Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Rural Living Septic System: How often to inspect/pump

New to a septic system. There's only two of us. Had it pumped right before we moved in a year ago. House is 6 years old, so newer system.

When should we get it pumped or look at it to see if it need pumped? I'm guessing at least two more years. Am I in the ball park?

If it's a 1000 gallon tank which most are should be good for 5-6 years.

Is it an aerobic system that pumps the clear water out or just a regular tank? Ours is a grandfathered septic and we usually have to pump it ever 5-6 years. I made some improvements in the tank piping and expanded the field lines a few years ago so we may get 10 years out of it this time. Only time we ever have trouble otherwise is when the sister in law stays a few days. She thinks she needs two long hot showers ever day. (Insert rude comment here).

Big thing is to minimize paper and trash of course, and don't use those toilet bowl hanger cleaners, women like so well. Put some Rid-X in it once in awhile and flush spoiled milk down it to feed your bugs in the tank. You shouldn't have any trouble.

It's a passive system with drain field. Not aware of a pump. Certainly no breaker in either of the panels for one.

Not sure the size. We're careful about what we put down it.

Guessing I'll give it another two years then get it pumped to get an idea of how we're doing.

Tank size should be in closing P/W somewhere. Bank usually wants a well and septic flow check done.

As noted, it depends on tank size, 3 of residents, and ground temp. Up here with cold ground, we have ours pumped every 2 years. I'm sure you could go 2X that.

Remember it is a septic system (poop processor) not a garbage can. I knew people that put every damn thing down their insinkerator into the tank. Chicken bones don't digest well in the tank.

The drainfield stays happiest when the water that flows into it sits in the tank long enough for lots of solids to settle to the bottom of the tank and stay there. None of the back to back laundries that some womenfolk love when they get on the cleaning horse and ride like there's no tomorrow, running down all too slow or stupid to get out of their way as they gallop towards some bright and sparkling world where they drink mimosas and talk about starched sheets with well groomed young men dressed in tight whites with earrings.

You should be gtg for another 5 years or so.

There are two of us also. We installed a new 1000 gallon concrete tank about 5 years ago. (The old one was a site built tank installed in 1948 and it caved in.)

Two years after we installed it we pumped it out and the pumper said, based on what he saw and there just being two of us we could likely go 4 years between pumping. As an aside we also put in a new drain field that uses shallow diffusers and it has performed well.

It SHOULD be a baffled tank, and if so, that should not be an issue.

Our local pumper sends a reminder card every three years.

We've been going with that, but it's probably not needed quite that often. Good for peace of mind though.

First go-round I had to dig to uncover the access. We put in an extension with a concrete lid, and also a baffle on the exit line toward the drain-field. Don't need any floaty stuff leaving the tank.

Working well and fed right, I have gone 10 years with no issue, on several houses.

You absolutely should NOT feed them fat, grease, meat scraps, anything that doesn't come out of YOU. A disposal into a Septic System is begging for trouble.

Printed tissue is also a DO NOT, the ink doesn't break down supposedly.

If you haven't fed them Rid-X or similar from the start...DON't. This from a Minn. Septic guy, he says it aerates the tank and pushes solids out.

I never have used it. That which comes out of you is sufficient..........

I have only lived south of Atlanta, your results may vary.

Rid-X also eats and dissolves concrete. Very much shortens the life of your concrete tank.

Thanks for all the info guys. We don't put much solids down it unless it's from the care and maintenance of our backsides.

We'll pencil in 2019 to get it checked barring any issues in the mean time.

if mama takes those 45 minute showers
and uses 3 or 4 different hair products,
you're best off to have a separate gray
water system installed and have a sewage
only tank. it'll last a lot longer.excess
soap kills as many as toilet paper.

Naw. She's pretty low maintenance.

you'll probably be able to go a
good while between pumpings then.
i burn my paper and don't put
any bleach down the spout.
good luck

No bleach........!!

homemade mixture to add to tank..

brown sugar.....yeast........corn meal.......mix equal portions

well with warm water....flush in toilet......every...

4-6 weeks depending on usage.....

my septic guy says a good healthy [bleep] is the best thing for them

When we had our septic system installed the guy said our soil was some of the best he's seen and our field should last forever...

...provided we didn't use powdered laundry detergent or dish detergent. So we've been using only liquid detergents. And the garbage disposal only gets the small bits that get past the strainer in the sink.

Keep condoms, kotexs, grease and such out of it and anything else that's not bio degradable and you may never have any issues with it.

