How often shoul I pump the tank? It's 4'/8' with baffel and a pvc t baffel going to leaching rings. Good sandy soil long island NY. Their are two adults and two children under 7. It is a new system 2 1/2 year old.
Pump Septic tank?
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jimbom
Combustion Analyzer
Try for ten years. Meanwhile, check the state web sites for septic tank regs. Most states have advice or requirements in these matters. Most septic tanks are over pumped at an astonishing rate. Too bad. Creates expense for the homeowner, overload for the treatment facility, and wastes energy used by the hauler.
thewoodlands
Minister of Fire
allhandsworking said:
We do ours every three years whether it needs it or not. You might never have a problem with it but we would hate having it done in the middle of winter.
Our house is 8 years old this November.
If you do have it pumped, check the distribution box too. We are all sand up here so I dig it out so we save some money. We had a small problem with ours after two years, the pipe leaving the tank from the baffle pushed back up against the baffle so hardly any water was leaving, we fixed that but we still have it pumped.
zap
TMonter
Minister of Fire
I do mine every 6-8 years or so. Mine is a 5'x10' concrete tank. We rarely use bleach, use washing detergent sparingly (Arm & Hammer) and don't use antibacterial soap.
The reason to pump is if you are putting a lot of solids in the system or adding enough chemicals so that the anerobic bacteria cant digest the organic solids. Unless you are dumping lots of inroganic solids down the drain, you should be able to go several years before the layer of soilds gets high enough to cause a problem.
There is no set formula. It is going to depend on your lifestyle. For the first pumping I would do it at 3 years. Try to be there and watch them pumping it. Ask about the level of solids in the tank. If they are high (say 24") then you probably are going to need to pump every 3 years. If they are low and the tank is healthy, you may be able to go every 5 years. But if something changes, like adding a garbage disposal or if someone is on an extended dosage of antibiotics (or chemotherapy), you may need to pump it annually. For comparison, we had a family of 4 on an older tank and did fine with 5 yr intervals. But we have no disposal, never put any animal fats down the drain and have been pretty healthy.
Adios Pantalones
Minister of Fire
There's 2 of us in our house, pumped when we moved in 9 yrs ago, and have not pumped since. I may go for it on principle next year- some small amount of clay end up getting washed down our drain every day so it's worth a look-see.
One thing for sure, once the solids head into the leach field, the days of your field are numbered.
bogydave
Minister of Fire
If in doubt, have it inspected.
Some factors to add to how frequently they need pumped.
Type of T-Paper used?, some breaks down, some don't.
Do you have a garbage disposal? if yes more frequent pumping may be needed.
Do you have visitors, teenagers that do not understanding what should & should not be flushed?
Do you dump kitchen cooking oils & grease down the drain?
Temperatures: here it's recommended with a family of 4, every 2 years. Our temps slow down the rate of the solid breaking down.
My Experience;
I had a tank go bad; a baffle rust & fall over, 5 years not pumped, the solids plugged the leach field, (In November) Crawl space filled with yuck, new tank & leach field $12,000.
Back yard a total mess, no indoor bath room for 4 days & the crawl space cleaning::: lesson learned
I now have a larger, plastic 100 year tank, insulated with blueboard & have it pumped every 2 years. Hopefully never, ever again to go thru a septic tank failure. Not good.
lessons learned:
Better too often than not often enough. IMO
Now I have mine pumped on a schedule with the local pumper business so I never forget again.
Having it pumped is CHEAP IMO
Some factors to add to how frequently they need pumped.
Type of T-Paper used?, some breaks down, some don't.
Do you have a garbage disposal? if yes more frequent pumping may be needed.
Do you have visitors, teenagers that do not understanding what should & should not be flushed?
Do you dump kitchen cooking oils & grease down the drain?
Temperatures: here it's recommended with a family of 4, every 2 years. Our temps slow down the rate of the solid breaking down.
My Experience;
I had a tank go bad; a baffle rust & fall over, 5 years not pumped, the solids plugged the leach field, (In November) Crawl space filled with yuck, new tank & leach field $12,000.
Back yard a total mess, no indoor bath room for 4 days & the crawl space cleaning::: lesson learned
I now have a larger, plastic 100 year tank, insulated with blueboard & have it pumped every 2 years. Hopefully never, ever again to go thru a septic tank failure. Not good.
lessons learned:
Better too often than not often enough. IMO
Now I have mine pumped on a schedule with the local pumper business so I never forget again.
Having it pumped is CHEAP
IMO
tsquini
Minister of Fire
We bought a house almost three years ago. We had to replace the septic system. I asked they guy that very question. He told me that with our thousand gallon tank, two adults and one child not to go over five years.
