Frequently Asked Septic System Questions

Based on the number of people living in your home will determine how often you should pump your septic tank. If you have 2 people, every 4 years is acceptable.  3 people, every 3 years and 4 every 2-3 years and 5 or more once a year. This keeps the sludge level down and not getting into your latteral field(leach lines).

We do not recommend using a garbage disposal. 

Food and grease should not go down the sink. Wipe your food off of plates after eating into the trash. It goes into the tank and coagulates. It also causes line backups. The picture below shows the tank's appearance after heavy grease down sinks.

If you have a filter, it’s recommended that you clean your filter every 90 days. When filters are not cleaned every 90 days this is what happens.

Filter plugs up and the tank overflows or backs up into the house.

We do not recommend it, as it causes the tank to form a jello mold anywhere from 1-4 ft. thick. The claim is that it eats the sludge, but that is not true. There are enough bacteria in your waste to break down the solids naturally.  

This tank has Ridex and was 2 ft thick of jello mold. Once we broke through,  the sludge on the bottom was 18 in. thick. You should only have a thin scum layer on top of the tank, and approx.  8-12 in. of sludge on the bottom when the tank is pumped.

By looking at the diagram below, you will see that the inlet pipe is 3” above the outlet pipe, which goes to the drain field. The level of liquid should always stay level with the outlet pipe. 

If you cannot see the outlet pipe, you can look down into your cement lid; the level should be approximately 6” below the bottom of the lid.