septic tank maintenance- to pump or not to pump regular?

[dennishoddy]

Our septic system hadn't been pumped for 26 years. We started backing up and called a pumper. He said there was a foot of sludge in the bottom and he would get it next time, which I called BS on and asked if there was a discount. (teen guy on a friday night).
No discount, so had him pump the sludge and he was pissed.
What that sludge is composed of is the dirt from your laundry and other things that won't decompose with bacterial treatments.
A month later, it backed up again and we got the OK DEQ guy out there to inspect and it was plugged. He spent most of the afternoon checking the perk on the soil and gave us a map of where the new laterals should be placed.
Contractor came out told us how he was going to put out the laterals. Gave him the map the DEQ gave us and told him not to put one on the east side of the yard as it was clay and would not perk.
He puffed up and asked me if I thought he didn't know what he was doing after xxxx number of years of putting in septic systems. My reply was to drag up his shat and get the fawk off my property.
Hired another guy that looked at the map the DEQ gave me and all is good.
The need to pump or not pump is determined on the ability of the soil to absorb what is put into it.
Nobody can say what is best for someone's location unless it has been perked to see what it can absorb.

 

[1shott]

25 years here, never been pumped, of course its just me, so who knows.

 

[1shott]

Dont fall down the youtube rabbit hole

 

[ifishok]

As you see from the comments listed here, no one is full of crap

 

[Kev1Doggy]

I have been on one since 1992, no issues..........

 

[HarryBear]

We pump ours every 6 years. It clears out our field lines and just makes a warm fuzzy for me is all.
We have 3 lateral lines and when the tank and lines are sucked out clean, all is well, and it just all fills up again after a week or so with the amount of well water we use.

 

[Mr.Glock]

Your last sentence was a question I forget to ask, Can it "hurt" anything by pumping when all is well?"

Yes it can cause issues. A Septic Tank needs a crust line inside it at the top to work correctly. Over pumping starts a routine that keeps the crust layer to thin. If you’ve lots of kids or occupants and you maintain it well with yeast, maybe pump it every 5 to 7 years.

 

[Mr.Glock]

We pump ours every 6 years. It clears out our field lines and just makes a warm fuzzy for me is all.
We have 3 lateral lines and when the tank and lines are sucked out clean, all is well, and it just all fills up again after a week or so with the amount of well water we use.

Pumping the tank does nothing for your leach field lines. Your tank will back up before solids can go to leach field lines. In addition to Water Wells we installed Septics also.

 

[BobbyV]

I’m on an aerobic system and the septic guy told me his office will try and get me into a “contract”and to tell them no thank you. Being new to this I’m learning on the fly but that said. Just had our pumped after two years and the service guy reluctantly said it wasn’t close to full. Wish I knew what to look for and just what “full” looks like.

Over the last 16 or so years we've spent several thousand dollars on our aerobic system. I'd suggest either getting a backup air pump or rebuild kit for the pump you have now. Those things last 2-3 years and it's usually much cheaper to deal with that yourself. There's also a filter on the end of the air line that goes into one of your tank that should be cleaned or replaced every-so-often.

It's probably time for us to consider having our septic tank pumped again.

 

[Mr.Glock]

I will also correct “Leach Field” as most call them. They are actually Evaporate Fields. As they evaporate the liquids coming out of the tank into the soil then air. Not leach down on the ground.


Also the ones trying to get people to pumping them needlessly on a schedule. They will trick people with the hard Crust Line, like the fishing pole mentioned above. They will tap on the crust line and even let a customer “feel” it. Convincing them that only liquid should be in there.

There has to be solids in the bottom and a crust line on top floating. Over pumping is wasteful.