I'm sure every case is different but that was our experience.
I lived for 12 years in my parents cottage, seven of them married. No dishwasher or washing machine but those would go to leach field anyway. We never pumped it. My dad wasn't even sure where it was. He'd never pumped it since he bought it in 1980. But it was mostly vacant until I moved in.
I'm sure every case is different but that was our experience.
I lived for 12 years in my parents cottage, seven of them married. No dishwasher or washing machine but those would go to leach field anyway. We never pumped it. My dad wasn't even sure where it was. He'd never pumped it since he bought it in 1980. But it was mostly vacant until I moved in.
Jaugust124
Feeling the Heat
Just had a new 1000 gallon concrete tank installed last month due to Irene. The septic company suggested every 3-5 years. Cost to pump is currently about $350. Just the wife and I, but I will probably go with the 3 year plan just to be safe. Also had a new leach field installed at the same time. Got hit with an unexpected expense, but should be good for a long time now.
bogydave said:If in doubt, have it inspected.
Some factors to add to how frequently they need pumped.
Type of T-Paper used?, some breaks down, some don't.
Do you have a garbage disposal? if yes more frequent pumping may be needed.
Do you have visitors, teenagers that do not understanding what should & should not be flushed?
Do you dump kitchen cooking oils & grease down the drain?
Temperatures: here it's recommended with a family of 4, every 2 years. Our temps slow down the rate of the solid breaking down.
My Experience;
I had a tank go bad; a baffle rust & fall over, 5 years not pumped, the solids plugged the leach field, (In November) Crawl space filled with yuck, new tank & leach field $12,000.
Back yard a total mess, no indoor bath room for 4 days & the crawl space cleaning::: lesson learned
I now have a larger, plastic 100 year tank, insulated with blueboard & have it pumped every 2 years. Hopefully never, ever again to go thru a septic tank failure. Not good.
lessons learned:
Better too often than not often enough. IMO
Now I have mine pumped on a schedule with the local pumper business so I never forget again.
Having it pumped is CHEAP
How do they put a septic system in permafrost Dave? %-P
bogydave
Minister of Fire
BeGreen said:bogydave said:If in doubt, have it inspected.
Some factors to add to how frequently they need pumped.
Type of T-Paper used?, some breaks down, some don't.
Do you have a garbage disposal? if yes more frequent pumping may be needed.
Do you have visitors, teenagers that do not understanding what should & should not be flushed?
Do you dump kitchen cooking oils & grease down the drain?
Temperatures: here it's recommended with a family of 4, every 2 years. Our temps slow down the rate of the solid breaking down.
My Experience;
I had a tank go bad; a baffle rust & fall over, 5 years not pumped, the solids plugged the leach field, (In November) Crawl space filled with yuck, new tank & leach field $12,000.
Back yard a total mess, no indoor bath room for 4 days & the crawl space cleaning::: lesson learned
I now have a larger, plastic 100 year tank, insulated with blueboard & have it pumped every 2 years. Hopefully never, ever again to go thru a septic tank failure. Not good.
lessons learned:
Better too often than not often enough. IMO
Now I have mine pumped on a schedule with the local pumper business so I never forget again.
Having it pumped is CHEAP
How do they put a septic system in permafrost Dave? %-P
Fortunately I don't live in an area where there is permafrost. I have a typical system. I'm not sure all the particulars.
I believe all they have is an insulated tank (most are heated) , no leech field. (heated/insulated piping to the tank.)
Tank has to be pumped at regular intervals. Alarms at 3/4 full so you have time to schedule pumping.
FrankMA
Member
I pump mine every 2 years as I do not want or care to deal with the consquences of a septic problem. Around here it's $220.00 to have the system pumped out. It's a lot cheaper than being on the public water/sewer system which used to cost me close to $2000.00/year when I lived in the city. That has to be much higher now as I moved to my current home close to 10 years ago. Cheap insurance IMO.
So... How do you know when it needs to be pumped?
I bought my house last year in August.
They said they didn't pump it in about a year and a half.
So it's been about 2 and a half years...
I have no idea on the size of the tank, or anything other.
Should I just have them come and pump it, so I can get the info on it?
I don't use bleach, antibacterial soap, and my laundry is set to drain in to a drainage ditch.
I'm not sure what it costs around here or who can even do it... I have some research to do I suppose.
I bought my house last year in August.
They said they didn't pump it in about a year and a half.
So it's been about 2 and a half years...
I have no idea on the size of the tank, or anything other.
