How Often Do I Need to Pump My Septic Tank?
The general rule of thumb for maintenance pumping is every 3-5 years but this can vary a few years depending on the number of people and how you treat your tank. For more information check out our page on Septic Tank Pumping.
Do You Have to Dig To Pump My Septic Tank / Can You Pump From the Clean Out Pipe?
Generally, yes, we have to dig to pump out your septic tank. The only exception to this rule is if you have risers installed on your tank. Risers are usually 24” diameter and bring the tank lid to the surface of the ground. The 3”/4” white pvc clean out pipe is not an access to pump from. If someone tells you they can pump your tank from that pipe, they are not being truthful. Check out our blog post titles “Septic Tank Access” for more information.
What Will My Yard Look Like After My Septic Tank Has Been Pumped?
Usually we use a mini excavator to dig up the tank lid(s). This means that when we are done there will not be grass left where we dug but we do our best to smooth out the ground and make it as level as possible. Here is a picture of a job we recently did.
How Many Holes Do You Have To Dig?
The number of holes we have to dig all depends on your septic tank. In general, houses built before the mid 90’s have septic tanks that are not divided and do not have a filter. For these homes, one larger hole is required to open the tank. For homes built after the mid 90’s, two smaller holes will have to be dug to access the solids side and the filter side of the tank. You can call the Fayette County Environmental Health Office to ask for you septic drawing which can normally tell you if you have a tank that has a filter or not. If you are in Coweta County, you can access your septic drawing from Qpublic.
Do I Have to be Home For the Septic Service?
If you are having your tank pumped for maintenance and you are not experiencing any problems, then you do not have to be home. If you are having problems, we like someone to have access to flush a toilet so when we are done we can make sure everything is running smoothly before we close the septic tank back up.
What would cause my septic to back up if I have had it pumped recently?
There are several factors that may cause problems even if you have had your septic pumped out recently. The three most common reasons we see are a clog in the inlet pipe, a dirty filter, and a failing drain field.
Why does my septic system have problems after a heavy rain?
When it rains heavily and the ground gets saturated, often times your drain field cannot take water at the rate it does when the ground is wet. If this is your issue, pumping your tank will only be a temporary fix and a permanent fix may require drain field work.
More to come…. We will continue to update this post with more questions and answers. If you have a question, feel free to comment and we will do our best to answer!
Also, feel free to check out our Fayetteville Page with even more septic information!