Bought a new home; not sure the septic tank has ever been pumped

David P · Jun 12, 2014

My wife and I purchased a home in January and I don't believe the septic tank has ever been pumped. How's that for a conversation starter? :dance1:

In 2010 we purchased about 70 acres of vacant land where we have a small blueberry orchard and also make maple syrup. We gave consideration to building on the parcel but one of our neighbors passed away and his setup was just about perfect for us. We added another ten acres of mostly fairly flat ground which is a nice complement to ours as it has nearly 100 feet of elevation change on it. It's also mostly open which is nice as our other parcel is primarily wooded. Additionally, the new parcel has a nice pond and several outbuildings (12 x 24 Gambrel roof style; 20 x 36 pole barn w/dirt floor and a 40 x 80 w/ concrete floor). The house is probably the least exciting part of the package to me as it's just a traditional 1969 era brick ranch, although very well built. The fine gentleman who passed away was one of those guys that every guy wants to be..... and also buy something from because he had all of the right tools for the job, maintained things to the nth and overbuilt all of his projects. If a project called for three screws, he was the type who put in six and gusseted it as well. All that to say that his idea of septic tank/field maintenance may not have been the best.

I wish I could recall him telling me if he had his field pumped or not but I just can't remember. However, his son, who is a lot like his dad, has informed us that a septic field should never need to be pumped. Personally, I don't understand the logic behind this as even if one assumes this is correct, what harm would there be in pumping the tank? Anyway, I found the lid and have dug out around it in preparation for having it pumped so I'm at the point where I'm looking for pointers on what I should be looking for, and asking, when the tank is pumped out. I got a copy of the permit for the field and will include the information next.

Permit states that the tank was an existing 1000 gallon tank. Drain line length is 44 feet; Footer is 26 feet and Total lineal is 202 feet. Trench width is 36 inches. From the looks of it, I believe they inspected the tank for the following prior to installing the field: Outlet T or L checked; Tank level, Tank/cover free of cracks and outlet sealed 365 degrees. Also: 2" stone over 6" under tile; stone clean; stone installed at least 4 feet above water table.

I am probably providing more information than you may need but I figured it can't hurt.

So what should I be looking for and asking the guy who comes to pump the tank?

Thanks in advance for the help. I've always had city sewer so this is entirely new to me.

dave1949 · Jun 12, 2014

I would be looking to see how deep the solids are in the septic tank if it hasn't been pumped. As long as there is room for liquid to be above the solids, then no solids should have migrated into your leach field to cause blockages there. That is the reason why tanks are pumped, to protect the leach field from getting anything but liquids.

Gale Hawkins · Jun 12, 2014

I agree with dave1949. Actually some tanks and go like forever without being pumped. We did one after 25 years and it was about 2' of soilds.

Walkin Horse · Jun 12, 2014

In va, it's required to pump every 5 years. The county health dept. keeps record of when it's pumped, and sends a notice when it's time.

kcflhrc · Jun 12, 2014

We bought our place with 10 acres back in September. We paid for a septic inspection and the owner paid for it to be pumped out. Ours is about 1000 gallons. The septic guy said pump it out about every 3 years or so. Depends a lot on how many people are using it too. Also make sure you use some kind of septic treatment every month.

David P · Jun 12, 2014

Thanks for the replies. This field was installed in July of 1995 so we're getting close to the 20-year mark. I sure hope it's been pumped, although with only two people living here since then I think we're in better shape than a family of five, with four of them female....... which is what lives there now. (Glad I have my barns to hide in lol)

kcflhrc · Jun 12, 2014

David P said:
Thanks for the replies. This field was installed in July of 1995 so we're getting close to the 20-year mark. I sure hope it's been pumped, although with only two people living here since then I think we're in better shape than a family of five, with four of them female....... which is what lives there now. (Glad I have my barns to hide in lol)

Just make sure the girls don't put their girl things in the toilet. Throw them away.

dave1949 · Jun 12, 2014

The recommendation here is 3-5 years. There is no enforcement. It you let it go and it ruins your leach field, causes plumbing backups, etc., then you give yourself a septic Darwin Award and pay dearly to fix it--which will likely include a new permitting and design process.

I think how a septic tank performs is so dependent on the water characteristics, how careful people are about sending grease down the drain, how much bleach, laundry soap types, wrong toilet paper, and other harsh cleansers are rinsed down the drain. There is a natural bacterial breakdown going on in the septic tank that can be impaired by those things. Two families could use identical septic systems next door to each other and get very different results.

kcflhrc · Jun 12, 2014

It's been a learning process for us also from always living in the city. Even though I put in a new garbage disposal when we remodeled our kitchen we put very little down it. Definitely no grease, we use old coffee cans for that.