Should I just have them come and pump it, so I can get the info on it?
I don't use bleach, antibacterial soap, and my laundry is set to drain in to a drainage ditch.
I'm not sure what it costs around here or who can even do it... I have some research to do I suppose.
bogydave
Minister of Fire
You have 2 inspection pipes sticking up from the tank, one at each end of the tank. one is on the inlet side ), one is the outlet side.
While running water in a sink, shine a good light on the outlet side, you should see semi clear & just water running out this end going to the leech field.
Mine has an inspection pipe at each end of the leech field, these should be dry & fairly clean drain rock.
The tank has 3 layers, top is floating scum, middle is liquid (mostly water) bottom is the solids that continually build up. Baffles near the outlet end
keeps the scum & solids from going out the outlet pipe to the leech field.
If the tank ever over fills with solids (or a baffle rusts thru) & solids go out into the leech field, problems start. You slowly plug your leech field & it gets ugly when it finally plugs.
$200 to $300 every 2 years for us, to have it pumped is peace of mind, having had a baffle fail.
While running water in a sink, shine a good light on the outlet side, you should see semi clear & just water running out this end going to the leech field.
Mine has an inspection pipe at each end of the leech field, these should be dry & fairly clean drain rock.
The tank has 3 layers, top is floating scum, middle is liquid (mostly water) bottom is the solids that continually build up. Baffles near the outlet end
keeps the scum & solids from going out the outlet pipe to the leech field.
If the tank ever over fills with solids (or a baffle rusts thru) & solids go out into the leech field, problems start. You slowly plug your leech field & it gets ugly when it finally plugs.
$200 to $300 every 2 years for us, to have it pumped is peace of mind, having had a baffle fail.
FrankMA
Member
Hass said:
All that information should be listed with the town and also located in the paperwork relating to the purchase of the home.
FrankMA said:
I didn't get anything in the paperwork I recieved... I really didn't get any paperwork really other than the survey/deed.
But I guess I could ask the town :]
heat seeker
Minister of Fire
The info on mine didn't come with the house, but was on record in the town building inspector's office. They made me copies for my records, no charge.
EJL923
Minister of Fire
I had a new system put in when i bought a house, the installer provided a doc saying three things, clean filter every 6 months, pumped every two years, no garbage disposal. The system is sized for a house of 4-5, and right now it is just me and my wife. I will have it pumped next spring, which will be 3 yrs and probably overkill. But checking the filter every 6 months makes sure that the baffle is ok and i dont notice any other issues. By the way, my baffle is PVC, which takes rusting out of the equation.
Just for comparison purposes, I pay about $900 annually for city sewer, trash, and recyling services (don't know how it breaks down). I pay about $40-50/month for city water.
Seems to me it would be relatively simply to make a septic system with an alarm/measuring system for the solids and with baffles that last essentially forever. I could be wrong.
Personally, I like well water and city sewer
Seems to me it would be relatively simply to make a septic system with an alarm/measuring system for the solids and with baffles that last essentially forever. I could be wrong.
Personally, I like well water and city sewer
It's interesting to read all the responses a.ka. different types of installs.
Inlet/out let above ground? Really? In our area the entire tank is buried with the cap being about 1' below grade.
Heated tank/pipes? Really? Hmm, warmed tanks.... wonder if there is any odor...
In my State (Wisconsin) we are required to pump every two years.
Lucky us - we 'had' to hook up to sewer because of the land development across the road. The law here is "If city sewer pipes are installed in your road you MUST hook up within 1 year." We had to have our tank broken up/filled with gravel when we were required to hook up to city sewer. A tiny price tag of $14,000 - when there was nothing wrong with our septic system. Grrr....
Inlet/out let above ground? Really? In our area the entire tank is buried with the cap being about 1' below grade.
Heated tank/pipes? Really? Hmm, warmed tanks.... wonder if there is any odor...
In my State (Wisconsin) we are required to pump every two years.
Lucky us - we 'had' to hook up to sewer because of the land development across the road. The law here is "If city sewer pipes are installed in your road you MUST hook up within 1 year." We had to have our tank broken up/filled with gravel when we were required to hook up to city sewer. A tiny price tag of $14,000 - when there was nothing wrong with our septic system. Grrr....
flyingcow
Minister of Fire
BeGreen said:
This is a good point. Not fun replacing a field.
I pump mine every 4 yrs. Every Presidential election. Easy to remember.........."Hey hon' something smells like sh!t! Already taken care of dear..now it's time to vote"
Is it the chicken or the egg thing? Is it our choices for Prez or the septic tank man out back? Either way, still have to hold my nose to vote.
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