I had to have one of mine pumped once in 30 years. And that was due to a renter flushing tampons down the toilet for several years when they were there.
My parents has had there tank in service for over 50 years. With them and three kids and I can not remember them ever having to have thiers pumped.

This is so true. Powdered detergents never completely dissolve and build up like cakes of stuff.

With a properly working system, and some of the above mentioned precautions system may never need pumped. Lot of people that have bought property never even know where the system is !!!!!!

The guy who installed my concrete septic tank when we rebuilt the system said the same thing. His mother has lived on a ranch and the septic system has never been pumped since it was installed in 1990. We didn't know where ours was when we bought the farm in 1999 but found it when we hit it with a plow.

Some good advice.

Sounds like you guys know your $h!t.

I'll let you know if I'm in your area if you'll let me know if it's burn day and I'm downwind.

Not sure of the acres required by state but the easiest, most trouble free is to build a lagoon! Here they only have to be 3 feet deep and in full sunlight, and burmed so no surface water gets in or out, and fenced. Straight pipe all the way there, nothing to get plugged, if so easy clean out!!!

it very nearly takes less time to burn
a bucket of t.p. than it does to generate
a post about it

Most states have info available that is pretty good. Septic tanks have been around a looooong time and are pretty well figured out.

Oregon DEQ: Oregon DEQ septic tanks

Handy sheet from WV: http://www.nesc.wvu.edu/pdf/ww/septic/pl_fall04.pdf

Find a good pumping service that will check about every 3-5 yrs (with only two of you you can probably go 5-7 yrs), pump as needed.

My wife and I lived in our last house for 16 years and only pumped the tank because it was required by the buyers and the pumper said it was in great shape as far as solids go, so I plan to go about 15 years before pumping at the new house.

Ours (two of us) has been used for 24 years - never pumped and never a problem. I ran a gray water system so the laundry water does not go to the septic tank and we use liquid soap in the dishwasher. Little or no food residue goes in. Every now and then my wife throws in old yeast, spoiled dairy products, etc. to liven the bacterial array but we use no Rid-X or such.

Once in a while we will have a few - or as many as 23 - visitors for a week or more and they seem to be careful (after the "talk") about allowing nothing but human waste and TP go down the toilets. More than one septic "expert" has told us that the occasional infusion of loads of varied human waste from visitors is beneficial to the breakdown process.

Having helped a couple of other folks diagnose/deal with problems, I've learned that a long/strong pole with a slight paddle effect on the end can be helpful in determining the degree of solids in the tank. If that probe swishes around down there at the bottom with little or no resistance, you are probably in good shape. Rubber gloves recommended.

Steve, thanks for bringing up the topic. Hope you're enjoying life up on the hill in "rural" Portlandia. Never did get a chance to visit with you when we were in Sherwood/Newberg and my wife got a job down here in extreme NE California so I wish you, the bees and your new place the best.

We picked up a place here for her with ~7 acres, well, and septic. Pumped before our purchase. Friends we rented from in Sherwood recommended we not use "Charmin" type TP as all "septic safe" paper is not the same. They recommended a simple test. A mason jar half full of H2O, a couple/three sheets of your preferred TP, wait 20 minutes, shake and your paper should be pretty well broken up. If not, one might want to change their brand of TP.

I'm hoping to get at least 5 years between pumpings here, as there are just the two of us and we're not water hogs. Neither of us uses harsh chemicals for cleaning, we use vinegar for the hard water stains in the john, regular dish soaps, that sort of thing. We don't bleach our clothes.

My worry right now is a possible saturation of the drain field as we have had a lot of moisture for the area, snow/rain more snow, more rain, thawing, then freezing and thawing again today. Our soils are pretty gooey right now. Just hoping it doesn't lead to problems.

As for burning the TP, I'm afraid my wife would kick me out if I suggested such. We're not using an outhouse like we did on trips to Baja!

Again, thanks for bringing up the topic as I have an idea from everyone's posts that I may be thinking along the right lines for when to call the pumper again.

Geno

Geno-
How many bedrooms is your system designed for? How many gallon tank?

'bender,
county paperwork from original installation says 3 br, two bath, 1000gal concrete tank, three 80' leach lines for 240' total, trenches are 36' deep X 36" wide.

all inspected and approved in '05, '06

as I mentioned, pumped last year when we purchased the place.

Geno

Should be good to go in that 'warm' soil!

Aren't there laws that govern that?

Geno,

Sorry I missed your reply before this. It's too bad we didn't get together along with Scott. If you get up this way again, we should all get together. Been a hell of a winter. Coldest and wettest I can remember in my 50+ years I've lived here. Hope you're coping well in California, but NE part would be pretty nice.