Septic System

I don't think so and I'll tell u why. I don't allow bleach, fats, oil or strong cleaning chemicals intp my septic tank system. About 3 years ago I hired a cespool company to do maintenance on my pool. He was very adamant about not pumping the pool unless he opened it and there were too many solids/sludge. After examining the pool he suggested hydrojetting. The said the bacteria was doing a fantastic job because there were minimal solids in the pool. He took his aeration wand and blew all the orifices clean. I believe that every circumstance is different. If you put bleach, chemicals, fats, and use lots of water then your pool is going to neeed to be pumped every 2-3 years. Many of these cespool company only pump the water off the top, add acid and then the pool fills up again very quickly. My dad knew people in the business - he was a plumber and cespool pumping is often done when it's not needed to bilk the consumer. But you're right that if solids get into the leaching field there could be permanent damage done.

With only two people now in my house, the septic cleaning people recommended pumping every 3 years. I decided to extend that a little, to every 4 years. To make it easy to remember, I am going with presidential election years. I figure all the sh*t flying around will remind me.

That's different, Trader. I read you hadn't had the cesspool pumped, there was no mention of any maintenance having been done on it. That's a horse of a different color (probably brown).

BTW the acid kills all the bacteria that are digesting the solids.

Going to get it pumped, I'll refrain from posting any photos of that.

Did he dig that hole ? Do you put a bone on top of the tank before the backfill so when you need it pumped again you just tie your dog by the tank and let him go at it?

What a great idea, except I usually dig up the lid every few years, not the next day!

Around here they put a 20-24 inch diameter piece of plastic pipe over the tank's cleanout hole. The pipe extends to the lawn surface or slightly higher. Atop it goes the concrete cover disk. Makes access for checking, pumping or cleaning easy. The plastic pipe looks like a king size version of the 4" drain pipe that comes in a roll.

I have the 4" ground level cover and it makes finding or checking the pool easy.

I thought about raising the lid so I don't have to keep digging it up, the lid is about 3 feet wide, I don't know if there is a collar that wide. The guy who did the site prep for the pole barn was nice enough to dig out the lid for me, 5 minutes as opposed to 1 hour with a shovel.

You guys are lucky. I have a slab lid tank. There are 4 slabs, 28"x80" about 6" thick, I stuck a steel rod down and its 6 ft deep. We figured about close to 2000 gallons. I had a pipe blocked, which ended up being in the soil pipe where it exits the foundation, simple plunger freed it up luckily. Local guy whom said they pumped this once 30 years ago gave me some direction as to where the tank was located at. So he said I should find the tank anyway and get it pumped even though I got the inlet pipe cleared.(Was feminine products which were told not to go in there anyway) So I started digging with the shovel and found the slabs. They are very thick and most likely very heavy. I found a black plastic bag covering one, which I assume was the one they lifted to pump it. On the advice of 2 other people I was told just seal the cracks back up and don't pump it. At least I know where it is in case.

Mozz, I had the same problem here with a blockage in the pipe. About the slab lids, I've never heard of that before. How are you supposed to pump that? Or do you wait until it fails, and replace it? In NJ it's big bucks to put in a septic system.

Had 1 with a slab top that we pumped when sold property (required here first time that I'm aware of). Then saw a hole in the slab and added risers (also required for sale). Had to have lid above the ground.

My system has two tanks. One 1500 gal located outside the house. It has two access stacks that stick up out of the ground with lids. The other tank is about 800 feet away next to the sand mound. That tank sits in a depression in the ground and the lid although visible is just a bit below grade. When the fellow came to pump my tanks he told me the depression over the tank is a problem. Water collects in the depression and seeps into the tank through the access lid. It would cause the pump in the tank to run a lot causing early breakdown of the sand mound. I dug a small ditch out of the depression to direct the water downgrade from the tank. Hm, I wonder if it would make it water tight if I put some oakum around the lid before reinstalling it?

Looking at the photos you guys posted where you dug out your tanks. I wish my earth is like yours. Where I live we are full of rock. During the past summer I rented a post hole digger to put in some footers. It took me five hours to dig five 12 inch dia. holes to below the frost line. Had to keep stopping every couple inches to clear rocks. Thought I would get away with a 1/2 day rental but had to keep the sucker all day.

In 12 yrs, I've had ours pumped 3 x's--. Every 3 yrs when all the kids were at home. I know that I'm a mean old man, but we had the 4 sheet law as far as TP went & if I ever found anybody putting anything weird in it, my boot would find the appropriate ass.With 3 girls & 2 boys, I think we did pretty good. I have a grease trap plus septic/leech field. I don't use any additives.

New questions same thread.

How do you know if septic tank needs draining? I pulled lid, using long rod, felt around to the bottom. I feel no sludge on bottom. Mainly some sludge floating on top.