 ft.!

 

[GLyford]

If it's just sand, doesn't it settle pretty much as much as it's going to when you get it soaking wet? If it has clay in it, I could see the need to tamp it...

 

[txdon]

We have no laws in this county regarding required pumping but with 2 people, no oils used in cooking (no grease), a screen in the sink to capture veggie scraps (for the compost pile), the tank needs pumping every 5 years. This is the old type septic system no chemicals no sprinkler just a 500 gallon and 250 gallon secondary tank before the field line.

My Dad went 15 years without pumping his tanks and his field line had to be replace. Then this year the plumber found a cracked 4" line going from his house to the tank full of roots. Your early find saved you hundreds of dollars.

 

[JRobyn]

....plumber found a cracked 4" line going from his house to the tank full of roots. Your early find saved you hundreds of dollars.

Had a backup at our old house. Plumbers (with camera and "radio beacon" locator) found a root clog where the regular 4" line tapped into the 6" county sewer line. The joint was sealed with a heavy rubber ring. The joint happened to be directly under our concrete driveway, and about TWELVE FEET down! Roots had traveled nearly 30 ft from a maple tree, infiltrated all around the rubber ring and completely filled the pipe for about 5-6 feet. Just astonishing what roots can do. That tree got cut down. We didn't get the concrete repaired for several years.

The only good part is that according to the "radio beacon" the clog was about 6-8 ft down. Plumbers gave us a fixed-price bid to fix, largely based on that depth. Didn't charge us more for the extra depth/work. Their mini-ex couldn't get quite that deep, so they had to dig the last few feet by hand. Their trench also had the underground neighborhood electric/phone/cable/gas service running with it!

 

[Ed of all trades]

When I was working for a contractor building houses we put a basement under an existing house and they asked us to check the septic. It was a weekend cabin and if they stayed for a week the septic would back up. The concrete tank was badly cracked and there was no drain field, not even a hole for one. We had to install a new system. Ed

 

[Pirate]

Local backhoe buddy told me couple good ol boys had him bury an old caddy. He of course was curious and found that they ran the sewage line into the window of the caddy for their new septic system.