Septic tank, what is normal?

[TerryinMD]

Mosey,

The guy that did our pumping agitated the tank and its contents by running his pump in reverse. I believe that there was only one hose going into the tank.

He moved the hose back and forth to stir up the sludge on the bottom. He worked on it for about 5 minutes and then pumped all of the "goodies" out. Once that was done, he then washed the inside down with a hose, pumped out that, checked the front baffle to see that it was in good condition, and then packed up an left.

The whole operation took about 30 minutes and some of that included finding the lid. I had dug to the top of the tank but had trouble locating the lid.

It was well worth the $130. As a side note, I could also verify if any of the family members were depositing anything that shouldn't be there!! Two teenage girls and their friends who might not know any better. /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif

Terry

 

[RJohnson]

Here is a great link <A target="_blank" HREF=http://swopnet.com/geo_wastewater_2000/machmeier/Machmeier_Care_n_Feed.html>http://swopnet.com/geo_wastewater_2000/machmeier/Machmeier_Care_n_Feed.html</A> about an article on the care and feeding of your septic tank. It is well written and easy to understand. It may be of some benefit to those having questions about their tanks.

Randy

 

[StoneHeartFarm]

8NTX

Burping could be a plugged vent line, or the system may not have enough venting and may have always burped. The drain lines in the house have air in them. When you flush or run water in the sink, it displaces the air and the air has to go somewhere, hence the vents. The vents will also bleed off gasses that form in the tank and the traps on the sinks will prevent these same gasses from entering the dwelling.

The burping could also be because something is plugged (tank, field, etc). If say, flushing causes the sink to burble and flood, this is a possibility.

SHF

 

[Anonymous Poster]

That isn't sludge floating on top, That was MR. HANKIE!!! Tell him I said "Hidee Hooo!" /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[Drago]

I'm on my first septic system (almost 3 years now). I've seen "pump trucks" driving around the area and have always wondered....where does all the pumped sewage end up? I mean, what do the sewage pumpers do with it?

 

[MossRoad]

Around here they take it to the sewage plant at the nearest city and dump it there. They pay fees.

Although there was one guy a few years back that would just find the nearest manhole and dump it in.

 

[Dale Binkley]

Have read this thread with a great deal of enjoyment. We had a new system put in about five years ago. After installation the county health department gave us a manual "On-Lot Sewage Systems - An Owners Manual". It covers just about all of the questions that have been raised on this thread. Tells what can and cannot be put into the system, describes different systems and tells about maintaining drainfields and pumping the tanks. It is the most useful 16 page guide I have ever seen a governmental entity publish.

 

[Mosey]

Sounds like a usefull document. If you start now you can get whole 16 pages re-typed into this thread before the weekend is over!

Seriously, what does it say about pumping?

 

[frank_f15]

DANNY: u will get a feel for when u need to have it pumped(no pun intended) the biggest thing is to not dump a lot of bleach, or grease, or certain kinds of toilet tisue in it. a lot of the tissue that is soft and feels good to ur private parts /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif is detremential to the system, all it does is swell up and not breakdown, i prefer to use a biodegradeable tissue(scotts) is my choice. i just last fall had to replace my septic system, it only lasted 52 years(dad had it installed) that is my summer project to get it leveled and seeded if it ever stops raining!/w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

 

[gmason]

We have been in our house/septic for over 5 years now. We have a low-pressure system with 2 tanks. We also have to have the system inspected twice a year(at over $100/per). The guy we had doing it on several occasions would "adjust" the float and within a day or 2 the alarm would go off. I'd have to go turn on the pump switch by hand and call him to get back out and fix what he had messed up. He would write us up for a scag tree in our field that had nesting woodpeckers and the hawks would use it for hunting saying he was afraid to walk under it.
Anyway, we fired him after finding out that the local University(NCSU) has a class <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.soil.ncsu.edu/swetc/subsurface/subsurf.htm>http://www.soil.ncsu.edu/swetc/subsurface/subsurf.htm</A> for Homeowners who want to get certified to inspect thier own systems.
At least this way, I'll be assured that it's working up to snuff and I'll learn the tricks of the trade like the pro's.

I'll post any interesting things in this thread once I take the class. If anyone has any question they would like me to ask in the class, pass them along(email me) and I'll see what I can do.

gary