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There were two recent situations regarding problems with local competitors pumping out septic tanks which we feel compelled to comment on.

The first happened on Thursday, January 22, 2009.  This is a brief paraphrased summary of the conversation:

A potential customer called us to inquire about a problem they were having with a bathtub draining slowly and their laundry drain overflowing.  We generally ask about any recent problems when a new customer calls for pricing.  We scheduled this customer for a pumping the same day and when we arrived at their house the driver opened the septic tank lid and noticed a large volume of solids inside the tank. 

Our experience in cases like this tell us that a competitor removed only liquid from a tank for a cheaper price and not the solids or sludge.  This is very dangerous and potentially expensive for the homeowner because as the solids and sludge build up, they will wash into the disposal field reducing its life expectancy or a portion of those solids will break off when the tank fills back up with liquid and clog the outlet pipe which prevents any more liquid from entering the field and backs up into the house. 

In this first instance a portion of the solids had broken off and had indeed clogged about 95% of the outlet pipe.  Fortunately, the fix for this is relatively easy but not inexpensive and required digging up the distribution box cover and jet the line from the tank to the d-box and jet the lines from the d-box out through each lateral line in the field.  This would not have been necessary had the solids and sludge been removed from the septic tank as per the NJ Dept. of Environmental Protection guidelines.

The second instance happened December 18, 2008 and is similar in nature but with a different outcome:

A potential customer called complaining of water backing up into the house and overflowing out of the septic tank’s inspection port.  We responded to the situation immediately and upon arriving we opened the tank lid and a large discharge of solids billowed out of the tank with a mushroom appearance.  This septic system was approximately 10 years old and had always been pumped out by the same company.  After cleaning up the discharge we saw a tremendous amount of solids still remaining in the tank.  The thickness of the solids was about 3 1/2 feet thick.  Over the years the solids had exited the tank and had flown out to the field bed which caused a premature failure of the entire field bed and the only available option for repair was to replace the field bed at the insistence of the County Health Department.

It is our educated opinion that when hiring a company to routinely pump out your septic tank, as a homeowner, you should be present to ensure that company opens the septic tank lid completely and removes ALL of the solids at the top, ALL the liquid in the middle and ALL the sludge at the bottom.  Never let a septic pumping company try to remove the contents of the tank through the inspection port or try to tell you that leaving even the smallest amount of solids and sludge in the tank is ok.  It’s not ok and is also potentially catastrophic financially speaking.

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